Octopus Overlords

Behold! The new Dominion:Dark Ages replacements for Estate.



I love Rats!

You post this without explaining what Shelters are and forcing people to look it up.

http://dominionstrategy.com/" target="_blank

"You can’t buy Shelters, but they cost $1." which is to say that you have to get them upgrading or downgrading or what have you.

Spent the evening at a friends birthday party gaming.

There was a table of Munchkin going, as we tried out my mtg Horde (managed 2 wins in a row, suppose it needs to be MORE EVIL), then a 6 Player COSMIC ENCOUNTER (co-win by Remus and myself).

Chaosraven wrote:Spent the evening at a friends birthday party gaming.

There was a table of Munchkin going, as we tried out my mtg Horde (managed 2 wins in a row, suppose it needs to be MORE EVIL), then a 6 Player COSMIC ENCOUNTER (co-win by Remus and myself).

Dude, we lost the first game against the horde. We did run away with the second game though.

Wait, we did?

Chaosraven wrote:Wait, we did?

Yep. It blew up all our stuff it's first turn and we never recovered from that. Shark needed one or two more lands, I think you needed one more, the goblins I was playing just couldn't block much and he overran us with dragons.

Oh yeah... third turn D Force. St00pid Horde.

Aw man, now I want Mage Wars, and it's not available for several weeks.

That game seems like it could be interesting, but I'm really waiting to hear how it plays. I get the vibe that it could be super geeky, with way too much minutiae, and taking itself way more seriously than I want to. I'm intrigued by the spell book deal, but if it's really just a nice way to display your cards, it'll be a pain to set up, give you more options than you (or especially a new player) can practically parse, and could just as easily be done by holding your cards in a big pile.

Chaz wrote:I'm intrigued by the spell book deal, but if it's really just a nice way to display your cards, it'll be a pain to set up, give you more options than you (or especially a new player) can practically parse, and could just as easily be done by holding your cards in a big pile.

So a pile of cards is easier to manage than pages of cards in a binder? I've been doing it wrong for years!

I played a Mage Wars demo last year at Gencon and I walked away unimpressed. Zarathud and I originally saw it at Origins a couple of years ago (it's been in development for a LOOONNNGGG time) and thought it looked great. We got some swag from the makers and promised to keep checking on the progress.

Fast forward to last year's gencon where they finally had a working demo ready for players. I sat down with a friend of mine who isn't really a gamer and we proceeded to give it a go. After about 10 minutes I realized Summoner Wars did everything that Mage Wars did...but with less fiddly-ness. I wrote it off after that.

However, I started reading some recent reviews of the release edition of the game and they seem pretty favorable. Now I'm interested again.

But I'll play another demo at Gencon this weekend and see if it developed a better personality since last we met before I pick it up.

SpaceLord wrote:

Chaz wrote:I'm intrigued by the spell book deal, but if it's really just a nice way to display your cards, it'll be a pain to set up, give you more options than you (or especially a new player) can practically parse, and could just as easily be done by holding your cards in a big pile.

So a pile of cards is easier to manage than pages of cards in a binder? I've been doing it wrong for years!

More like it'd be easier to change "decks" by just grabbing a new pile versus swapping cards in a binder thing. Isn't the way you change from one mage type to another by swapping to a different set of cards in the spellbook? I thought I remembered reading on BGG previews that the game ships with four different mage types/decks, but only two spell books.

Seasons looks like may also fit the niche with hand drafting, resource management via dice rolls, and spell casting for VPs. It skips putting creatures into play, and has a fixed time limit (4 years or 12 seasons).

Chaz wrote:I thought I remembered reading on BGG previews that the game ships with four different mage types/decks, but only two spell books.

That is correct. Even the core spells expansion that's coming out about the same time has only cards and no spellbooks. It's essentially a two player game but there's a planned expansion coming out later that will allow for 4 player...although I'm guessing it will be team play and not head to head.

The wife and I played Last Night on Earth for the 1st time last week. We played two games with the basic rules and loved it. By the second game I think we had most of the rules down. She's the one asking to play it again so I guess we have a winner there. Going to try one of the better scenarios for the next game.

hepcat wrote:

Chaz wrote:I thought I remembered reading on BGG previews that the game ships with four different mage types/decks, but only two spell books.

