Octopus Overlords

I also played LoW this weekend. It's been a favorite of mine for quite a while. So simple, yet so many good choices. Especially when you add in corruption. My copy is now blinged too with metal coins and DnDeeples. For some reason that adds a nice touch for me.

This weekend I also played fields of arle again (I have no handle on good strategy in that game), Istanbul (I enjoy it a fair amount), and sushi go- a light filler card game that was fun enough.

My wave 8 x wing ships should be arriving today, although since they were sent fedex smartpost I assume they will come a day late because... Smartpost is the worst.

Isgrimnur wrote:Yesterday was Mission Red Planet, Colt Express, and Letters from Whitechapel.

4.5 player game (1 guy dropped). 3 of the finishers were in the mid-low 40s, of which I was one, getting the Celerium bonus card. We were all edged out by the Ice guy.

Colt Express, we had 3 players, playing two characters each. I ended up in second with Cheyenne. Doc was my really low finisher. Belle came out on top. She did manage to catch a few rounds, though.

Letters started as a two-investigator game through the first two nights. During those, they had me hard-pressed a couple times, clueing me on the spot, but they weren't doing the math as to path length to know how close they were to me. After night two, the new guy had to leave, and I walked him through the nights. The repeat player stayed on to perform nights 3 and 4. He managed exactly no hits on night 3, failing to crash the two scenes to even get my starting location. On night 4, he managed one clue close to the murder location. He switched to a zone defense around my home area, but he was way too wide to not leave holes for me to easily slip through and walk off to a victory.

Chrisoc13 wrote:I also played LoW this weekend. It's been a favorite of mine for quite a while. So simple, yet so many good choices. Especially when you add in corruption.

I recently got LoW and have played a few games. What does the expansion add?

Zenn7 wrote:You are somewhere in the general area of airport aren't you? Or maybe that's Remus.

If you take the airport exit (Merriman) and go north until you are in Westland (just north Romulus/Wayne), you just about end up in my front lawn. Remus used to live with me but he moved back out Ann Arbor ways.

Scoundrels of Skullport

Scoundrels of Skullport adds brand new content for the award-winning, bestselling board game, Lords of Waterdeep. It’s not one, but two, complete expansions: the sprawling dungeon of Undermountain and the criminal haven of Skullport.

Each thrilling location has unique characteristics and offers new play options, including new Lords, Buildings, Intrigue and Quest cards.

Owners of Lords of Waterdeep can use one or both of these new subterranean locations to add depth to their game experience. There’s also a new faction, the Gray Hands, so now a sixth player can join in the fun!
..
The rumored wealth of Undermountain entices adventurers to brave the mysteries and monsters beneath the City of Splendors. The risks and the rewards are greater for undertaking Quests that require more Gold and Adventurers.
...
The Skullport module includes a new resource: Corruption. Unlike Adventurers and Gold, having Corruption in your tavern penalizes you at the end of the game.

Maybe I should have been more specific: does the LoW expansion just add more of the same or does it change how the game is played? From the description, it sounds like no new mechanics are added.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:

Chrisoc13 wrote:I also played LoW this weekend. It's been a favorite of mine for quite a while. So simple, yet so many good choices. Especially when you add in corruption.

I recently got LoW and have played a few games. What does the expansion add?

The expansion has two modules, both of which can be added or just one or the other. They both add a board with several new spots, new buildings, quests, intrigue cards, and lords.

The one module is the most important in my opinion, it adds corruption. Corruption spots provide tons of goods but at a price, you take a corruption skull. Initially each skull is with negative 1 points at the end of the game. But as the game goes on and more are taken they can get to be with -9 each. In my experience they usually end up around -3 or 4. Significant enough that you have to be careful how often you use them. It adds a whole layer of choices and complexity. They are difficult to get rid of too. For experienced gamers I always add this module if playing with at least 3 players. With 2 players it isn't my favorite.

The other module add some unique actions, for instance another place to play intrigue cards. It's more your run of the mill type expansion. More options, nothing game changing. While the corruption module can be game changing.

I've played a couple of games with both modules, and unless playing at high player counts (5 or 6) I really wouldn't suggest it. It just add too many spaces and then less buildings are built which is one of the most interesting parts of the game.

The other thing the expansion adds is a sixth player.

It's an excellent expansion for people who either really enjoy LoW but have played it a lot and want more variety, or for people who crave a little more difficult choices. It breaks one of my expansion rules in that it adds time to set up the game, but it's such a good expansion that I think it's well with the slightly longer set up.

