Octopus Overlords

The thing about the Magister's Orb quest is that the usefulness of it decreases as the number of players decreases. With only 2 players, you tend to have enough actions and open spaces to find alternative paths. With more players, the board fills up and every action counts, so the ability to place where an enemy placed is golden. I really like how LoW feels like a different game with different numbers of players and that it is still fun and scales well.

Lords of Waterdeep was a hit with the wife! (and I liked it, too) She got a little intimidated by the D&D setting and all the flavor text on the cards, but after repeated assurances that none of that stuff mattered "you just need to get enough orange guys for those points!" we got the game going and she really got into it.

Questions!

When you assign an agent and get some new units in your tavern, can you immediately use those newly gathered units to complete a quest?

and similarly,

If you get a new quest card from assigning an agent, can that newly gotten quest be the one you beat as part of that agent placement turn?

Yes and yes. Only one quest can be completed per agent placement, though, so keep that in mind.

With the kids out of town, this turned into a big gaming weekend.

Eclipse was on the table Friday night for a 3-player game. Tile placement became a factor when I secured my right flank to avoid any wormholes. That neighbor did the same thing on his right flank, leaving himself completely protected with the core world as the only easy route into his territory. After he took the galactic core with a 4 HP cruiser fleet (alien 3-point armor), he could hang back and watch the other player invade me. His discovery of 3/4 point warp drives allowed his fleet to assemble and penetrate my star base's missile defenses. By invading my money worlds on a turn I was already extended by taking too many actions, I risked galactic bankruptcy. Fortunately, I kept enough territory to sacrifice only 1 additional zone and burn through my research resources. I had the feeling both players liked the Euro nature of the economy and actions, but the missiles made the guy attacking me overestimate the risks of combat. My homeworld survived only by the threat of a counter-attack from the player holding a fleet in the galactic core.

On Saturday, I picked up Lords of Waterdeep and got in a 5 player game. It was quite fun, but the board gets very crowded. I don't think I was able to get a single rogue after alternating between 3rd and 4th player. The score turned out to be rather competitive with each player scoring 3-4 bonus quests. For the second time, I completed the "get a free warrior" when you get a warrior quest. While a great bonus, it really encourages the other players to deny you the military quests.

Played a few games of The Resistance on Saturday. A few of the other players had obvious tells in their voting for mission teams, which made spotting them too easy. The right mix of people is necessary for your Traitor to remain hidden.

We also played a partial game of 51st State. I like the new rules, but now hepcat never builds anything where I can send my workers! Having an army of workers with nothing to do is not helpful. I want to play again and finish.

Finally got in a 4 player game of Galaxy Trucker with a different group of club members, they all loved it. It's a light hearted game where the fun is trying to build the best ship you can, then watching it all fall apart as you encounter hazards.

First flight went okay for everyone. The second flight only had one of us making it through to the finish. The third flight was hilarious as a chain of meteors and attacks systematically took off large chunks off my ship, leaving only a narrow strip in the middle still protected by lazers. Sadly, without an engine I had to give up once I hit open space.

Wanted to game yesterday but between flying back from my sister's and getting ready for the work week I was too tired to motivate - which sucks because I know I won't get to game this week or weekend either.

<----- Sitting by the phone, waiting for the call.

Remus West wrote:Wanted to game yesterday but between flying back from my sister's and getting ready for the work week I was too tired to motivate - which sucks because I know I won't get to game this week or weekend either.

<----- Never really sits by the phone waiting for a call but has no real life and is almost always up for something, especially when it's raining and he can feel justified in ignoring his lawn.

He also would have shared a killer BBQ Roast Beef this weekend and thinks he's finally perfected his recipe by changing the base for the BBQ from gravy, which still eludes him, to an Italian beef style au jous spiced by store bought packet of Louis'. OMG it was good.

Chaosraven wrote:<----- Sitting by the phone, waiting for the call.

Remus West wrote:Wanted to game yesterday but between flying back from my sister's and getting ready for the work week I was too tired to motivate - which sucks because I know I won't get to game this week or weekend either.

Chaosraven wrote:<----- Sitting by the phone, waiting for the call.

Remus West wrote:Wanted to game yesterday but between flying back from my sister's and getting ready for the work week I was too tired to motivate - which sucks because I know I won't get to game this week or weekend either.

I'd say to shoot for Friday but I know you'll be working and I have to coach at the crack of dawn Saturday so I'd have to be done very early. I suck. I know.

Finally got to try Lords of Waterdeep, playing two games with friends over the weekend. Nothing new here, but what it does it does really well. I especially like how tight games are - in both cases our scores were up around the 100-point range, but the difference between first and last place was always really small, maybe 5-10 points.

Also played a game of Cyclades, one of my favorites. Seems like this one really needs a couple of plays to get a handle on. New players never seem to realize that yes, you CAN go from seeming to have nothing to building two metropolises and winning the game in about a turn and a half. It surprises me how fast things can change, and you really have to watch carefully at what everyone else is doing.

