Octopus Overlords

Huh. I normally avoid Facebook games of any kind but I may have to check this out.

Jow wrote:Huh. I normally avoid Facebook games of any kind but I may have to check this out.

Just got my third game in. So far, this is not a dumbed-down version of Thunderstone as most FB games tend to be, but the real deal. So far. No timers that I've seen, no cool-down period. It's just good old Thunderstone in an easy to play format.

I did just find info that a some point to proceed in the campaign and unlock new cards, you do need to do a FB purchase of the new material. Runs about $1.50 per add-on. Just so you know...

Campaign? I'd just use this for playing with friends. Do there appear to be any limitations in that vein?

Jow wrote:Campaign? I'd just use this for playing with friends. Do there appear to be any limitations in that vein?

I think the only limit will is on the cards that are available for you to use to play.

First order of business: @#%$ YouTube and $#%@ video conversion right in the %$#!

Second order of business:
Speaking of conversions of boardgames, an iPad version of Caylus was just released. Now I've never played the actual version of Caylus, but this one seems pretty faithful and fun. I'm still trying to learn what it all means, but I put it on par with Carcassonne, Catan, Ticket to Ride, Ghost Stories, and Puerto Rico for iPad boardgaming excellence.

I've got 4 friends coming over tonight for a round of gaming, and I've got 3 new games to try out: Dixit, A game of thrones 2nd ed and Ticket to Ride: Europe.
Dixit will make for a nice filler game to start/end the evening with I guess. But I'm not sure which other game I should introduce. I haven't played either of them, and while 3 of my friends are quite seasoned boardgamers, the other one is a relative newbie (having only played Battlestar Galactica a couple of times, and struggling with the rules each time).

I should probably try Ticket to Ride I guess, because it seems to be much simpler than Game of Thrones, but I would really like to see Thrones hit the table. I'm reading the books now (haven't watched the series yet), and I just like those kind of games. Suggestions? Play time is also an important issue. I'm afraid that a learning game of Thrones with 5 players might take too long...

Alright, my video reviews for Dungeon Petz and Eminent Domain are up! You can see them at BGG at these links:

Dungeon Petz Review

Eminent Domain Review

I also have a video review for Eclipse that needs to be spliced and converted, then uploaded (and with my fervor here, I think you will be surprised at how negative it is... although not saying I don't like Eclipse). I'll try to get that posted tomorrow, for people wanting to see the components and hear me pontificate.

Game of Thrones will absolutely take up your entire evening, and then some. It's not a short game no matter what, and if your group is prone to discussion/AP, it takes even longer. The one time I played it several years ago, I think it was at least four hours, but I might be mis-remembering. TTR is an hour or two, tops.

Excellent job, Bael! I watched part of one and it was quite informative. I'll watch more tonight.

Chaz, did they change up Game of Thrones a great deal from the original version? I've played the 1st edition and I didn't think it was that long of a game, but I am practically brain dead when it comes to remembering anything older than 12 minutes.

I'm pretty sure they just added the mandatory stuff from the expansion in, and maybe changed some art? I was also playing with six players and it was a long time ago, so I might be misremembering too, but I wouldn't count on it taking much less than 2-3 hours at best.

Chaz, Nick, and I along with another buddy played a round of Britannia last night. Love that game, and before last night hadn't played it in a long while. I was green, so I controlled the welsh, caledonians, jutes, and danes, and won. The couple big things that really swung my way is that the Romans never went after the Welsh, while the Irish (who did go after the Welsh) rolled pretty poorly. So as the Welsh I was able to rack up a lot of points burning Roman forts after the legions headed up north, plus I was able to control all of the Welsh territories for pretty much the whole game (except for losing Devon and Cornwall in the southwest to the Saxons, but that wasn't until the last few turns). Controlling all of Wales is usually worth ~ 20 points per scoring phase for the Welsh, so I think them alone wound up scoring me close to 130 points.

