Octopus Overlords

hepcat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2020 5:26 pm Whoo hoo, too many bones trove chest arrives Thursday. I must admit to being worried by all the stories of damaged chests though.

Mine arrives Thursday as well. I know that people with negative opinions post much more often, but I sure have seen a lot of folks posting about terribly damaged contents. Odds are it will arrive intact, but I am SO nervous that my chest will come looking like it was already bashed and looted by boardgaming hooligans.

Mine wasn't damaged, but it doesn't all fit together quite right. The sliding front panel just kind of pops off and it can be difficult to get it into the tracks.

On the flip side it looks really nice and organizes everything pretty well.

On the flip, flip side, you are probably not using this to transport TMB to game night. Once it is on the shelf it will stay there. With all the goodies loaded up it weighs in at 42 pounds and it's a pretty good fit in the Kallax.

That’s why I hired a sherpa.

I enjoyed my first play of Cthulhu Wars so much, it convinced me to add more junk onto my Glorantha: The Gods War pledge. And not even gameplay-related junk: a neoprene map, big plastic buildings to replace the cardboard token buildings, other big chunks of plastic whose sole purpose is to hold pieces of cardboard a few inches above the table:



Someone please come take away my credit card.

coopasonic wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2020 9:07 pm On the flip, flip side, you are probably not using this to transport TMB to game night. Once it is on the shelf it will stay there. With all the goodies loaded up it weighs in at 42 pounds and it's a pretty good fit in the Kallax.

Oh, yeah, I would say trying to move this thing will end in a broken box. While it seems solid enough while sitting there, it doesn't feel solid enough to me to pick up while fully loaded.

I will say that I am not getting rid of my original boxes, to be honest. This is a backup in case the Trove Chest implodes one day.

Sounds like it isn't quite what I was hoping it would be. Does it at least allow for quick set up and tear down through stuff you can take out of it and bring to the table?

Optimally it would be on a shelf near your table. It makes it really easy to get to the characters and boss stuff you want and it has labels to organize the regular monster chips by types so it should help with setup and teardown time and the drawers can be taken out and taken to the table for various bits you need.

PC game

Okay, got my trove chest yesterday. Took me over 3 hours to fill it with everything as I kept changing my mind on how to organize the baddies, dice, etc.. It’s hefty, I will say. The only damage is that the back panel is pulled away from the frame a bit, but it’s not worth opening a return request over.

I did find out I’m missing one tyrant card for the goblin queen while putting the tyrants into their trays. That sucks, but thankfully it’s not a card that gets drawn. It’s just a reference for the boss fight and I’ve already found an image of it online. Still, I sent chip theory an email asking if I could buy a replacement off them. I’m already so invested in the game it feels weird having something missing now. My best guess is that it got tossed out when I was using the upgrade pack a while back to replace outdated components.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Oct 17, 2020 8:48 pm Okay, got my trove chest yesterday. Took me over 3 hours to fill it with everything as I kept changing my mind on how to organize the baddies, dice, etc.. It’s hefty, I will say. The only damage is that the back panel is pulled away from the frame a bit, but it’s not worth opening a return request over.

I did find out I’m missing one tyrant card for the goblin queen while putting the tyrants into their trays. That sucks, but thankfully it’s not a card that gets drawn. It’s just a reference for the boss fight and I’ve already found an image of it online. Still, I sent chip theory an email asking if I could buy a replacement off them. I’m already so invested in the game it feels weird having something missing now. My best guess is that it got tossed out when I was using the upgrade pack a while back to replace outdated components.

I also spent much of Saturday filling my Trove Chest. I was lucky and only had one tiny strip of wood come unglued--an easy fix that's totally unnoticeable now that the glue has dried.

I've held off playing the material from Slice & Dice until my Trove Chest came in and look forward to trying it out. I'm not sold on the Build-a-Tyrant portion of the game, but I'll certainly give it a go. If nothing else, I'm excited about the additional gearlocs, 3 pt. baddies, and tyrants. TMB is one of my most played games, and added variety is always welcome.

The KS for Dungeon Universalis ends in about 24 hours. Reading over the material on the KS I had the impression the game was really similar to GloomHaven but after watching a few videos and reading reviews it appears it has enough unique ideas and mechanics to distinguish it from other dungeon crawlers. The original release seems to have been well received with most of the negatives (rulebook) being addressed in this reprint.

Also looking at Twisted Fables, a head to head deck builder fighter. I typically try and stick with games that have a solo mode, although Dice Thrones is one of my favorite games, but the theme of this game really intrigues me. Twisted Fable

Smoove said we should back it, so I backed it.

On the Too Many Bones front, I used my new storage solution to set up a game in record time. I love how quick it is now. I was playing within 5 minutes of selecting a tyrant and a gearloc.

