OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

[Chrisoc13]

Anyone here try archipelago or mission red planet? Both are catching my eye. Curious about first hand experiences.

Played some more fields of arle, enjoyed that a lot. It's certainly one of my favorite two player games. Also got to try my hands on a friend's copy of the kickstarter edition of Carson city. Worker placement, tile laying, and duels. I loved it. Really had fun with it. I had fun even coming in last place. Should have jumped on that kickstarter.

[coopasonic]

Anyone here try archipelago or mission red planet? Both are catching my eye. Curious about first hand experiences.

I *almost* got to contribute but I looked at pictures and I played Onward to Venus.

[hepcat]

I'm an unabashed Archipelago fan. I forced the Michigan crew (Lord Mortis, Chaosraven...although minus Remus that time) to play it last Octocon and I believe they enjoyed it as well.

I also owned Mission Red Planet at one point. While a good game, just remember it's a much lighter experience than Archipelago. Archipelago is full of worker placement, resource harvesting, market trading, tile exploration, open bidding/negotiation, and a fun "technology tree" of sorts. Mission Red Planet is area control, action placement and hand management. If you're looking for a game to play in less than 2 hours, go with Mission Red Planet. If you're looking for a more epic experience that could last anywhere from 3 to 6 hours (the game has short, medium and long variants in the rules...but the medium is the bare minimum to play if you want to experience the game in any substantial way), then go with Archipelago.

Word of warning: Archipelago is a "semi-coop". This means that while you're playing against the other players, the game itself is playing against all of you. This is represented by the somewhat controversial inclusion of black meeples to represent the native population. I don't believe this was intentional though, just an unfortunate and ill thought out design choice. Anyway, the native population has its own board that it shares with a meeple representing the number of colonists. As you explore and build your towns/colonies/whatever they're called, you expose more of the Archipelago via tiles, and those tiles put more natives into the work force. You then hire natives from the work force that are then turned into colonists essentially. Occasionally hazards will appear that put rebels into play, and you'll have to cooperate with the other players in meeting the demands of these crises (for example: the crisis calls for 2 fish per colonist...the first player only has 1, so the next player can contribute his/hers or not, which might imperil the whole game if he/she chooses not to.). But rebels are also created when your work force becomes too large. If the rebel track ever overtakes the number of colonists you have in total for all players, everyone loses the game. This has resulted in at least one player I know being turned off the game entirely as they hated having to keep an eye on other players while cooperating with the other players from time to time to keep the rebels down.

It's a really unique mechanic that can alienate players who don't like coop games, or don't like the mixing of head to head with coop in their games. A bit of advice I always give new players is to remove the Separatist and the Pacifist end goal cards from the game. Add them in later if you'd like, but for the first few games it's way too easy for a player who has even a small bit of experience with the game to win by simply refusing to help during a crisis.

Also, don't forget the importance of temples (or churches, they use different names in the rules I believe for the same damn thing)! They're fantastic at pacifying the natives.

The Shut Up and Sit Down guys are the ones that convinced me to get Archipelago by the way. And I'm glad I did. Hopefully I can whip it out for the long game at the next Octocon.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I played Istanbul for the first time in awhile last night. I've had the game since last summer but I think this was only the third or fourth time I've played it. It is still not my favorite game, but what's nice is that it is pretty easy to teach, can play up to five people, and is fairly quick (45 - 60 minutes once everyone knows the rules). One reason I'm not so hot on it though is that you can tell from a few turns out if someone can win and there's not much you can do to stop them. Or maybe I just haven't played enough to figure out those strategies...

[LordMortis]

I'm an unabashed Archipelago fan. I forced the Michigan crew (Lord Mortis, Chaosraven...although minus Remus that time) to play it last Octocon and I believe they enjoyed it as well.

Chaosraven bought it and we've played several more games. We've found not only is a pretty solid game but it scales well between 3-4 (and 5 at Octocon) and between short and medium games. We've yet to play the long game but the rules allow you to play to your comfort level or time constraint. Once you grasp the game, you can kick out short games in under an hour and do three or four or five of them in a gaming session.

The short and medium (and presumably long) games require a different mindset and we liked that too.

Also, I haven't found the game to be as cooperative as Hepcat states. Generally, playing for yourself in the short and medium games is enough to protect against the game causing everyone to lose... Generally... OtOH, I believe there is a variant where one player can possibly be a cylon. We never played that way. If someone was actively working to help the game defeat the players, then I imagine the level of cooperation required would go up dramatically.

