Octopus Overlords

Just in time. I spent some time last weekend looking at the Terra Mystica rules but without an attention span to understand.

Boudreaux wrote:

SpaceLord wrote:Shut Up and Shit Down, the funniest gaming video/podcast site...

Hmm...that doesn't sound very amusing.

You obviously haven't seen their latest review of the Doggie Doo board game.

Boudreaux wrote:

SpaceLord wrote:Shut Up and Shit Down, the funniest gaming video/podcast site...

Hmm...that doesn't sound very amusing.

I enjoy them quite a bit. And their reviews are usually insightful.

hepcat wrote:

Boudreaux wrote:

SpaceLord wrote:Shut Up and Shit Down, the funniest gaming video/podcast site...

Hmm...that doesn't sound very amusing.

I enjoy them quite a bit. And their reviews are usually insightful.

Do they poddycasts?

It's worth pointing out that with the latest expansion pack having just been released, I have indeed been playing a lot of Ascension while on the crapper recently.

I love that Terra Mystica review. They're certainly right about the "first impression" you get from opening the box and seeing it all laid out at once. It's very overwhelming at first.

You know that Small World 2 app that Days of Wonder "kickstarted" an effort to see it released for Android/Steam? I was a backer who's since purchased an iPad and the other day they announced the iOS version is entering beta and they were looking for a few volunteers to test it. I got in!

Sometime this week, The Dice Tower will be posting their review on Duel of Ages 2 (assuming it will be Tom).

Sigh...miniature market is having a 30 games for 6.99 sale and Pirate Dice is on the list. I broke down and added the Duel of Ages II master set to the order to get free shipping (as well as a few more smaller items to push me over a hundred). Ah well, I'll consider it an early birthday present.

Now, I have to solicit volunteers in the Chicago area to play it. Any takers?

A warning about Terra Mystica: Euros don't get more euroey than this one. It's all about maximizing your points, and the interaction between players isn't super-strong.

hepcat wrote:6.99 sale ... as well as a few more smaller items to push me over a hundred...

Well, I did a little bit of early Christmas shopping at the same time.

I am a few hours east of Chicago...but if you are ever through Coldwater, MI...let me know!!

Speaking of getting someone to play something, do any Mage Wars fans attend Octocon? My usual gaming partner is apparently broken in that respect and there's a new expansion coming soon.

Got the Dark City expansion to Legendary last week... Now my Legendary box weighs almost as much as Sentinels of the Multiverse (holy crap is that dense with all the expansions). Of course Sentinels has labeled dividers for everything... not only does Legendary not have labeled dividers, it doesn't even have enough for the expansion and the expansion didn't include any. I ended up taking dividers out from between the masterminds, which gave me enough to split everything else up. The mastermind piles are just 5 cards each so it isn't too bad sorting through them. I'd love labeled dividers though if anyone sees something along those lines.

I may have signed up for a GenCon demo of Mage Wars. The only reason we haven't jumped onboard is the 2 player aspect. We try to get 3-5 together at a time.

I am the Eurogamer in our game group. As long as everyone digs the theme, Terra Mystica should hit the table a few times before the next Octocon. More times if I can steal hepcat's credit card and change his password to several online game retailers.

Zarathud wrote:I may have signed up for a GenCon demo of Mage Wars. The only reason we haven't jumped onboard is the 2 player aspect. We try to get 3-5 together at a time.

You could play 2v2 or free-for-all, but the game is going to take a while and the board is going to be crazy, but it would be pretty awesome to see.

Since I will be flying in with no checked bags I won't be able to bring too much, unfortunately... maybe some clean clothes... maybe.

SpaceLord wrote:A warning about Terra Mystica: Euros don't get more euroey than this one. It's all about maximizing your points, and the interaction between players isn't super-strong.

Yeah, I've played this several times in the last couple of months. Despite the variable player powers and variety of special abilities, it's firmly in the Euro camp. The only direct player interaction is "oh no, he took that space before I could". It reminds me of a new Honda Accord - it's very well-made, performs great and everyone likes it, but I'm not going to be daydreaming about it.

Coop, I managed to get my Legendary + Expansion all in the box, with the dividers dividing the cards....How do you have yours stored, exactly, where you are running out?

