Octopus Overlords

I will offer Blackhawk a commission for painted minis though.

Isgrimnur wrote:

I guess I'll just have to pay Blackhawk to paint them for me.

Two sets Blackhawk!

Here you go, coop. A guy bought a custom Burgle Bros setup from etsy.

Isgrimnur wrote:Here you go, coop. A guy bought a custom Burgle Bros setup from etsy.

damn you for sending me on an hour long adventure through /r/boardgames... I have work to do!

Also, that is pretty cool, but I'll wait for a more elegant (and portable) solution... I can't imagine what it is, but there has to be something. If I were able to host a game group and could keep it set up on a sideboard I think it would be pretty cool. One day.

It looks pretty portable to me.

Yeah and then you have to set it up and tear it down.

Life is tough.

#boardgamertroubles

More spoiler-free discussion of Pandemic: Legacy:

So after crushing June and July we figured we'd be royally screwed for August, but decided to give it our best shot.

Not only did we win August, we won HANDILY. Completely crushed it. We were all sitting around kind of shocked, because we thought we were way overdue for a sound ass-whipping.

Turns out we were just a month off.

September came in and humbled us. What's INCREDIBLY frustrating is that we literally lost by one card. One bad draw gave us our final outbreak - a draw that had we survived, we would have won. The cards were in our hand, all that remained was getting to our next player. We will start next week attempting it again.

Current record:

Total games: 7-5
Month W/L: 7-1 (with half month remaining to play)

Last night I played the "assist your wife bring a new gamer into the world." Now I only have to wait 7-8 years for her to be my gaming buddy!

baelthazar wrote:Last night I played the "assist your wife bring a new gamer into the world." Now I only have to wait 7-8 years for her to be my gaming buddy!

That's a really great co-op game, although frankly a bit too stressful for my taste. I prefer the prequel.

Congratulations!

Congrats, man!

Must be a thing around oo right now. Played the same game 3 weeks ago, now just the waiting. Though I've found a few games I might be able to start a couple years younger...

Also on the bg front I managed to find a kickstarter copy of Carson city big box with all stretch goals. I missed the kickstarter but played the game recently and really loved it. Either placement with tile laying and mild direct conflict? Yes please. I would have been fine with a retail version but was very happy to find the kickstarter version.

GOT A BEAST BOY TODAY!
FOUND A "PLAYSET" OF BEAST BOY DICE AND THE RARE CARD ON EBAY!
FOUND THE 3 PROMO TEEN TITANS ON EBAY!!!

Trifecta of TT goodness for me

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

ahem.

Will be playing Dicemasters this weekend minus those (Should arrive midweek).

They're running Dice Master rainbow drafts at Origins, and Zarathud and I could squeeze you into our room. I'm just sayin'....

Sweet. Chaosraven playing Raven. Very meta.

Reading over the rules for Mage Wars: Domination in prep for a game tomorrow. I am really looking forward to getting this on the table finally. I loves me some Mage Wars. I love the idea of Blood Bowl-esque Mage Wars even more.

hepcat wrote:As the Chicago group well knows, I'm a huge fan of Ignacy's 51st State series of tableau builders. Well, looks like there's an updated version coming called 51st State: The Master Set. I'm just about to dive into the rules, but I'm guessing he's tossed out of some of the more fiddly rules from the original games (the Rule of 3, etc.). Whether or not this will result in a dumbed down experience that takes away from what I always considered "a gamer's game", I don't know yet. I'm still preordering though because for 50 bucks (plus 5 bucks shipping in the U.S.A.) you get two more factions, a bunch of customized tokens, and the gratifying feeling of getting it a month before stores. It's looking like a late April/sometime in May shipping date right now.

Well, crap... sold out.

Whoa, didn't expect that. I just assumed that because the publisher was selling it, they'd make more than enough to cover all those pre-orders.

But it should be in stores about a month after the pre-orders are sent out. And I'm betting the geek store on boardgamegeek.com will have the extra factions that are part of the pre-order rewards, at the very least.

hepcat wrote:Reading over the rules for Mage Wars: Domination in prep for a game tomorrow. I am really looking forward to getting this on the table finally. I loves me some Mage Wars. I love the idea of Blood Bowl-esque Mage Wars even more.

