Octopus Overlords

Non-denominational.

LifePoint Church

Saturday I bribed and cajoled my way into a day of Phil Eklund games at our FLGS. Zarathud, Lawbeef and a couple of other OO non-members showed up.

First up was a game of Greenland with the non-OO folks. I love this game, but I was playing with a couple of guys who are fiercely competitive. One of them also constantly rushes other players as well. I've decided I'm not a fan of that. And the trash talk was becoming a little too personal at times for my taste. I like to play games to have fun first, to win second (although admittedly, I usually end up just enjoying games, if you catch my drift). When someone is rushing me to finish my turn (and I was by no means suffering from AP) and then insulting my moves afterwards, it just sucks the fun out of it. I don't know if they realize what they're doing, but I think I'm done with dealing with it.

Anyway, Greenland is always fun (in spite of the flustered aspects). I love how I learn something new about the game each time I play.

Then Lawbeef and Zarathud arrived and we started up a 5 player game of Pax Pamir. It's a tough game to teach as it has a LOT of moving parts. And I was already stressed out from Greenland and the already mentioned environment, so I did a piss poor job of explaining it to folks. To their credit though, Lawbeef and Zarathud took to it rather quickly, in spite of my muddled explanations. Lawbeef was a spy master, moving his clandestine Russian agents through a late 19th century Afghanistan as he attempted to weaken the hold that Britain had on the country. Zarathud was working out how to control the economics of the game via taxation and roads, while I accidentally built up a military force that ultimately won the game when we achieved end game conditions on the first topple card to appear (there are four).

Then we played a brief game of Grizzled and ended the day with a great coop kickstarter zarathud backed and received recently called PostHuman. But I'll let him speak on that. Suffice it to say, it's a great little rpg boardgame.

We got in our second game of Fury of Dracula yesterday. Once again, I played the hunters and my wife was Dracula.

After some fumbling around Europe, we managed to track down the Count and engaged him in battle a few times before he slipped our net. In the process, he took a fair amount of damage, but Mina Harker ended up in the hospital and the other hunters were limping. We then completely lost track of him for a painfully long stretch, and by the time we caught the trail, time was running short and he was far away.

In a last, desperate gamble, Van Helsing played the "Sense of Emergency" card, which allows a hunter to move three roads (instead of the usual one), but at the cost of 2 health. I had narrowed down Dracula's location to three cities, and picking the right one was a total guess. But I guessed correctly, and Van Helsing discovered and engaged the monster in battle.

The problem was that Van Helsing was already seriously wounded before moving, and the additional damage from the card left him with only two health -- not enough to withstand even a single hit from Dracula. Somehow, this crippled old man emerged victorious, and the vampire was dusted.

It was nice to win, but I needed lots and lots of luck at the end. I'll need to spend more time thinking about my hunter strategy for the next game.

Did both Timelines Challenge and Codenames with the family.

Timelines Challenge was fun, but my wife was somewhat dubious about some of their dates they had for things. She interpreted things very broadly, like "The invention of the stove" she had in her mind much earlier than what the card said. But she was pretty much thinking any surface placed on a fire was a stove, not the actual invention of the stove. And when "The invention of socks" came up, she was immediately "Do they mean hose? Or stockings? Or just socks?" And my 13 year old was at a huge disadvantage on this one, but he still enjoyed it. I think it will play better in teams with my family.

And we all enjoyed Codenames, even though we started only playing with 3, and that was a bit rough for me (as spymaster) keeping track of both sides. But it sounded fun enough that my daughter who wasn't wanting to play any games decided to join in so we had 2 complete teams. I can really see this game showing up as a TV game show at some point.

We played Clockwork Wars and I just can't see why this game is not getting more buzz! The components are nice (wooden disks for men, but good quality cards, hexes, player screens, and boards) and the gameplay is great fun! My wife seemed to really enjoy it, particularly grabbing the massive steam tank and rolling it towards my center lines like an inexorable carriage of doom. The tech cards really spice up the game, and we had some of the more manageable techs. I shudder to think what would have happened if she got the tech that allowed you to destroy a hex on the board (as in pull the hex off the table) but that one was not available. I thought it was a real hit and perfect for 2 players!