[hepcat]

I think the coop aspect is more pronounced if folks ignore temples. That's where it gets painful. You need those to mitigate a domestic crisis especially. Otherwise you have to rely on the other players to make up any shortage of the required resource in the market on the first player's turn.

[LordMortis]

I think the coop aspect is more pronounced if folks ignore temples. That's where it gets painful. You need those to mitigate a domestic crisis especially. Otherwise you have to rely on the other players to make up any shortage of the required resource in the market on the first player's turn.

I think we've lost all of one game to native unrest. Of course it was a game I was just about to claim victory on. Bastards.

[hepcat]

We lost the first 3 or so games to rebellion. But that was because we all hoarded our resources and refused to help each other. Nor did anyone build temples. So all it took was one really harsh domestic crisis and BAM...game over. Those early losses to the game itself is what turned off one of the players that always pooh poohs it when I bring it up.

[Zarathud]

Until you understand that temples are beneficial and also help control unrest, it is very possible to end up in a zero-sum resource drain each turn -- where everyone loses because someone expanded too much and too soon. Archipelago is a game that demands multiple plays to get a grasp on all the mechanics.

[LordMortis]

Until you understand that temples are beneficial and also help control unrest, it is very possible to end up in a zero-sum resource drain each turn -- where everyone loses because someone expanded too much and too soon. Archipelago is a game that demands multiple plays to get a grasp on all the mechanics.

And to understand the rules. The first game we played, we lost on the first turn to unrest because we didn't understand how the even turn resolution stuff worked. We just sat there like "wow, that sucks"

[hepcat]

The even turn resolution? Do you mean "even the turn resolution"? If so, what was the confusion?

[Archinerd]

The even turn resolution? Do you mean "even the turn resolution"? If so, what was the confusion?

Odd turns never resolve.

Ever.

[Chrisoc13]

Thanks for the info. I'm still pretty interested in archipelago but my friend might be picking it up anyways so... I might hold off to just play his copy. Mission red planet is likely at this point.

I also just learned 1960: The making of a president is being reprinted. I'm in on that for sure.

[baelthazar]

Thanks for the info. I'm still pretty interested in archipelago but my friend might be picking it up anyways so... I might hold off to just play his copy. Mission red planet is likely at this point.

I also just learned 1960: The making of a president is being reprinted. I'm in on that for sure.

Yeah, it is getting the GMT treatment. You can P500 it, if you are on board with that: http://www.gmtgames.com/p-574-1960-the- ... ident.aspx

[Chrisoc13]

Hmm. Never heard of this p500 thing believe it or not. Looks like it's just pre-ordering the game directly at a discount?

[hepcat]

My upcoming P500 list on the GMT site is about 4 games long. It doesn't help my willpower when they don't actually bill you until it releases.

[baelthazar]

I have the Pendragon game on P500 because - Britons vs. Saxons in Arthurian war gaming. I may also P500 that Mr. President game for pure cool factor (and solo play). I am curious to see how 1960 shapes up at GMT.

[El Guapo]

I have the Pendragon game on P500 because - Britons vs. Saxons in Arthurian war gaming. I may also P500 that Mr. President game for pure cool factor (and solo play). I am curious to see how 1960 shapes up at GMT.

Yeah, Pendragon looks awesome. But I haven't P500'd it since I have Labyrinth 2 on P500 and a pre-order on Rebellion, and I don't need a pre-order list three games deep when it's tough to find time to play any board games.

[TheMix]

Got in some Pathfinder Card Game with my friend while he was visiting. It was nice to win a bit after our previous failures.

Last night we decided to pack it up and try another game of Legendary Encounters: Alien. We padded it a bit to make it easier. We "won". Sorta. In the rules they say that you can use the armor value as life to make it easier. Two of the three characters ran out of health, but never touched their armor values. We also discovered that we'd misinterpreted one of the skills. That will likely make it a bit easier. I like the game. Now I'll have to start backing off the crutches.

It was a productive gaming visit. We got in games of Castle Ravenloft, B-Sieged, Pathfinders, and LE: Alien.

