Octopus Overlords

Wow... looking through the top games on BGG, you see a LOT that are at least 10 years old (some 20, like El Grande). Even the "new" edition of Twilight Imperium is 11 years old (2005)! Some of the dates are not representative - the Cosmic Encounter that we play today is closer in style to the 77 version than the 2000 reissue by Hasbro/Avalon Hill.

For people here, an argument could be made for Crokinole (1876) - a bit more than 20 years...

Perhaps you could tell us more about its rich history.

Sadly, I have not played Crokinole for about six months. Folks around here don't want to play. Even if I do use my left hand.

Looking at the top 100 list, 55 came out within the last 6 years. (Or at-least new editions) So pretty even split. But my overall perception has more to do with the types of games I enjoy. If you select the top 100 thematic games, it’s more like 80% of the games in the top 100 came out in the last 5-6 years.

So maybe I should say THEMATIC game mechanics have improved a lot in recent years.

Hey now, no changing terms mid discussion.

Oh man, crokinole would be so much better if it had a companion app!

wonderpug wrote:Oh man, crokinole would be so much better if it had a companion app!

Actually, a scoring app wouldn't be a bad idea...

Isgrimnur wrote:Perhaps you could tell us more about its rich history.

I have never even played the game or know how it is played. According to the "font of all knowledge," Wikipedia, it originated in Canada. So it must be a polite game. Also, it seems that it was popular in Amish and Mennonite groups, which could explain why Hentzau is also attracted to it, considering he wishes it was still the 1890s.

Shipping started for B-Sieged: Sons of the Abyss. Which will coincide nicely with a recent influx of free time.

baelthazar wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:Perhaps you could tell us more about its rich history.

I have never even played the game or know how it is played. According to the "font of all knowledge," Wikipedia, it originated in Canada. So it must be a polite game. Also, it seems that it was popular in Amish and Mennonite groups, which could explain why Hentzau is also attracted to it, considering he wishes it was still the 1890s.

What can I say. I dig the fashions.

Which reminds me! I need to make a crokinole board for Zenda!

baelthazar wrote:Wow... looking through the top games on BGG, you see a LOT that are at least 10 years old (some 20, like El Grande). Even the "new" edition of Twilight Imperium is 11 years old (2005)! Some of the dates are not representative - the Cosmic Encounter that we play today is closer in style to the 77 version than the 2000 reissue by Hasbro/Avalon Hill.

For people here, an argument could be made for Crokinole (1876) - a bit more than 20 years...

I have exactly ten games I've rated a 10 on BGG.
60% are 10 years old or more
30% are from 2007
The most recent is from 2014 (Thunder Alley)
The oldest game is from 1979 (Dune)
Average: 14.4 years old
Median: 12 years old

Even if I were to extend to include my twelve 9-rated games it would only skew things older. Yes, I have Pandemic Legacy (2015) ranked as a 9, but I also have GO (+/- 2000BC) ranked as a 9.

Getting ready for a weekend of gaming. I have about 9+ coming over on Saturday, and a smaller group most likely on Sunday.

I think Saturday will be a variety of different games, more light fair, but we might get Eclipse on the table with the latest expansion.

But Sunday is set-up for TI3, well if the damn game arrives today. It was supposed to be here yesterday, but no tracking number from Amazon on this package and it not here yet is bugging me.

10 days wait is a little long for Amazon. Especially since the expansions got to my house last week. <sigh>

Jealous. Maybe I can get into a game of Eclipse at Origins this year.

Zarathud wrote:Jealous. Maybe I can get into a game of Eclipse at Origins this year.

I managed to infect at least three of my other friends with the Eclipse bug after you introduced me to the game several years ago.

I am known as the Traitor, as it seems to be my last ditch effort to always end up turning on someone.

The new expansion adds a ton of new stuff, that is going to be interesting to see how it plays out.

I would highly recommend switching your game plans so that TI3 is Saturday. That way, when your first game ends on Sunday morning around 5am, you won't have to immediately go to work.

Or did you take Monday off for this?

hepcat wrote:I would highly recommend switching your game plans so that TI3 is Saturday. That way, when your first game ends on Sunday morning around 5am, you won't have to immediately go to work.

