Octopus Overlords

hepcat wrote:Washington's War from GMT is a bit expensive, but it perfectly shows how the colonists had to fight as guerrillas in order to survive. It's an absolutely gorgeous game to boot, with tons of historical text in the cards.

Also, 1812: The Invasion of Canada and 1775: Rebellion from Academy Games are incredibly simple to learn, but capture the history of the periods they depict quite elegantly.

Thanks Hep! Is Washington's War easy to teach and play? The COIN games are very historical, but I can't imagine using them with non-gamers (a lot of GMT games are that way). I almost got 1775, but I thought students would prefer WWII as a theme. It will certainly be my next acquisition.

WW is Mark herman's first CDG I believe, so it should be easier than the COIN games to learn. But it's still more of a gamer's game. 1775 and 1812 on the other hand are VERY easy to teach.

We got in another round of Imperial Assault.

I'm playing the Imperials, and my first instinct was that the Rebels are just super-overpowered juggernauts that can't be stopped. We're playing a 2 player game, so the rebel player gets double activation plus an extra 10HP. He blew through the first story mission and side quest with ease, which had me scrambling for the rulebooks and forums again to figure out if this supposedly "great" game was wildly imbalanced, or if I was just doing something wrong.

After reading through many complaints (and rebuttals) of the same, I went back and analyzed the first two matches to see where I erred. Here's what I came up with:

- Not using my Imperial power often enough - I've got a skill sitting right there I can use every activation that I don't think I've ever bothered with due to laziness or forgetfulness or both.

- Not taking advantage of reinforcements. To be fair, I haven't really been able to *afford* reinforcements until this last round, but going forward I can see it's an area where you really need to be on the ball about using optional deployment groups and refreshing wounded squads.

- Brute force is not the answer - I have a nasty habit of just wanting to throw all my troops at the heroes to do mass damage, but it's a tactic that hasn't yet worked. I have to make better use of move-action-move to take advantage of cover.

- Time is on my side - both missions we've played are Imperial victories if the Rebels don't complete their goal within 6 rounds. I focused too much on wounding heroes, and not enough on just stalling them long enough to let the clock run out. The last mission we played they didn't reach the goal until the middle of Round 6 - with more careful play earlier in the mission I should have easily been able to delay them enough to get the win.

- Spend that XP. My buddy spent a wad of cash and XP right off the bat after his first victory, while I took the hoarding approach and spent two missions not buying anything. The end result is that I'm still playing with my base skills, while he's rocking a nasty set of melee gauntlets that have wreaked havoc against my stormtroopers. I need to stop being so miserly and purchase more tools to have at my disposal.

Our next mission is the first BIG storyline mission, so I'm hoping what I've learned will allow the Empire to finally crush the Rebel heroes like the scum of the galaxy they are.

I played a fun German farm animal auction game last week. Can't remember the name though.

I also just received a copy of The Ancient World. I haven't played it before but saw some reviews online that made it look really good. Hopefully I get a chance to play it this week.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:I played a fun German farm animal auction game last week. Can't remember the name though.

How do German farm animals differ from our farm animals? Just the language?

It's much more fun to a Schweinebauer than a pig farmer.

Forgot to mention that I got together with Hepcat and Seppe on Saturday and got a game of Xia and Tokaido in.

Xia was a lot of fun, as always, but pretty damn one sided. Seppe jumped out to an early lead and stayed there. He got to the 12 FP when I was still sitting at like 7 and Hep was at 5. I pretty much was completely out of the game when I ran out of energy way out on one of the arms of the system and tried to get lucky by exploring and finding a planet. I failed. It was a really long way back to the nearest planet. Took me at least 6-7 turns of flying. I made it back to the planet right when Seppe got his last FP. I have no idea what Hepcat was doing while I was stuck out on the ass end of the universe.

After that we played a learning game of Tokaido. Once again, Seppe pretty much crushed us, and I recognized very clearly some very bad moves that I made. I want to give it another try with a full five players.

coopasonic wrote:

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:I played a fun German farm animal auction game last week. Can't remember the name though.

How do German farm animals differ from our farm animals? Just the language?

They drink more beer.

hentzau wrote: I have no idea what Hepcat was doing while I was stuck out on the ass end of the universe.

I was attacking Seppe, remember? Plus, early game, I got a bunch of bad rolls when resolving some smuggling missions (all I seemed to be pulling at first) that hurt me. I should have just kept cycling missions until I had safer ones, but I was trying to make at least one of those smuggling missions work for me.