Thanks for the details. The corruption part sounds pretty cool, but I'll probably hold off until we've played it a few more times to make sure the game will have legs in my group.

Ralph-Wiggum wrote:Thanks for the details. The corruption part sounds pretty cool, but I'll probably hold off until we've played it a few more times to make sure the game will have legs in my group.

That's what I would recommend. I had played it a lot before I picked up the expansion.

hentzau wrote:

paulbaxter wrote: We also got to try out Lord of Waterdeep. What a great game. I was worried it would be another one where you spend two hours poring over the rules and two more figuring out where all the pieces go, but it really plays so easily and even my eight year old had no trouble keeping up with everything. I think we'll get plenty more play out of that one.

LoW is one of my all time favorite games. I don't get to play it nearly enough though. Might have to try and get it on the table at Octocon.

Count me in. I need to break out LoW more, myself. Were you with us when we played a few months back at my place?

Saturday I got together with Zarathud, Archinerd and a few others for a 5 player game of Thunder Alley. I think that's the sweet spot for the game. Much chaos and much laughter ensued. I love Formula D, but I would choose a game of Thunder Alley over that any day of the week.

Then we played (incorrectly, we discovered) a game of Post Human. It's fun, and I think if we get the rules right the next time, it will be even more fun.

We capped off the day with a game of Ashes. It's still my pick as one of the top 5 games of 2015. Such a fantastic game that always seems to win over new players during the first turn, even.

hepcat wrote: We capped off the day with a game of Ashes. It's still my pick as one of the top 5 games of 2015. Such a fantastic game that always seems to win over new players during the first turn, even.

I resisted buying it while we were at the store, but I didn't hold out for much longer. My copy arrives tomorrow.

If your wife can delay the delivery, we'll play a game or two at Octocon next month then.

Well payed a game of Tokaido, nice and relaxing without any stress. Also played with... Wave VIII came for X-wing. I got to get it to the table and really enjoyed it overall. I'll post some rather long thoughts in the X-wing thread though.

Chrisoc13 wrote:Well payed a game of Tokaido, nice and relaxing without any stress. Also played with... Wave VIII came for X-wing. I got to get it to the table and really enjoyed it overall. I'll post some rather long thoughts in the X-wing thread though.

Hmm, should I shop for some souvenirs, take a rest in this hot spring, or maybe--
IMPERIAL ASSAULT CARRIER INCOMING!
Run run run! Take cover at the inn! Be sure to buy some dumplings if they have them!

Played a second game of Scythe tonight. The game is actually quite a bit different than I originally expected. From the description and how people were discussing it, I expected Terra Mystica with some light combat, but it is really its own thing. Aside from the fact that you upgrade your personal player board, it really doesn’t resemble TM at all.

I think everyone who backed it on Kickstarter is going to be very happy.

I picked up the official Tabletop Simulator port on steam the other day. I should give it a whirl. I had been a backer during the project's early days, but jumped ship when I fell in love with the look of Afflicted.

Lordnine wrote:Played a second game of Scythe tonight. The game is actually quite a bit different than I originally expected. From the description and how people were discussing it, I expected Terra Mystica with some light combat, but it is really its own thing. Aside from the fact that you upgrade your personal player board, it really doesn’t resemble TM at all.

I think everyone who backed it on Kickstarter is going to be very happy.

How deep and "heavy" would you say it is?

baelthazar wrote:

Lordnine wrote:Played a second game of Scythe tonight. The game is actually quite a bit different than I originally expected. From the description and how people were discussing it, I expected Terra Mystica with some light combat, but it is really its own thing. Aside from the fact that you upgrade your personal player board, it really doesn’t resemble TM at all.

I think everyone who backed it on Kickstarter is going to be very happy.

How deep and "heavy" would you say it is?

And would you say the inserts are nice and firm? Are the coins smooth on the edges or ribbed in a pleasurable way? The cardstock they're using, is it good and stiff?

You get hot and bothered about mechs, don't you?

baelthazar wrote:

Lordnine wrote:Played a second game of Scythe tonight.

How deep and "heavy" would you say it is?

I would say medium plus. The first time you try to explain it to people it will be daunting, but once you know the basics, it plays pretty fast and easy. Your player board is broken into four columns, each with a top and a bottom. The top action is usually either move or get a resource. The bottom half is usually spend a resource. On your turn you assign your player marker to a column and then preform the actions there in order. Then it’s the next players turn.

Also, since I know there are a lot of lower sized gamer groups here, I will say it actually plays OK with two players, we did this the first time we played as a learning game.