Well?

Oh, sorry.

I had a great time with it. Adding variable maps and area control to Mage Wars really spices it up. I can see playing the original version still, but having the ability to mix it up really gives the game even longer legs that it initially had for me.

I will say that the Druid is way too overpowered for it though. She was able to send out her vines to every corner of the map, then use her ability to extend her spell range to wherever she had a vine marker to control a lot of space early in the game. I had plants guarding orbs within 3 or 4 turns. From there I just kept pumping out vine based spells to control orb zones.

Zarathud blocked me in early with a couple of walls of fire using his warlock, but I realized that that would also keep him at bay. So I left them up and just stayed where I was, sending out my vine spells while enjoying a cold one.

Overall, I would say Battlegrounds is a fantastic expansion that adds a lot of choice to what type of game you want to play. Want to make it all about area control? Add in the variant that mage's respawn when killed. That way the only win condition is grabbing and holding orbs. Or just leave mage death in as an optional win condition in addition to orb control.

Two big thumbs up for the expansion! I think it should be on any Mage War players list of essential things.

Thanks. I am trying to avoid this because I never play Mage Wars. I think I am waiting for more... something. I don't know what. Maybe for my kids to get older.

On a totally unrelated note, has anyone checked out Apex: Theropod Deck-Building Game? I read a couple solo play reviews which has me interested.

The only downside to Mage Wars for me is the time commitment. I don't think I've ever finished a game of Mage Wars in less than 4 hours. I can never understand why it takes so long as it doesn't feel like it drags at any point. But when I look at the clock, hours have passed.

I've also heard good things about Apex. I was hoping to see it in action at Origins.

Rebellion and quadropolis arrived today. Quadropolis will hit the table first. Can't wait, game looks fantastic and the rules make it seem fantastic. And the insert... I wish more companies would take days of wonders approach to components and boxes because the insert is of course top notch.

I can't figure out the draw of Quardropolis. It looks a bit too mathy and the theme seems tacked on. But, then again, I like Five Tribes and that could be accused of being both of those things as well. I look forward to your impressions.

I played the family game "Enchanted Forest" which I picked up during the Amazon board game sale.

The board is made up of a bunch of spaces comprising multiple paths around the board. On one end is a village (starting point), and at the other end is a castle. Scattered around the board are tree figurines, each of which has a unique fairy-tale themed treasure icon on the bottom (glass slipper, magic hat, etc.) There is also a deck of treasure cards, each of which corresponds to one of the treasures hidden under the trees.

At the start of the game, all players start in the village and the first treasure card is flipped. This is now the treasure that everyone is looking for.

On your turn, you roll two dice. You may move forward or backwards, along any path, but you can only travel one direction per die. For instance, if you rolled a 1 and a 5, you could move 6 spaces in one direction, or 1 space in one direction and 5 spaces in another. Your goal is to land on a blue spot next to a tree, which allows you to peek under the tree and see what treasure is hidden beneath it.

When you think you know the location of the treasure matching the upturned treasure card, you must head to the castle. Once at the castle, you may then announce the location of the treasure and if you are right, you keep the treasure card. If you are wrong, you get sent back to the village.

The first player to correctly locate three treasures wins.

Simple enough, but there are some wrinkles that provide a little more depth:

- If you roll doubles, you may immediately move to a tree and peek at the treasure, OR immediately move to a designated space close to the castle, OR change the current treasure card by flipping over a new one.

- If you land on another player, they get sent back to the village.

The key to the game is keeping the treasure locations a secret, and memorizing what is where. Young players can play it straight (my kids couldn't help but announce to the world what the treasures were), but older players can be very secretive and deceptive. Older players can also be more strategic in changing treasure cards when they suspect someone knows a location, or sending players back to the village to prevent them from finding or turning in treasures.

Component-wise the game is great for kids. The cards are thick and sturdy, the tree components are hard plastic and well-made, and the player tokens are sturdy. My kids are really rough on board games, and this is one I wasn't worried about leaving them alone with. I can't count the number of kid games I've opened that use bendable cardboard player tokens and flimsy cards that I know will be bent up or destroyed after a couple of game sessions.