Never had a chance to report back on my Lords of Waterdeep game with the family. I guilted them all into playing, throwing out the "I'm going to be gone all next week, I wanted to do something together as a family" line. Seemed to work, as I managed to (reluctantly) get them all to the table.

Overall, it went really well. They were very dubious when I started laying out the counters and the cards and everything, and not a tremendous amount of attention was paid during the rules explanation, but with some guidance on my part, we made it through the first two turns and then were off and running. I wasn't sure my 9 year old would be able to keep up with everything, but he did surprisingly well for this being his first non-co-op strategy game. At one point he completed a really nice quest chain, where completing a lesser skullduggery quest gave him VPs and a ton of rogues that he needed for a 25 point skullduggery quest. It was fun seeing the wheels start turning in his head as he was working through all of the options.

The game took a lot longer than I had anticipated, not because of AP, but because of my kids horseplay at the table, getting all angry at each other when they would be hit with Intrigue cards or someone would take the spot that they wanted. At one point, my 12 year old daughter repeatedly punched my 16 year old daughter in the arm after she took a spot she wanted for the second time in a row.

When the dust settled and all of the VPs were counted, my wife came in last (but she claims she finally caught onto the strategy at the end), my 16 year old came in 4th (she kind of stopped trying around turn 6 when she realized she could never catch up), my 9 year old son came in a close third to my 2nd (like 106-108). The surprise was my 12 year old, and how she cleaned all of our clocks. She finished a solid 35 points ahead of me.

Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and I think I'll be able to get it on the table with them again. My wife said she would definitely play it again, so that's a good thing.

My wife seems to like (read that as tolerate) Lords of Waterdeep. It is one that she is willing to play, at least. That and Cyclades...love Cyclades.

Still waiting for my copy of Poseidon's Kingdom. Fedex tracking says it has been sitting in Ft. Worth since before 6 am Friday morning. And tracking says it is due to be delivered tomorrow. Not sure how they are going to swing that unless their tracking of this package is just wrong. Kinda irritates me, though...if they can move it from Ft. Worth, TX to Coldwater, MI in less than 24 hours, then why didn't they do that Friday into Saturday? And if they end up pushing the delivery date back a few more days...I am really going to be pissed. Especially considering it sat in Ft. Worth for 2 whole shipping days (Home Delivery delivers on Saturdays, but not Sundays and Mondayd, I guess). This is the first time that I am confused, borderline angry with Fedex shipping.

Oh well...in the meanwhile, I picked up the Anniversary Edition of Puerto Rico. I played a couple games solo to learn the rules, and it seems like it may be a good one to play with the family. Been looking at Agricola, also. Since Lords of Waterdeep went over so well, thought maybe these two would do good with the family, also. What are your opinions on Agricola?

Chris

So this weekend I played a bunch of stuff:

Risk:Legacy was first up. I was playing the 3rd game in the campaign. It was fun, but probably would be better playing as the same guys as the first two games. I know the other players that played the first two games, however. The campaign concept would be a cool addition to lots of different board games.

I played LoW three times over the weekend. In one two player game, I ended the game with 40 gold. 40. I had Skullduggery as one of my goals, and completed two quests:

When you gain money from a action, gain 1 rogue.
When you gain 1 or more rogues, gain 2 money.



It snowballed quickly from there, and despite my opponent playing very well, I won by 10 points.


I also played Chaos in the Old World again, and I was The Horned Rat. Ugh, it was so frustrating. I found my world turned upside down, I played a God without corruption counters, the other players behaved differently than before, wtf? I'd need to look into the changes before playing again. CitOW is definitely still in my top ten games, however.

As noted in the Colonial thread, I played it as well. Had a great time.

Wound up playing several 2-player games of Small World with my son... one regular SW game, one SW:U, and a combo using the Tunnels "expansion". I've been down on the Tunnels combo in the past but the game we played was really interesting. Maybe I've just had bad experiences with it, or maybe it really shines with more people than just 2 players. Having said that, we still love 2 player Small World. Our games are always really close and they're knockdown, dragout fights till the end.

As an impulse purchase I got Hive and played it with my wife. We both liked it enough that I put in an order for the expansion bugs. I know, Hive Carbon includes everything and is actually cheaper by a little but the Barnes and Noble we were in only had the basic Hive edition. On the plus side, I like the colors in the basic edition better

I wish I had kept Cyclades. I played it once or so and felt "meh" about it and then sold it. Oh well, I don't get to play the games I have now enough.

So this weekend is a game weekend. I will have 4 or 5 and so I need to decide if I want to play Risk: Legacy, BSG, Wiz-War, LoW, or go for the big gun with Twilight Imperium 3rd. My group are TI vets, and it has been six months since we played, so that might be the ticket.