[Chrisoc13]

Alright 1960: The making of a president with a P500 now. Cool. Really looking forward to another print run, been looking to play this game for quite a while.
While I was in a pre-order mood I pre-ordered Quadropolis (new city-building game coming out from DoW in the next month) and Star Wars: Rebellion because yeah it looks awesome. I'll probably unload a few games to make up for it. Armada, Merchant of Venus, Robinson Crusoe. All great games, just not played enough. Need some turn over in my collection!

[hentzau]

Alright 1960: The making of a president with a P500 now. Cool. Really looking forward to another print run, been looking to play this game for quite a while.
While I was in a pre-order mood I pre-ordered Quadropolis (new city-building game coming out from DoW in the next month) and Star Wars: Rebellion because yeah it looks awesome. I'll probably unload a few games to make up for it. Armada, Merchant of Venus, Robinson Crusoe. All great games, just not played enough. Need some turn over in my collection!

Too bad you're still not in the area. My buddy Stuart has been jonesing to play this game, I bet he would break it out at OctoCon.

[Chrisoc13]

Alright 1960: The making of a president with a P500 now. Cool. Really looking forward to another print run, been looking to play this game for quite a while.
While I was in a pre-order mood I pre-ordered Quadropolis (new city-building game coming out from DoW in the next month) and Star Wars: Rebellion because yeah it looks awesome. I'll probably unload a few games to make up for it. Armada, Merchant of Venus, Robinson Crusoe. All great games, just not played enough. Need some turn over in my collection!

Too bad you're still not in the area. My buddy Stuart has been jonesing to play this game, I bet he would break it out at OctoCon.

Well I'm seriously considering trying to use one of my vacations next year to make it to Octocon... I need my fix...

[baelthazar]

I have the Pendragon game on P500 because - Britons vs. Saxons in Arthurian war gaming. I may also P500 that Mr. President game for pure cool factor (and solo play). I am curious to see how 1960 shapes up at GMT.

Yeah, Pendragon looks awesome. But I haven't P500'd it since I have Labyrinth 2 on P500 and a pre-order on Rebellion, and I don't need a pre-order list three games deep when it's tough to find time to play any board games.

Well, a Pendragon P500 won't charge you until they release, so something like a year or so from now. It is basically like placing yourself in line to buy (and you can leave at any time). So literally no commitment.

I canceled my Star Wars Rebellion preorder. Not because of the game, but with an upcoming little one, no time, and no second player interested in a 3+ hour war, it just won't get played. I may ask for it for my birthday or Christmas, but I need to be realistic.

I am also about to unload some games. Most notably Zombiecide and some extras and my entire Rum & Bones KS pledge. Hopefully I can get a good amount for that and at least recoup all my money (since some are KS exclusives, it should work out).

[LordMortis]

The even turn resolution? Do you mean "even the turn resolution"? If so, what was the confusion?

I think mean we didn't understand how event resolution work during a game turn.


I don't remember, exactly... But I remember we did it wrong at Octocon. (Where we also were at risk for first turn crash and burn several times)

My vague memory is you have event cards that yellow triggers and red triggers which effect unrest. The way we played at Octocon and also the way we started after raven bought the game was that the red triggers go off all of the time and they trigger based on conditions. (flipping from buying structures/dudes, maybe?) Also, we somehow associated those triggers with ports and markets on the board and that was also incorrect. the Ports and Markets determined where you could use resources from.

You'd have to PM chaosraven. He owns the game and knows the rules. I'm just a sheep.

Thanks for the info. I'm still pretty interested in archipelago but my friend might be picking it up anyways so

It's hard lesson to learn, that you don't have to buy a game when they people you play with already have it.

[hepcat]

The even turn resolution? Do you mean "even the turn resolution"? If so, what was the confusion?

I think mean we didn't understand how event resolution work during a game turn.


I don't remember, exactly... But I remember we did it wrong at Octocon. (Where we also were at risk for first turn crash and burn several times)

My vague memory is you have event cards that yellow triggers and red triggers which effect unrest. The way we played at Octocon and also the way we started after raven bought the game was that the red triggers go off all of the time and they trigger based on conditions. (flipping from buying structures/dudes, maybe?) Also, we somehow associated those triggers with ports and markets on the board and that was also incorrect. the Ports and Markets determined where you could use resources from.

I have always played it that red triggers immediately when it shows up while renewing the deck of innovations/characters. You also do associate the top part with domestic and the bottom with import. That's how I taught it at Octocon too. The only thing I believe I messed up was that you can actually barter/trade ANYTHING, not just money and promises.