I think one key virtue to green is that you can rack up a lot of points fairly unobtrusively - a couple skirmishes with the Welsh outside of England, and a couple Caledonian-Pict battles, but otherwise until the Danes show up you're not getting in a lot of people's faces, but you can still hide behind the mountains and still score a lot of points.

welp...I have ordered the RuneWars expansion (Banners of War), Middle Earth Quest, Flashpoint: Fire Rescue, and the Quarriors expansion. They should all arrive Thursday.

This has got to be it for a while, though. Glad I bought these though, as I have been wanting to for quite some time. And the Fire Rescue game my oldest son really wants that one. Really looking forward to playing Middle Earth Quest either this Monday or next. And RuneWars will be brought back out on the Monday that we do not play Middle Earth Quest.

And my other son L.O.V.E.S!!!!!!! Quarriors. So, that will make him happy.

Oh, and I also got the other promo for Yggdrasil and the Quarriors promos from BGG....Lots of stuff coming down the pike to me.

I have free Amazon money and am dangerously close to getting Quarriors. It is either that or wait until the new release of Nexus Ops. But Nexus Ops seems a lot like Conquest of Nerath without some of the coolness.

baelthazar wrote:I have free Amazon money and am dangerously close to getting Quarriors. It is either that or wait until the new release of Nexus Ops. But Nexus Ops seems a lot like Conquest of Nerath without some of the coolness.

Quarriors is the ultimate filler game. Can be played in 30 minutes and takes 5 minutes to learn. It should be in every gamer's arsenal.

Over the Christmas holiday, I made a copy of Hanabi from 3 copies of Phase 10, available at places like Wal-Mart, for a total of 15 bucks. I marked 10 of the "Wild" cards on the corners, placing 1,1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,5 in marker on the corners.

The rules are available via the BGG link. If anyone here has an interest in a simple-to-learn, brain-burning, cooperative, fucking fantastic game, I'd suggest doing the same.

How can this be out of print?!

SpaceLord wrote: How can this be out of print?!

Piracy.

baelthazar wrote: Also Memoir has a large number of expansions and scenario books - which is a good and bad thing. Good for replay, bad for the wallet. I have heard that the air expansion adds much more "hardcore" rules to the system, so if you want a deeper minis game, you might pick it up.

My buddy picked this up for Xmas and he's going insane waiting to play in a few weeks. I think he's been playing the game by himself, just rolling the dice and figuring out the rules. He's also started eying up the expansions and campaign books, though he's getting frustrated at finding the Air Pack as apparently it went out of print in 2010.

Regardless, it does look like it'll be a good time, though we're going to try it with 4 players, 2v2.

Smoove_B wrote:

baelthazar wrote: Also Memoir has a large number of expansions and scenario books - which is a good and bad thing. Good for replay, bad for the wallet. I have heard that the air expansion adds much more "hardcore" rules to the system, so if you want a deeper minis game, you might pick it up.

My buddy picked this up for Xmas and he's going insane waiting to play in a few weeks. I think he's been playing the game by himself, just rolling the dice and figuring out the rules. He's also started eying up the expansions and campaign books, though he's getting frustrated at finding the Air Pack as apparently it went out of print in 2010.

Regardless, it does look like it'll be a good time, though we're going to try it with 4 players, 2v2.

4 players with just a base set? Hmm. Tricky. Not sure how I would do it without the Operation Overlord expansion.

I guess the players on a side could take turns playing, moving and rolling. But that seems to feel...lacking. I don't think I would want to play it that way. Split the hand of action cards between the players, and then have them just take turns with fewer cards? Possible. But tricky...you're reducing your options by half. Guess you could split the board down the middle and have both players play one flank and share the center flank, but then what do you do if you get a bunch of cards that aren't for your flank?

I hope trying it with 4 players doesn't dilute your experience...

I think he read something either on the Memoir'44 website or in the second campaign book about setting up 2,3 and 4 player games. I've never played so I can't say for sure but splitting the game board and having people control the center element or flanks sounds familiar.

All I know is that he's mandated we're playing.

