OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 5:44 pm

hepcat wrote:Been hearing some great things about Star Trek: Fleet Captains. It's a bit pricey at a MSRP of 99.99, but you can get it online for 69.99 on average. Tom Vassal was raving about it in a recent review and the owners of our local game shop had nothing but love for it after a demo game at Origins this year.

Damn you Hepcat. That looks like the game I've been dreaming about for years! Anyone know anything about Boards & Bits?

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 6:13 pm

that star trek game looks awesome...anyone know when it is due to release?

funagaingames.com (which Tom Vassal plugs in his video review) doesn't even list it.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 6:27 pm

I've seen sept. 16th and sept. 21st on two different sites, while the BGG page seems to indicate just september...so i'm guessing soon now. miniaturemarket (my favorite online store) just dropped their preorder price to 65 bucks so i think i'm going to preorder this weekend.

edit: aaannnddd nevermind...preorder already made.

grabbed it and the miskatonic expansion for Arkham so i could get the free shipping. now i need to lay off game purchases for a bit. really. i mean it this time!

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:05 pm

Woo! The copy of Elder Sign I recently ordered has shipped today... so has the copy I pre-ordered from another site a month ago and forgot about :/

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:08 pm

Daveman wrote:Woo! The copy of Elder Sign I recently ordered has shipped today... so has the copy I pre-ordered from another site a month ago and forgot about :/

On the plus side it really is a fun game. Probably my 2nd favorite acquisition at Gencon. Enjoy!

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 9:52 pm

Played King of Tokyo earlier with my two boys and the wife. ( http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/ ... g-of-tokyo" target="_blank )

That is actually quite a bit of fun, to be honest. First to fall was my son Jacob, playing as GigaZaur (think Godzilla). Then, I, as Krakan, took a dive into the ocean, never to return again.

It came down to my oldest boy (Christian, playing as Alienoid) and my wife (Cyber Bunny). Christian was in Tokyo, and could only take one more hit before he died, but only needed 2 more VP's to win. My wife, unmercifully, struck with two hits, plus a spiked tail!! Alienoid tried to survive (by using Psychic Probe, which allows him to reroll one opponent's die roll)...he countered one hit, and we thought he survived, but then my wife laughed maniacally and recalled her "Spike Tail" card...and thus, won the game....

Fun game, especially for kids....

Chris

SpaceLord · Post by **SpaceLord** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 10:33 pm

I now have Space Empires 4x in my grubby little hands!

Looks great, I'll have first impressions after a play tomorrow night!

I'm also going to squeeze in a learning game of Earth Reborn tomorrow too!

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 11:16 pm

SpaceLord wrote:I now have Space Empires 4x in my grubby little hands!

Looks great, I'll have first impressions after a play tomorrow night!

I'm also going to squeeze in a learning game of Earth Reborn tomorrow too!

I played a solo game recently and found it pretty solid. The multiplay game will be even more fun, and I'm rather confident that the strategy level is high in this one.

edosan · Post by **edosan** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 9:51 am

baelthazar wrote:Anyone know anything about Boards & Bits?

I've been ordering from them for a while. Good company with fast shipping.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:21 pm

edosan wrote:
baelthazar wrote:Anyone know anything about Boards & Bits?
I've been ordering from them for a while. Good company with fast shipping.

Put in my pre-order with them last night. Their shipping is cheaper as I live closer to their warehouse.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Fri Sep 09, 2011 12:54 pm

I managed to crush my father in 3 games of chess last weekend. This evening will be a Texas Hold 'Em Tourney for the city's Corporate Challenge. I have the 2008 gold medal hanging from my desk. Team selection for '09 and '10 left me without a slot to defend my slot.

Next weekend will likely by table gaming free, as the current plans are to spend Saturday at the local Oktoberfest and Sunday will be volunteer work. Although maybe I should order Gloom and pack it in for some drunken gaming...

SpaceLord · Post by **SpaceLord** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:32 am

Space Empires 4x - Session Report and Game Description #1!

Tonight my friend and I played our first session of SE4X. Heh.