I would recommend Pax Paramir over Pax Porfiana. Both games have plenty of history and theme, but the board in Paramir gives a pretty good sense of the balance of power at a glance, and the icons really help crystallize the actions which provide a concrete, additional benefits from putting cards into play. The economic cards seemed to have a point beyond simply allowing you to play other cards, and it looked like I could drain the cash of other opponents (even those with similar loyalties) to take control of the military units on the main board. But branching out is critical -- falling behind in the spy game would leave you open to assassinations which destroy your cards in play and no ability to gain influence within a loyalty by sabotaging its cards representing its opposition. Political cards are key to getting more cards in play, while military is the tie-breaker and power on the main board. There is a cost to switching loyalties mid-stream so it's not something to do lightly, but it creates an opportunity for dastardly betrayal.

hepcat wrote:Then we played a brief game of Grizzled and ended the day with a great coop kickstarter zarathud backed and received recently called PostHuman. But I'll let him speak on that. Suffice it to say, it's a great little rpg boardgame.

Grizzled is the current White Whale of my gaming experience. Sure, a game about being the French on the battlefield of World War I wasn't going to be easy. But it's a simple "don't match" 3 game -- don't have your friends play the same day/season 3 times or the same 3 battle effects! It can't be hard enough to play 9 times in a row and get your ass handed to you worse each time, right? Yes, it is that hard. War never changes -- it will keep punching you in the nuts. Just when you see the possibility of peace in your lifetime, hepcat will risk it all so you have to draw enough cards to fail. And then you're screwed by having a hand full of dangers and someone in your crew (who will remain nameless) plays a card that you have to play ALL YOUR CARDS before ending the battle. When you're sitting on a collective 15 cards, you're going to lose by matching 3. It's mathematically impossible not to fail. But give me another lucky charm and inspiring speech. This time will be different, mon Dieu!

PostHuman is a race game -- the players are trying to get to the Vault or Sanctuary where there's only room for 1 more survivor in the post-apocalyptic world. Mutants you encounter may wound you enough to leave scars that may later mutate. If you mutate, you can no longer win but you can use your mutant abilities to hunt down the other players so no one survives. This creates an interesting mechanic where you don't want anyone to fall too far behind -- because they might "catch up" by turning into a spoiler.

Players have 4 actions. They can MOVE by drawing tiles that form their own maps, and can interact if they're on the same type of tile (forests, plains, cities or mountains). Since moving into an unexplored tile is taking a blind risk in the number of Encounters you have, you can instead SEARCH to draw a set of tiles that you can place at each fork in the road in your current tile -- but don't fall too far behind. Food is important, so you can FORAGE a completed tile once to gain more food and/or supplies. If you need to regain health or morale, you can CAMP and get a bonus if you're currently at a Safe House. Rather than advancing in the race by number of tiles, the path is measured by the number and difficulty of encounters. And the encounters aren't just combat. Sometimes you make a choice to give food/morale to gain followers (who provide bonuses and can take damage), or have to test your stats (wits, strength, fight, speed, range) to solve a puzzle or overcome an obstacle or avoid something bad. You gain loot only after completing all the encounters on a tile -- so tiles with more Encounters have more risk before the reward and the opportunity to Forage. It's a lite RPG boardgame with a fun theme.

The first few turns take forever as you learn the mechanics (and I kept explaining a few rules incorrectly), but then you can punch out turns quickly. One of the changes from the playtest that I missed is that rather than carrying items in your hands, you can instead keep 3 cards in hand (a stash) but out of play. This makes managing your inventory important, and those cards in hand become trade fodder. Another player may be happy to trade food or some booze (morale) for that extra weapon. Or trade you some bandages at a discount so you are less likely to turn on them later. I am looking forward to the hard choices as encounters get more difficult when we get further into the game before having to call it a night.