I'm certain he's looking into various expansions to allow for a more complete 3 and 4 player game, but I'll definitely report back in when it's all over.

hepcat wrote:

baelthazar wrote:I have free Amazon money and am dangerously close to getting Quarriors. It is either that or wait until the new release of Nexus Ops. But Nexus Ops seems a lot like Conquest of Nerath without some of the coolness.

Quarriors is the ultimate filler game. Can be played in 30 minutes and takes 5 minutes to learn. It should be in every gamer's arsenal.

Is the Corruption/Demons expansion necessary or can I just be happy with the base set?

We just played our first game a few weeks ago with the base set and it went very well. I'm actually hesitant to buy the Demon expansion for fear of messing with the base rules before we've had a chance to get used to them. Highly recommended -- it really went over quite well and it does play fast.

Unless you substitute a substantial number of the cards from the base with the expansion cards when playing, you probably won't see much of the expansion come into play. They do have rules for adding in the expansion set at various levels though. I would say it's not essential, but it does add some variety after you've played the base game numerous times.

Rise of the Demons adds a new set of Corrupted Quiddity dice to go along with Basic Quiddity, Portals and Assistants, a new set of Corruption Spell dice (with cards for 4 different versions) and a new set of Demonic Overlord dice (also with cards for 4 different versions). It also comes with cards for 1 new version of each existing creature in the game (Corrupted Quake Dragon, Corrupted Deathdealer, Corrupted Questing Wizard, etc.) There are rules that explain how Corrupted Quiddity are used, and introduce a few new concepts to the game that the new creatures and spells come with like removing dice from the game, how creatures might be immune to damage, etc.

As Hepcat mentioned, how big an effect all this has on the game depends on how you incorporate the expansion with the base game. For my first game I simply shuffled the new cards in with the existing and setup the game as normal. A few Corrupted creatures were drawn, but no Corruption spell. As it happened, none of the Corrupted creatures we drew worked with the Corrupted Quiddity mechanic so that didn't even come into play and we were left with basically a "normal" game of Quarriors.

You're basically free to modify the game setup however you like. We played a few games with 4 creatures from the Corrupted deck, 3 normals, but shuffling the spells up together and that worked out nicely if you want a mix of the old and new. Having said that, I really think the new Corrupted creatures are more interesting than any of the base game ones and think playing an all-Corrupted game is good too.

The expansion doesn't add a lot in terms of complexity (all the new powers and abilities are spelled out on the cards) but I think it's a better, more interesting mix. All you're really phasing out are the creature cards from the base game, you're still using the dice... but the Corrupted versions of the creatures are really neat. In particular, the Corrupted Devotee of the Holy Query (all 3 versions from the base game are pretty weak IMO) has a neat deck-cycling ability and the Corrupted Deathdealer trades in a pretty notable weakness (they're destroyed whenever anyone puts a spell die in play) for a powerful 4 glory whenever they do score.

my games arrived. Banners of War looks awesome (we will be playing that this Monday morning). The Fire Rescue game looks pretty good (will be playing that this weekend sometime with the family). But the game that impresses me the most? Middle Earth Quest. What a gorgeous game!! The figures are incredible. Although, Gothmog's axehead was broken. I sent a request into FFG to hopefully replace it. Different type of plastic than most other games...very detailed, but seem very fragile. Gotta be careful with them.

Great purchases....

There was a widespread problem with the early runs of figures being horribly broken or warped. FFG was excellent about sending out new sets. I had to have mine replaced, so now I've got my really warped Ringwraiths figure sitting on my desk.

no warping (as far as I can tell)...in fact, they all look incredibly great. Just Gothmog's axehead was broken off. Kinda scary, though, because all of them feel very fragile. No dropping of them. I wonder if I could purchase an extra set of just the figures "just in case"....

I haven't been part of this thread, but I've learned a lot from skimming it.

This Christmas we bought Ticket to Ride and Memoir 44 for the family. Days of Wonder FTW!