Or did you take Monday off for this?

heh. Well now the person who shipped it from Amazon is saying I will not get TI3 until Feb 3rd. I am a little annoyed, as I could have just picked it up locally for about 10 bucks more. But they promised 10 days to get it too me. <sigh>

I joke about it, but I do love TI3. It was just too early in my board gaming life for me to take on such a beast. If I recall correctly, it's the very first board game the Chicago crew got together for. Lawnboy, Zarathud, Seppe, (the long absent) Snow, lawbeef (I think) and I stayed up until around 4am playing it one night. It was definitely a marathon session.

In other news, I know I said I was going to slow down my gaming purchases, but let's face it: I can't.

Soooo, I put in an order yesterday for Above and Below, Stronghold 2nd edition, and the Malifaux campaign rules, Shifting Loyalties.

Above and Below is a well reviewed marriage between the story driven content from Tales of the Arabian Nights and a worker placement/questing mechanic. Stronghold 2nd edition is the newest version of the Ignacy classic. And the Malifaux campaign rules finally brings a campaign system like that found in Necromunda and Mordheim to Malifaux...complete with upgrades you can buy in between games, and crew members who can sustain injuries that stay with them from game to game (and even dying).

hepcat wrote:I joke about it, but I do love TI3. It was just too early in my board gaming life for me to take on such a beast. If I recall correctly, it's the very first board game the Chicago crew got together for. Lawnboy, Zarathud, Seppe, (the long absent) Snow, lawbeef (I think) and I stayed up until around 4am playing it one night. It was definitely a marathon session.

In other news, I know I said I was going to slow down my gaming purchases, but let's face it: I can't.

Soooo, I put in an order yesterday for Above and Below, Stronghold 2nd edition, and the Malifaux campaign rules, Shifting Loyalties.

Above and Below is a well reviewed marriage between the story driven content from Tales of the Arabian Nights and a worker placement/questing mechanic. Stronghold 2nd edition is the newest version of the Ignacy classic. And the Malifaux campaign rules finally brings a campaign system like that found in Necromunda and Mordheim to Malifaux...complete with upgrades you can buy in between games, and crew members who can sustain injuries that stay with them from game to game (and even dying).

I think there is a new expansion for Smash-up on the way as well. You should prepurchase that, and have it shipped to Ohio, I'll send you my address.

You blew the gang off over the holidays, man. You're still in the doghouse with us!

RMC could redeem himself at Origins this year.

hepcat wrote:I would highly recommend switching your game plans so that TI3 is Saturday. That way, when your first game ends on Sunday morning around 5am, you won't have to immediately go to work.

Or did you take Monday off for this?

Truth.

Does anyone else wish they would reissue the TI3 rule books in the new Learn 2 Play and Rule Compendium format that FFG is now using? At this point both the rules for TI3 and Arkham Horror are so convoluted that it feels like you either need one person to be the game master or you spend several hours just reviewing rules you used to know but have forgotten.

Pretty excited.

I have made some boardgame trades recently, and today, Bottom of the 9th (sealed and with two expansions and 2 promo packs). Monday, Forge War will arrive. And some time next week, City of Iron and the expansion will get here.

Zarathud wrote:RMC could redeem himself at Origins this year.

Let's hope work is better by then.

the other manager is back, but she keeps going home sick. So I am covering for her more and more.

<sigh>

MythicalMino wrote:Pretty excited.

I have made some boardgame trades recently, and today, Bottom of the 9th (sealed and with two expansions and 2 promo packs). Monday, Forge War will arrive. And some time next week, City of Iron and the expansion will get here.

Bottom of the 9th is a brilliant time filler.

Oh, yeah....it is pretty awesome. One of the characters, Mike Fitz, is Mike Fitzgerald. He is the designer of my personal favorite "deck builder", Baseball Highlights 2045.

Has anyone played Forge War? Or City of Iron?

Monthly board game day yesterday!

Progress (there's more to the title I think) - sorta Civ, except it's just the tech development. 4 players. Poor start in age 1 as every one else got 3 actions right away, and I didn't get to more actions until 2nd age, but then I jumped to 4 actions quickly and got to 5. Only 1 other player got to 5 actions before 4th age. I held on to the 2 cards from second age for an additional action until we buried the second age (cruelly discarding those as I used up the 3rd age decks, burying the second age before the player after me could finally get them).

The other 5 action player seemed to be ahead on all 3 of the tracks for crowns, castles, military and had a lot of VP stuff down. Fourth age comes and he's trying to push to finish. I get the right cards, we have 1 token down and need 3 to end it - I play the last 2, taking the lead in military and castles and getting a few more VP cards down to end the game, and pulling out a victory! Grand slam last play!

