Octopus Overlords

So... anyone have any experience with the expansions/sequels for Last Night on Earth? They sound interesting. But are they really worth it? (Of course, I should probably play the rest of the scenarios first enough to get bored before thinking about adding variety. )

http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/137195

coopasonic wrote:http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/137195

Dare you.

If I hadn't already spent the proceeds from the game purge of 2013 I'd think about it. OK, not really. That's nuts.

coopasonic wrote:If I hadn't already spent the proceeds from the game purge of 2013 I'd think about it. OK, not really. That's nuts.

Double dog dare ya?

It qualifies for free shipping.

Isgrimnur wrote:It qualifies for free shipping.

And you would go up a few CSI frequent buyer discount tiers... oh who am I kidding, I'm sure all of us have maxed that out by now.

coopasonic wrote:http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/137195

I will sell you my non-collectors edition of that game for one-tenth of the price.

baelthazar wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:It qualifies for free shipping.

And you would go up a few CSI frequent buyer discount tiers... oh who am I kidding, I'm sure all of us have maxed that out by now.

Conveniently, I am $1964 shy of max... but no.

I guess I wasted too many early orders at thoughthammer.

Got in a great game of Mousquetaires du Roy on Monday night. We played it as a 3 player game, with no one controlling Milady. It was a nail biter, and we had a couple of early events that turned up that pretty much spelled our doom early on, but we pressed on as best we could, and on the last turn did a 3 player assault on the last 2 quest cards. Milady and Rochefort were in the quest space, so I advanced to the quest space with D'Artagnan and dueled Rochefort. We both wounded each other, but my wound sent him retreating. I attacked the last guard on the card, and because I was out of Combat cards, it was a straight up 3 vs 4 duel, and I was wounded unto death in the duel, without touching the adversary. Porthos advanced to the space, dueled and bested him, and then advanced on to the Louvre Galleries. With his last actions he found a secret passage past the first gallery, and then duelled one of the brigands in the second gallery and and then he was done. That left Athos...who moved to the Louvre Galleries, and valiantly dueled and defeated three of the remaining brigands, but we were left with 2 brigands left when the time ran out on us, and the Queen's honor moved into the final space. Victory snatched from our hands!

Once again, the rules for this game are a mess, but if you can figure it out it's a very enjoyable co-op. I really want to try a five player with Milady being controlled by someone bloodthirsty.

Oh, got my Marvel Dice Masters starter set yesterday. Box is smaller than I was expecting, and there are a lot fewer dice that I was expecting as well. The bags they send with it are really cheap, expect to replace them with something of better quality. Can't comment on gameplay, haven't had a chance to do more than skim the first few pages of the rules.

If you get into the game, plan on buying a lot of boosters, because there doesn't look like a ton of variety in the starter.

It's a collectible dice game, of course you need to buy boosters!

I have a gravity feed (60 boosters) on the way... also buying boosters to complete a set could be expensive as a gravity feed may have 0-1 super rares. You only need 4 but you could buy a LOT of booster boxes to get those 4 and along the way you will have a metric ton of extras of the other rarities.

Yeah, I realize that statement was kind of asinine, but I was expecting a bit more out of my starter set than what it appears that I got. I need to actually play the game to verify how it's going to work with just the starter set.

It's a Wiz-Kids game so my expectations for quality are rather low. If I purchase a set and all the dice are inked properly, I'd consider that a win.

While I haven't looked into it too much, from what I understand the starter set really is just a great way to learn the game and understand how it all works. Assuming you don't have OCD (no offense intended Coop), purchasing the booster packs is about slowly expanding the game into characters you want to play, not getting every single die combination to make the game more "complete". That's why it's so damn cheap.

coopasonic wrote:http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/137195

I have a buddy who bought this last year for $1500. Suddenly the original retail price of $400-$500 (I forget exactly what it was) sounds like a bargain.

Boudreaux wrote:

coopasonic wrote:http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/137195

I have a buddy who bought this last year for $1500. Suddenly the original retail price of $400-$500 (I forget exactly what it was) sounds like a bargain.

Seriously. If I had known I would have bought one and squirreled it away for future resale. That is a huge increase in value (although I wonder if anyone actually buys it at that price).

hentzau wrote:Oh, got my Marvel Dice Masters starter set yesterday... The bags they send with it are really cheap

Hey, they are Tyvek at least. Could have been worse.

I got my set yesterday. I should get my booster box today. Going to be a fun evening of ripping open boosters.

From one box (60) of boosters. That's 7 war machines. Got a super rare black widow. Yay.

Tapatalk images only sorta work.

I just bought Nuns on the Run and Bora Bora!