Also, if you are concerned about combat in your Euro game, don’t be. Outright combat plays a very small role in the game. We had three battles total. The game is very much about the threat of combat versus actively attacking people.

One of the unique mechanics of the game is that resources stay on the board after they are produced. That means that until they are spent, your opponents can move in and claim your hard earned work. However, attacking has a high cost in this game. Slaughtering workers lowers your morale, so if you kill four enemy workers, you lose four morale. Morale is an end game score multiplier and also the currency for encounter cards that offer really valuable bonuses.

Lordnine wrote:Also, if you are concerned about combat in your Euro game, don’t be. Outright combat plays a very small role in the game. We had three battles total. The game is very much about the threat of combat versus actively attacking people.

One of the unique mechanics of the game is that resources stay on the board after they are produced. That means that until they are spent, your opponents can move in and claim your hard earned work. However, attacking has a high cost in this game. Slaughtering workers lowers your morale, so if you kill four enemy workers, you lose four morale. Morale is an end game score multiplier and also the currency for encounter cards that offer really valuable bonuses.

Oh... I forgot about the Automata and that there is a solo-player mode! Apparently a guy on BGG tried it out and really liked it. That makes me feel much happier with my purchase!

We got in a game of Flash Point: Fire Rescue yesterday.
This is a very well balanced game very much in the vein of Pandemic. You need to rescue people from a burning building before they all die or the building collapses. Like with Pandemic, you advance the bad stuff (smoke and fire) each turn. The fact that you are rescuing individuals, rather than humanity as a whole, actually made this game a lot more tense for me, even though during our play through under "family rules" we were never in much danger of losing. Look forward to trying this more with more of the advanced (and challenging) rules.

Also played Colt Express again before our Easter dinner. Not at all a deep game. Just one with lots of laughs for the boys. My youngest ended up taking an enormous number of bullets, which I think bummed him out a bit. I would prefer to play a more strategic game myself, but this would be a great one to bring to a party.

I sold off my version of Fire Rescue. I somewhat regret that now. I actually really enjoy that game. Probably should have kept it around.

Played Puerto Rico for the first time yesterday. As a gamer I feel like that is a game I should have tried out earlier. But it was very fun, I rather enjoyed it. Simple and elegant with lots of options. I'll need to play it again sometime.

Then I also played a game of Castles of Mad King Ludwig which again highlighted my feelings about the expansion. We used all of them, and the secret passages simply gave me the victory. I mean I played them very well, but I got 40 points total off one room. That's ridiculous and hard to come back from if you're another player. I used it on a purple room (can't remember what the purple stands for, entertaining maybe?) which score again once you complete them. Then I used all three secret passages on it, each one giving me 6 points for a connection (2x 3 points). Then I completed the room and scored it... again. That's 3 secret passages for bonus rooms at 6 points each, and the room itself worth 2. That's 20 points twice for the same room. That's just absurd. And it couldn't be stopped, my opponents saw it happening and couldn't stop it. So even though I won soundly because of it I can't help but think that the secret passages are a bit broken. The obvious way to use them is with purple rooms so you can score them twice, every other room you use them on is pointless. And they should be used early so you have time to easily complete the room. I might just take the secret passages out now. I'm already going to get rid of the swan pieces since I find them silly. So now I will be left with just the moats as part of the expansion. Which means I probably should not have bought the expansion at all... maybe a little extra variety of tiles which is nice but now I'm firmly on the "the expansion can be missed" team.

In the month of October, we were well ahead of curing the global Pandemic. But our Quarantine Specialist warned of the plague risk in Los Angeles. No problem, we said. Some roadblocks could contain the situation. If we only knew then the flames from the Chicago military barracks meant no troops would be available. Alas, the heartland of America has Fallen to the corruption.

I picked up Patchwork on my way out of the game store Saturday on a bit of an impulse. I had heard good things about it but only in a vague way without any real specific information on how the game was played.
I do not regret this purchase at all. Since Saturday, my wife and I have already played it 6 times. I love it because it's easy to set up, it doesn't take long to play and it's got a lot of depth with only a few sparse rules. Recommended.

Has anyone played Viticulture? The Essential Edition came out, has a solo automata and campaign and looks pretty sweet. Can it be played with only two or do you need the automata for that as well?

I think I am just jonesing for that copy of Scythe to arrive, but I do love wine and Vinhos was a but too... fiddly for me.

baelthazar wrote: I think I am just jonesing for that copy of Scythe to arrive.

If you are interested in playing Scythe over TTS, let me know. The DLC version is quite excellent.

Vinhos was great excuse to game and drink.

