Octopus Overlords

The grail is definitely a group quest.

The only solo quests are the joust with the Black Knight and the Lancelot quest. You can tell from the boards, there will be a single little circle for a player mini to sit. On the group quests - Grail, Excalibur, and Pict/Saxon wars - there are multiple circles for the knights.

Just got my artcow copy of The Twelve Doctors. It looks sweet. I just hope it's better than the Martin Wallace Dr. Who game I picked up at Gencon.

edit: sheesh, this is a day for games. I also just got my Flashpoint plastic firefighter figures and rescue meeples in the mail.

got my figures for flashpoint in the mail today, also...but had to pay .65 cents postage. I hope he doesn't do that for the full package when he ships it.

weird, I didn't have to pay a thing.

hepcat wrote:Just got my artcow copy of The Twelve Doctors. It looks sweet. I just hope it's better than the Martin Wallace Dr. Who game I picked up at Gencon.

I didn't know that existed. Sounds like it could be great for playing with the wife, who likes games well enough but loooooves the Doctor.

If she loves ALL of Doctor Who and not just the 2005 and up version, this game will bring a smile to her face. It's a fan made game that's on its second version. You can buy the cards already printed from Artcow, with all the expansions released so far, for about 40 bucks (they have free shipping right now, but that may end soon).

I read the rules last night and it's an asymmetrical game in which the doctor and the master have different paths to the same victory. Basically, as the doctor you defend three timelines and try to either accumulate 5 keys to time cards, or cause the master to use up all his regenerations . As the master, you try to deplete the doctor's deck through attacks on the timelines, make the doctor burn though his regenerations, or accumulate the 5 keys to time cards. There are over 80 cards per side and another expansion expected in the near future.

My favorite card is from the second doctor in which you get some game bonuses for playing the recorder. After you use that card, you flip it over and there's a hilarious photo of the doctor with a goofy look on his face and the words "The Doctor has played the recorder."



Here's the thread with ordering info, if you're interested.

Thanks! I'll check it out.

You do have to assemble the decks as they come unsorted. But that's easy enough. The doctor's deck has a blue backing on the title, while the master's deck has black in the same area. There are a few cards that they suggest you glue together as they include the front and backs for them as separate cards due to printing limitations on artcow's part, but as none of those cards are actually inserted into a player's deck (they're set aside as timelines or as special powers used by the side they belong to), I just sleeved them and place the corresponding cards together in one sleeve.

Mino, did you ever get ShadowRift on the table? How was it, if so? I'm still in I bought 13 copies to re-sell at cost(26 bucks), and my group has bought all but two!

I've also played Mage Wars twice now, and it's fantastic.

I'd say MW is like M:tG without a deck to shuffle. Remember how in Magic, there's instants that can kill nearly anything? There's nothing like that in MWs, which is somewhat refreshing. The big badass demon I summonded yesterday gave my Beastmaster opponent fits.

The other thing about MW is tactics. Almost everyone in the basic game has a guaranteed way to get rid of an annoying enchantment, equipment, or Spawnpoint that your opponent put into play. But the genius part is that your Mage only gets two actions a round. So do you have the time to Dissolve that awesome item before you fall further behind?

As an example of such a conundrum, my friend dropped a BeastMaster’s Lair, an expensive cave that gains 2 mana per turn, and can cast monsters on its own. 2 mana a turn isn’t a lot, especially since the BM’s animals cost between 5 and 15 to cast, but it frees up the opposing mage to actually do other things, since mages can “loan” mana to the spawnpoint to cast creatures. The Warlock has something similar (Pentagram), but it’s much more fragile, and only produces 1 per turn, but can gain mana when opposing creatures are hurt.

In our last game, I cast multiple Mana Crystals, which add 1 mana per turn each to my mage. I’d also summoned several powerful demons from my Pentagram, and my opponent’s first few, smaller creatures attacked my crystals. We went back and forth for a while, and I was eventually surrounded. In one round, I cast Ring of Fire, killing 1 animal, and severely injuring two others, then Teleported across the map, into the same zone as my pentagram. The other animals raced to me, and I then brought out:



And proceeded to beat the hell out of my opponent. There was blood everywhere, and in a last gasp, my opponent attacked me with all his creatures, dropping me to 2/38 HP(thank evilness for lots of armor!) I then dropped him to exactly 0. At the end, we were both out of mana, had no reserve on our spawpoints, and I was at 2HP. Whew.

It was great.

I have played it solo a few times...I like it, but I get the feeling that I am missing something in the rules....not sure what, but the games just don't seem "right".