Sorry I wasn't there to give seppe a run for his money. Or maybe not. I was a mess between additional stress dropping at 5 pm Friday, the kid's insulin schedule getting all messed up by Daylight Savings, doing personal business taxes and a bout of insomnia worthy of hepcat.

I did read the Paranoia Kickstarter play test rules (which really needs more stuff and editing) and worked on updating the Venture Brothers Troubleshooters.

Played a 3 player game of Dead of Winter last night, and it was great fun as always. We all lost in spectacular fashion. Particularly memorable was the string of Characters that Stuart lost in rapid fashion...2 in one turn, once when we failed a crisis and had a zombie overrun at the outpost, and then when his new character showed up we then did the place zombies phase and he was the lowest character in the outpost so we lost that character too. That was a hard turn on morale.

I was the betrayer, and thought I had everything in the bag, but I didn't read my card closely enough...I thought I needed to have morale hit 0 and have 6 food, but it reads "6 food cards" and I only had 4 food cards so I lost with everyone else. Sad part is that I didn't really have to do anything to get us to lose...just slow played food cards. One more turn and I might have gotten it.

coopasonic wrote:How do German farm animals differ from our farm animals? Just the language?

I went to Germany for an exchange student trip in high school, and one night we were out walking and I saw a German Shepherd. Excitedly, I asked my German counterpart what he called that kind of dog.

He replies, "A shepherd."

Mind. Blown.

YellowKing wrote:

coopasonic wrote:How do German farm animals differ from our farm animals? Just the language?

I went to Germany for an exchange student trip in high school, and one night we were out walking and I saw a German Shepherd. Excitedly, I asked my German counterpart what he called that kind of dog.

He replies, "A shepherd."

Mind. Blown.

And here I thought that all German animals were made of wood and miniaturized. Also, I have learned through boardgaming that, in Germany, a sheep costs one wood (although sometimes it is two sheep for one wood).

In Scotland, they need both at the same time.

For future reference: Letters from Whitechapel background music

At three hours, it's almost long enough for a full game.

And because it's a thing, here are the actual weather observations.

Just got my copy of D&D Dicemasters Battle for Faerun game and the vendor was good enough to include the Minsc and Boo promo card and die. Given that I still can't find the original Marvel Avengers vs X-Men Dicemasters game for a reasonable price I didn't want to hesitate to get out there and get this one. So if you were like me and waiting to chuck a different kind of D&D die around...now is the time

Smoove_B wrote:Given that I still can't find the original Marvel Avengers vs X-Men Dicemasters game for a reasonable price

It was reprinted recently I think it's is generally available now. $11.49 at CSI right now, 20+ in stock.

X(8) and I played 5 games of Shadowrun: Crossfire this weekend. It is not easy as a 2 player game. Each obstacle takes 1 or more specific colors... I mean skills to kill and sometimes it's hard to get that skill quickly. There are four classes, each with their own color skill. Every player starts with an attack of each color, but having 1 blue in your deck of 15 cards when you only draw 2 per turn can make things a little sketchy. There are cards to bridge the gap and you can dilute your deck for adaptability.

Emphasis is heavy on cooperation in the game. You really have to work together to even get to a successful mission abort, much less a success. Of the 5 games we played, we only one once and successfully aborted twice. That was enough to get our first upgrade. We both went with +1 health. Based on our experience, I expect that to make a meaningful difference. There are other upgrade options to convert two damage to 1 of a specific color, but I think you have to commit to going a certain way for that to work.

Anyway, for a game with pretty much no buzz, I am enjoying it quite a bit. It's a bit pricey for what you get physically and no idea if they are ever going to expand it (it comes with 4 missions (or 3?)). We've just played the first one over and over again so far.

I hate to be a wet rag, but Shadowrun Crossfire was my biggest disappointment from Gencon last year. I just do not enjoy it at all. I was hoping for a game with more persistence between games like the Pathfinder card game, but twas not to be. I'm hoping I can unload it at this year's convention auction.

The family played Wheel of Fortune: Disney Edition (don't be a gamer snob! I almost pooh poohed this one but Moat_Boy really likes Wheel of Fortune so I relented and we ended up having a lot of laughs), Splendor and Dominion.

I also played my first game of Race for the Galaxy with Moat_Boy last weekend. I see a lot of potential in that one as we learn the cards and figure out the bonuses and combos.