The closed economy in Pamir is one of my favorite mechanics. Having money cycle through players only (with the exception of the leverage cards which allow 1 to 3 rupees to enter play from a non-player bank...although that amount has to leave the player who played the leverage card if that card is later destroyed) makes currency a powerful tool instead of an allowance from some mysterious daddy that isn't a part of the game.

Pax Paramir looks very promising. Will need a few more plays to get comfortable with it but I can see a lot of fun there.

Wish I could have stayed to finish out Post Human. It looked like a solid game. Hopefully we can get that one out again.

hentzau wrote:Did both Timelines Challenge and Codenames with the family.

Timelines Challenge was fun, but my wife was somewhat dubious about some of their dates they had for things. She interpreted things very broadly, like "The invention of the stove" she had in her mind much earlier than what the card said. But she was pretty much thinking any surface placed on a fire was a stove, not the actual invention of the stove. And when "The invention of socks" came up, she was immediately "Do they mean hose? Or stockings? Or just socks?" And my 13 year old was at a huge disadvantage on this one, but he still enjoyed it. I think it will play better in teams with my family.

I picked up Cardlines Animals at the Dojo to throw some custom their way for letting us sit there all day. Basically each card is an animal (usually a species) and has 3 stats: age, weight, height/length. You pick which stat you're playing and much like Timelines, you try to arrange them in order. It's a lot of fun. It's great, though inevitably will suffer from the same issues of interpretation. We just agree to take the cards as fact for the purpose of the game. An unclear card is like a bad dice roll.

Highly recommended and it's like 3 Timelines games in 1 box with the 3 stats to choose from.

LawBeefaroni wrote: I picked up Cardlines Animals at the Dojo to throw some custom their way for letting us sit there all day. Basically each card is an animal (usually a species) and has 3 stats: age, weight, height/length. You pick which stat you're playing and much like Timelines, you try to arrange them in order. It's a lot of fun. It's great, though inevitably will suffer from the same issues of interpretation. We just agree to take the cards as fact for the purpose of the game. An unclear card is like a bad dice roll.

Highly recommended and it's like 3 Timelines games in 1 box with the 3 stats to choose from.

Cardline Dinosaurs!

I think it's also more younger kid friendly than the Timeline versions.

Got the latest expansion for Eldritch Horror, so I have been playing 4 Investigator solo games....and losing quite a bit.

Kicked off with a 2-player game of Splendor that I lost badly, managed to squeak out a win by 1 point in a 6-player game of Galactic Emperor, then played a learning 2-player game of Evolution.

Gravwell, it was a 50/50 shot at the end and I chose... poorly.
Burgle Bros, we had a terrible start and set off more alarms than I have ever seen in the game, but we still almost pulled it out... almost.
Tash-Kalar, a teaching game that was closer than I would like to admit.

Got a few guys together and we played Runewars. There was some issue with what end game condition we were using(one is when you hit X runes you win, the other was it takes one 'round' of holding said runes.). But much fun was had by all and left the other three wanting to play it again.

We then played Race for the Galaxy, at the last OO con I played Roll for the Galaxy and Micro(Maybe not the right name) Galaxy. Both of the OO games were dice rolling games which were fun. Race for the Galaxy was cool for a card playing game, but one player managed to get a ton of military planets at first, so cornered the galaxy on placing Military planets for free, and then quickly built up to the 13 cards on the table. We were just using the base game, and it was okay, but I am not sure I enjoy it the same as other 'space' games.

My Eclipse crew also wanted to branch out to Twilight Imperium, so I am getting ready to purchase the base game and both expansions. Big investment, but I have a crew of 5 that love Eclipse and want to go deeper down the rabbit hole. My wife is actually supportive of my hobby, as I keep improving our basement 'gaming' room that doubles as her sewing/hobby area the other 28 days of the month when I am not playing board games. I think she is winning this game of usage of the game room, but <shrug> I get to play board games 1 or 2 times a month at the house, so I am not complaining.