[YellowKing]

Another round of Pandemic: Legacy last night.

We started February in decent shape having won late January, but wound up losing due to some unfortunate card draws. We put up a really valiant fight though.

Played February again, and this time CRUSHED it. Not only did we win the objective, we had the board under such control that we decided to play out a few more rounds before winning to put ourselves into a more advantageous position going into March.

We'll be heading into March next week in a really, really strong starting position. However, this game is completely unpredictable, so I'm going to try to not get cocky.

I will say though, that last night's two sessions were among the most memorable I've ever had in any night of board gaming. If you can get a group together to run through this thing with you, I can't recommend it enough.

[coopasonic]

Played February again

Cheater!

[hentzau]

Played February again

Cheater!

It's not cheating...you get two shots at each month.

[Zarathud]

Plus, the second time around you deal with the lingering damage to the World from the first part of the month. As the game progresses, you keep dealing with the consequences of all your prior failures. Playing a second time is rarely optimal.

[Zenn7]

Zenn7, I almost never use the planetary encounters because they swing the luck dramatically for a game that is so long and luck-based already. Also, I find that it is just too many extra rules to worry about.

How many players did you have and how long was the game? With 4-5 players, we regularly take 7-8 hours.

Sorry for taking so long to respond - we had 4 players and played for about 7 hours. We were one turn away from flipping up the objective card that ends the game, but game day ends at 9 PM so we had to end. The guy who ran it has done this 3 times previously, usually starting closer to 1 PM, 6 players - says this is the first game he has played here that did not finish. Think this was in part because you have 8 strategic cards to choose - with 6 players, only 6 are chosen every round. With 4 players, everyone takes 2. Wondering how much the 2 extra players might have helped speed things up in some ways.

I agree the planet tokens added a significant amount of randomness. The guy who ended up getting my good planet from the colony event largely flipped over good events (though he lost one planet to someone to the settlement event, but it wasn't a super planet like mine was - just the 2 ground units he had to blast before he could take the planet). The only good thing I can say is that the guy got 6 trade goods - made my action card of privateers (force target to discard all their trade goods - you get 1/2 rounded down) a fairly useful card, that slowed him down a little. Especially since he couldn't get a trade deal with anyone. Though it would have been more useful later as another player was playing a race that started with H that was all about trade goods and trading bonuses - couldn't break their trade contracts except through war. He stockpiled a bunch at one point (think he got up to 17). But that was late game. The 3 trade goods from the player I took them from were extremely helpful then and there and set him back a little. They add a nice random element but that random element can significantly impact balance (it did somewhat here, hard to say how significant it was given it was my first game and I was not always making the best and brightest decisions in regards to getting VP). I did get one bonus - we put out 4 artifacts - 3 next to each other between 2 of the other players - all fakes. The only real artifact was on this special planet that can only be reach via wormholes - and there was only one wormhole on the whole map, and I was closest. Locked in that 1 VP.

[hepcat]

Sigh...another month, another cool new expansion for Shadows of Brimstone.

...which I won't see for at least a year.

Glad I backed them when they needed help getting the game made!

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Has anyone played the expansion for The Castles of the Mad King Ludwig? Any thoughts? The original has probably been my most played game since I got it a few months ago.

[hentzau]

Sigh...another month, another cool new expansion for Shadows of Brimstone.

...which I won't see for at least a year.

Glad I backed them when they needed help getting the game made!

Yeah, this is annoying as all get out. I really do try to be as forgiving as possible and to give benefit of the doubt where I can, but his one is moving into the more and more pissing me off range with every note of people playing the stuff I've already paid for.

[TheMix]

At least they don't seem to be sending out updates any more that spend 90% of the update whining about how they are losing money on shipping...

[Chrisoc13]

Has anyone played the expansion for The Castles of the Mad King Ludwig? Any thoughts? The original has probably been my most played game since I got it a few months ago.

I've played it and own it. For me... It isn't my favorite. The moats are ok, but they kind of break the synergy of the rooms. Outdoor rooms no longer really give a bonus with them. The secret passages are a cool idea, but hard for new players to grasp and they can really swing the game. The swans are even weaker. They just seem like such a random addition. If you're into set collection then they're ok.

Now I've only played the expansion a couple of times and I wasn't bored of the base game yet. So for me at this point I won't be adding the expansion to games, not even one of the modules. Maybe if I'm eventually bored of the base game I will, but I'm not there yet.

