Octopus Overlords

coopasonic wrote:Not a damn thing, yet again... but that doesn't stop me from looking at CSI. My entire wishlist is in stock, but only adds up to $71.47. Do I just randomly pick another game to get free shipping? I don't know what to do?

What games do you have in your cart already? Maybe we can help you pick another.

Shadowrun Crossfire: Mission Expansion Pack 1: High Caliber Ops
Splendor
Ticket to Ride: United Kingdom & Pennsylvania Expansion Map Collection 5

I don't really need any of them. The wife *might* like splendor.

What's your CSI username and password? I'll add a few things for you.

Isgrimnur
AirForceF@n

I've got both Shadowrun Crossfire expansions in an order, sadly that means I have to wait forever for the second one to come out before I get to play High Caliber. Also have the Star Wars Rebellion coming eventually.

coopasonic wrote:Shadowrun Crossfire: Mission Expansion Pack 1: High Caliber Ops
Splendor
Ticket to Ride: United Kingdom & Pennsylvania Expansion Map Collection 5

I don't really need any of them. The wife *might* like splendor.

Splendor is the gem game, right? It's a huge hit around here for generic board games with large gatherings. There are always two or three games running.


I have the same CSI problem on the rare occasion I order. Only what happens to me is I end up with liek $80 in games and then there are like 10 games I want that are out of stock.

If I suffer from so much that to look at that I don't know what want then I go to BGG and look through their top games everyone is raving about lists.

Harkonis wrote:I've got both Shadowrun Crossfire expansions in an order, sadly that means I have to wait forever for the second one to come out before I get to play High Caliber. Also have the Star Wars Rebellion coming eventually.

Are you sure there is actually another expansion? I see there is one at CSI, but I see nothing about it at BGG or the Catalyst site. The Catalyst sucks, but the Geeks ought to have something.

I just put in a pre-order for both Star Trek Frontiers (the Mage Knight reskin for Star Trek) and the new edition of Stronghold by Ignacy. Sadly, they both aren't shipping until sometime next month.

If you were into X-Wing miniatures, you could always use another 2 small ships.

Zarathud wrote:If you were into X-Wing miniatures, you could always use another 2 small ships.

I was looking at a couple of the scum and villainy ships. I don't think I have any of those but the ones that came out initially... but I also don't play X-Wing like ever (or anything else, but shut up).

coopasonic wrote:Not a damn thing, yet again... but that doesn't stop me from looking at CSI. My entire wishlist is in stock, but only adds up to $71.47. Do I just randomly pick another game to get free shipping? I don't know what to do?

I got Clockwork Wars and Five Tribes today and they look pretty fantastic. I also hear good things about getting wives to play the Castles of Mad King Ludwig (think Carcassonne with missions and a strange "marketplace" aspect).

baelthazar wrote:

coopasonic wrote:Not a damn thing, yet again... but that doesn't stop me from looking at CSI. My entire wishlist is in stock, but only adds up to $71.47. Do I just randomly pick another game to get free shipping? I don't know what to do?

I got Clockwork Wars and Five Tribes today and they look pretty fantastic. I also hear good things about getting wives to play the Castles of Mad King Ludwig (think Carcassonne with missions and a strange "marketplace" aspect).

You and I are different kinds of gamers. I think Five Tribes looks dreadful and feel similarly about Ludwig, particularly the marketplace aspect. On the plus side your mention of Clockwork Wars reminded me of how much I liked On Her Majesty's Service and that I wanted to give Heavy Steam a closer look. I'm not sure I want to own either, but they are on the maybe list.

Five Tribes has a lot of good reviews. I've always wanted to try it.

It's one of those games I can recognize as a good game but know that it isn't for me. Too many choices and I am not interested in spending the time to figure out which option is best.

Fair enough. That's how I feel about abstract games for the most part. I simply cannot stand Tash-Kalar at all for that reason, and I know it's got quite a few fans.

hepcat wrote:I simply cannot stand Tash-Kalar at all for that reason, and I know it's got quite a few fans.