RMC wrote:My Eclipse crew also wanted to branch out to Twilight Imperium, so I am getting ready to purchase the base game and both expansions. Big investment, but I have a crew of 5 that love Eclipse and want to go deeper down the rabbit hole.

From what I hear, it doesn't get any deeper than TI. But if you're looking for something that won't take days, give Galactic Emperor a look.

Played a game of Smallworld with 5 others. This was my first time really playing it, other than a quick 2 player game to learn the rules. It was pretty fun and certainly much better with 5 players than with two. Things were generally pretty close until the Flying Sorcerers combo happened to make an appearance halfway through the game; the player that picked them up dominated until the other players banded together to attack her. She still won, but it ended up being surprisingly close. Considering that all but two of us hadn't played the game before, it was easy to pick up and get going. Certainly not as deep as many of my games, but fun for what it was.

Isgrimnur wrote:

RMC wrote:My Eclipse crew also wanted to branch out to Twilight Imperium, so I am getting ready to purchase the base game and both expansions. Big investment, but I have a crew of 5 that love Eclipse and want to go deeper down the rabbit hole.

From what I hear, it doesn't get any deeper than TI. But if you're looking for something that won't take days, give Galactic Emperor a look.

Will do. Thanks for the suggestion.

Sunday we started our journey into Pandemic Legacy: Season 1. It's tough to talk about Pandemic Legacy without giving away some of the twists and turns that hit you month to month. This is a game that relies on a strong narrative for at least half the fun. It will surprise you, that's all I'm going to say.

As for the fun factor, I rate it highly in that area. Zarathud, Seppe, Archinerd and I (with the guidance of our game mentor Hentzau who was there to make sure we got it right) all enjoyed ourselves immensely. Sure, it's hard to get around the "I HAVE TO RIP UP A CARD!?!?" feeling the first time it happens, but after a while you stop worrying about it and just enjoy the ride.

We made it to April before we finally lost, which according to Hentzau is pretty good. I have a feeling that the game is going to just get progressively harder from here on out.

Can't wait to continue our campaign of disease and laughter.

Pandemic Legacy starts as the game you know and love -- until it isn't anymore. Learning to alter your strategy midstream is critical. Almost as much as getting the cards to cure and eradicate a disease just before it outbreaks. Very highly recommended.

I did find it odd that it turned into a game of Hollywood Squares around month 3, complete with a Bert Convy wig for the first player and a Paul Lynde mask for another player in one of the boxes though.

hepcat wrote:I did find it odd that it turned into a game of Hollywood Squares around month 3, complete with a Bert Convy wig for the first player and a Paul Lynde mask for another player in one of the boxes though.

That's nothing compared to when you unroll the giant sticker that turns the board into the Game of Life for 3 months.

More like the "Game of Death" when you stick with the same strategy until the world burns, then scramble to change.

Reading the rule book and seeing all the "insert stickers here" is pretty scary -- and that's BEFORE you find out what changes. You'll never guess what's Rule 42.

Son of a...they pushed back the release of my fantasy game, Star Trek Frontiers (Mage Knight with a Star Trek theme) to May.

(This is about Pandemic Legacy, for those of you that haven't played it yet.)

Made it through May on our second time last night. We were down to our last two cards in the player deck when I cured the last disease.

Man, that was a tight game.

I think we're up to April and just failed our first game. I was getting worried we were going to rush through it. I get the feeling that four players might be a little easier than three.

And also, if I recall correctly, you were playing with a punishingly difficult variation on outbreaks too.

I've been enjoying Pandemic Legacy so much that I started up a second campaign with just my wife and I so she could try it. It works surprisingly well with 2 players, but the tactics you end up using end up being quite different than for a 4-player game. It's been a lot of fun seeing how much differently events are playing out for this playthrough compared to my first.

wonderpug wrote:It's been a lot of fun seeing how much differently events are playing out for this playthrough compared to my first.