I just placed a $200 order for CoolStuffInc:

Bohnanza
Formula D Expansions 1 & 2
Last Night on Earth
Nightfall: Martial Law + 3 packs of sleeves
Puerto Rico Anniversary Edition

That's a nice mix of stuff.

The gf loved PR when we played it a while back, plus we share a love of the zombies, so I believe LNoE will be a hit. And she enjoys playing Nightfall.

The Formula D boards are for me, as she doesn't care for the game at all.

And I've wanted Bohnanza ever since I played it last year before Origins. It's more fun than a game about bean planting has any right to be.

Isgrimnur wrote:And I've wanted Bohnanza ever since I played it last year before Origins. It's more fun than a game about bean planting has any right to be.

Bohnanza has been a huge hit with nearly everyone we've introduced it to. Where else are you going to ask someone in all seriousness "what would you give me for two stink?"

Isgrimnur wrote:I just placed a $200 order for CoolStuffInc:

Bohnanza
Formula D Expansions 1 & 2
Last Night on Earth
Nightfall: Martial Law + 3 packs of sleeves
Puerto Rico Anniversary Edition

Damn you for making me look. They have these all in stock and now I have to resist placing an order:
Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space
Powerboats Board Game
Tsuro Board Game

I've been regretting letting the ex have my old copy of Bohnanza. Part of me wants to try it with my fiance's family, who has been very enthusiastic about playing new games. My only hesitation is that both she and her mother tend to get a little grudge-y when playing. Kind of a "you did thing X to me earlier, so I won't give you thing Y now." It's all in good fun, and usually not a huge deal, but when only playing with four or five people in a game entirely based on trading, it could put a serious crimp in things.

Otherwise, Bohnanza is historically one of my go-to games when there's a big-ish group of mixed gamers and non-gamers, and it's always worked well. I just try to gloss over the theme as much as possible when introducing it. "Hey, let's play this bean farming game" doesn't usually create big excitement.

Chaz wrote:I've been regretting letting the ex have my old copy of Bohnanza.

Regrets that an be alleviated for less than 15 bucks aren't terribly large regrets now, are they?

SpaceLord wrote:I've also played Mage Wars twice now, and it's fantastic.

Your enthusiasm and the writeup are intriguing. Thanks for the heads-up - I'll be reading up on it.

I keep vacillating between wanting to pick up Mage Wars and avoiding it. I didn't get a chance to try a demo at Gencon as the timing didn't work out for me (when I was free, they were full, etc.) and as I mentioned before, the demo I tried at last year's Gencon left me disappointed. I think I'll just hold off until I can play a game at my FLGS, or get some more input on it. The owners are usually brutally honest about games, but they're fair too.

MythicalMino wrote:I have played it solo a few times...I like it, but I get the feeling that I am missing something in the rules....not sure what, but the games just don't seem "right".

Did you play just 1 player deck? I’d suggest 2 for your first few test games.

The process of playing is pretty easy:

1. Everyone draws 5 cards, and more if they get Heroism/Might
2. Discard all 5 villagers, and deal out 5 more
3. Discard the travelling villagers, and then deal out 2 more face-up, and put any “Infiltrator” villagers into the town deck discard
4. Any monsters in play move 1 place, and perform the appropriate action. If they perform a “Kill” action, and the target’s not face-up in town, they go Hunting, flip over cards from the town deck and kill the first villager(or Infiltrator) you come across. If they Hunt, the corpse goes into the town discard. Don’t forget that Guards will always die for other villagers, even bad guys.
5. Monsters gain 1 power point per player
6. Keep putting monsters from the deck into play, spending their power points. If there’s any cards in the power area, use those points first. When you can’t pay for the next card, then the players get their turn, *if* there is at least 1 friendly villager or wall face-up in town.

And remember, every *round* in which you do a melee attack, you take 1 wound.

Fedex has my box due for a Saturday delivery. While I'm not going to pin my hopes on it, especially seeing as it's coming from Orlando, it would be really nice to have it for the three day weekend.

Just saw your order up above, Issie. You bought sleeves.

...sniff...our boy's a real gamer now.

I'm an OG sleever from the days of M:tG. Back when clear was the only "option".

I find it's safer to just keep the games on the shelf and not play them.

Holy hell, Zombicide be expensive. I'm definitely interested, but I can't see myself spending $70+ on a single game these days.

It's definitely not cheap. However, it does come with mucho minis. Thankfully, someone else in Chicago made the purchase so I don't need to.