I went with Tink because I’ve never had any interest in playing him. But true to form, the moment I play any of the characters I find out how fun they are. With Tink it was all about the attachments.

Oh, and the Build a Tyrant mechanics are actually quite fun. I think you’d enjoy it if you give it a shot.

Anyone interested in scheduling a learning game of The Transcontinental (coming to KS next month)?

I noticed the game during awSHUX and thought it looked neat, but didn't have time to join a demo session. The designer is scheduling TTS learning games, and while I could schedule a 1:1 session, that seems like a recipe for awkwardness. Would much rather join with one or more of you weirdos. I could go to other sources of weirdos on the internet, but you all are the creme de la creme in that particular category.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Oct 17, 2020 8:48 pm I did find out I’m missing one tyrant card for the goblin queen while putting the tyrants into their trays. That sucks, but thankfully it’s not a card that gets drawn. It’s just a reference for the boss fight and I’ve already found an image of it online. Still, I sent chip theory an email asking if I could buy a replacement off them. I’m already so invested in the game it feels weird having something missing now. My best guess is that it got tossed out when I was using the upgrade pack a while back to replace outdated components.

And CTG just replied, telling me they'll ship me a replacement soon gratis. You gotta love that kind of customer service. I even told them it was my fault.

Freedom Five: A Sentinel Comics Board Game has launched

A cooperative comic book adventure game created by the award-winning designers Richard Launius & the Sadler Brothers.

Darkest Dungeon... the board game!

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 1:02 pm Freedom Five: A Sentinel Comics Board Game has launched

A cooperative comic book adventure game created by the award-winning designers Richard Launius & the Sadler Brothers.

Yep. That's an insta-back. Huge fan of Defenders of the Realm. One of my favorite co-op games. While I never got into Sentinels, I am excited for this.

It looks like it's a no-brainer if you're a fan of the Sentinels universe that's for sure. Very spendy though.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 2:13 pm It looks like it's a no-brainer if you're a fan of the Sentinels universe that's for sure. Very spendy though.

Yes this went from instant back to "how much do the want for this?" The basic pledge is very basic and the all in isn't that impressive for $200 bucks. Watched a few of the beta how to play videos and so far it seems like a mash up of a couple of different popular board games and a little convoluted. I love SoTM but going to have to give this a little thought.

Tao wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 2:26 pm

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Tue Oct 20, 2020 2:13 pm It looks like it's a no-brainer if you're a fan of the Sentinels universe that's for sure. Very spendy though.

Yes this went from instant back to "how much do the want for this?" The basic pledge is very basic and the all in isn't that impressive for $200 bucks. Watched a few of the beta how to play videos and so far it seems like a mash up of a couple of different popular board games and a little convoluted. I love SoTM but going to have to give this a little thought.

I have gotten more plays out of my copy of Defenders than any other game. The base $100 pledge should give me everything I need. I might add on the Community Campaign Pledge. I can paint my own minis and don't need fancy dice or card sleeves.

I'm in for Freedom Five after watching the tutorial playthrough. Looks like a mash-up of games and game mechanics I love:

- Dice chucking to resolve challenges, but mitigatable through abilities
- Pandemic-style outbreak management - henchmen are essentially disease cubes in this game
- Large variety of actions you can take, but limited in *number* of actions you can take
- The hero/alter-ego flipping of Marvel Champions, where each form has certain actions that can only be done in that form
- Classic co-op "doom track" where failing to contain threats advances the end game
- Card based abilities ala Sentinels or Street Masters

In short, it's a mash-up of Marvel Champions, Pandemic, Sentinels/Street Masters.

That said, there's a LOT going on here and I do have some slight concern it could get a bit fiddly. Your hero has a shitload of cards (hand limit is 12!), a special ability per form he is in, Special/Justice goals to work on in addition to the main game board, dice, and then his own roster of probably 8 or so possible actions. The threats on the board include henchmen, Anarchy tokens, Mastermind tokens, villains, and the Mastermind himself. The henchmen and villains are in four different colors, all of which are easier against some heroes than others and may have in-game effects depending on color, AND the game is scenario based so any of the above is subject to change just based on the scenario you're in! That's before you even look at the game board which has some 20+ locations and just looks like a sprawling comic-book colored mess.

All that said, it looks like a FUN type of mess, pure Ameritrash co-op junk food and I want to play it REALLY bad.

Now I just have to decide if I want to go in at $99 for the minis upgrades, go cheap with the standee version, or compromise and do standees with the hero minis upgrade....

The one thing I really like about the $99 tier is that they've got a deluxe storage box going with it, and this game looks PLENTY ripe for expansions down the road.

As stated in the KS, there's a free preview on Tabletopia, so I'm going to try to dig into that tonight before deciding.