For me, I have it stored....

On the left side:

Up at the very front is the Masterminds, then a foam block, then the Henchmen. Then in that one open slot, I have the Master Strikes, the Scheme Twists and the Scheme Twist cards (the ones that go in the deck), then in the next spot, I have the Villain Groups, then another foam block.

In the two slots in the middle, I have the Wounds and Bystanders in one, and the starter decks in the other.

Then, on the other side (the side with the longer card spot), in the smaller spot, I have the heroes "A" - "C" (Angel to Cyclops), then in the other spot (the longest spot on the insert), I have the rest of the Heroes. The open slot in between those two are where I put the Maria Hill SHIELD Officer cards.

I have enough dividers for each Mastermind, Henchmen, Villain Group, and Hero. The only cards I don't are the starter decks, Wounds, Bystanders, Scheme Twists (both types) and Masterstrikes. Oh and the Maria Hill cards.

They are all alphabetized, and I wrote the names on the dividers. Works ok for me...granted, I wish they would have given labeled dividers like Sentinels did...but it is what it is.

coopasonic wrote: I'd love labeled dividers though if anyone sees something along those lines.

Someone just made a set for the expansion over on Board Game Geek. I still need to print out (and organize) the base game though with the original set of labels he did (at least I think it was him).

My setup is pretty similar with the heroes on the same side, split up about the same and then bystanders, wounds and shield officer cards in the smaller slots.

I can't remember the setup on the other side, but I came up about 3 dividers short, which looks like about the same place you are, I just chose to go a dfferent way with the ones I chose not to have a divider for. No need to label the stacks that are split physically.

Smoove_B wrote:

coopasonic wrote: I'd love labeled dividers though if anyone sees something along those lines.

Someone just made a set for the expansion over on Board Game Geek. I still need to print out (and organize) the base game though with the original set of labels he did (at least I think it was him).

This sounds promising.

coopasonic wrote:... not only does Legendary not have labeled dividers, it doesn't even have enough for the expansion and the expansion didn't include any. I ended up taking dividers out from between the masterminds, which gave me enough to split everything else up

same complaint here. you'd think with what we're paying for their stuff, they'd throw us a damn bone on dividers.

at origins, they were selling the expansion with some flimsy sleeves for 75 bucks. on saturday, they ran out of sleeves...but were still charging 10 bucks more than retail just to have it a week before stores.

hepcat wrote:

coopasonic wrote:... not only does Legendary not have labeled dividers, it doesn't even have enough for the expansion and the expansion didn't include any. I ended up taking dividers out from between the masterminds, which gave me enough to split everything else up

same complaint here. you'd think with what we're paying for their stuff, they'd throw us a damn bone on dividers.

at origins, they were selling the expansion with some flimsy sleeves for 75 bucks. on saturday, they ran out of sleeves...but were still charging 10 bucks more than retail just to have it a week before stores.

They know geeks...

Warning about Terra Mytica, don't play Giants unless you really really want a challenge.

It was a good gaming Saturday. My buddy Joe was up for the Rush concert on Friday, so we ended up doing a last minute impromptu game day at my church on Saturday (call it an OctoCon Lite). OOers Hepcat, Zarathud and Archinerd were in attendance, but sadly Hepcat had to leave early because he wasn't feeling well. Some other non-OO friends showed up, along with Zarathud's sister.

So the games I got in on Saturday were:

Quicksilver - Fun, lite airship racing game. It's not a perfect game by any stretch, but it shows potential. I'm already thinking about replacing the carboard tokens for the airships with some Shapeways ones.

Seasons - Only my second time playing this one, but I really like it. Archinerd crushed Joe and I in the game. Still a lot of fun.

Survive - I never think to break that one out, but really enjoy it. Archinerd managed to save more important people than Joe and I did.

Spartacus - Great four player game with much treachery. Archinerd leaped out to a very quick lead, which lead to Joe beating on him mercilessly with schemes. Then Joe took a dominating position, and in the process of scheming with Stuart set him up as well to be close to winning. He thought when we saw Stuart taking a lead, we would work on reigning him in, but no, Archinerd sought revenge on Joe, and I wasn't in a position to do anything to Stuart, so Stuart ended up walking away with it. His first game, and he LOVED the back-stabby-ness of the game.

