Octopus Overlords

That's weird -- never heard of it before but this weekend it was recommended to me by Amazon, suggesting I could get a copy shipped to me for $40 or something. I figured something was up when it tells me the game is normally $110.

Smoove_B wrote:That's weird -- never heard of it before but this weekend it was recommended to me by Amazon, suggesting I could get a copy shipped to me for $40 or something. I figured something was up when it tells me the game is normally $110.

FFG's online store has Horus Heresy for $35 (among other sales). But, as I said, caveat emptor.

baelthazar wrote:

Smoove_B wrote:That's weird -- never heard of it before but this weekend it was recommended to me by Amazon, suggesting I could get a copy shipped to me for $40 or something. I figured something was up when it tells me the game is normally $110.

FFG's online store has Horus Heresy for $35 (among other sales). But, as I said, caveat emptor.

Or Caveat Emperor.

hentzau wrote:

baelthazar wrote:

Smoove_B wrote:That's weird -- never heard of it before but this weekend it was recommended to me by Amazon, suggesting I could get a copy shipped to me for $40 or something. I figured something was up when it tells me the game is normally $110.

FFG's online store has Horus Heresy for $35 (among other sales). But, as I said, caveat emptor.

Or Caveat Emperor.

Groaaaaannnn!!!

I went with a purchase of Eldritch Horror (due to your "review", Bael, in the Eldritch Horror thread).

Had some good gaming time last week being out on vacation.

We introduced a newcomer to Pandemic and wound up winning one game on normal (sans expansions), then lost several games playing On the Brink with the Mutation option, only to (narrowly) win our final attempt at it for the evening. He was, like every person I've ever introduced to Pandemic, completely hooked by the end of the night.

Didn't get any game in over the Thanksgiving break, since all my old gaming buddies were scattered to the four winds. I usually look forward to the day after Thanksgiving for a marathon day of D&D and boardgames. This year? Alas. Had to spend time visiting with my mom.

Got my copy of Eldritch Horror this afternoon. Hopefully my kickstarter for Flash Point Extreme Danger will also arrive this week sometime.

hepcat wrote:Got my copy of Eldritch Horror this afternoon. Hopefully my kickstarter for Flash Point Extreme Danger will also arrive this week sometime.

I got my extreme danger KS on Saturday. I was a little underwhelmed, but I did just receive my Ogre KS...

baelthazar wrote:

hepcat wrote:Got my copy of Eldritch Horror this afternoon. Hopefully my kickstarter for Flash Point Extreme Danger will also arrive this week sometime.

I got my extreme danger KS on Saturday. I was a little underwhelmed, but I did just receive my Ogre KS...

A couple boards, some chits and minis and another box. Is it sad I am most excited about another box so maybe I can get the original game box to close now... and I totally needed a 5th set of minis/meeples.

Got in another good game of Pathfinder last night. It was the third chapter in Burnt Offerings, and man, were we not prepared for that one. There were several locations there that none of us had appropriate skills for. We got beat on fairly heavily, Kyra in particular. Seemed like none of our checks for getting items or allies were working in our favor, but somehow we managed to get all of the locations closed but 2, and Kyra found the villain through the use of a Detect Magic spell (and wisely decided to wait for Valeros to come to her location to beat on the Succubus, while I closed down the village house. Ended up closing it out with 5 blessings left in the deck.

After that, played a quickish game of Dungeon Roll. Still really like that one for "Hey, we have an extra 15 minutes. Let's do something mindless." The Paladin in that set is a BEAST.

Someone from my group brought over a copy of Munchkin. Four of the six of us had never played, but the overall consensus was positive. It did drag a bit because one of the guys wanted to read each, and every card played, as he evidently enjoyed the puns more than the rest of us. I had a good time playing, but didn't feel the game had much meat/staying power to it. I ended up reading various things on BGG, and ended up ordering Cutthroat Caverns, and the Relics expansion.