...and yet somehow I LOVE Tash-Kalar. It's one of my 10 most played games. You just never know, I guess.

I know, that was kind of my point.

I also LOVED the idea of XCom the boardgame, as well as another Vlada game, Space Alert, but I realized quickly that I just do not enjoy timed games. But I know both of those have a lot of fans.

Robo Rally is supposed to have timed turns determined by the fastest player. I think I played it that way once.

I've said it before but Five Tribes is one of my favorite games. There a bunch of different strategies you can take and so far I haven't noticed that any one strategy is clearly superior. It also rewards careful planning and the ability to see moves others might overlook. The only negative is that some people can get frozen trying to figure out the best move every turn. It also helps that the Meeple moving mechanic is unique, at least compared to the other games I have.

I also really like Ludwig but I've only played it a few times. I can't say yet whether it will have the staying power of Five Tribes.

Isgrimnur wrote:Robo Rally is supposed to have timed turns determined by the fastest player. I think I played it that way once.

I've never played it that way. It may be a player made variant though. I certainly wouldn't want to play it that way.

Rules PDF, Page 4.

Ah, I see. My copy is older than that. That must be something they added to speed things up, as the timer doesn't actually start until only one player remains who hasn't chosen their programming. Still, it's a far cry from making the entire game a timed one. You're just limiting how long the slowest player takes to finish.

Castles of Mad King Lundwig is a good game. It has a lot of the Suburbia mechanics, but gives more purpose to how you build your city.

Another less expensive light game is Between Two Cities. It has been a nice short game for my group. It is cooperative / competitive. We found that a lot of chatting can happen while the game is played because the turns are easy to execute. It is a tile placement game where you build two cities, each with the adjacent player. Your score is the lower of point value of the two cities. This is better with more players.

I've said it before but Five Tribes is one of my favorite games. There a bunch of different strategies you can take and so far I haven't noticed that any one strategy is clearly superior. It also rewards careful planning and the ability to see moves others might overlook. The only negative is that some people can get frozen trying to figure out the best move every turn. It also helps that the Meeple moving mechanic is unique, at least compared to the other games I have.

I also really like Ludwig but I've only played it a few times. I can't say yet whether it will have the staying power of Five Tribes.

coopasonic wrote: You and I are different kinds of gamers. I think Five Tribes looks dreadful and feel similarly about Ludwig, particularly the marketplace aspect. On the plus side your mention of Clockwork Wars reminded me of how much I liked On Her Majesty's Service and that I wanted to give Heavy Steam a closer look. I'm not sure I want to own either, but they are on the maybe list.

Yeah, don't get Five Tribes if you are prone to be the kind of numerical gamer that has to optimize every move. You will both hate it and be hated by your fellow players!

I'm surprised about Clockwork Wars, however. That is a pretty nice and standard area placement game with bluffing and hidden orders. If you like Letters and that sort of game, I would imagine it would be right up your alley.

Played Android: Netrunner again with my son last night. I think this is my current favorite game, after about 4-5 plays. The last time we played my son totally whupped me as the runner. I think I was using a Hans Bioroid deck that time. This time I switched to a Weyland deck. Apart from going a fair stretch with no agendas in my hand (which may have been for the best) I really liked that deck and managed to keep everything under control. The archer ICE is phenomenal is you can actually use it.

baelthazar wrote:I'm surprised about Clockwork Wars, however. That is a pretty nice and standard area placement game with bluffing and hidden orders. If you like Letters and that sort of game, I would imagine it would be right up your alley.

I didn't render any opinion on Clockwork Wars. I am not familiar with it at all. The name just reminded me of a couple steampunk themed games I saw at BGGCON that caught my interest.

How similar is the LCG Netrunner to the CCG Netrunner of the 90's? I loved that one.

Harkonis wrote:How similar is the LCG Netrunner to the CCG Netrunner of the 90's? I loved that one.

It's basically the same game, just cleaned up and standardized a bit. You'd think making it an LCG would save you money, but if you try to keep up FFG will drown you in cards. The expansions are never endings.

