Octopus Overlords

So far, Navajo Wars is exceeding my expectations. It's got a lot of meat on its bones. I've got the playbook tutorial set up on my kitchen table and I'm playing through it for my weekly kitchen table gaming sessions. Everything about the game screams quality too. That map board is friggin' huge.

I love that the game has what can be described as a tech and culture tree, and the raiding mechanics which results in random rewards.

Looking forward to working through one of the many scenarios after I get done with the tutorial. Then I may tackle the lengthy campaign that includes all three timelines.

update: 1st game after playing through the tutorial ended in major defeat for my tribes. The strategy behind winning this game is not readily apparent from reading the playbook or going through the tutorial. Unlike any game I've played before, you "learn" how to win as you play. It's not a clear cut, "kill that many to win" or "have this many points" for the most part. It's surviving, gaining culture, resisting the colonials trying to destroy your way of life, etc.. You really get a feel for the history of the period.

That said, it's definitely not for everyone. This is a heavy wargame at its core (even if the war isn't really that straightforward) and it's very, very procedural. Flowcharts, steps, etc.. If you're a fan of GMT style games, this should be a no brainer, but I wouldn't recommend it to fans of lighter fare.

Had a great turn out on Saturday for a board game day.

We played:
King of Tokyo: played twice with the expansion once, and it was really fun with the expansion. It adds some cool new powers, and some reason to roll hearts.

Smash-up:(like 3 times) Steam punk Pirates, vs Robot Dinos, vs Old One stuff vs Magic Village people(Cthullu village) Nuff said.

Pathfinder card game: Some of us liked it, some of the guys hated it. <sigh> Of course I like it, but my normal group hates it.

Eclipse: Massive 7 player game, we played with alliances and boy did that change the game. I ended up with interceptors that were built like tanks (5 hull) and had plasma cannons. They only hit on a 6, but I had 8 of them out at all times. I was really screwed with tiles, and had 4 blank tiles that just gave me tech no planets. And I spent most of the game killing aliens.
Two guys connected quick, and turned into allies. The one guy rebuffed a third guy who wanted to join their alliance, which proved to be their downfall. I had the ships, but no economy, and I took the center. Two guys ended up dead by round 8 as they poked the wrong guy. Then my neighbor and myself formed the 'Down trodden' Alliance. We held the center but had no tech or economy to speak of compared to the other alliance. Then the third guy that the other alliance turned down asked to join us. I figured what ever, sure we can protect you. Well then he used his economy and tech to proceed to beef up all our fleets(with his ships) and we pushed right through the other alliance. We almost completely destroyed them. They had tried to turtle up and build monoliths for the VP's. But when you start taking them away, it kind of hurts them.

We have a copy of Risk Legacy that one person really wants to play, so our next board game night will most likely include that.

The one thing that is nice, is that some of my friends have kids as well, so when I host, They all bring their kids as well. My kids get new playmates for the day, our wives like that we play games and take care of the kids. Win Win...

Being an adult is not that bad.

RMC wrote: Pathfinder card game: Some of us liked it, some of the guys hated it. <sigh> Of course I like it, but my normal group hates it.

Same response I got a few weeks ago with Redwarlord, his wife and a friend of theirs while I was visiting for a gaming weekend. In light of that, don't expect to see it hit the table during the holiday gaming fiesta in a few months.

hepcat wrote:

RMC wrote: Pathfinder card game: Some of us liked it, some of the guys hated it. <sigh> Of course I like it, but my normal group hates it.

Same response I got a few weeks ago with Redwarlord, his wife and a friend of theirs while I was visiting for a gaming weekend. In light of that, don't expect to see it hit the table during the holiday gaming fiesta in a few months.

I've been telling people that a single scenario is not how to get enjoyment out of the game. It's the persistent nature of your characters that is the reason it's fun. Unfortunately, that's not always enough to keep some interested enough to continue the campaign.

SpaceLord wrote:

hepcat wrote:

RMC wrote: Pathfinder card game: Some of us liked it, some of the guys hated it. <sigh> Of course I like it, but my normal group hates it.

Same response I got a few weeks ago with Redwarlord, his wife and a friend of theirs while I was visiting for a gaming weekend. In light of that, don't expect to see it hit the table during the holiday gaming fiesta in a few months.

I've been telling people that a single scenario is not how to get enjoyment out of the game. It's the persistent nature of your characters that is the reason it's fun. Unfortunately, that's not always enough to keep some interested enough to continue the campaign.

Yeah, I have a few guys that like loot fests. When the one found out he didn't get anything for killing the monster, he was ticked. He actually wanted to know why he should kill any monsters...He was playing the Barbarian. <shrug>

I tried to explain the coop nature, and it was us vs the clock, and that if we were playing a campaign, we would have lots of loot at the end of the game for our next play through.

But <sigh> I guess not every game is for everyone.

Tell that to my wallet...

hepcat wrote:Tell that to my wallet...