That's what I enjoyed when I watched Hep play through the first four months on Sunday, seeing how different the game flowed in his game, and how [REDACTED] became the first [REDACTED] to become [REDACTED] and then watching their reactions when the [REDACTED] suddenly [REDACTED].

hepcat wrote: And also, if I recall correctly, you were playing with a punishingly difficult variation on outbreaks too.

Yeah, we have since corrected that, but I made up for it last night by mis-interpreting a rule that helped us out a bit (just looked the rule up). So I figure it all balances out.

wonderpug wrote:I've been enjoying Pandemic Legacy so much that I started up a second campaign with just my wife

Did you buy a second copy? Or are you using the fan made reset kit on BGG?

hentzau wrote: That's what I enjoyed when I watched Hep play through the first four months on Sunday, seeing how different the game flowed in his game, and how [REDACTED] became the first [REDACTED] to become [REDACTED] and then watching their reactions when the [REDACTED] suddenly [REDACTED].

Yeah, I remember shouting MOTHER[REDACTED]!! when that happened.

hepcat wrote:

wonderpug wrote:I've been enjoying Pandemic Legacy so much that I started up a second campaign with just my wife

Did you buy a second copy? Or are you using the fan made reset kit on BGG?

Separate copies, but now I'm curious to check out what that reset kit looks like! My first campaign (currently in September or October) is on a copy my friend owns -- there's four of us that get together every couple weeks for 2-3 plays. I'm in June or July with my wife's campaign on a box we got for Christmas.

So back in 2012 I purchased Mage Knight, opened the box, said "Hell no" and shelved it. Well earlier this month I decided I'm going to work my way through all of the "Hell no" games that have been collecting dust and last night Mage Knight was selected. So I followed the tutorial to the letter, and with setup and reading through every step, I think it was 2.5 hours before I could take the first turn -- that's impressive. Played another 90 minutes after that and finished the first Round. While that seems ridiculous (and I guess it is), that is easily the best tutorial for a board game I've ever seen. I feel like I understand the basics and think I understand why this is so damn popular. That being said, I can't imagine playing it with more than two people. The idea of a 5-6 player expansion seems...ridiculous. I'm going to finish this game and maybe try another but then move on to Duel of Ages II. What killed me last time for Duel of Ages was the storage. More specifically figuring out a way to store the character chits in a way that would speed up the initial setup. Regardless, Mage Knight is fun. Not sure I was mentally ready to play it before last night, but it's a keeper.

Been hooked, once again, on Baseball Highlights 2045. Mostly solo games, but it is a game my son, Jacob, enjoys. Even my wife is ok with this one. My other son is interested in playing it, also.

Smoove_B wrote:The idea of a 5-6 player expansion seems...ridiculous. I'm going to finish this game and maybe try another but then move on to Duel of Ages II. What killed me last time for Duel of Ages was the storage. More specifically figuring out a way to store the character chits in a way that would speed up the initial setup. Regardless, Mage Knight is fun. Not sure I was mentally ready to play it before last night, but it's a keeper.

I view Mage Knight as the pinnacle of solo board gaming. I can't imagine it with 2 people, let along a full game of 4 (or more). And yeah, the learning curve is a bit ridiculous. But play it with the full rules once and you'll only need to reference the rules occasionally in the future. Well, unless you've been away for a year or more. I've yet to win a conquest mode game. But someday, as God is my witness, I will slay that beast.

If you're starting up Duel of Ages II, remember that each character on your team goes through each step in the turn sequence before the next one acts. So Free Action for all your characters, then Fire for all your characters, Move all your characters, etc.. That was my mistake my first few game. I was treating it like a standard miniatures game where each individual character goes through all the steps, then the next goes, etc..