I have the base set that is be willing to part with. There's no way I can keep up with the LCG setup, and playing the base game at the group I go to isn't likely to attract any takers.

coopasonic wrote:

baelthazar wrote:I'm surprised about Clockwork Wars, however. That is a pretty nice and standard area placement game with bluffing and hidden orders. If you like Letters and that sort of game, I would imagine it would be right up your alley.

I didn't render any opinion on Clockwork Wars. I am not familiar with it at all. The name just reminded me of a couple steampunk themed games I saw at BGGCON that caught my interest.

Oh, I assumed, when you said our gaming tastes were different, you were referring to both the games I mentioned. You might check it out. It is a light wargame/civ builder where you deploy "discs" on a map using secret orders (i.e. writing them down on a pad of paper) and then simultaneously reveal and deploy. What makes it special is that you can get techs that "break" the game rules and these techs are units themselves (are deployed on the map as well) and can be "stolen" by seizing the territory with the tech in it. There is also a court to politically dominate and espionage cards. It all looks very cool and not hard to teach and play (I think my wife will like it, despite the wargame aspect).

Once I get a chance to play it, I will update with my impressions.

$110 to organize 3 seasons of Zombicide in 3 boxes? I think I'm going to need more glue.

More glue.

One thousand TWO stupid things to do. You're gonna need lots of glue!

Player Sheriff of Nottingham - first play, enjoyed it, and had overwhelming victory. Kittens in a Blender - not my thing. Took too long. Between Two Cities, was fun and came in 2nd. Tight spread.

Went to a church game night last night at the invitation of our old pastor. Mostly to rescue him from the mundanity of having to play crap like Uno. Unfortunately we got stuck with a 10 year old kid that worships him (heh) so we ended up doing easier fare like Rhino Hero and King of Tokyo (brat beat me with a great roll the turn before I would have won. ). Did get in a game of Bottom of the Ninth with him while the 10 year old was opening his birthday presents. Still love Bottom of the Ninth.

Tonight I'm planning on playing some Timelines Challenge and Codenames with the family.

hentzau wrote:Went to a church game night last night at the invitation of our old pastor. Mostly to rescue him from the mundanity of having to play crap like Uno. Unfortunately we got stuck with a 10 year old kid that worships him (heh) so we ended up doing easier fare like Rhino Hero and King of Tokyo (brat beat me with a great roll the turn before I would have won. ). Did get in a game of Bottom of the Ninth with him while the 10 year old was opening his birthday presents. Still love Bottom of the Ninth.

Tonight I'm planning on playing some Timelines Challenge and Codenames with the family.

This story reminds me of when I fielded a board game meet-up with some of my college students. I suggest it with visions of Eldritch Horrow, Blood Rage, Cthulhu Wars, and - maybe - Twilight Imperium.

Some of students invited were very excited - "I LOVE Risk!" they said. And one, with wonder in his eyes, asked "Can we play Settlers of Catan? I hear it is amazing!"

baelthazar wrote:

hentzau wrote:Went to a church game night last night at the invitation of our old pastor. Mostly to rescue him from the mundanity of having to play crap like Uno. Unfortunately we got stuck with a 10 year old kid that worships him (heh) so we ended up doing easier fare like Rhino Hero and King of Tokyo (brat beat me with a great roll the turn before I would have won. ). Did get in a game of Bottom of the Ninth with him while the 10 year old was opening his birthday presents. Still love Bottom of the Ninth.

Tonight I'm planning on playing some Timelines Challenge and Codenames with the family.

This story reminds me of when I fielded a board game meet-up with some of my college students. I suggest it with visions of Eldritch Horrow, Blood Rage, Cthulhu Wars, and - maybe - Twilight Imperium.

Some of students invited were very excited - "I LOVE Risk!" they said. And one, with wonder in his eyes, asked "Can we play Settlers of Catan? I hear it is amazing!"

Heh, the group at my church has Dead of Winter, Cthulhu Wars, Kingsport Festival come out to name a few.

Dude, you only live 2 hours away... I may join your Church! They wouldn't happen to be Presbyterians, would they?