Octopus Overlords

hentzau wrote:Got in about half of a learning game of Defenders of the Last Stand last night with my son (13).

Okay, this game is officially my surprise hit of the summer. I can't stop thinking about playing it...and I can't explain why other than simply saying "it's just fun". Definitely did not expect that.

hepcat wrote:

hentzau wrote:Got in about half of a learning game of Defenders of the Last Stand last night with my son (13).

Okay, this game is officially my surprise hit of the summer. I can't stop thinking about playing it...and I can't explain why other than simply saying "it's just fun". Definitely did not expect that.

Yeah, it really is. I hope to get another game in over the weekend. I was talking to Tom and Stuart about it last night (after we lost our first go at November in Pandemic:Legacy) and found myself getting all excited about playing it again.

If you join us Saturday, you can help me convince others to play...

hepcat wrote:If you join us Saturday, you can help me convince others to play...

Sigh, Katie and I would probably be in if we lived in Chicago. But your endorsement gives me the activation energy to start organizing the cards, punching out the tokens and bringing order to the Wasteland.

hepcat wrote:

hentzau wrote:Got in about half of a learning game of Defenders of the Last Stand last night with my son (13).

Okay, this game is officially my surprise hit of the summer. I can't stop thinking about playing it...and I can't explain why other than simply saying "it's just fun". Definitely did not expect that.

I regret no KSing this one too. Can I trust the BGG marketplace enough to get a copy of the KS edition there? Are the exclusives worth it or should I just preorder from Miniature Market or Coolstuff for a July release?

I'm pretty sure that 8th Summit games has announced they'll be selling the KS rewards online somewhere, so I'd just grab it retail when it hits the shelves.

And on the 8th Summit site you can still buy the Kickstarter version if you so desired.

Played Star Wars Rebellion. Incredibly thematic but the Death Star moved 1 turn out of place to finish the Rebel base -- the last place I expected. Explored everywhere else!

$iljanus wrote:And on the 8th Summit site you can still buy the Kickstarter version if you so desired.

Yikes, they have a huge markup though! A game store is selling the KS version for $80 + shipping, so that seems a fair price (since CSI is selling the non-KS for $74 + S&H). I may grab it.

baelthazar wrote:

$iljanus wrote:And on the 8th Summit site you can still buy the Kickstarter version if you so desired.

Yikes, they have a huge markup though! A game store is selling the KS version for $80 + shipping, so that seems a fair price (since CSI is selling the non-KS for $74 + S&H). I may grab it.

Yeah, after seeing the markup I'd probably find an alternative source if I were in your position.

Well I found a collectors edition of scythe coming my way soon. Happy about that.

$iljanus wrote:

baelthazar wrote:

$iljanus wrote:And on the 8th Summit site you can still buy the Kickstarter version if you so desired.

Yikes, they have a huge markup though! A game store is selling the KS version for $80 + shipping, so that seems a fair price (since CSI is selling the non-KS for $74 + S&H). I may grab it.

Yeah, after seeing the markup I'd probably find an alternative source if I were in your position.

Wowzers... $110.

I wouldn't pay that much for this one. Just wait and grab it retail, or through the outlet mentioned earlier. And if you can't get the KS rewards, I'm sure the BGG store will have them soon enough. But even without the extra rangers and the dozen new adventure cards, there's a whole lot of game in the base set.

I grabbed the BGG copy. It was $10 more than CSI, but included the extra Rangers. With so much plastic, I expect these games to be expensive.

Just be aware you're not getting hobby level minis. Some folks in the kickstarter comments were pissed off at the quality of them after the game shipped. But most folks responded by reminding them they got over a hundred freakin' chunks of plastic in their game for less than 70 bucks. The figures are fine for this game, and they achieve exactly what they're supposed to.

Only Reaper and CMON minis are cheap with amazing detail.

hepcat wrote:Just be aware you're not getting hobby level minis. Some folks in the kickstarter comments were pissed off at the quality of them after the game shipped. But most folks responded by reminding them they got over a hundred freakin' chunks of plastic in their game for less than 70 bucks. The figures are fine for this game, and they achieve exactly what they're supposed to.

Yeah, these are exactly like what folks got in the original Defenders of the Realm game. So I had no issues.

My imported copy of Zeds 3rd edition arrived this morning, a week after it left the Great White North. There's...a lot going on in the box. Looks like I'll be reading through manuals for quite a while.