My eight-year-old is really into Memoir 44, so much so that I'm starting to wonder if WW2 is the thing that will pry him away from Star Wars. We're having great fun with it.

Just as an FYI -- I discovered for the first time earlier this week that STEAM is actually offering Memoir'44 Online -- it's a free-to-play game that does support micro transactions. Maybe if he knows he can play the board game version and the electronic version his transformation will be complete.

Finally got to try Eclipse last night. It's a decent game, and I can see why everyone is so ga-ga over it, but I was a little underwhelmed. The winner pretty much ran away with the game after a) exploring a ton of tiles with the "ancient ships" to defeat in combat, then b) lucking into 2 or 3 of the lost alien tech upgrades that turned his ships into unstoppable death machines. The rest of us putzed along with okay but not stellar civs, and he pretty much wiped the floor with us. I like the theme and gameplay, but it seems like luck can play a huge factor.

After that was a game of War of the Ring, the new 2nd edition. It was epic as always, with a narrow Sauron win over a surprisingly militarized Free Peoples (I was within one region of conquering a second Shadow stronghold, but lacked the proper Action die). Thoughts on the 2nd edition - I like the larger cards, they seem to have been clarified and were easier to read. As for the board, it's functionally better - the new symbology really does help. However, I still prefer the look of the original board. This new edition board looks like a nice game board. The original board looks like a nice map.

Finally got to try Eclipse last night. It's a decent game, and I can see why everyone is so ga-ga over it, but I was a little underwhelmed. The winner pretty much ran away with the game after a) exploring a ton of tiles with the "ancient ships" to defeat in combat, then b) lucking into 2 or 3 of the lost alien tech upgrades that turned his ships into unstoppable death machines. The rest of us putzed along with okay but not stellar civs, and he pretty much wiped the floor with us. I like the theme and gameplay, but it seems like luck can play a huge factor.

I noted this in my video review of Eclipse. I really think luck may be too much of a factor, particularly when the rest of the game is such a "pure economic," plan limited actions, budget your spending, expand carefully, type of game. I was greeted with a lot of hem and hawing to my assertion that early money planet draws was a large factor in how many actions are available to a play and having more actions will largely lead to more success. The discovery tiles can, as you said, be a big factor too.

I'm also not convinced that the races are balanced. I said this in my comments thread and was greeted with "They are really balanced! But you have to know how to play! For instance, if you let the Planta expand using their power, without stopping them, they will win the game." To me, if a race has a power that lets them win, simply by using their power (and not even wisely, just using it), so that it forces all the other players to deal with that race and its power - that's the definition of imbalance (unless every race has such a power). The manual even says don't use the Planta and another race (can't remember which) in a two player game... that looks pretty damning as far as my assertion of imbalance.

I had a fine time with Eclipse, but it wasn't the clean and awesome fun I expected.

I had hoped to play Super Dungeon Explore today, but was too tired. Hopefully next week. I also buckled and ordered the new Nexus Ops and Quarriors (along with my previous pre-order of the new Wiz-War). I'm excited to get those soon!

Went to a local-ish Boardgame meetup a friend found on Meetup.com. Played DOMINION for the first time. I am totally hooked. What a great fun game!

Orgull,

I have Dominion and some of the expansions (not all of them, but I think most) if you would like them in a trade or just to purchase. I never play it, and it just sits in the cabinet....

MythicalMino wrote:Orgull,

I have Dominion and some of the expansions (not all of them, but I think most) if you would like them in a trade or just to purchase. I never play it, and it just sits in the cabinet....

That might be a plan. I don't have much for trade though. Only games I have in mint condition are Ticket to Ride Europe and Carcassone and I play them both. My Settlers looks like its been hit by a bus. And I buy most of my PC games digitally. Was there somthing specific you were looking for?

After my earlier protests against Mage Knight due to my distaste for the designer's earlier endeavors, I'm happy to report that I was completely wrong to feel that way.

I picked up a copy after reading so many glowing reviews and I'm glad I did. This game is deep but streamlined. It also is the best damn solo experience you can get in boardgaming so far, imho.

