Octopus Overlords

baelthazar wrote:

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...

Shhh...she hasn't figured that part out yet.

Went on vacation with just my own family this past week. No in-laws, no computer, no internet.

Bought a copy of Mice & Mystics just before we went. The boys (9, 7, and 5) all really loved it. It's pricey, but a really wonderful game for elementary aged kids.

We lost Arkham Horror to Yog-Sothoth when my encounter popped open the 8th gate and no one had a gate token.

Currently in night 2 of Letters from Whitechapel, trying to run Jack the Ripper to ground. I'm doing a decent job of tripping across his trail.

The guy teaching the game nailed Jack shortly thereafter, having stayed in place and arrested twice at the same location and got him.

Isgrimnur wrote:We lost Arkham Horror to Yog-Sothoth when my encounter popped open the 8th gate and no one had a gate token.

Currently in night 2 of Letters from Whitechapel, trying to run Jack the Ripper to ground. I'm doing a decent job of tripping across his trail.

How is Letters from Whitechapel? What is the best number of players? I am thinking of getting it, as I like the setting.

I watched Tabletop the other day, and saw shadows over Camelot. I guess I wasn't impressed with the game, as BSG seems to be a better 'traitor' game as well.

And I might get Mice and Mystics for the kids for Christmas, my middle child keeps asking to play board games, and I am candy landed out. <sigh>

RMC wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:We lost Arkham Horror to Yog-Sothoth when my encounter popped open the 8th gate and no one had a gate token.

Currently in night 2 of Letters from Whitechapel, trying to run Jack the Ripper to ground. I'm doing a decent job of tripping across his trail.

How is Letters from Whitechapel? What is the best number of players? I am thinking of getting it, as I like the setting.

I watched Tabletop the other day, and saw shadows over Camelot. I guess I wasn't impressed with the game, as BSG seems to be a better 'traitor' game as well.

And I might get Mice and Mystics for the kids for Christmas, my middle child keeps asking to play board games, and I am candy landed out. <sigh>

The traitor mechanic is really hard to pull off in SoC. There's not a whole lot that the traitor can do, other than horde good cards and try to be ineffective in quests.

That said, the game by itself is pretty hard, without a traitor gumming up the works.

We played SoC Saturday night at Octocon, and I pulled the traitor card. I was fairly challenged to do dastardly things without it being obvious. But it was fun when I pulled the black card, saw that it would place a Pict causing the Picts to overrun Camelot and place a siege engine. My ability allowed me to look at and replace the black card, so I put it back, placed the 11th catapult, and sat back when it came to the next player. I had only 1 life point left, and couldn't place a catapult. He looked at me and said "Well, I have to pull the black card." I told him it was going to be alright, it just wasn't a good time for me to play that card. He pulled it, saw the Pict, and I chuckled evilly when I placed the last catapult and revealed my traitor card.

Whitechapel is set for 5. Regardless of the number of players, there are four investigators on the board. As a co-op, it really shined as everyone brought different analytical outlooks to the game. You can play it 1-on-1, but I would shoot for 3 or 5. With three, you have two players getting two investigators each, and 5 is one each. 4 would work if you have the most experienced player running two and/or working as an investigation director.

I think it would make a good party game, since there aren't a huge amount of rules to learn.

I picked up Labyrinth a while back, and finally got around to playing it a couple times over the past two weeks with NickAragua. It's a pretty fun game. Still getting used to the mechanics, and I'm sure we're doing at least a couple rules wrong, but reenacting the war on terror is a blast as it turns out.

Also, not sure what's up with Indonesia, as it's fallen pretty readily to Islamist militants in both games so far. But on the plus side, I found rebuilding Afghanistan to be way easier than I expected - not sure what the U.S. government has been complaining about for the past decade.

If you enjoy Labyrinth (personally, I don't), you owe it to yourself to play his COIN series of games. You can really see what he was trying to do in Labyrinth take flight.

I'm only two games in, and I'm partial to it because I love the theme, so we'll see how well it holds up long term.

Are the COIN games broad strategy (like Labyrinth and Twilight Struggle) or are they more tactical combat games?