That is correct. Even the core spells expansion that's coming out about the same time has only cards and no spellbooks. It's essentially a two player game but there's a planned expansion coming out later that will allow for 4 player...although I'm guessing it will be team play and not head to head.

Watched as my son played a demo game of this at gencon. They had nicely placed stickers on the pages to say whether a spell was a block or attack. But there still was lots of time spent looking at the spellbook as both were new players. My son really liked it. I dont think it brought anything new to gaming but it looked fun. I am sure people who knew what they were doing would get down much faster. There are 4 casters, each with recommended spell lists But you can build your own decks with spells from outside your domain costing 3x (or maybe 4x) to add to your book/deck. In game they cost regular cost to play. The physical spell books you get with the game (might be limited to pre-order, dont know for sure) are easier than having them as a deck. My son had the priestess and his opponent had the wizard(?). They both had same hit point and mana regen for the demo but i dont if they actually have different values for each caster or not. But really the caster are more targets than anything. You can think of the game as more like MtG as a boardgame i suppose.

It looked fun, but for me, i am not sure if the fun is worth the effort.

I posted my impression of a bunch of games over in the gencon thread in this section.

I got to play some Seekrieg 5 with my wargaming buddies before heading over to the DGM and got to play Eclipse on Saturday. Fiddly bits notwithstanding, Eclipse was a good time and I can see where the love for it comes from. Hopefully there will be a third printing so I can acquire it at a reasonable price.

I got to play Go Fish over the weekend. I had to look up the rules on the net. I also played a couple games of Connect 4.

coopasonic wrote:I got to play Go Fish over the weekend. I had to look up the rules on the net. I also played a couple games of Connect 4.

Only three more months until BGG Con.

Had a huge gaming weekend, partly due to an impromptu "Can't Go To GenCon Game-A-Thon" with a few friends. Started off by teaching my 7-year-old Rune Age, which he took to fairly quickly. He has a bit to learn about deck building, as he tended to buy everything he could without regard for what it did to his deck, but we had some close games. I'm itching to get him into Summoner Wars next.

Over the weekend had two solid days of games with friends. We got in two plays of Vinhos, which turned out to be quite good once we got a handle on the overall game mechanics. The wine tasting fair seems like the way to get points, but in the endgame the bank, multipliers and exports seemed to make the biggest impact.

After that we played several games of D-Day Dice, and were unsuccessful in all of them. I have been getting fairly good at playing this solo, but we were unable to beat even the basic maps with 3 players. Not sure what we're doing wrong.

Next up was Merchants and Marauders, where I was one point from a pirate win, if I'd just managed to find a merchant ship on my turn. Alas, another merchant player was able to swoop in for the win. Still love this game.

Last on the docket was 3-player Power Grid with the Italy map. Seemed to take forever to flush low plants out of the market, and once we hit the last couple of turns I was able to snag an 8 and just eke out a victory powering 19 cities.

On top of all that, my wife suggested gaming the last couple of nights, so Saturday she crushed me at Carcassonne: The Castle. It wasn't even close, I think she beat me by about 40 points. Last night we pulled out Tikal, one of my all-time favorite Euros, and I got my revenge in a tight match thanks to some early treasure finds.

Tonight I'm hoping to play Flash Point: Fire Rescue with the kids, on the new Urban Structures map that came in the mail Friday. Haven't had a chance to look at the small rules sheet that came with it (it's just a new board and new specialist card), but I'm hoping for some new variety in the game.

While at Gencon this year I got a chance to play a demo game of Libertalia from Asmodee Games. It was really quite fun. Beautiful artwork and components, and smooth game play with some decent role choosing mechanics layered on top of some light blind bidding made for a fast, easy to learn game that didn't lend itself to AP. I would've bought it but I have a few games that are similar that I don't play enough as it is...although on the last day at the con, Asmodee dropped the price from 55 to 40 bucks.

...I totally should've grabbed it, right?