Next up on the hit list is Castle Panic and Caverna. I kinda went nuts a few weeks ago and popped for $250 in games. I bough the last four Dominion expansions, Caverna, Castle Panic and Splendor. Add to that the games I got for my birthday in January (Pandemic: The Cure and Dominion: Intrigue), and a Kickstarter game that arrived (Harbour) and we have a lot of gaming goodness to plow through.

The family played Wheel of Fortune: Disney Edition (don't be a gamer snob! I almost pooh poohed this one but Moat_Boy really likes Wheel of Fortune so I relented and we ended up having a lot of laughs), Splendor and Dominion.

The Flip the Table podcast goes back and plays "ironic" games like this for fun. They were on a live edition of the Dice Tower podcast talking about playing The Price is Right and an 80s game for teenage girls called "Heartthrob."

hepcat wrote:I hate to be a wet rag, but Shadowrun Crossfire was my biggest disappointment from Gencon last year. I just do not enjoy it at all. I was hoping for a game with more persistence between games like the Pathfinder card game, but twas not to be. I'm hoping I can unload it at this year's convention auction.

I went into it knowing what I was getting. I would definitely like there to be more content, but I am happy with it.

First game of Fallen under the belt.

The hero cheated won. But it did come down to the wire. Despite losing the majority of the story card challenges, the Dungeon Lord took the first Final Battle card. And then held on to take the fourth one. But just couldn't get the bonuses to keep the hero at bay on the last Final Battle card.

I wasn't 100% taken with the DL role. Since the DL goes first, it seems to boil down to trying to guess if your dice will hold up. And with no ability to add once you've "set" them, it can be a bit frustrating watching your rolls get beat time after time. But if you over-commit your resources, then they feel wasted. The hero gets to keep adding to his or her rolls to win. Or stop early if it's clear a win isn't possible. Definitely feels like the hero gets an edge.

Guess I need to play some more to get a better feeling for how best to play the DL.

I believe there are quite a few cards for the DL that trigger on the hero dice roll, so you do have some control on things after you roll your dice.

Yes. Above and beyond the cards you have in your hand to change the hero's die rolls don't forget you get to look at the story card to see what is coming up. I usually try to get six swords for the hero to beat on every challenge, but if I can only get five I'll let it slide - particularly if I know the next challenge on the story card is for a treasure or omen card. Really, trying to get the hero to over-commit dice early on is a great strategy and the fact that you win on a tie means getting more than six swords every challenge can be tricky.

hepcat wrote:I believe there are quite a few cards for the DL that trigger on the hero dice roll, so you do have some control on things after you roll your dice.

Well, I'm fairly certain that I was not getting very good power cards. So obviously that didn't help. I think the only one that helped with my roll was a "get a sword for every wound the Hero rolls". Unfortunately, my wife was not very accommodating on that front.

Smoove_B wrote:Yes. Above and beyond the cards you have in your hand to change the hero's die rolls don't forget you get to look at the story card to see what is coming up. I usually try to get six swords for the hero to beat on every challenge, but if I can only get five I'll let it slide - particularly if I know the next challenge on the story card is for a treasure or omen card. Really, trying to get the hero to over-commit dice early on is a great strategy and the fact that you win on a tie means getting more than six swords every challenge can be tricky.

I did not realize I could look at the story card. While I never got a shot at omen cards (I only got one the entire game through a reward), being aware of the upcoming possible challenges might have helped with strategy.

Don't play against my wife. I generally only had a guarantee win on 8+, and even lost one of those. I lost four or so 7 rolls. Granted, that was the last story card and the Final Battles. But I stopped sticking on 5 or 6 early on. I might have only won one of those.

I think she got some pretty good rolls and cards. At least, she almost always had more things to throw at every roll to win. I blocked 2 of 3 Treasure challenges. But I'm not sure it really helped me.

In looking back, I think I should have focused on wounds more than trying to get wins. The Critical cards seem to offer the best chance to level the playing field. I ended up breaching her armor 3 times. Another one or two would have definitely helped. So would have realizing that breaching gave XP. I didn't pick up on that until the Final Battle. I went back and collected my XP, but being able to level creatures sooner might have made some difference.

I played my first game of The Ancient World last week. There was the usual first game confusion about certain rules (not all of which we applied correctly), but it seems like a solid strategy game with lots of options. It's more or less a worker placement game with shades of 7 Wonders. Hopefully I can give it another go this week now that I have a feel for how the game plays.

TheMix wrote:I did not realize I could look at the story card. While I never got a shot at omen cards (I only got one the entire game through a reward), being aware of the upcoming possible challenges might have helped with strategy.