I'm getting a serious hankering to dive into the COIN games. Problem is that I'm interested in all four theaters, so picking one is hard.

El Guapo wrote: Are the COIN games broad strategy (like Labyrinth and Twilight Struggle) or are they more tactical combat games?

Take twilight struggle and discard the hands of cards in favor of one deck that is revealed two cards at a time for all players at once. Then add in 4 players and make the decision to pass or take your turn a vital part of the strategy. Finally, make your choice of what to do if you're the first player dictate what the next player's options are, and you have the COIN games.

Those sound awesome. But I suppose at some point, I should actually learn Twilight Struggle first.

And that's why you'll be at the next Octocon. I've got a big ol' couch you can crash on when you come out.

If there's a spring one, probably not. But I'm shooting for next fall.

Isgrimnur wrote:If there's a spring one, probably not. But I'm shooting for next fall.

There's always a spring one...

hentzau wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:If there's a spring one, probably not. But I'm shooting for next fall.

There's always a spring one...

/begins jumping up and down with excitement screaming "When? When When When When When?"

Side note: Omen from Small Box Games is back in print in a new, limited run, compact version.

I am this >< close to ordering Spartacus, but being the new Coop who is selling games off for the first time ever and trying to only keep games that will be played I am trying to be careful. It really needs 4 people (at least 3) which means DGM and talking to strangers. Isg, have you played it?

I have not, but am interested in doing so.

Isgrimnur wrote:I have not, but am interested in doing so.

Justification enough for me!

coopasonic wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:I have not, but am interested in doing so.

Justification enough for me!

Not to discourage your purchase but IMO it really needs four. With three it becomes a game of kick the cripple as the top two fight to see who can gain the most influence by beating the snot out of the third.

Yeah, having Isg on board means I can get him to recruit more players. Something the thought of which makes me curl up in a ball and cry.

On a side note, I can't find anything else to order to get free shipping. There has to be something...

Remus West wrote:

coopasonic wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:I have not, but am interested in doing so.

Justification enough for me!

Not to discourage your purchase but IMO it really needs four. With three it becomes a game of kick the cripple as the top two fight to see who can gain the most influence by beating the snot out of the third.

Does the expansion add a 5th player spot? And does that make the game better, or sill a 4 player game...

coopasonic wrote:Yeah, having Isg on board means I can get him to recruit more players. Something the thought of which makes me curl up in a ball and cry.

On a side note, I can't find anything else to order to get free shipping. There has to be something...

Pandemic? Or do you already own that?

If Aron is there and not running a marathon game of Arkham Horror, that makes an easy 3. The last 4th should be trivial. And I know he's been into the series.

coopasonic wrote:Yeah, having Isg on board means I can get him to recruit more players. Something the thought of which makes me curl up in a ball and cry.

On a side note, I can't find anything else to order to get free shipping. There has to be something...

How about this if you have king of Tokyo:Amazon linky

RMC wrote:

Remus West wrote:

coopasonic wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:I have not, but am interested in doing so.

Justification enough for me!

Not to discourage your purchase but IMO it really needs four. With three it becomes a game of kick the cripple as the top two fight to see who can gain the most influence by beating the snot out of the third.

Does the expansion add a 5th player spot? And does that make the game better, or sill a 4 player game...

The expansion allows up to 6 and adds some new cards and rules for a primus (4 way arena fight). It's worth it for the Primus and the new houses even if still playing with 4.

RMC wrote:

coopasonic wrote:Yeah, having Isg on board means I can get him to recruit more players. Something the thought of which makes me curl up in a ball and cry.

On a side note, I can't find anything else to order to get free shipping. There has to be something...

Pandemic? Or do you already own that?

I sold Pandemic as I find Flashpoint to be better in every way. I also already have the KoT expansion ordered already. Thanks for the thoughts. I might just look at Last Night on Earth expansions. I heard some make it suck less.

My suggestion?