Tried Manilla for the first time - that's a very fun game. The stock I didn't have was winning so I kept bidding high to try and get my stocks up, but my last turn as harbor master, failed the whole fleet (didn't even get one ship to the pirates line). Then they ended it the next turn, I lost (3rd of 4th - one player just couldn't pick options that paid off, she had 3-4 loans, barely paid them off by the time it was over).

Betrayal at the House on the Hill (think I got that title right) - never played this before either. This is a neat concept w/ all the different scenarios. Played a 2 player game (he was teaching me while we waited for more players for games) - he ended up being the betrayer, I took him out with a sacrificial dagger (go mighty 8 year old girl!).

7 wonders was the end of the day. Only the second time I ever played (first time was April 2014, been a while). I like this game so was happy to finally play it again. 5th place of 6. Went too strong on Military (got lots of points for that, but not enough from anything else).

Very fun and entertaining day!

Finally finished the tutorial for Mage Knight - which was working through the night cycle, returning to the day cycle and revealing the city tile. There's just sooooo much stuff going on, though I I think I have a better feel for the flow -- which makes sense as I think it took 7 or so hours to work through the entire scenario. It feels like you need to maximize your turn by playing the cards you have in hand rather than putting too much effort into thinking about what you might like to do the next turn (unless you can count cards and keep track of your deck). But as the scenario calls for exploration (revealing tiles) I think I might have put too much emphasis on simply moving forward and not enough on getting followers or acquiring skills and/or spells. Some of the creatures that were revealed seemed insanely powerful and the need for that added *stuff* seemed pretty strong. Regardless, it's definitely a keeper. I really like the mix of cards, tiles and a bit of dice randomness to keep things interesting.

My fabulous 63 pocket Canadian coin pages came late last week (thanks Miller Lake) so the laborious sorting of Duel of Ages 2 can begin, followed by the tutorial scenario for that one.

EDIT: I guess the Master Set of DoA2 is out of print? Maybe I should sell my untouched copy and recover some money. Someone on Amazon is selling it for $300.

Mage Knight is such a polarizing game. You either enjoy it for what it is, or you hate it for what it is. And what it is is a big, sprawling puzzle. I think for those who can't see the theme in the mechanics/gameplay, it turns them off. But if you can see it, it's just an addictive experience full of great moments where you excitedly realize you CAN take on that mob of stone golems with your cohorts IF you time it JUUSSSTTT right...and etc..

Let us know if you have any questions on Duel of Ages II when you play through the tutorial (and I highly recommend doing just that first). I played it wrong the first 3 times I played, myself.

I didn't realize the master set is out of print. But man, I couldn't part with it even at that price. There's just an embarrassment of riches in that box. Plus, I remember when it first came out. It supposedly sold out in short order...but then I went to Gencon and Coolstuff had a huge shelf of them on sale at about half off or less.

So a friend just gave me a heads up that the online game site that we often purchase from (because it's local and we can pick up the games) is going out of business. The owner has decided to move on to something else. He's offering 20% off his prices.

I didn't see much, but there wasn't much I'm interested in (or aware of).

Time Well Spent

I grabbed an expansion for Last Night On Earth and the Alien Legendary Encounters.

Isgrimnur wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:

Isgrimnur wrote:Just demoed Sol: Last Days of a Star with the designer. It will be up on Kickstarter in January. It's pretty good, despite my last place finish.

I'll have pics and links later.

The Boardgamegeek page

Ryan states that it should be up on kickstarter in January.

Latest news is the kickstarter should hit on February 2nd. Have a video.

Ryan Spangler wrote:The Kickstarter is still happening soon, we just want to eliminate all uncertainty around manufacturing, freight and shipping. Not something that is good to be surprised by!

Not sure where to put this, but here seems as good as anywhere. Found this RPG comic terribly amusing.

Played some more Churchill on Saturday. Unfortunately, I was in a crappy mood so I didn't really enjoy myself as much as I should have. Then we broke out Above and Below and played about half a game before we had to break up for the evening...which only furthered my crankiness. Hopefully next time I get it to the table, I'll be able to finish it. I was impressed with what I played of it though. It's not a heavy game, but it had more going on than I thought it would.

Also, my FLGS just called and they're holding a copy of Talon for me. It's being compared to Starfleet Battles, so I'm on board!