We played the standard 2-player map. Each player has some "Home Systems" markers to explore. These are *fairly* safe, and generally are planets to colonize, and ore to mine, and each player has 26 of these hexes.. In this setup, there are 34 "Deep Space" hexes, which are more dangerous, with more ways to get Lost in Space(LiS), and more things that can take out your ship. The mining, however, is richer, and there are derelict ships, which can give you a free tech if towed back to a colony you control, and that's a prize worth fighting over. Every Colony you control gives you Command Points, which are used to buy ships, defenses, and technology upgrades.

In the first few turns, since everyone is so far apart, each player races across their Home System, discovering planets, and Mining opportunities. Each "round" consists of three normal turns, then an Economic turn. During a turn, there's Movement(where each ship controlled by a player moves one hex), then Combat(if ships share a hex), and then Exploration, where unknown tiles are flipped and resolved.

In our game, both James and I discovered two planets near our home system, and had colonies there by turn three. A colony ship becomes a Colony simply by moving onto a hex containing a planet. In the first round of existence, a Colony only gives 1 Command Point. After the 6th round(2nd Economic Phase), the colony flips and produces 3, and eventually 5 CPs.

Exploring deeper, James lost two ships to bad luck with his Home System tiles, and I lost one. Ships are hidden from your opponents, as well as the technology you've purchased. It was obvious by Round two that James had opted for a speedy fleet. The first upgrade to movement, for instance, allows your ships to move 1,1,2, on each turn instead of the standard 1,1,1. There's also tech that allows you to sneak a peek at a hidden tile before moving.

After the 3rd round, we'd pushed towards the central area, and explored the dark reaches of Deep Space. I found a derelict ship(Space Wreck), and used a Mining ship to tow it back to my colony, and was rewarded with a hull upgrade tech for free. All larger ships require this upgrade, which can be very expensive.

On round 4, James bid 2CPs to determine first player. With this advantage, he was able to reveal the last few Deep Space hexes before I could move there. He revealed another Space Wreck, and a short skirmish ensued. Ship upgrades are kept secret until used, and I discovered he was ahead in military tech. However, after exchanging salvos, I retreated back towards my home.

James was upgrading his technology, and I began building Shipywards(SY) to build bigger ships. But since SYs and Hull Tech are not cheap, I was a bit slower to get my defenses up. His faster ships invaded my side of the map, and initially were pushed back, because I'd built several heavier ships. But since I had fewer ships, I could not defend everywhere at once, and his armada then rushed my flank, and I began to lose Colonies. It was at that point I conceded, since I was definitely on the decline.

Here's a picture taken right before the tide turned against me. I'm the green player:

From left to right: Chulak is my home system, and I have a ShipYard there. There are three Green colonies adjacent to mine, and one has a non-combat Mining ship parked there. My right-most Colony has a stack of 3 Cruisers. The majority of my fleet is at the top right, and James spent his turns outrunning me. His red ships share a hex with a Mineral, worth 5 CPs if towed back to one's Colony systems. There's a Nebula on the upper right, which makes battles bloodier.

Initial thoughts: Ever play a game the first time, and can't stop thinking about it? SE4X is that kind of game. It's actually very simple. The Econ phase and all early turns can be played simultaneously, which greatly speeds things up. I think the game is amazing, and was worth the wait.

Things to try next time:

Mrechant Ship Pipelines - Essentially Trade Routes, that produce CPs.

Carriers/Fighters - Mass combat, fighters must be transported via Carrier

Raiders: Can Cloak, and move through enemy ships without stopping, unless they have Scanner technology upgrades.

Mines: Slow-moving, dangerous defensive units

Aliens! : They defend their planet in Deep Space to the death. All DS planets are "Barren", which require a Terraforming Upgrade. Since DS planets are nearer enemy systems, they are great to use as a launchpad for attacks.

Doomsdays Machines: Powerful Death-Stars that wander around Deep Space, and attack all players.

As you can see by the length of this post, I'm super-excited to play again!

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 8:01 am

How long did the game take to play?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 9:04 am

El Guapo wrote:How long did the game take to play?

if it's 2 hours or less, i'm cancelling my preorder for misktonic that i just made for the free shipping on Star Trek FC and getting this.

SpaceLord · Post by **SpaceLord** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:29 am

El Guapo wrote:How long did the game take to play?