Really? That sounds...not right. Not a single omen card during the entire 3 story card run? You do realize that you get an Omen (or Treasure) card regardless of whether or not you won or lost that challenge - the difference is that with losing the challenging you pick two cards off the deck and randomly choose one (as opposed to looking at both and picking the one you want). Every time I played one of those cards is was a major hit against the hero so you definitely want to make sure you're getting them.

Regardless by looking at the story card and figuring out which path the hero is heading down you can decide your strategy. The hero only finds out the skill/reward after they declare a choice so that's another advantage you have.

Don't play against my wife. I generally only had a guarantee win on 8+, and even lost one of those. I lost four or so 7 rolls. Granted, that was the last story card and the Final Battles. But I stopped sticking on 5 or 6 early on. I might have only won one of those.

She must have had good gear, skills and/or bonus dice to be able to roll 8+ -- that's not an easy task.

In looking back, I think I should have focused on wounds more than trying to get wins. The Critical cards seem to offer the best chance to level the playing field. I ended up breaching her armor 3 times. Another one or two would have definitely helped. So would have realizing that breaching gave XP. I didn't pick up on that until the Final Battle. I went back and collected my XP, but being able to level creatures sooner might have made some difference.

Yes, the critical cards do make a big difference and I'd agree it's a good strategy. I also try to get all my monsters to level 2 before upgrading to a level three monster. The difference (in dice and powers) between level 1 and level 2 seems pretty significant.

The love letter is signed...with his fists!

I didn't get a chance to play any board games, but I did pick up Lords of Waterdeep for the iPad. I own the physical copy, but have only had a chance to play it once since I got it about a year ago. I figured if I could really get the rules down pat playing solo on the iPad, I might have a better chance to get it on the actual table at some point.

It's a ton of fun, and made me realize that I've been missing out not getting more play out of this one.

Going to get in some Star Trek Attack Wing tomorrow. I've managed to get all but one of the Dominion ships so far. Amazon has them at pretty decent prices at times.

What I love most about the game is that the scenario driven gameplay is often drawn from episodes of the show. As a long time ST fan, I find that so much more satisfying than simply playing a free for all brawl.

We played another game of Cthuhlu Wars this evening. It’s honestly getting better and better now that people have started to learn how all the different factions work. The comparisons to Chaos in the Old World remain but the asymmetry among the factions in CW is WAAY beyond what it is in CitOW.

We also played with the Opener of the Way (5 player) expansion race tonight, which is just bizarre. I won with the faction but I don’t know if I actually like the way it plays. My early game presence was pretty much nonexistent but by late game I just wrecked everything. I ended up pulling in over 10 victory points (out of 30) in the very last turn of the game.

Played Ninjato and Splendor at the boardgame event.

Lordnine wrote:We played another game of Cthuhlu Wars this evening. It’s honestly getting better and better now that people have started to learn how all the different factions work. The comparisons to Chaos in the Old World remain but the asymmetry among the factions in CW is WAAY beyond what it is in CitOW.

We also played with the Opener of the Way (5 player) expansion race tonight, which is just bizarre. I won with the faction but I don’t know if I actually like the way it plays. My early game presence was pretty much nonexistent but by late game I just wrecked everything. I ended up pulling in over 10 victory points (out of 30) in the very last turn of the game.

How did you play with Opener of the Way? Did you print it out or did someone get their extras early?

baelthazar wrote: How did you play with Opener of the Way? Did you print it out or did someone get their extras early?

The devs released all the information for the expansions some time ago. The Board Game Geek community has fully embraced it and released full downloadable templates. I printed them out and used some model stand-ins.

Got in two games of Star Trek Attack Wing...both of which I lost. Then a game of Warhammer Conquest LCG...which I lost. After that, a game of Doctor Who: The Twelve Doctors...which I lost. Finally, Seppe humored me and let me put Pax Porfiriana on the table...which I then lost.

Isgrimnur wrote:Played Ninjato and Splendor at the boardgame event.

I think I am regressing. A couple years ago I was afraid to walk into a board gaming event without knowing anyone. I resolved that by knowing Isgrimnur. Now I am afraid to ask my wife if she is ok with me attending a board gaming event. I really ought to be comfortable talking to my wife, right?

Played 2 player, full-coop Dead of Winter with X(8). In full co-op there are no secret personal objectives and I suspect that takes a lot of the fun out of the game. At least now I know the basic mechanics of the game in case I ever manage to find way out of my home for a gaming event. I already know April and May are out with a legitimate conflicts. Soccer season will be over by June, so it's totally possibly I can game in June!