Tsuro - A little filler game before Archinerd's wife came to get him. We all died at the same time. It was glorious.

Alien Frontiers - Three player with Joe and Tommy. Lost this one too.

Good day of gaming. Thanks to everyone that showed up!

Showed up late, but got in on hepcat's City of Remnants. It's a nice little post-apocolyptic gang area control game. My asymmetrical faction surrendered Victory Points for additional money. That gave me a nice bump at the start to get a nice military built up and nab some war machines on the black market. With a small deck, I was able to get access to most of my deck each turn. That let me make the most out of the mechanic of having gang followers (strength 1) get +2 bonuses when the leader is played in the same battle. Still, I didn't focus on the power produce/sell mechanic once the other players were too afraid to fight me. That and the VPs I sacrificed for my lead caught up with me in the end.

After hepcat left, I taught Seasons to my sister, her boyfriend and another friend. The nice thing about Seasons is that it's supposed to end about the same time the combos get silly. That is, until my sister ran the clock back by 6 months to extend the game with her combos. My friend kept making the same choices that I did, but didn't have a good background in his first game to put together the same combos from his drafted cards. In the end, my sister gave me a good run but my all-artifact combo came back from her Victory Point draining machine.

I didn't play Spartacus, but it's a great 4 player game when everyone is willing to pull out the knives. It suffers from the "first player to make a bid to win will get piled on" and the key is waiting until everyone else is played out with treachery before making your move. That, and winning the bids to host.

Zarathud wrote:Showed up late, but got in on hepcat's City of Remnants. It's a nice little post-apocolyptic gang area control game. My asymmetrical faction surrendered Victory Points for additional money. That gave me a nice bump at the start to get a nice military built up and nab some war machines on the black market. With a small deck, I was able to get access to most of my deck each turn. That let me make the most out of the mechanic of having gang followers (strength 1) get +2 bonuses when the leader is played in the same battle. Still, I didn't focus on the power produce/sell mechanic once the other players were too afraid to fight me. That and the VPs I sacrificed for my lead caught up with me in the end.

After hepcat left, I taught Seasons to my sister, her boyfriend and another friend. The nice thing about Seasons is that it's supposed to end about the same time the combos get silly. That is, until my sister ran the clock back by 6 months to extend the game with her combos. My friend kept making the same choices that I did, but didn't have a good background in his first game to put together the same combos from his drafted cards. In the end, my sister gave me a good run but my all-artifact combo came back from her Victory Point draining machine.

I didn't play Spartacus, but it's a great 4 player game when everyone is willing to pull out the knives. It suffers from the "first player to make a bid to win will get piled on" and the key is waiting until everyone else is played out with treachery before making your move. That, and winning the bids to host.

Seasons is awesome. Have you bought the expansion for it?

Yes, I've been introducing Seasons to new people with the expansion cards mixed in the set, but not the player and game alterations. Those icons just get too confusing.

My sister's boyfriend discovered one of the new Artifact cards seemed overpowered, until he realized the he could look at the top Power Card or pay 4 Energy (not Influence) to put it into play. Since he worked up to 14 on the Star/Casting Track before getting the Artifact and had only 7 Power Cards in play, it worked out well for him even after playing the card correctly.

Zarathud wrote:Yes, I've been introducing Seasons to new people with the expansion cards mixed in the set, but not the player and game alterations. Those icons just get too confusing.

My sister's boyfriend discovered one of the new Artifact cards seemed overpowered, until he realized the he could look at the top Power Card or pay 4 Energy (not Influence) to put it into play. Since he worked up to 14 on the Star/Casting Track before getting the Artifact and had only 7 Power Cards in play, it worked out well for him even after playing the card correctly.

Seasons has become a staple here for our gaming as well. The drafting really makes everyone happy, as it gives you the ability to fashion a deck, and the 'board' allows the board gamer in us all to enjoy that aspect of gaming as well.

Thanks for introducing me to this game, it is one of the best ones...Next to eclipse, which still get's played here at least once a month.

I need to get the wife to play City of Remnants again, because we really enjoyed it. As a 2-player, it is a brutal fight, which is surprisingly fun!

Hep, hope you are feeling better!