Cyclades is a favorite of my group...and one of the few my wife is willing to play. I really like it, but, I also really enjoy Greek Mythology.

It's like playing with Remus.

Oh Vancouver - Seattle - Portland... how I hate thee. Dallas - Houston - New Orleans too.

Chaosraven wrote:It's like playing with Remus.

Just because I make up stories for my trains and you heartlessly stomp on their hopes and dreams?

Ordered a copy of Core Worlds and it should be here today. Then I'm taking a break on games until Origins.

This Saturday I'm trying to get the gang together for a session of Tales of the Arabian Nights over a 12 pack or two.

tell me how the Arabian Nights session goes. I have it, but never played it other than some solo games....

will do.

How many people are you playing Arabian Nights with? Most of my games have been with 2-3. We played once with 6, it was...painful.

Not sure yet. The invite went out to about 6 but that usually ends up being only about 3 or 4 after dropouts.

I am just ecstatic that Lords of Waterdeep is continuing to be a hit with the wife. She was interested in a second game already, which was a lot smoother running now that we both understand the concepts. Best of all: she won! (I won the first game.) Her win greatly, greatly increases the life expectancy of the game on our gaming future. Both of our games have been really close the whole time through, though, which I think is an amazing testament to the game's balance, since our strategies have been wildly different from each other's each time.

I haven't checked in a while, but are there any Chicago board game enthusiasts here that haven't joined us for a game night in the past, but are interested in doing so in the future? We need some new blood.

I haven't picked up Stone Age (yet), but it appears there's an expansion (Style is the Goal) and a set of wood tokens (extras and replacement Food).

Played it last week, post is probably on the previous page. We played with the expansion. It was pretty fun.

Isgrimnur wrote:Played it last week, post is probably on the previous page. We played with the expansion. It was pretty fun.

what does the expansion add to it?

It adds jewelry as another form of currency, same cost as food. Adds a partial board layover for a trading track that has a jewelry element, new cards and huts that leverage the new resource, and support for a 5th player.

BGG

my two boys and I played (finally!!) a game of Poseidon's Kingdom. Very fun game, and the pieces are possibly some of the best components to a game I have ever seen. The big wave works pretty great too. My oldest boy won, beating me by 5 points.

I also picked up Onirim. Pretty fun little card game. I have played 2 games so far, lost both. It is a solo player card game, with a cooperative component with it. Lost in a dream, and you are trying to find doors to escape. And then there are nightmares....but, yes, it is a fun game. Cheap, too!!

Chris

The Mage Knight reprint is supposed to be released about now, isn't it? Funagain is listing it as April 30, and Amazon is only reselling Funagain's copies. Are there any other places I should be looking?

Yesterday, I played the long-awaited Rolling Freight game, born out of Kickstarter.

There's a bit of a Ticket-to-Ride Meets Empire Builder With Dice element here. Essentially, you roll colored dice, and spend those dice to build track(getting points for longer sections), buy upgrades, ship goods, and buy switching stations, which is required to ship goods long distances. There's two types of goods: slow and fast. The slow goods are best shipped short distances. Each city on the board demands 1,2, or 3 types of goods, and the first time they receive a good shipment, they no longer demand any goods.

I liked it a lot, and want to play again soon. There's lots of decisions, and goods to ship. Unfortunately, it can cause AP as you sometimes have 20+ goods in play, 30 cities that could receive those goods, and you have to spend dice to use track, *and* you want to be able to maximize or minimize the distance certain goods are shipped, it's really complicated.



The above pic shows most of the western U.S. map. The circles are cities, and the outer color is the type of good they want. The inner color is the type placed on the city, and there's letters inside each circle that determines when the good is placed. The section at the top shows the 4 contracts available. The center chart depicts the points one receives for completing a contract.

wonderpug wrote:The Mage Knight reprint is supposed to be released about now, isn't it? Funagain is listing it as April 30, and Amazon is only reselling Funagain's copies. Are there any other places I should be looking?

Looks like there was a two week delay. Bgg has a few threads about it.

wonderpug wrote:The Mage Knight reprint is supposed to be released about now, isn't it? Funagain is listing it as April 30, and Amazon is only reselling Funagain's copies. Are there any other places I should be looking?

Cheapest price I found was $53 + $10 shipping from CCG Armory. I just put in an order with them today.

CSI sent an email about MK being in stock now and then when you go to order it says the game has been delayed to April/May but that you can preorder it for 55.99 with free shipping beginning at $100 purchase (which I always do)

http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/Board%20G ... ard%20Game" target="_blank

I'll be in as soon as there's confirmed date... And I still haven't played all of the last games I bought... Ugh...

Check on Stone Age and its expansion for me when you do.

CSI has Stone Age for $28.99 and Style Is the Goal for $22.99

Sweeet. LM, mark me down for 52 and those two bits. Now if we could only find a day to play something...