With rules introduction, and laundry interruptions, I conceded around 150 minutes. A few factors I didn't mention: we played the 2-player Medium Map. If we'd played the Small map(with fewer Deep Space hexes), we'd encountered each other faster, and thus would have had smaller fleets, ships, and less advanced tech. An optional rule that we didn't use that would have made things faster is Instant Tech. The basic game has you keep track of each token(fleet) as a separate unit, and if you buy a tech upgrade, older ships are not automatically retrofitted. It takes a turn, a visit to a Colony with a Shipyard, and CPs to upgrade fleets.

This BGG report says you can play in 90 minutes. Our game lasted into the 10th Econ phase, where I discovered my Colonies were barely producing more than my large fleet was costing, and I surrendered.

SpaceLord · Post by **SpaceLord** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 11:44 am

A quick warning about SE4X:

Every third turn, there's a Econ phase. First, you add your Colony Production to your current CPs, and then add in your Mining CPs. Then, you pay Maintenance, which is equal to the Hull values of all your ships. Then, you pay for tech upgrades according to the cost listed on the upgrade sheet. Then, pay for ships, and mark their tech on the reverse of your log sheet. Finally, recalculate your Maintenance costs, and determine leftover CPs to carry over to the next turn. All of this can take several minutes, but luckily can be done by everyone at the same time.

If all that sounded horrifying, then I have some bad news...

Remus West · Post by **Remus West** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:52 pm

Just wanted to note that the $10 I spent on the Carcasone App were worth it. The AI is good enough to keep the game fun (in fact, it has been beating me when I play against two strong opponents). Thus, Mino is forgiven for suckering me into purchasing it (yes, I realize I'm an easy target when folks tell me one of my favorite games has been made into an app).

MythicalMino · Post by **MythicalMino** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 12:55 pm

it is a good thing that you forgave me....I was considering either going into hiding, or eliminating you since you were a threat to my existence.

Remus West · Post by **Remus West** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 2:27 pm

MythicalMino wrote:it is a good thing that you forgave me....I was considering either going into hiding, or eliminating you since you were a threat to my existence.

Don't worry. Hepcat was worse when he showed me Niroshima Hex on his ipad. Then I not only had to buy it but had to wait until I got home from Chicago to do so. He made me exist for several hours knowing it was out there without being able to play.

Jow · Post by **Jow** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 3:17 pm

meanwhile still waiting on the Android version of Neuroshima. Should be out some time this month I reckon...

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 8:07 pm

Remus West wrote:
MythicalMino wrote:it is a good thing that you forgave me....I was considering either going into hiding, or eliminating you since you were a threat to my existence.

Don't worry. Hepcat was worse when he showed me Niroshima Hex on his ipad. Then I not only had to buy it but had to wait until I got home from Chicago to do so. He made me exist for several hours knowing it was out there without being able to play.

Don't forget to pick up Neuroshima Puzzles. That's equally addictive.

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:45 pm

Elder Signs arrived today!! I played a 2 player game with my son and then 3 solo games.

For the 2 player my son wanted to pick out the ancient one for us to fight and he picked... Yig? The one who looked easiest and who would take back an Elder Sign any time the players defeated a lesser monster. The first, Elder Sign-hunting part of that game was a waste. We had a bunch of monster-spawning events and adventures crop up and the most we ever got was 4 Elder Signs of the 10 needed to banish him. When he awakened we'd dropped down to just 2 because he kept stealing our Elder Signs as we killed the monsters

Fortunately fighting him was easy. His combat task (2 skulls) wasn't too difficult and he doesn't have a lot of life. We killed him without much trouble at all.

Of the solo games I was crushed in one (got the Magician vs. the ancient one who hurts you every time you use magic/unique items), just barely banished the ancient one turn before he awakened in the next (I had the gangster who was an adventure-completing machine. I'd earned 9 of the 12 Elder Signs and then simply bought the last 3 at the gift shop with all my earned trophies) then had a crushing victory in my last, banishing him with barely half the doom clock filled. That game almost felt like cheating as I'd drawn the scientist who "never spawns monsters on her turn". As it was a solo game, hers was the only turn... so monsters never spawned.

Fishbelly · Post by **Fishbelly** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:58 am

meanwhile still waiting on the Android version of Neuroshima. Should be out some time this month I reckon...

Please tell me this is not a mean, sarcastic joke. I would love an android version!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:06 am

Daveman wrote:Elder Signs arrived today!! I played a 2 player game with my son and then 3 solo games.