Lordnine wrote:

baelthazar wrote: I think I am just jonesing for that copy of Scythe to arrive.

If you are interested in playing Scythe over TTS, let me know. The DLC version is quite excellent.

Do I have you as a Steam friend? I am sure I do. Let me go see if I can both find the PDF of the rules and the DLC version.

baelthazar wrote:

Lordnine wrote:

baelthazar wrote: I think I am just jonesing for that copy of Scythe to arrive.

If you are interested in playing Scythe over TTS, let me know. The DLC version is quite excellent.

Do I have you as a Steam friend? I am sure I do. Let me go see if I can both find the PDF of the rules and the DLC version.

Don't have you if you use the same name. Only one person needs to own the DLC though.

We played 3 games of Star Wars Rebellion since it arrived Saturday. Got the board and everything set up for a game tomorrow after work, teaching my wife how to play it. We will be the Empire vs my two boys.

Got another 4 player game lined up for Friday (another couple to join). So...yeah, this game has been played quite a bit already.

Got utterly, totally, completely destroyed by Pandemic:Legacy last night. We played through June, beat it fairly handily and rather quickly, and the question was floated "So, we have some time, do we try July?"

So we went against our standing rule, never do two months of Pandemic in one sitting, and were crushed. The game ended before I, the second player, could draw my second infection card, ON THE FIRST TURN. It was the absolute perfect shuffle of cards in both the infection and player decks to do the maximum amount of damage in the least amount of time.

Stupid game. Can't wait to play again.

Pandemic Legacy's last few months left a sour taste in my mouth thanks to some pretty drastic rule changes that we didn't keep up on/understand fully. We ultimately lost pretty badly, only to discover shortly afterwards that we were playing it wrong the last 3 or 4 months and probably would've done much better. I still enjoyed the story, but I feel almost short changed by the game now.

I also think that if I ever play another legacy game again, I won't allow more than 2 to 3 weeks to go by before playing a session. Our last break was almost two months and that hurt us, I feel.

hepcat wrote:Pandemic Legacy's last few months left a sour taste in my mouth thanks to some pretty drastic rule changes that we didn't keep up on/understand fully. We ultimately lost pretty badly, only to discover shortly afterwards that we were playing it wrong the last 3 or 4 months and probably would've done much better. I still enjoyed the story, but I feel almost short changed by the game now.

I also think that if I ever play another legacy game again, I won't allow more than 2 to 3 weeks to go by before playing a session. Our last break was almost two months and that hurt us, I feel.

This session was a full 3 months since the previous sessions, but we got back into the swing pretty easily. Just a 10 minute review of the rules and current rule changes and we were OK.

We're still really enjoying the experience, but now you make me nervous.

That bad taste was the ashes of the world.

Pandemic Legacy screwed us mostly because of game choices we made, and our rush to get to the end in the excitement. What's brilliant is how a few rule changes and new characters transform the dynamic. We should have paused to digest what happened with the rules and come up with a strategy, but instead we dove right in. Because it was pretty awesome.

One of our rules goof was something Arch realized when you were watching, hentzau. The cube placement and how diseases interact. At the end game, it gets more tricky. Place too many or the wrong color and bad things happen fast. We screwed it up at the end, and had a ton of outbreaks.

Just pay VERY close attention to rule changes as they come up and you'll be fine. Before you start September, give someone from our group a heads up so we can send you the rules FAQ Mike found later that we were screwing up. I'd send it now, but it might ruin some of the surprises in the narrative of the game (the primary reason to play Pandemic Legacy, in my opinion).

I do want Seafall and the Lovecraft themed Legacy game though. So I'm sure I'll get over my recent bout of disappointment with the series.

Hepcat similar situation here. One of the cards was worded poorly, we messed up as a result, and the last month was much more worthless than it should have been. Very disappointed that they worded this particular card in a manner that it could easily be read wrong (turns out it's a common problem after checking bgg). Also left me with a slightly sour taste. Which is a shame because the game is brilliant.

We did alright with the last month, but I think we were aided by the fact that we played the game 2-player with each of us taking 2 characters. That meant we could focus more on the rules and each other than having 4 people sitting around with 1 character each. We never had any problems with the searches or anything like that, although we may have lost at least one month when we prioritized searches over other actions. I would say Pandemic Legacy is a perfect 2-player experience, and I would not have liked it as much with more people (it became a pretty personal time for my wife and I).

One thing we realized was that the Quarantine Specialist was dang near required in every game. I am not sure how you prevent outbreaks without her "distance quarantine" power.

we found the same exact thing with the quarantine specialist. Was my go to.