We also got in a game of Seven Wonders, which is probably my favorite 'quick game'. I have yet to order any expansions for this one, but do have them listed on my Christmas list.

Finally along with my Cutthroat Caverns order, I also ordered Eldritch Horror. Flashpoint is also scheduled to arrive on the 7th, so I should have some decent gaming goodness ahead of me throughout the month.

Ertic wrote:Someone from my group brought over a copy of Munchkin. Four of the six of us had never played, but the overall consensus was positive. It did drag a bit because one of the guys wanted to read each, and every card played, as he evidently enjoyed the puns more than the rest of us. I had a good time playing, but didn't feel the game had much meat/staying power to it.

Impressive. I think the first time I played a six player game of Munchkin was the last time I played. We had fun at four players. I was like a dog begging to go outside and pee and run around and pee and roll around in the dirt and chew on sticks about an hour and a half into the six player game I played.

Cutthroat Caverns is a better game.

Double tap

Ertic wrote:Someone from my group brought over a copy of Munchkin.

Kill them now before it is too late. Munchkin is a game that becomes unending once the expansion begin to take root. I refuse to play it due to games that have taken 4-5 hours. Silly card games should not take multiple hours to finish.

If you can't figure out what game to play on your next game night, here's a handy flowchart:

Axis and Allies are "the hardest rules ever"? That flowchart wasn't made by a real gamer, my friend.

hepcat wrote:Axis and Allies are "the hardest rules ever"? That flowchart wasn't made by a real gamer, my friend.

I don't know if Axis and Allies qualifies as the hardest rules ever, but it certainly wins the prize for most amount of time needed to set up the board.

Arkham Horror and Mansions of Madness (ESPECIALLY Mansions of Madness) are two games I think of immediately when mulling over lengthy set up times.

Tide of Iron is another.

FFG seems to be a common denominator here....

I remember setting up Axis and Allies on a bunk bed in my fraternity house one morning between classes and my roommate and I played...until I got up to grab something to drink and knocked the entire affair onto the floor.

We never did find all the damn pieces afterwards.

hepcat wrote:Axis and Allies are "the hardest rules ever"? That flowchart wasn't made by a real gamer, my friend.

I think they must have meant the complete rules set for Advanced Squad Leader

That was actually my first thought. ASL is notoriously difficult.

World in Flames. There are rules for ski troops.

Ah, but now you're talking Miniature Gaming and that's an entirely new realm of pain in many cases.

We're calling cardboard chits "miniatures" now?

He's thinking Flames of War.

Yeah, Flames of War. Thanks.

Europa Universalis, the inspiration for the excellent computer game series, is the biggest, most complicated game I've ever come across. It has a 72 page rulebook, 52-page scenario book, and a 48-page "annex" book. Estimated play time is 60 hours. It's nucking futs.

While probably not quite as rules-heavy as Squad Leader, The Campaign for North Africa might win for ridiculous size/setup time. Heavy logistics, massive board and number of chits. It's meant to be played by several people per side, with one dude on each side just dedicated to supplies. There's a rule where the Italian forces need more water than the other nations because they use the extra to boil pasta. BGG lists the playtime as 60,000 minutes. This may even be the one where there's never been a confirmed example of the campaign being played to completion.

Chaz wrote:While probably not quite as rules-heavy as Squad Leader, The Campaign for North Africa might win for ridiculous size/setup time. Heavy logistics, massive board and number of chits. It's meant to be played by several people per side, with one dude on each side just dedicated to supplies. There's a rule where the Italian forces need more water than the other nations because they use the extra to boil pasta. BGG lists the playtime as 60,000 minutes. This may even be the one where there's never been a confirmed example of the campaign being played to completion.

That's awesome. The best part is that I find that BGG wildly underestimates play time, so really we're probably talking 100,000 minutes at least.

Maybe we should see if we can get a game of it set up in our retirement home one day.