Avoid Last Night on Earth stuff and go with Conquest of the Planet Earth from the same company. A much better game, in my opinion.

coopasonic wrote:

RMC wrote:

Remus West wrote:

coopasonic wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:I have not, but am interested in doing so.

Justification enough for me!

Not to discourage your purchase but IMO it really needs four. With three it becomes a game of kick the cripple as the top two fight to see who can gain the most influence by beating the snot out of the third.

Does the expansion add a 5th player spot? And does that make the game better, or sill a 4 player game...

The expansion allows up to 6 and adds some new cards and rules for a primus (4 way arena fight). It's worth it for the Primus and the new houses even if still playing with 4.

RMC wrote:

coopasonic wrote:Yeah, having Isg on board means I can get him to recruit more players. Something the thought of which makes me curl up in a ball and cry.

On a side note, I can't find anything else to order to get free shipping. There has to be something...

Pandemic? Or do you already own that?

I sold Pandemic as I find Flashpoint to be better in every way. I also already have the KoT expansion ordered already. Thanks for the thoughts. I might just look at Last Night on Earth expansions. I heard some make it suck less.

I really liked flashpoint. I played that with Hep at his holiday gamefest Ohio last year.

Hmm.. I liked the theme of flashpoint, but have heard lots of good things about Pandemic. Will have to look into flashpoint vs Pandemic...

By the way, I was just giving you items off my wish list.. I think I have a billion more...

Flashpoint just oozes theme. I loved Pandemic, don't get me wrong. But it was a little too abstracted for my taste. I feel like I'm playing a firefighter when I'm in a game of Flashpoint. There's a sense of urgency that feels organic to the game.

hepcat wrote:Flashpoint just oozes theme. I loved Pandemic, don't get me wrong. But it was a little too abstracted for my taste. I feel like I'm playing a firefighter when I'm in a game of Flashpoint. There's a sense of urgency that feels organic to the game.

Yeah, Pandemic feels somewhat clinical (yeah, I did it). On the other hand it is a bit more complex with trying to coordinate movement to trade cards. I feel like Pandemic is also more susceptible to an alpha player dictating your moves. Flashpoint allows a lot more independence, though coordination and teamwork are still important.

Hep is right on with the sense of urgency and involvement with Flashpoint. You can easily see how much trouble you might be in and what needs to be done.

hepcat wrote:Flashpoint just oozes theme. I loved Pandemic, don't get me wrong. But it was a little too abstracted for my taste. I feel like I'm playing a firefighter when I'm in a game of Flashpoint. There's a sense of urgency that feels organic to the game.

Yeah, you kept making the siren noises the last time we played. And he kept threatening to whip out his hose...



Love ya Hep!

We'll have to play a team game of Duel of Ages II this holiday season though.

hepcat wrote:We'll have to play a team game of Duel of Ages II this holiday season though.

RMC, ask him to start explaining it about two hours before you arrive.

Compared to some of the games I enjoy from GMT, it's a light diversion.

hepcat wrote:Compared to some of the games I enjoy from GMT, it's a light diversion.

It looks great, and I actually downloaded the rules. I just couldn't pull the trigger on it, the price was a little steep for me without playing it.

So I am sure it will be a worthwhile game for the holidays.

hepcat wrote:My suggestion?

Avoid Last Night on Earth stuff and go with Conquest of the Planet Earth from the same company. A much better game, in my opinion.

BLASPHEMER!!!!!

I bought LNOE: Timber Peak last week, and played through the first scenario in a five man game.

I enjoyed how a player was able to control the zombies, and it gave it a different feel than Zombicide, which my gaming group enjoys. The hero upgrade cards were interesting, with most of them adding an extra dice for melee, or extra range on a firearm etc.

As it was our first play through, some we fudges some the rules, but it will definitely see the table again as fun was had by all.

Remus West wrote:

coopasonic wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:I have not, but am interested in doing so.

Justification enough for me!

Not to discourage your purchase but IMO it really needs four. With three it becomes a game of kick the cripple as the top two fight to see who can gain the most influence by beating the snot out of the third.

Very much this. I enjoy the game. I'd not play it again 3 player. The dynamic is broken, IMO.