That's where I'm at. However, I backed Hour of Need from the Sadlers and that's a superhero game based on their street masters mechanics...a known quantity for me. If I do back, it would most likely be at the 50 buck level to save some moolah (Shakes fist at Dungeon Universalis for being so tempting).

Or I may just wait for retail.

(Kickstarter Adjacent) Street Masters Tide of the Dragon is now on Indiegogo:

A standalone expansion to Street Masters, the game of street brawling action for 1-4 players!

Shipping May 2021

Goodbye 150 dollars. I hardly knew you.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Wed Oct 21, 2020 1:15 pm (Kickstarter Adjacent) Street Masters Tide of the Dragon is now on Indiegogo:

A standalone expansion to Street Masters, the game of street brawling action for 1-4 players!

Shipping May 2021

Hmm, more of the same for 50 bucks? Consider me a strong maybe!

I ordered that, both redemption packs, the challenger pack, twin tigers and the rumble pack (not sure I need it, but what the heck...why not for 15 bucks). That should give me everything that's available for the game at this point.

I'm down for the Tide of the Dragon + the Challenger pack. It's easy when you own everything else.

I do like how it's all self contained so I can just keep this box separate from the 37lb box of Aftershock + everything else stuff I have.

I was actually hoping to just throw all this stuff into my Aftershock box.

edit: whoops, didn't realize the rumble pack is actually included in the Tide of the Dragon pledge. Need to refund my order and do it again now.

I almost bought the first edition on ebay, then I stumbled upon this:



Perhaps someone here is also interested?

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Oct 17, 2020 8:48 pm Okay, got my trove chest yesterday.

Just got mine and there are some minor areas on the outside where it tore and the liner around the front door mount shifted making it impossible to open the bottom drawer. I can fix all them and won't be pursuing any type of support as I don't know how they could realistically ship this thing and not have it damaged in some minor way - it's insane.

I feel like I need to update my will as this feels like a future family heirloom.It's easily my most frivolous board gaming purchase in the last 10 years, but just looking at it is bringing me genuine joy. The amount of thought that went into crafting this and all the additional storage components is off the charts; I have nothing to compare it to in my collection.

Did everyone find the secret? I chuckled.

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:24 pm
I feel like I need to update my will as this feels like a future family heirloom.It's easily my most frivolous board gaming purchase in the last 10 years, but just looking at it is bringing me genuine joy. The amount of thought that went into crafting this and all the additional storage components is off the charts; I have nothing to compare it to in my collection.

Did everyone find the secret? I chuckled.

Agreed. I walk through my game room, glance at the Trove Chest, and it brings a smile to my face every single time. The set up when you own everything for the game was always a chore. The simple act of unpacking the base box loaded with all its goodies, sorting what you need for a game, then putting the unneeded items back in the box took up way too much time.

Now I can stroll over, open the drawers I need, and have a game up and running in very little time. TOTALLY worth the money, for me at any rate.

As to the "secret", I'm so glad people have spoken about it online. Mine had slipped between one of the shelves and the back wall, and was in so tight I never would have discovered it. Fun little additions like that are always welcome!

Just to make sure, the secret is

That's what I was referring to yes.

Cool, just making sure I didn’t miss it.

Wait...did you also get the autographed photo of Mr. Furley from Three's Company?

Smoove_B wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 9:39 pm Wait...did you also get the autographed photo of Mr. Furley from Three's Company?

I was promised a Mr. Roper!

I did...but I already ruined it.

Got my "confirm your email address by the 30th" email from QML for Altar Quest, so that means it's shipping in a week or two.

I spent some time reading the rules for this follow up game from the Sadler bros using the street master modular rules set, and I'm intrigued by the changes. While I'm not a fan of moving the victory condition off the boss and onto the case card (read: environment card from SM) in Brook City (the other game in the franchise), it doesn't look like it will artificially extend game time in Altar Quest the same way due to their moving the win conditions onto the similar mechanic they call quest cards. Overall, the quests sound more focused than the cases in Brook City.

Also, moving the threat phase out of each heroes round and making it a full round like the villain and quest phase is new. Everyone will activate the stuff in their threat area consecutively, instead of getting an action round immediately before doing so. That may lead to more thematic action, it seems. But of course, I'll know once I get it.

But overall, I'm liking what I'm reading.

BATTLE OF THE ANCIENTS is a tactical strategy game set in the DARK VENTURE universe where players control asymmetric factions engaging in brutal conflict. To begin a game, players select a FACTION to control: ORPAL, VARPEN, DHARGON, BOHMERK or ALDERKANG.

Each asymmetric faction is easy to pick up and play. While the core game play remains the same for all factions (rolling the Action dice, moving, drawing cards, combat, etc.), they each have unique, easy-to-learn abilities and skills, described in detail on their dashboards.

Still a fan of Dark Venture and the art.