My kids are 6 and 4, and while it skewed too old for my 4-year old, my 6-year old was just on the cusp of really understanding the "keep things secret" strategy. I think it's a good gateway game for her to graduate from some of the kindergarten-level games we own. The thing she had the toughest time with was choosing the best path for the dice rolls - there are SO many path options (and spots require landing by exact count), that you really have to study the board to optimize your move.

Fun family game though, and well worth the $12 I spent.

We've had this game in my family for...well, it seems like forever. We had it before we had kids, it was a gift to my wife from one of her sisters I believe. It is a beautiful little game...

I'm too lazy to create a thread and couldn't decided where it would go anyway, but the Pathfinder Adventures app has been released (Pathfinder Adventure Card Game for iOS and Android).

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pathfin ... d966333863

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... dian.pacg1

Swweeeetttt...thanks, man!

edit: Yikes! 25 bucks for the Rise of the Runelords bundle?

hepcat wrote:Swweeeetttt...thanks, man!

edit: Yikes! 25 bucks for the Rise of the Runelords bundle?

First taste is free, man...

Well, they do give you pretty much everything with that 25 bucks. The full adventure list (as it releases), character add on, etc..

I'll probably continue to play the first two base sets I have to completion. But future base sets I'll probably pick up on this service.

I'll bite on the first taste at least...

Managed to make it to my monthly board game day today. Had a bad cold last time. Got a different cold this time, but I'm on back side, not so bad now. A little late and didn't stay til the end this time (had kid w/, who didn't want to stay the full time).

Kid's into Magic the Gathering now (fortunately for her, I had about 6 decks worth of cards from around 1994-1995 when I tried it out). She got a few more trading the old cards with a teacher who runs some magic stuff at her school. I'm not much of player and do not know a lot about optimal deck construction, but she found someone who played some and helped her a little today and played a couple games with him, so she had a lot of fun. I'd played one game with her at the start of our time as well.

I played Pandemic: Contagion. 3 times. Other than 1 round of MtG w/ the kid, that's all I played. Fortunately, I greatly enjoyed it and had lots of fun with it. Won the second and third games. First game was the first game for all 4 players (they just opened the shrink wrap and figured it there).

Honorable mention to OrcWars (from Dragon Magazine back in the late 80's/early 90's). Someone had that there today, I was too late to join them for that. I had it (might still someplace if I didn't throw it out), but never played it other than with myself. Read through the rules and watched them play for a bit. Looked like they were having quite a bit of fun with it.

Zenn7, I am in Dearborn if you ever want pointers for current MtG tips etc.

Spent the evening playing Dicemasters with my old friend.
My Teen Titans worked amazingly against his XMen.
Tried out an All Same Energy Type group, discovered the costs were too high, needs modification.
He tried his Mostly Same Energy and it worked very well, until it met my JLA Team.

Traded a few cards and dice, had a great time.

I'll be at a Pokemon birthday party for my oldest this afternoon. The Fish turned 9 and someone will be teaching them Pokemon at the Chicago West Loop FLGS.

I played Zombicide: Black Plague with Z(6) and X(9) last weekend. The little one begged me to teach mommy all week. On Saturday, we got mommy involved in a game. It was possibly the easiest non-tutorial play I have ever had (partially because twice I forgot to spawn zombies). After that we went into Ticket to Ride mode. Despite the fact that I have 5 different version/maps, we played vanilla.

On Sunday, X(9) wanted more TtR so we played Nordic Countries two player and then Heart of Africa. It was my first play of Heart of Africa and I don't think it was interesting. I am looking forward to trying out the UK map, though I think it might work out to be a bit heavy for the family. We would have tried it after Africa, but my victory left my son in tears (literally). He was one action away from completing a 19 point ticket. He still wouldn't have won, but he was still pretty upset.

I think we need to get another co-op out.

Uk is my favorite version currently. It's the heaviest version to date.

Chaosraven wrote:Zenn7, I am in Dearborn if you ever want pointers for current MtG tips etc.

Thanks for the offer CR, my daughter would probably jump at it if I tell her. Might take you up on it some time - preferably sometime when we can maybe hang out for a bit and play some games rather than just get pointers... .

Let me know, I am usually home in the weekday evenings by 6pm and have weekends free.

Lots of game stores around to hang out and play.