I just wish Wizkids had spent a bit more on components as the cards are the disappointingly thing stock used in Star Trek Fleet Captains (another game I enjoy quite a bit). Thankfully the map tiles are of a thicker stock that STFC's tiles though.

I finished a round of the intro scenario this afternoon and it was a blast. I'm not sure it's a game that will play well with a full game of 4...or 3 to be honest...due to the downtime and potential AP that could occur, but if you have a casual group that doesn't mind the downtime if they have a satisfying and fun game then it shouldn't be an issue.

But really, even if you can't find another player, this game is worth it because the solitaire version just plays so dang well.

As soon as they reprint it, I will buy Mage Knight. I'm kicking myself for not grabbing it early on.

how have you guys done with the solo conquest? I get my backside handed to me badly....

on another note, I have been learning the rules for Middle Earth Quest. Another winner of a game, in my opinion. Possibly will be playing that one tomorrow morning (have a cold that is starting to go away, so hopefully it will be gone by morning).

Smoove_B wrote:Just as an FYI -- I discovered for the first time earlier this week that STEAM is actually offering Memoir'44 Online -- it's a free-to-play game that does support micro transactions. Maybe if he knows he can play the board game version and the electronic version his transformation will be complete.

I love Memoir'44 Online... but it's not really free-to-play. You buy a block of "gold ingots" which are used as currency when playing a game. Playing one map as one side usually costs 2-3 ingots depending on the size of the scenario. When I started playing they gave you 100 free ingots when you registered, then that went down to 50 free ingots once the game was officially released. At a quick glance it looks like the Steam version lets you play 2 small scenarios for free but they'll get old pretty quick.

So it is pay-to-play, but I think the cost per game is very reasonable. You can buy blocks of 200 / 1000 / 2400 ingots for $8 / $30 / $60... but it's worth noting the $60 bundle also includes a $30 dollar coupon for board game purchases from the Days of Wonder site. The game software is really nice and while I certainly love breaking out Memoir'44 to play live... it can be a pain to setup and take down. Memoir'44 Online lets you play games really quick.

I got to play games this weekend!

Through the Desert - Pretty light, but clearly one of Knizia's masterpieces because I won. Place camels near oasises (oases?) and near watering holes for points creating large caravans for more points, capturing territory for even more points.

Settlers of Catan - My first time playing the game and I was pretty clueless (and where the hell was my brick!). Not a bad game, but I don't see my wife being interested. It feels pretty abstract.

Formula D - Played the Basic game again. One day I will play the advanced game, but it took a good 90 minutes for 1 lap with 6 players. I can't even imagine the full rules game. It was more of a demolition derby than a race. 3 of 6 cars were destroyed at the end, one from a collision exiting last turn, one that took the last turn too fast and one that crossed the finish line in 6th gear to take second place and decimate his car in what must have been a fatal wreck in turn 1.

The chumps all went in to the 3 stop turn on the far end of the course too fast and limped out, while I came out flying and hit everything just right on the straight. The last two turns were dicey and I might have lost if not for that last turn collision that took out the biggest threat. I love this game, I just wish it didn't take so long to play. We didn't even have captain slow turn at our table this time and it still dragged.

As usual, I wish the boardgame meetup started earlier and ended later.

I've been dying to some parlour gaming and I did no gaming at all this weekend. Something is amiss. I need to find a parlour gaming group around here, somewhere. I know one has to exist. I combed meetup.com and there is a parlour gaming group... about a 60 minute drive away in the northern by north eastern suburbs. This is why I should have kids when I was young. They could be almost people, being in their late teens and they'd be in to the family hobby of gaming and we'd have poker nights and nights for assorted games like Bullshit, Hand and Foot, Hearts, Spades, Pinochle, Cribbage, Rook, Yahtzee, etc... that goes back generations... I should find a way to be more active with my nieces and nephews and get them into parlour games as all three of my sisters have been woefully irresponsible in handing this trait down to the next generation and my brother was as bad as me about having children.