Has anyone played these before? Any tips/pointers that I should know when I explain these to my group on Saturday?

coopasonic wrote:
From one box (60) of boosters. That's 7 war machines. Got a super rare black widow. Yay.

Isgrimnur wrote:Tapatalk images only sorta work.

Yeah, tapatalk is stupid. Imagine 120 dice split across 36 characters ranging from 1 each to 7.

I have Myth and the Eldritch Horror expansion on the way, along with another couple spell books for Mage Wars. Free shipping, but I thought it would arrive Tuesday (from coolstuffinc), but instead, it will not even be here Monday (fedex does not deliver on Mondays). So, I guess Tuesday.

Read the faq on myth before even attempting a game. And read the set up guide. Then try it on your own. Also print off the card guide. The cards are very poorly written in some cases. Even after all this you will most likely still be making mistakes. The game actually isn't very complicated the designers just have a weak handle on communicating in the written word.

Seriously that game is incredibly frustrating at first. I spent most of my first two games completely in a rule book or on the computer for 3 hours before just saying forget this. Then after getting to the actual game I decided to just wait for a new rulebook and new cards. The first two people I introduced it to hate the game now because I didn't spend 8 hours on my own before playing researching. Sadly I did that during and after the game. So at this point I will wait for wave 2 to get here some day, try it with all the options (the base game is very limiting even having a boss who cannot use all of his abilities) and see if it is better received. If not of to Ebay with the lot of it.

But lots of people are enjoying it. I just suggest helping your gaming group enjoy it more fully by having everything ironed out before the first game. There are some good videos online too. The game is very simple. If you teach it people will get it relatively quickly (once they figure out the wonky writing on the cards). If they try to learn it with you... Look out.

Hepcat did a great job explaining Myth but he obsessed over the rules interpretations. I think it's a relatively simple game with a few counter-intuitive quirks that don't follow current rules customs.

so, am I misunderstanding or something...I bought the base game (no kickstarter for me)...do I NOT have a complete game? I understand there will be "extra stuff" available...but what I will have in the box, will I have what I need to play the game?

MythicalMino wrote:I understand there will be "extra stuff" available...but what I will have in the box, will I have what I need to play the game?

Yes.

MythicalMino wrote:so, am I misunderstanding or something...I bought the base game (no kickstarter for me)...do I NOT have a complete game? I understand there will be "extra stuff" available...but what I will have in the box, will I have what I need to play the game?

There's a big argument about that since launch. My opinion? No it is not a complete game as it stands.

coopasonic wrote:
From one box (60) of boosters. That's 7 war machines. Got a super rare black widow. Yay.

I kept meaning to ask, do the boosters come with dice and cards or only cards? Part of me really wants to get into this, not to play it, but because I think reselling individual dice could be a very profitable side-project, if I had the capital available to invest in a few booster boxes. Dice and cards are very cheap to ship. My friend did the same thing with Mechwarrior Minis (about a decade ago) and made some decent money.

I am very disappointed with Myth, because I think it will be a fun game but I do not currently have the time to invest to research all the errata. I do hope they offer a replacement manual for people, preferably something physical I don't have to spend $20 to print at Kinkos (I'm looking at you Duel of Ages II). Despite my better judgement, I backed Recon and intend to back it even harder when the PM comes out. The rulebook they posted for that is equally frustrating, but I would expect that fan feedback and increased vigilance due to Myth might pay off here.

The Eldritch Horror expansion has been getting some mixed reviews, but I will still likely get it. People are basically saying - it is simply more stuff, nothing earth shattering or game-changing, just more. That is fine by me, because I actually like the way it runs currently.

baelthazar wrote:

coopasonic wrote:
From one box (60) of boosters. That's 7 war machines. Got a super rare black widow. Yay.

I kept meaning to ask, do the boosters come with dice and cards or only cards? Part of me really wants to get into this, not to play it, but because I think reselling individual dice could be a very profitable side-project, if I had the capital available to invest in a few booster boxes. Dice and cards are very cheap to ship. My friend did the same thing with Mechwarrior Minis (about a decade ago) and made some decent money.

Each booster comes with 2 cards and 2 dice, 1 for each of the cards. Rare and Super Rare cards are the only pieces that will have any value. Rumor is a full case (6 booster boxes - $360+tax at MSRP) will have a complete set which puts the Super Rare distribution and 2 per 3 boxes, so 33% chance you won't get one in a particular box or 1 super rare per 90 boosters ($90 at MSRP). The good news is, unlike MtG you only need 1 of each card, not 4.