This week, I played Village, sorta-worker placement game where you have generations of family members who are born and die. It's really good, I can see why there's all the buzz.

And I've now played Shadowrift 10 times or so, and remained really enthused. Did anyone that went to GenCon see it at the GameSalute booth?

SpaceLord wrote: And I've now played Shadowrift 10 times or so, and remained really enthused. Did anyone that went to GenCon see it at the GameSalute booth?

Yup. As a matter of fact, Jeremy saw me playing Rune Age Saturday and sat down for a bit to talk as I was already out of the game due to an early death. He said that Game Salute told him they'd brought twice what they thought they needed, but were almost sold out of that. Needless to say, he was very pleased with that.

Boudreaux wrote:Had a huge gaming weekend, partly due to an impromptu "Can't Go To GenCon Game-A-Thon" with a few friends. Started off by teaching my 7-year-old Rune Age, which he took to fairly quickly. He has a bit to learn about deck building, as he tended to buy everything he could without regard for what it did to his deck, but we had some close games. I'm itching to get him into Summoner Wars next.

Missed Gencon this year for the first time in a long time and had a similar thing planned. A day into it I got sick enough that I ended up spending all day Saturday in the ER... It's been a pretty bummer year, all things considered. :/

Damn Jow, everything okay?

They're very close to hitting the halfling mark. I think the only reason this ever ends is the timer expires.

Isgrimnur wrote:They're very close to hitting the halfling mark. I think the only reason this ever ends is the timer expires.

wrong thread?

Just a bit. I had my hockey forum up in another window.

Gale Force Nine had a large booth almost completely dominated by promotion for their new Spartacus game. I walked by that booth about a dozen times or more, never once giving the game even a curious glance because I thought it looked cheesy. I assumed it was just another licensed product being shoved into a game to take advantage of a show's popularity.

....seems I might have been wrong.

I hope my FLGS gets a demo copy in soon.

I was reading that review then I got to the picture of Katrina Law and I can't even remember what I had already read.

You gotta love a game that has a space on the board called "Decapitation".

NEUROSHIMA HEX PROMO ARMY DOOMSDAY MACHINE headed my way! WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Ahem.

Anyone know when Steel Police etc are coming out?

Isgrimnur wrote:Just a bit. I had my hockey forum up in another window.

 isgrimnur 
 

The past few days or so, I have picked up some games...and really looking forward to playing tomorrow evening.

What I bought?

Fortress America (from Baelthazar)
Blackbeard
Tobago

My kids and I may play Tabago this afternoon.

As for Blackbeard? I am in the process of learning the game (and it seems to be quite the meaty game). Playing a solo game, and so far, I am really liking it. More and more, the game makes more sense...

Chris

I played Dominion Dark Ages yesterday and we really had fun. it's a step up from basic Dominion, that's for sure. We played both the suggested setups and had a blast. My son (21) was secretly planning a four card combo that he couldn't get to work for a while. When he finally got it to work he was so mad that it took so long it wasn't as fun as he had anticipated. After a bit though, he got it going and crushed his Dad and I. The combo is in the Grim Death set up for those of you who want to work it out. Ruins cards certainly do a good job of ruining your hand. They are kind of funny really. They aren't a curse, but they are worse than any other card just about out there. Cultists can double up and give out two of them at a time, so Big Money will be crying . I'm looking forward to playing this set a lot more, great cards.

MythicalMino wrote:My kids and I may play Tabago this afternoon.

I love Tobago, but I always advise people it took us a few games for us to appreciate how to play the game... not in the sense of rules or mechanics, but what you're supposed to do to try and win the game.

I had a boardgame weekend for once. Me and 3 friends said goodbye to their loved ones and kids and hid in a hole near the beach to play games all weekend. At the end our brains had been collectively drained, but fun was had by all. We played:

1) Pandemic:
We lost. We almost always lose. Don't know why, it feels like everyone's doing a good job helping each other. Still, very fun.

2) Blokus:
Simple and fast mechanics, this was a winner, and was played a couple of times.