As a new player, follow the tutorials. You'll start with the basic game and then gradually move up the ladder of complexity until you're fighting super zeds and the evil Doctor Marteuse. If you jump into the latter levels (they go from 1 to 5, I believe), you'll just get confused by the way they set up the rule books. That's the only thing I wasn't big on. They set it up so that you're kind of forced to work your way through the tutorial....which is fine for new players, but for someone with some experience with the game, I wanted to jump to level 3. And although I did, and was able to figure out the new stuff, it was still annoying having to flip back and forth through the rule books to get to them.

And I'm sure that learning curve would be exacerbated by having to translate from Canadian to English...

baelthazar wrote:I grabbed the BGG copy. It was $10 more than CSI, but included the extra Rangers. With so much plastic, I expect these games to be expensive.

When you say "BGG copy" do you mean individuals selling on the "Geek Market"? I'm assuming so since it's not on the "Geek Store" that I could find but wanted to check.

That's what I'm talking aboot!

I'm big on tutorials and wish every game had a 37 page tutorial manual like Mage Knight. I have absolutely no problem going through everything super slow and methodical. I also ordered a DVG "deep dish" tray to store all the chits so I'm no longer struggling with storage long after the game arrives. Storage solution and game arrive at the same time so there's no excuse to keep it on the shelf. After 5+ years, I'm learning!

Off topic -- I am heading to my local game convention tomorrow, though it looks like many of the game seats have been gobbled up (which is unusual). I'm not sure if they're at critical mass or more people are into board gaming but I'm going to do my best to try and get in on whatever new stuff is there.

Smoove_B wrote:That's what I'm talking aboot!

I'm big on tutorials and wish every game had a 37 page tutorial manual like Mage Knight. I have absolutely no problem going through everything super slow and methodical. I also ordered a DVG "deep dish" tray to store all the chits so I'm no longer struggling with storage long after the game arrives. Storage solution and game arrive at the same time so there's no excuse to keep it on the shelf. After 5+ years, I'm learning!

Off topic -- I am heading to my local game convention tomorrow, though it looks like many of the game seats have been gobbled up (which is unusual). I'm not sure if they're at critical mass or more people are into board gaming but I'm going to do my best to try and get in on whatever new stuff is there.

How the hell far could Columbus be from New Jersey?

The internet says

7hr 48min 486mi

You should just make the damned drive to Origins for a weekend next year.

If you do it, then I'll hem and haw and pretend I'm going to.

Anyone who goes to Origins is welcome to sleep on the floor in between the beds Zarathud and I stake out. I can't guarantee he won't try to pack you Saturday night when he goes into his luggage organization frenzy though.

Smoove_B wrote:My imported copy of Zeds 3rd edition arrived this morning, a week after it left the Great White North. There's...a lot going on in the box. Looks like I'll be reading through manuals for quite a while.

As Hepcat said, follow the tutorials. Assuming the 3rd edition tutorial setup is similar to the 2nd edition it will walk you through the main concepts and even though it left out stuff it was still a lot of fun. And even though I thought I was holding my own it eventually kicked my ass. Many concepts in the rule book made more sense to me after playing thru the tutorial.

MonkeyFinger wrote:

baelthazar wrote:I grabbed the BGG copy. It was $10 more than CSI, but included the extra Rangers. With so much plastic, I expect these games to be expensive.

When you say "BGG copy" do you mean individuals selling on the "Geek Market"? I'm assuming so since it's not on the "Geek Store" that I could find but wanted to check.

Yes, sorry. I bought a copy from Green Labor Games (Greenlabormike). He shipped it already, which is faster than I expected! I am still waiting for the Zeds copy I got from VPG. I suspect it will be here tomorrow.

baelthazar wrote:

MonkeyFinger wrote:

baelthazar wrote:I grabbed the BGG copy. It was $10 more than CSI, but included the extra Rangers. With so much plastic, I expect these games to be expensive.

When you say "BGG copy" do you mean individuals selling on the "Geek Market"? I'm assuming so since it's not on the "Geek Store" that I could find but wanted to check.

Yes, sorry. I bought a copy from Green Labor Games (Greenlabormike). He shipped it already, which is faster than I expected! I am still waiting for the Zeds copy I got from VPG. I suspect it will be here tomorrow.

That's who I bought my copy of scythe from.

My Castle Panic adventures continue.

Last night's challenge was beating the game with the Wizard's Tower and Dark Titan expansions combined. As an added bonus, I bought some 3D printed castle walls, towers, flame tokens, etc. off Etsy that are super cool.