A couple booster boxes should get you enough dice to be able to field anything. The same die applies to all 4 rarities of each character. The hardest ones to get are the ones that come in the starter since each only has the uncommon to fill out the set and buying two starters is challenging right now.

The most important thing right now is my 7 year old likes the game!

Just as an FYI -- there were some folks on BGG that reported seeing people returning booster boxes at Target with individual packs unopened. I guess they were buying multiple sealed boxes of boosters, opening the individual packets until they found a rare, and then returning the rest for credit...which are then put back out on the shelves or put back into feeders. So what the regular customer has happening then is no chance of finding rares out in the wild if you're buying them loose (i.e. not in a sealed booster box).

I have no idea who comes up with that kind of scam but I hope they all get foot cancer.

I played Terra Mystica for the first time this weekend. Everyone agreed that the game looks ridiculously daunting on setup but is actually pretty easy to understand once you get going. There are quite literally hundreds of playing pieces (we had a group of 4) but thanks to very intuitive player boards no one had any problems after a 30 minute or so tutorial session.



The game itself is about terraforming land to build cities for your fantasy races. Each race has its own special abilities and unique building costs. There is also an interesting power sharing mechanic where players receive cheaper buildings for building next to each other but doing so also allows the other player to syphon magical abilities from your buildings.

I would highly recommend it.

I really enjoyed Terra Mystica the few times I've been able to get it onto the table. It is much easier than it looks and after a single game, some of the asymmetrical strategies start to come out.

Zarathud wrote:I really enjoyed Terra Mystica the few times I've been able to get it onto the table. It is much easier than it looks and after a single game, some of the asymmetrical strategies start to come out.

As I've said here before, Terra Mystica is the best euro of the past several years, in my opinion.

I played a few more games of Marvel Dice Masters with my oldest (7.11). I see a lot of promise in the game. It's deeper than it appears at first glance. It is also very dangerous.

It's like a deck builder in that you start out with lame dice and the 3rd turn is the first chance you have to roll anything good. On the third turn, in a game yesterday, he hit me for 12 damage. You start the game with 20 life. Watch out for wolverine in the early game. Ouch. The flip side is a single sidekick can block all of that damage, but if you don't have any blockers you are playing with fire. Really that goes for the whole game, but really important to consider early on when you really want to be using those sidekick dice for buying better dice. I still beat him using gambit and beast to get more dice to roll.

SpaceLord wrote:

Zarathud wrote:I really enjoyed Terra Mystica the few times I've been able to get it onto the table. It is much easier than it looks and after a single game, some of the asymmetrical strategies start to come out.

As I've said here before, Terra Mystica is the best euro of the past several years, in my opinion.

I just wish it was decent for two players. But have you played Caverna? Because I'm seriously addicted to that game and now considered the best Euro I have played and possibly my favorite game. Seriously, my wife and I have played like 20 times (basically the only game we have played recently).

Caverna is the type of resource game I love but have difficulty convincing anyone else in my game groups to play, much like Innovation. Agricola and Le Havre pretty much burned everyone else out.

How well does it play with 2?

wonderpug wrote:How well does it play with 2?

Caverna? Like a charm. I will say that, since there are no random card draws and every game has the same furnishing tiles available (they give you special abilities or score), if you are one of "those gamers" who min-max a strategy, and you play with the same person it could come down to whoever has min-maxed the best. Certainly, the placement of the stage cards will force an alteration of strategy with each time, depending on how early sheep, blacksmithing/expeditions, ore-mining, etc., come out. My wife and I do not get stuck in any particular strategy, so it works fairly well for us. Neither of us are a number-cruncher gamer, so that helps. But Agricola can have the same issue, so if you like Agricola as a 2-player game, I would say that Caverna is an even better 2-player game (because, IMHO, 2-player Agricola could be won or lost by whichever player got the stronger profession or improvement cards).

Zarathud, just bill it as the board game version of Dwarf Fortress. Or, if they are not DF players, the board game version of building Moria. I think you would find it very easy to teach and even people burned out on Agricola and Le Havre should enjoy it. We were burned out on Agricola and immediately got obsessed with Caverna.

Woops! I must have replied to an outdated browser tab. I was actually wondering how Terra Mystica plays with two. Caverna info not for naught, though! I'm on a continual hunt for games that scale well to 2.

baelthazar wrote:

SpaceLord wrote:

Zarathud wrote:I really enjoyed Terra Mystica the few times I've been able to get it onto the table. It is much easier than it looks and after a single game, some of the asymmetrical strategies start to come out.

As I've said here before, Terra Mystica is the best euro of the past several years, in my opinion.

I just wish it was decent for two players.

wonderpug wrote:How well does it play with 2?

I think he already answered you.