Also, grab some of the helpful player aids off BGG. I can't recommend them enough.

And yeah, storage for DoAII sucks...sucks hard. Shifting through all those friggin' character counters is a game in itself. I've heard that a lot of players buy coin storage sleeves and then alphabetically store them in those. But the set up on that makes me shudder.

However, once you get going, I guarantee you and your opponent will start creating the most insane stories of your gaming life. Having Annie Oakley shoot down Napoleon in an Apache attack copter with an RPG is something you can't fully appreciate until it happens to you.

hepcat wrote:And yeah, storage for DoAII sucks...sucks hard. Shifting through all those friggin' character counters is a game in itself. I've heard that a lot of players buy coin storage sleeves and then alphabetically store them in those. But the set up on that makes me shudder.

That's where I left off years ago trying to figure it out. Because it turns out trying to use an even more niche hobby (coin collecting) to solve the problems of your current niche hobby (board gaming) is hellified expensive. The only source I could find for the appropriately sized coin pouch pages was some dude in Canada and it was like $50 for 3 sheets.

However, once you get going, I guarantee you and your opponent will start creating the most insane stories of your gaming life. Having Annie Oakley shoot down Napoleon in an Apache attack copter with an RPG is something you can't fully appreciate until it happens to you.

That really is the draw. The reason I was interested in the first place was that I was thinking it would be a replacement for HeroScape. I'll definitely go back to BGG and check the handouts and guides. Thanks.

I didn't realize they were that expensive. I just grabbed a plano box and half halfheartedly organized them by type color. One of these days I'll have to review BGG to see what the current suggestions are. Those folks come up with some ingenious solutions quite often.

I've mentioned it before, but my favorite DoAII game involved a hillbilly survivalist flying around on a pegasus he'd found, while tossing bombs at ground based characters. However, I ultimately lost when Napoleon Bonaparte found a gyro-copter, flew to my base and destroyed it.

One thing I also suggest is play the first game or two without the labyrinth rules. Just use the suggested first time variant with the reward tokens that also act as victory conditions.

Another great thing about DoAII is that you have numerous game variants to choose from when playing. You can tailor you sessions to match your mood quite easily. Quick and bloody or long and involved, your choice. Don't like the card based resolution system? They've included rules for simplifying it with dice (although I highly recommend using the cards for maximum enjoyment).

Apparently I should have negotiated with the gentlemen from Canada. Now the only place I can find the 63 coin pocket sleeves are shipping from Australia. I really do love this hobby.

Or make friends with Zarathud so that when he needs to add something to an order to get free shipping, he just buys his friends stuff.

Damn it. Now I want to play Duel of Ages II again.

Smoove, what's your address? I'll bring the Ripple and Cheetos.

My gaming group got DOA II to the table two weeks ago for the first time. All I can say is that it didn't seem to go over very well. We played with the labyrinths, had 9 characters per side, 3 vs. 3, and the game seemed a bit long. The consensus seems to be that there was a lack of items to help move the action along, and to be honest I wasn't 100% sure on how the capture vs kill mechanic worked out. I believe it just gave a side more points if characters were captured rather than killed.

I have hopes of trying it again, but I'm not sure when everyone will buy into that.

One thing that always seems to discourage new players is diving right into the labyrinth game. That variant does not give out weapons and equipment quickly. In fact, it doles them out pretty slowly. You should always start with the suggested first time game that sees the board peppered with counters that can be picked up and turned into items.

The labyrinth game is a much more involved affair that is surprisingly deep in terms of tactics. But you can't unbalance that variant of the game by giving out tons of equipment each turn.

I had a similar issue at an Octocon years ago. I laid out a labyrinth game and it went over like a ton of bricks when 6 people were involved. If I could do it all over again, I'd go the suggested route.

I am on day 2 of assembling the Broken Token inserts for Zombicide. Season 1 and Season 2 are completed. Tonight will be tackling Season 3, then Friday will be working out a better distribution of the many figures.