Lots and lots of little dudes in that box. Would like to break out my copy of zombicide again this weekend.

Yeah, I know there be lots of little dudes, which are sweet and all. In the past, that would've sold me right there. These days, I'm having a harder time wrapping my head around paying that much for a bunch of minis. Given the choice, I'd almost rather pay $20-30 less and have the generic zombies be tokens, with the special ones being minis.

Holy shit, I've gotten old. Or I'm trying to save for a wedding and house. Possibly both.

Stopped by the F(L)GS to pick up Dominion Dark Ages on the way to see a friend in the hospital, got roped into a 16player draft (magic). First sanctioned event I have played in for the last three years. Made top eight and got eliminated first round in a close fought 3rd game. Never got to open my Dark Ages box. Checking it out tonight.

Chaz wrote:Holy hell, Zombicide be expensive. I'm definitely interested, but I can't see myself spending $70+ on a single game these days.

I really like the game but I am pretty sure without the kickstarter frenzy I wouldn't have bought it at that price.

A buddy of mine stopped by with his daughter. We played a game of Nightfall, where we realized that the Mayday card sleeves are crap. I seek recommendations, as I don't want to have to buy a replacement copy when I wear the cards out.

He brought over his new copy of Mansions of Madness and we played a couple of scenarios. We missed a few rules and learned a lot about it. It's lighter than Arkham Horror, but still has a lot of fiddly bits and a lot of rules to be aware of. Overall, it was a much better experience than my play at Origins last year.

We finished up the gaming with a game of Bohnanza (my box came in today! ). The game ended in a 3-way tie. Per the rules, I get the technical victory, as I had the biggest hand size at the end of the game. Seems like an odd way to determine a winner.

Tried out Dark Ages in the suggested 10 with original Dominion (2 setups), Intrigue (2 setups), and Prosperity (2 setups). Nifty stuff... Tried a Rat and Knight setup that decimated others decks but didn't really move me into a winning deck. The Spoils were really cool, the Ruins were a pain in the ass, and the Trash recursion (Rogue, Graverobber) made for interesting choices. I like it.

At the latest minute I got approval to go to a board game meetup in Coppell at a new game shop there Roll2Play. I was excited to get to play Zombicide with a full group, or at least close to one. Sadly that didn't materialize. There were only a few people to start, so we started off with a round of Kayak Chaos, a SimplyFun game which is an MLM type gaming company. I wish it were in stores as I enjoy it but not enough to go through the hassle of actually acquiring it. It's super light and super quick. This was my second go at it and I won. Pretty sure I won the first time too.

After that, we had a 5th join and played Nefarious. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's another fairly light game with some tactical play that really doesn't live up to the name. The theme is buried by the mechanics. It's competitive, but the interplay is fairly benign. When you do bad things to other players it happens to all other players so it's not like you are picking on anyone. it was my first time playing this one and hey, look at that, I won again. At first I was tied for the win, but the tie-breaker is to keep playing until it's no longer a tie. By the time I got another invention out, 4 of the 5 players had met or passed the 20 points needed to win, but my 24 beat them all. 2 for 2!

At that point it was close to time for me to go (what's the point of going if you can't even stay 3 hours ), so we played a game of Pandemic at what I guess was the lowest difficulty level. This was my first time playing it outside a solo run to learn the rules a couple years ago. I like it, but it's no Zombicide (or Flash Point for that matter). Next time Flash Point comes with me. Easy to teach, great theme and fun to play.

This weekend was Tacticon in Denver, and I spent most of the weekend there.

I actually didn’t play any new games, but I demoed Shadowrift, and everyone that played it loved it.

I also played 3 more games of Mage Wars, and like it more each time. It’s pretty intense.

I saw others playing the new Spartacus game, and they loved it.

Got most of my gaming group together and played a game of Battletech set in 3025 with nice old school tech. Fun was had by all, and everyone was impressed with the Wasp that had both arms blown off, and most of both legs and let lasted until the bitter end firing SRM-2s at the players.

My next Con is BGG con in November. I need to buy plane tickets and reserve a room, ugh.

SpaceLord wrote: I saw others playing the new Spartacus game, and they loved it.

I wish I'd known it was going to turn out to be a surprise hit. I would've picked up a copy at Gencon.

Now I gots to wait until the end of the month for it to hit store shelves.

I'm feeling the same way with Seasons.

SpaceLord wrote:My next Con is BGG con in November. I need to buy plane tickets and reserve a room, ugh.

Isgrimnur and I will be there, FYI. We're both locals. I am not getting a room, not sure about Izzy.