It has another issue too. It add complexity to the set up. I like to limit set up in games (I even have the broken token organizer for castles to limit set up) and expansions that require special set up every time are not my favorite.

So the modules don't add anything terribly interesting in my opinion while unnecessarily complicating the game. If you're getting bored of the base game the variety might be nice, but if you're not, it doesn't add much in my opinion. Now my friend I played it with really enjoyed it so it could just be my opinion.

I like expansions but I like expansions that don't detract from the base, add interesting variety, and don't heavily complicate set up.

[baelthazar]

Sigh...another month, another cool new expansion for Shadows of Brimstone.

...which I won't see for at least a year.

Glad I backed them when they needed help getting the game made!

Yeah, this is annoying as all get out. I really do try to be as forgiving as possible and to give benefit of the doubt where I can, but this one is moving into the more and more pissing me off range with every note of people playing the stuff I've already paid for.

How are they justifying this? If they have the stock for retail, why do they not have the stock for the backers? I hope they are rightfully getting a firestorm from backers in their inbox.

I doubt I will be buying any more Flying Frog Games, to be honest. I'm not convinced that I will ever get the rest of the KS (and it might be a better idea to just buy the expansion retail and sell them if/when they come in). They used to be a pretty stand up company, but I this leaves a bad taste in my mouth. No huge loss, to be honest, their game designs tend to be far more convoluted than they need to be and games from similar genres scratch the same itch without all the rules minutia.

[Smoove_B]

How are they justifying this? If they have the stock for retail, why do they not have the stock for the backers? I hope they are rightfully getting a firestorm from backers in their inbox.

Clearly you don't follow the apologists on BGG.

The explanation (if I follow the logic) is that the backers funded the creation of the products so that FFG could provide them at retail to make money to ship them to the backers. If they sent them all to the backers first, they'd have no money to make more product or ship it to everyone. Since backers are getting everything at such at huge discount and shipped for free, we should all just pipe down and be happy when it shows up.

I'm totally with you though - never again for a FFG game or KS. What I think happened was as soon as the KS money started flowing in as they created those limited price-tier Minecart backer levels, they got greedy. And then manufacturing and shipping costs far exceeded their ability to make money off of what they cleared so now they're in over their heads. I'm also of the mind that if all the promised materials end up being delivered it will be a miracle. I honestly don't expect to see the alleged "Wave 2" materials until this time in 2017, though they swear up and down it's coming at the end of this year. It feels like they're playing a shell game with the KS money and just moving money around still trying to figure out how to recover whatever they lost after the campaign ended. I *might* be able to understand if they had a huge delivery of things and they was some overlap with selling things at a convention or retail and the logistics of mailing all the KS backers their stuff. *Might*. But this nonsense? Nope. It's sketchy as hell.

[TheMix]

Ditto.

They should have charged shipping on the KS. I'd still have backed. Probably. But they obviously miscalculated. However, that's not my problem. They made promises. I expect them to keep them.

I've noticed that almost every other game I've backed charges extra for shipping. Not sure if that's a "newer" thing because too many other projects got burned on shipping.

Well... and they probably should have charged more for the Mine Cart level. Apparently despite throwing in more content than the original games, it never occurred to them that there might be some serious shipping costs...

Does make me glad I only went in for the Outlaw. So if I never get the extras, I won't be as pissed off.

[Chrisoc13]

In my experience the charging on shipping for US backers is a new thing, and it seems to be because creators got burned too many times on high shipping costs.

The first few games I backed were completely free shipping for US backers. But now every one I look at is charging shipping. Even cool mini or not is charging shipping. I like the free shipping obviously, but it was causing way too many issues with funding.

[hepcat]

I can understand shipping charges showing up over the last year or so. That's reasonable. It can cost a butt load of cash to ship some of these larger games...and international shipping is freakin' outrageous.

And I can almost forgive FFG for their missteps during the SoB (I just like that acronym in light of my frustration with them) kickstarter, but they should have been upfront with people and told them that the stuff included in the kickstarter was definitely not going to be shipped out in one package...and that it might take a while to finish it all. Instead, they sold us a couple of year's worth of expansions while promising us all along it would all ship by or close to the proposed shipping date for the kickstarter. There's absolutely no way in hell they thought that was going to be possible.