When we played, we rarely used the shops from the entrance. I think in our next game, I'm going to make sure I suggest it more often.

Also, I'm not sure if you got this from the rules as I certainly didn't assume it, but the FFG demoer who taught us the game mistakenly told us that spells are permanent, which is not the case. They are (and it's in the rules) a use and lose item like almost everything else.

Did you enjoy the game? I find it a great alternative to a long game of Arkham Horror.

baelthazar · Post by **baelthazar** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 12:09 pm

El Guapo wrote:How long did the game take to play?

There are several scenarios for Space Empires 4X and they look like they take anywhere from 90 minutes to 4-5 hours. You can basically decide how much of the map you want to use, depending on the number of players. If there is anything to say about SE:4X is that is is fairly customizable - don't like Carriers, don't use them (and the game will still be balanced). I'm not in love with MS Pipelines, they seem fiddly and low yield. I also prefer the instant-upgrade rule for fleets as keeping track of fleet upgrades is a bit of a pill. But undoubtedly there is more strategy playing the other way. I really see this as a great wargame! I've only gotten to play the solo scenarios, but I look forward to playing a multiplay soon.

My copy of Elder Signs and Gears of War arrives Tuesday.

Wish they had come on Friday!

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:34 pm

Took my son out for lunch and stopped at the FnotquiteLGS with a small stack of magic cards (as I am on their weekly updated emailing list for singles they need, it's like currency). Traded in for a hundred in credit and snagged a Gideon Jura and New Phyrexia booster pack for him, and an Ulamog for me. Rounded it out with Invasion of Planet Earth (by the people who brought you Last Night on Earth). Read thru the rules and we are fiending to try it out and play mix n match with zombies/aliens.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 6:50 pm

Played Richard Scary's Busytown. It's a spin-and-move where you have a chance at an "investigation" where you get to look for objects on the board and move the number you find in 30 seconds. Flip a card and timer, then put little spyglasses around matching objects on the 6 foot long game board (3 folding pieces that slot together). More fun than Candyland -- and shorter.

The only problem came up when the 2 year old thought it would be fun to stand on her car's spot on the board.

Daveman · Post by **Daveman** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:53 pm

hepcat wrote:
Daveman wrote:Elder Signs arrived today!! I played a 2 player game with my son and then 3 solo games.
When we played, we rarely used the shops from the entrance. I think in our next game, I'm going to make sure I suggest it more often.

Also, I'm not sure if you got this from the rules as I certainly didn't assume it, but the FFG demoer who taught us the game mistakenly told us that spells are permanent, which is not the case. They are (and it's in the rules) a use and lose item like almost everything else.

Did you enjoy the game? I find it a great alternative to a long game of Arkham Horror.

I have a few more solo games under my belt and yes... I'm enjoying it very much. I enjoy the Lovecraft theme very much, but have kept away from AH/MoM because I'd rarely have people interested in investing the time to play those games. I like it well enough solo, and hope to keep my son playing and perhaps my extended family. The only rule we broke was in our first game when my son bought a couple different things from the gift shop at once, where you're really only supposed to buy one thing per turn. I think I've missed a few "At Midnight" effects here and there since there can sometimes be a lot going on when the clock strikes 12.

There's certainly decisions to be made about what adventures to attempt, when to recover at the entrance and so on... but the gameplay is still essentially a very picky take on Yahtzee with a dwindling dice pool when things go wrong. That said, there's not a whole lot you can do when you roll a bunch of stuff that doesn't help you complete adventures. My losses thus far have mostly been attributed to bad rolls and little else. But I've loved those times when I've just barely managed to pull off a difficult adventure after pulling out several re-rolls and whatever means of die modifications my character and/or items have allowed for. There was one tough one where I wound up blowing 3 re-roll clue tokens, used the professors terror-to-lore ability every roll, and just about drove my ally (who let you turn terrors into skulls or something like that up to 4 times max) insane.

freelunch · Post by **freelunch** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:31 pm

we played Lancaster a couple of times - one four-player learning game which kept getting interrupted and stretched over most of Saturday. It wasn't a big success but we all learned the rules at least. played again on Sunday, three players and finished in under an hour. verdict: very fun game if played quickly

Sunday afternoon I ran Battlestar Galactica for three new players and my two oldest kids - the game was pretty much ruined by my twelve-year-old who decided to play as if he were a Cylon even though he wasn't. it screwed things up for the other four but I think they saw enough of how good the game could be and I'm hoping we get to play it again sometime.

edosan · Post by **edosan** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 11:50 pm

Played Empire Builder with the wife this afternoon. An underrated classic.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 12:10 am

edosan wrote:Played Empire Builder with the wife this afternoon. An underrated classic.