3) Smallworld Underground:
The new addition of relics and places of power make this version very interesting. I had a nice combo of immortal dark dwarves, so I had 11 dwarves that couldn't die, and had another 7 silver hammers to use for conquest. I played 8 turns with this race, and got 10+ scores every round. Very boring, very effective.

4) Smallworld + Smallworld Underground combined:
This was interesting, but not as fun as we thought. There were a lot of crappy race/power combinations, so people didn't go in decline as often as normal. But the fact that the 2 maps were seperated except by caves gave a nice touch.

5) Carcassonne:
I had never played it before. I liked it, but don't yet really know HOW you can really score big. I sort of copied the others, and did alright.

6) Doom: first level of the expansion + some house rules:
This was a disappointment. A new guy played the Invader, and this caused some severe slowdowns. In the end the game was abandoned halfway, because progress was too slow and the game became boring. Too bad, I normally enjoy Doom a lot, although it's been a while since I last played it.

7) Ticket to Ride: Europe:
Quick and simple, a good game. Nobody in our group loves it, but it's simplicity make it perfect to play once in a while.

8) Neuroshima Hex!
We played a 2vs2 game, and the Moloch player didn't like (or understand why) that his troops harmed his allies' troops as well. Admittedly, this made their team seem a bit weaker, and so my team defeated them. I like the game, but I don't know if a 4player team game is the best way to play it.

9) Shadows over Camelot:
This is a relatively new game for our group, but we're not enjoying it as much as we thought we would. We lost, again, but what's worse is that we all felt it was boring. The fact that the rules punish you for moving around, makes for a very stale game. For example, 1 player tried the Grail quest for pretty much the entire game, only to give up after hours because he was getting nowhere. Also, the traitor revealed himself, and he found out that you simply don't have any meaningful decisions anymore then.

10) Uno.
No comments needed here I think... It's Uno.

We didn't play Twilight Imperium, for which I had to bring a seperate briefcase... A shame, but if we would have we would probably have played a lot less games in total.

The Rocketman wrote:9) Shadows over Camelot:
This is a relatively new game for our group, but we're not enjoying it as much as we thought we would. We lost, again, but what's worse is that we all felt it was boring. The fact that the rules punish you for moving around, makes for a very stale game. For example, 1 player tried the Grail quest for pretty much the entire game, only to give up after hours because he was getting nowhere. Also, the traitor revealed himself, and he found out that you simply don't have any meaningful decisions anymore then.

Shadows gets better with familiarity, but I still don't think it's quite as good as it wants to be. The quests that allow group participation like Grail or Excalibur should be done by several players all together, or not at all. It's virtually impossible to complete the Grail quest by yourself, for example. You need to deside which quests you can collectively (or individually) complete quickly, and which you can afford to let go. Ideally, there should be as little moving around as possible, and sometimes that means staying in Camelot to grab cards for a couple of turns while evil has its way. Also, as the traitor I think there is almost zero reason to reveal yourself unless it wins you the game.

However, it does seem like the game always takes way too long for what it is. I still can't decide what I think of it. It was one of the first games I ever bought so I have a bit of a soft spot for it, but I'll admit there are far better "co-op with a traitor" games out there.

Boudreaux wrote:

The Rocketman wrote:9) Shadows over Camelot:
This is a relatively new game for our group, but we're not enjoying it as much as we thought we would. We lost, again, but what's worse is that we all felt it was boring. The fact that the rules punish you for moving around, makes for a very stale game. For example, 1 player tried the Grail quest for pretty much the entire game, only to give up after hours because he was getting nowhere. Also, the traitor revealed himself, and he found out that you simply don't have any meaningful decisions anymore then.

Shadows gets better with familiarity, but I still don't think it's quite as good as it wants to be. The quests that allow group participation like Grail or Excalibur should be done by several players all together, or not at all. It's virtually impossible to complete the Grail quest by yourself, for example. You need to deside which quests you can collectively (or individually) complete quickly, and which you can afford to let go. Ideally, there should be as little moving around as possible, and sometimes that means staying in Camelot to grab cards for a couple of turns while evil has its way. Also, as the traitor I think there is almost zero reason to reveal yourself unless it wins you the game.

Isn't the grail a solo quest? If it isn't, well, that explains a lot then