Well you are the exception.. In other words, you are "Special"

Some games you buy to bring to Octocon so that you can show them to those of us that travel down for that so that we in turn buy them and play them a few times.

It doesn't help when my FLGS owners send me home with some new rule book or promo item pushing a new or even older game every time I stop in. This week they got me to pick up a Hordes manual from Privateer Press after "making" me (read: hey, wanna try this?) play a demo...then I ordered a cheap starter set so I could play some more.

Remus West wrote:Some games you buy to bring to Octocon so that you can show them to those of us that travel down for that so that we in turn buy them and play them a few times.

I'm still going over Friday afternoon/evening's game selection in my head. What time you losers rolling into town?

I expect that if you can coop's game collections ever entered the same ZIP code, the combined mass would generate a new star.

The problem is that I play them once or twice...and then they often just go into the closet and never come back out. Then, later on, when I'm ostensibly cleaning out my closet and deciding on what I should sell/give away, I end up repeatedly saying to myself, "Wait, I really do like this one so I should hang onto it!"

I've started to enforce a "only if it has solitaire rules" rule on many of my new game purchases to ensure that I CAN play it again if I like it and no one else does, though.

hepcat wrote:It doesn't help when my FLGS owners send me home with some new rule book or promo item pushing a new or even older game every time I stop in. This week they got me to pick up a Hordes manual from Privateer Press after "making" me (read: hey, wanna try this?) play a demo...then I ordered a cheap starter set so I could play some more.

Remus West wrote:Some games you buy to bring to Octocon so that you can show them to those of us that travel down for that so that we in turn buy them and play them a few times.

I'm still going over Friday afternoon/evening's game selection in my head. What time you losers rolling into town?

We will be pulling ourselves from the hotel in time to be there when the church doors open.

Any strong opinions either way on whether or not Merchants and Marauders is worthwhile for 2 players or it it something that should really be saved for when three or four people are around?

We will be pulling ourselves from the hotel in time to be there when the church doors open.

Excellent. I'm thinking a team game of Duel of Ages II (with the Master Set) would be great to kick things off then. The stories that arise during that game are second to none. In one of our last sessions it came down to a Survivalist named Bob tossing grenades onto the battlefield from a flying horse he had discovered...until Napoleon Bonaparte found a helicopter and broke into my base.

Smoove_B wrote:Any strong opinions either way on whether or not Merchants and Marauders is worthwhile for 2 players or it it something that should really be saved for when three or four people are around?

I have enjoyed playing 2 players, but it really shines with 3 or 4. It's a lot easier to avoid conflict with only 2 folks playing.

But it's such a fun game...

Isgrimnur wrote:I expect that if you can coop's game collections ever entered the same ZIP code, the combined mass would generate a new star.

Two things:

First: My collection is fairly small by BGG standards (heck even small by OO standards). I think I might have around 100 games and many of those are of the "I wish my young kids would play games" category.
Second: I finally made the decision to sell some of the games that aren't working for me. I already have 12 sold for BGGCon delivery and 11 more listed. I'm trying to decide what else I might list, basically if looking at the box doesn't make me smile, it's being considered.

I think Hentzau and I might have the largest game collections in the Chicago group.

hepcat wrote:I think Hentzau and I might have the largest game collections in the Chicago group.

Shh! My wife might be listening!

I have around 40 board games.

However, If I can include the full size expansions as new 'games'. IE - BSG has 2 expansions.
Or how about Descent? I have all the 1st edition games and expansions, and the new 2nd edition Descent with one expansion..Is that 1 game, 2 games or a metric ton? (Like 7 I guess)

Anyway, I have a lot more when you include expansions.

Yesterday, I "played" the tutorial to Navajo Wars. I can't say that I got a good sense of the "why" I would do things but I did get a decent sense of the how and where. I also got a decent sense that the Raid - 11 instruction sucks big time. Overall, I think that it is a fine example of a solitaire game that is far meatier than Hornet Leader/TAL and way more strategic than anything offered by most gaming experiences. In a sense, it has the feel of an actual GMT boardgame, played with multiple people, but only done solitaire.

My wife and I also played quite a few rounds of All Creatures Great and Small (2-player only Agricola Offshoot). I do love it, but it can be a brain burner for such a short game (15 min playtime). Lord help me, I also had to pre-order Caverna, despite the high price. It is Agricola meets Dwarf Fortress!!!

hentzau wrote:

hepcat wrote:I think Hentzau and I might have the largest game collections in the Chicago group.

Shh! My wife might be listening!

If I didn't know where you guys were from, I'd think for sure this was one of you.

So jealous...

Smoove_B wrote:

hentzau wrote:

hepcat wrote:I think Hentzau and I might have the largest game collections in the Chicago group.

Shh! My wife might be listening!

If I didn't know where you guys were from, I'd think for sure this was one of you.

So jealous...

WOW... The wife would not be down with that at all....I wish, all it needs is a bathroom..