I had a migraine that wouldn't go away and it was making me irritable. There's nothing worse than being cranky at a gaming event. No one deserved to be on the receiving end of that so I cut out early.

Got my basic set for Duel of Ages II this morning. My copy of the Master set is still saying "Completed" on Miniature Market's site, but not shipped. I swore off them after the last debacle I had when ordering from them, but I thought I'd give them another go after seeing the sale they had yesterday. If it doesn't shift over to shipped soon, I'm going back to avoiding them.

Hey, Hep...so what do you think of all that cardboard? Just wait until the Master Set gets to you!!

I have been in gamer's heaven since about noon...I have the first mission set up and playing through that (solo), to learn the game. So far, I do not regreat my purchase at all...I just need to figure out how to store it all and keep it organized.

I will say this, though: it hurt some to punch the cardboard pieces out...the art is so good, and the art being on the back of the platters made it painful to punch them out. So much game, there, though.

My only issue is figuring out how the keys work. Adventure keys, labyrinth keys, dome keys...

Anyway, i'm planning a game tomorrow night with seppe. I think we're just going to jump ahead to mission 1: Rush in the basic rulebook. The tutorial missions are pretty simplistic and we both play miniatures games that use similar mechanics...at least enough so that the actual gameplay seems pretty familiar.

Sadly, my master's set won't be here until probably Friday at the earliest as MM is backlogged and shipping turnaround is now up to 48 hours due to their summer sale.

We will be doing a lengthy session this Sunday afternoon...going to do each of the training missions, so we can be sure we are playing things right.

Personnaly, I think the game is gorgeous. There is a thread on bgg where someone is saying the game looks ugly. I don't think so, not in the least.

MythicalMino wrote:We will be doing a lengthy session this Sunday afternoon...going to do each of the training missions, so we can be sure we are playing things right.

Personnaly, I think the game is gorgeous. There is a thread on bgg where someone is saying the game looks ugly. I don't think so, not in the least.

I like the art as well. Some of the platters are less attractive than others (the pink ones) but mostly everything is clean and clear. The cardboard itself is pretty awesome and I love all the chits. SOme of the character cards have some less than proficient use of the Poser animation software, but I think they are generally pretty good and easy to read.

Hep, I think it might be worth your while to at least run the ranged tutorial and the mission-structure tutorial. You can likely skip melee, but I think it is good to get the rules for ranged combat memorized and you get to learn about bases and missions along the way. The tutorials seem to play pretty fast.

baelthazar wrote: Hep, I think it might be worth your while to at least run the ranged tutorial and the mission-structure tutorial.

I think we're going to just bite the bullet and jump into Mission 1. If it does seem too much for us, we'll go back and play through the tutorials. But it's actually a fairly intuitive set of rules if you've played any miniatures games before.

Miniaturemarket sent me a shipped notice last night...then UPS never sent me the tracking number. They always send one within a few hours of MM's ship notice. I talked with a rep there this morning and they swear they sent it to UPS. I heard the exact same thing on my last order when they sent it via USPS but told me it was coming UPS. I'm done with them now. I know they're busy with a sale, but if they've screwed up two orders in a row...well, I'm the fool if I go back for a third.

LordMortis wrote:

I wonder if Mr Fed has seen this.

Well, that's two orders in a row that Miniaturemarket.com has managed to mess up for me. Who knows when and if I'll get my order now. Don't know what's going on over there, but they've lost a customer for sure this time. Two in a row is my limit. Coolstuffinc is getting my business from now on.

that really sucks. I very rarely go anywhere else but Coolstuff...unless there is a REALLY good sale on something that I REALLY want. The only other place I go to is Boardsandbits.com...but even there, since they moved to PA, I rarely use them.

Yup I ordered the King of Tokyo expansion from them, never got a shipping notice, called and they claimed that 'two minutes ago we just realized we were out of stock on that item'. Yeah lady, whatever. Then I unthinkingly ordered Viticulture from them this morning. We'll see but I'll cancel it and order the game from Timewellspentgames.com if they don't come through by Friday or so.

I got my Duel of Ages II just a few minutes ago. No one to play it with yet as my son is working all week. It came from Coolstuff, but I ordered it through Amazon, getting a much better shipping rate than I'd get from coolstuffinc.com and faster as well.