I find it interesting that there are two prolific and famous war game designers with the names Richard Berg and Richard Borg.

El Guapo wrote:

Chaz wrote:While probably not quite as rules-heavy as Squad Leader, The Campaign for North Africa might win for ridiculous size/setup time. Heavy logistics, massive board and number of chits. It's meant to be played by several people per side, with one dude on each side just dedicated to supplies. There's a rule where the Italian forces need more water than the other nations because they use the extra to boil pasta. BGG lists the playtime as 60,000 minutes. This may even be the one where there's never been a confirmed example of the campaign being played to completion.

That's awesome. The best part is that I find that BGG wildly underestimates play time, so really we're probably talking 100,000 minutes at least.

Maybe we should see if we can get a game of it set up in our retirement home one day.

Done. I assume that the game likely has a rule somewhere for handling the death of a player and the proper disposition of his responsibilities to subordinates.

Monster war games are hilarious.

Chaz wrote:

El Guapo wrote:

Chaz wrote:While probably not quite as rules-heavy as Squad Leader, The Campaign for North Africa might win for ridiculous size/setup time. Heavy logistics, massive board and number of chits. It's meant to be played by several people per side, with one dude on each side just dedicated to supplies. There's a rule where the Italian forces need more water than the other nations because they use the extra to boil pasta. BGG lists the playtime as 60,000 minutes. This may even be the one where there's never been a confirmed example of the campaign being played to completion.

That's awesome. The best part is that I find that BGG wildly underestimates play time, so really we're probably talking 100,000 minutes at least.

Maybe we should see if we can get a game of it set up in our retirement home one day.

Done. I assume that the game likely has a rule somewhere for handling the death of a player and the proper disposition of his responsibilities to subordinates.

Monster war games are hilarious.

Our fading memories and sanity could simulate the fog of war.

hepcat wrote:I find it interesting that there are two prolific and famous war game designers with the names Richard Berg and Richard Borg.

I bet one has a mustache and one does not.

hepcat wrote:I find it interesting that there are two prolific and famous war game designers with the names Richard Berg and Richard Borg.

Their games are completely different. Richard Borg does the Command and Colors system of lighterish war games. Richard Berg does more serious wargames. He also is nearly exclusively with GMT, while Richard Borg has done games for Milton Bradley/Hasbro, Days of Wonder and GMT.

I've met both of them and I don't think either has (had) a moustache.

We used to play Jutland in multiple rooms to accommodate the space needed, which was a huge pain. However, it wasn't a pain to set up. It just needed a lot of space.

To my memory, FASA's The Succession Wars was the biggest PitA to set up of any game I've ever played and we never finished a game so I can't even judge it it was worth it or not. I remember it seemed pretty cool.

Lorini wrote:

hepcat wrote:I find it interesting that there are two prolific and famous war game designers with the names Richard Berg and Richard Borg.

Their games are completely different. Richard Borg does the Command and Colors system of lighterish war games. Richard Berg does more serious wargames. He also is nearly exclusively with GMT, while Richard Borg has done games for Milton Bradley/Hasbro, Days of Wonder and GMT.

I've met both of them and I don't think either has (had) a moustache.

I wasn't insulting them. I've actually met (and played a game) with Richard Borg. He's one of the nicest guys you could possibly meet. I even had him sign a copy of Samurai Battles the next day at the convention. Zarathud still likes to laugh at my reaction upon finding out my teammate for a demo game of that one was Borg himself.

And I wouldn't call Borg's games that light. You should see some of the stuff he's doing for Victory Point Games these days.

Hey look! A fifth set of player pieces for Flash Point!

You want rules? Excessive rules? HA! I give you DIVINE RIGHT.

For those interested in Robinson Crusoe, z-man I saying it will be back in stock Friday at their site. Stores should have them soon after. I'm guessing they'll run out again quick though. Z-man likes to amp up demand through short runs...which is annoying.