I've realized that my kids like tile laying games. The 4 and 6 year olds had a ball in Kids of Carcassone until my wife gave it to a friend of hers, not realizing how hard it is to get "out of print" board games.

Monster Factory avoids tears because a silly monster who is never finished scores zero, but is still awesome.

We're going to try Little Prince soob. My wife vetoed reading the book (something about the kid in the book dying), but I'm hoping to go 3-for-3 with the game genre.

hepcat wrote:

We will be pulling ourselves from the hotel in time to be there when the church doors open.

Excellent. I'm thinking a team game of Duel of Ages II (with the Master Set) would be great to kick things off then. The stories that arise during that game are second to none. In one of our last sessions it came down to a Survivalist named Bob tossing grenades onto the battlefield from a flying horse he had discovered...until Napoleon Bonaparte found a helicopter and broke into my base.

As far as I know none of us have played it before so should be relatively easy to talk us into a game.

Zarathud wrote:I've realized that my kids like tile laying games. The 4 and 6 year olds had a ball in Kids of Carcassone until my wife gave it to a friend of hers, not realizing how hard it is to get "out of print" board games.

Monster Factory avoids tears because a silly monster who is never finished scores zero, but is still awesome.

We're going to try Little Prince soob. My wife vetoed reading the book (something about the kid in the book dying), but I'm hoping to go 3-for-3 with the game genre.

My kids are the same, the 4 year old likes Monster Factory. I have tried Kids of Carcassone on him yet. The older one (7) is past it now.

Speaking of the 7 year old, he beat me fair and square at The Duke yesterday. I am still impressed.

Zarathud wrote:We're going to try Little Prince soob. My wife vetoed reading the book (something about the kid in the book dying), but I'm hoping to go 3-for-3 with the game genre.

The Prince does "die" at the end (he isn't really a "kid" per se). But it is sort of in a Christ-like "maybe he just disappeared and will return" way. I did not know there was a game about the story.

My two older boys (8 and 11) talked me into teaching them the Game of Thrones Living Card Game over the weekend. I was a bit skeptical - it's pretty complex, and there are a lot of fiddly rules and timing issues to wrap your head around. I thought I'd try to dumb it down a little bit, but they kept asking about specific details like "how does Deadly work?" and "how does Stealth work?".

Within a few turns they were making pretty sound tactical choices with the Titles each turn, specifically picking things to Oppose or Support certain players. I started out going easy on them, but as soon as they got the hang of it they pounced, especially once I was leading the game with 4-5 power more than them. I quit going easy, and in the end managed to win thanks to a lucky card draw. If I hadn't got that, my 11-year-old would have won on his very next turn.

Talk about being both and .

The Heroscape collection is sold and is covering my trip to OctoCon. That's a bittersweet sale.

I still kinda regret having gotten rid of my collection. Not that I really have the room for it, but I'd totally take it back if that was an option.

Breaking mine out for a special project. It may make an appearance at OctoCon, but it won't be for Heroscape.

coopasonic wrote:The Heroscape collection is sold and is covering my trip to OctoCon. That's a bittersweet sale.

Chaosraven is paying for your trip to OctoCon?

The terrain stuff from Heroscape regularly sees use in my Malifaux games.

LordMortis wrote:

coopasonic wrote:The Heroscape collection is sold and is covering my trip to OctoCon. That's a bittersweet sale.

Chaosraven is paying for your trip to OctoCon?

I would much prefer to have sold CRs collection, but that seems a bit unfair.

If cop ever gets a hankering to play, or even just fondle the figures, there's a set on what appears to be permanent loan at the DGM.

The awesome board game shop near me is hiring part-time seasonal sale folks. I've got a ton of retail experience, and was interested in maybe taking it as a side gig. I've got an interview next week. I should totes take it if they offer and the hours are reasonable, right?

Chaz wrote:The awesome board game shop near me is hiring part-time seasonal sale folks. I've got a ton of retail experience, and was interested in maybe taking it as a side gig. I've got an interview next week. I should totes take it if they offer and the hours are reasonable, right?

Didn't you just get married? I can't imagine holding down a second job much less a second job and a new wife.

Game store here in town is looking for part-time help for the holidays too. I jokingly suggested it to my wife. She didn't catch the humor of the suggestion.

LordMortis wrote:

Chaz wrote:The awesome board game shop near me is hiring part-time seasonal sale folks. I've got a ton of retail experience, and was interested in maybe taking it as a side gig. I've got an interview next week. I should totes take it if they offer and the hours are reasonable, right?

Didn't you just get married? I can't imagine holding down a second job much less a second job and a new wife.

Why does he have to hold her down? Is she trying to get away?

We'd be talking under 15 hours a week or I wouldn't take it. We're saving for a house, so she's in favor of extra money. I'm in favor of the employee discount.

Chaz wrote:We'd be talking under 15 hours a week or I wouldn't take it. We're saving for a house, so she's in favor of extra money. I'm in favor of the employee discount.

So no extra money for that house then...