I got a game group together to start our Pandemic: Legacy adventure. Me, my gaming buddy Scott, and two co-workers will be meeting once a week for the next however many weeks to go through it. First night is tonight, but instead of starting Legacy we're going to play a couple of rounds of generic Pandemic as a warm up since 3 of the 4 haven't played it in months. Can't wait!

YellowKing wrote:I got a game group together to start our Pandemic: Legacy adventure. Me, my gaming buddy Scott, and two co-workers will be meeting once a week for the next however many weeks to go through it. First night is tonight, but instead of starting Legacy we're going to play a couple of rounds of generic Pandemic as a warm up since 3 of the 4 haven't played it in months. Can't wait!

Have fun! Our game has stalled in June, because my rehearsal schedule is killing us.

YellowKing wrote:I got a game group together to start our Pandemic: Legacy adventure. Me, my gaming buddy Scott, and two co-workers will be meeting once a week for the next however many weeks to go through it. First night is tonight, but instead of starting Legacy we're going to play a couple of rounds of generic Pandemic as a warm up since 3 of the 4 haven't played it in months. Can't wait!

I'd suggest just diving into Legacy. It starts out as bare-bones Pandemic, so playing the first month can serve as your warm-up. Good luck!

I've got a Amazon GC burning a hole in my pocket (thanks Zaxxon!) and was thinking about getting a game or two. The recent games that have caught my attention are Pandemic Legacy (of course!), Blood Rage, and The Voyages of Marco Polo; unfortunately, all three are pretty expensive at the moment. My usual gaming group consists of 3 - 5 players. Typically games that can be played within 1.5 hours work best. The games we (or, more specifically, I) really like are Five Tribes, Roll for the Galaxy, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, and 7 Wonders. Less interesting to me were Splendor, Istanbul, and King of New York. Any recommendations? Thanks!

I recently got Clockwork Wars and my wife and I really enjoy it. We also like Arcadia Quest, and it is a fast and furious game when you put 3-5 people in (although it may cap at 4, I would check that). If you like "multiplayer solitaire" builders like Roll for the Galaxy, I have heard very good things about Orleans. That being said, the price I saw on Amazon was like $20 more than anywhere else, so be sure that you don't get suckered by that. I was a little confused - have you gotten Pandemic Legacy or not? If not, I would say go for that. Even with limited play throughs it was one of the best games my wife and I played and we were literally addicted to it for about a month (even with its average cap of 18-20 plays, it is still one of the most played games in our collection). I only got to play Blood Rage once, but we very much enjoyed the game. It really hits all cylinders with both deck drafting, dudes on a map, area control, and MONSTERS. Think of Cyclades meets Chaos in the Old World meets 7 Wonders.

If you have played Lords of Waterdeep but find it too formulaic and want some more luck, I have also heard great things about Champions of Midgard. A student of mine was very impressed (he is an avid gamer) and it should suport your player numbers well. Although a little long it the tooth (no longer the NEW HOTNESS it once was), Seasons is still a very good game.

Other than that, you could save your money for Star Wars Rebellion (although it is 2 and 4 players more than 3-5).

hentzau wrote:

YellowKing wrote:I got a game group together to start our Pandemic: Legacy adventure. Me, my gaming buddy Scott, and two co-workers will be meeting once a week for the next however many weeks to go through it. First night is tonight, but instead of starting Legacy we're going to play a couple of rounds of generic Pandemic as a warm up since 3 of the 4 haven't played it in months. Can't wait!

Have fun! Our game has stalled in June, because my rehearsal schedule is killing us.

We hit September a couple of weeks ago. At this rate, we'll be done by next month.

AWS260 wrote:

YellowKing wrote:I got a game group together to start our Pandemic: Legacy adventure. Me, my gaming buddy Scott, and two co-workers will be meeting once a week for the next however many weeks to go through it. First night is tonight, but instead of starting Legacy we're going to play a couple of rounds of generic Pandemic as a warm up since 3 of the 4 haven't played it in months. Can't wait!

I'd suggest just diving into Legacy. It starts out as bare-bones Pandemic, so playing the first month can serve as your warm-up. Good luck!

It friends on how familiar everyone is with pandemic. If everyone had played pandemic a fair amount dive in. If people are not familiar with it... I recommend starting with generic pandemic for a couple of games. Legacy may stay as generic pandemic, but learning which upgrades would be most useful may not be obvious to someone who hasn't played it much. Having played pandemic a lot before starting legacy we knew before starting the first game what two upgrades we were going to focus on.