+1.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:25 am

I read through the rules on Star Trek Fleet Captains and I'm now even more anxious to play. A huge number of options for duplicating things you find on the show are included: away teams, beaming cargo onto enemy ships (think Trouble with Tribbles

), beaming crew members between your own ships, exploring space sectors, cloaking and scanning for cloaked enemies, building outposts/colonies/starbases, etc.. Plus, all the rules make actual sense in the context of the game. I can't wait for my copy to arrive!

freelunch · Post by **freelunch** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:37 am

my biggest concern with Star Trek Fleet Captains is that Klingon players will be short-changed since the Federation side should have a far wider array of recognizable crew members.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:49 am

freelunch wrote:my biggest concern with Star Trek Fleet Captains is that Klingon players will be short-changed since the Federation side should have a far wider array of recognizable crew members.

Each side has exactly 10 "subdecks" with 10 cards each. These subdecks are based on characters from the show (there's a Captain Kirk deck, a Picard deck, a K'ahless deck, etc.). At the beginning of each game, users select 4 of these decks to take with them (the deck building portion of the game) into the game based on the mission types they drew, which was in turn based on the ship types they chose. There's an ENORMOUS amount of material out there on Klingons via the show, books, and official (i.e. studio released) reference manuals. No issues there as both the federation and the klingon empire have the same number of cards and they appear quite well balanced. Future expansions will introduce the Romulans and other recognizable races. I'm w

The biggest gripe I've seen with the game is that it mixes the star trek timelines together. Picard can exist in the same game as Kirk, etc.. There are a few folks on BGG that are having a fit over it. One guy was really mad that they included Q in the game as he felt the next generation was an abomination of Star Trek because it included characters that were all powerful. Another poster dropped in to say he would remember that when playing his Trelane card.

freelunch · Post by **freelunch** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:00 am

hepcat wrote:
I wrote:my biggest concern with Star Trek Fleet Captains is that Klingon players will be short-changed since the Federation side should have a far wider array of recognizable crew members.
Each side has exactly 10 "subdecks" with 10 cards each. These subdecks are based on characters from the show (there's a Captain Kirk deck, a Picard deck, a K'ahless deck, etc.). At the beginning of each game, users select 4 of these decks to take with them (the deck building portion of the game) into the game based on the mission types they drew, which was in turn based on the ship types they chose. There's an ENORMOUS amount of material out there on Klingons via the show, books, and official (i.e. studio released) reference books. No issues there as both the federation and the klingon empire have the same number of cards and they appear quite well balanced. Future expansions will introduce the Romulans and other recognizable races.

I got that - should've explained myself better - I know there's a wealth of info out there on the Klingons but it imagine it won't be familiar to non-hardcore Star Trek viewers who haven't read any reference books or novels (I've read three, all Klingon-free). Of course I still have my pre-order in

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:01 am

If they're not hardcore star trek fans, they're not going to be familiar with many of the federation cards either.

Me? I'm anxiously awaiting the day I can play a Garak card from my Cardassian deck.

freelunch · Post by **freelunch** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:07 am

you may be right

I haven't gone looking for a comprehensive list of cards yet but based on what I've seen I recognized a lot of the Federation cards.. but I'm going to get to know the Klingons quickly enough I guess, since my kids will want to play as Picard et al..

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:20 am

Redwarlord was in a Klingon group when we were in college. They had the full outfits and makeup. I'm sure he'll be playing the Klingons when I force him into a game during Octocon (if it gets here in time).

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:46 am

hepcat wrote:Another poster dropped in to say he would remember that when playing his Trelane card.

I had to look that up. I don't believe that I've ever seen that episode.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Mon Sep 12, 2011 10:57 am

I've got a pre-order in at Cat N Mouse games, I'm hoping it makes it here by the Tuesday before Octocon, as some are speculating. Then I can spend 3 nights furiously painting the ships before Octocon.

If we get our couple of copies in, I have a feeling this game is going to be the darling of Octocon...