In my opinion, this is the ultimate way to play Castle Panic. Our group generally thought Wizard's Tower was slightly too easy, and Dark Titan was slightly too hard. This was a nice blend of challenging enemies, but enough good cards in the deck that you at least had a chance against them.

Due to the combination, the game is quite long. It took the three of us every bit of three hours to complete. So it definitely turns a light appetizer like Castle Panic into a full course meal.

At the end of the game we were down to two towers and three walls, so it definitely wasn't a cake walk. On the other hand, we never got to a point where we were in true mortal danger. Since we were playing Agnarok at Level 1, I think next time we do this we'll bump him up to a 3 or so just to tweak the difficulty up just a bit.

YellowKing wrote:My Castle Panic adventures continue.

Last night's challenge was beating the game with the Wizard's Tower and Dark Titan expansions combined. As an added bonus, I bought some 3D printed castle walls, towers, flame tokens, etc. off Etsy that are super cool.

In my opinion, this is the ultimate way to play Castle Panic. Our group generally thought Wizard's Tower was slightly too easy, and Dark Titan was slightly too hard. This was a nice blend of challenging enemies, but enough good cards in the deck that you at least had a chance against them.

Due to the combination, the game is quite long. It took the three of us every bit of three hours to complete. So it definitely turns a light appetizer like Castle Panic into a full course meal.

At the end of the game we were down to two towers and three walls, so it definitely wasn't a cake walk. On the other hand, we never got to a point where we were in true mortal danger. Since we were playing Agnarok at Level 1, I think next time we do this we'll bump him up to a 3 or so just to tweak the difficulty up just a bit.

I have the Wizards Tower for this, I should really break it out.

And I saw Star Trek Castle Panic at the FLGS the other day. Was really tempted to get it, it looked like a lot of fun.

I saw it at Origins. But with Star Trek Frontiers arriving next week, and Star Trek Ascendancy releasing at Gencon, I feel like I'm near Star Trek saturation point.

A board game coffee shop opened today in Frisco. If only I liked coffee.

It's a project of Randy Pitchford(Gearbox Software)'s wife and is in the bottom floor of the building Gearbox is based in.

I may check it out if I ever get out to play games again.

coopasonic wrote:A board game coffee shop opened today in Frisco. If only I liked coffee.

It's a project of Randy Pitchford(Gearbox Software)'s wife and is in the bottom floor of the building Gearbox is based in.

I may check it out if I ever get out to play games again.

We have something similar a couple of blocks away called Enchanted Grounds.

First day of the local convention and I managed to play Cthulhu Realms, Gloom, Rise of Cthulhu, Welcome to the Dungeon, Tsuro and Neuroshima Hex 3.0 -- it was a solid day. I actually liked Neuroshima Hex but I think it put my buddy on tilt. I also don't know how well it would play with 2 people - our game had three and it felt just about right. Then again, the group wisdom on BGG suggest it plays best with 2 people, so I don't know - particularly if that is related to earlier versions of the game. I have no idea what was changed/updated/adjusted for this new one, but it felt a bit like playing chess. Initially it seemed simplistic, but there's quite a bit of strategy going on and the asymmetrical factions make it even more interesting.

Tomorrow I'm planning on getting in a game of Mare Nostrum, Defenders of the Last Stand, Millenium Blades and Blood Rage. Hopefully we can fit all that into one day!

Eagerly anticipating getting stuck into T.I.M.E. Stories next week, along with all of its currently available expansions. Assuming the hype is warranted, it should make for some mighty entertaining gaming over the summer months:


(click to embiggen)

I keep dancing around getting this. But the lack of any replay value whatsoever keeps me from jumping in. I was going to do it for a couple of friends who are heavy rpg'ers as they'd expressed interest in it, but it turns out they're moving to China next month for a teaching position, so there goes that plan.

hepcat wrote:I keep dancing around getting this. But the lack of any replay value whatsoever keeps me from jumping in. I was going to do it for a couple of friends who are heavy rpg'ers as they'd expressed interest in it, but it turns out they're moving to China next month for a teaching position, so there goes that plan.

That sucks.

Initially, I went through much the same thought process myself. But after realising I could snag the entire set of T.I.M.E. Stories + expansions with free shipping from CSI for a C-note, I justified it as a pure entertainment purchase. In other words, along the lines of buying a decent Blu-ray player, together with an outstanding collection of unique, unseen movies my gaming group is certain to enjoy. If we're able to get 5 - 6 hours of immersive entertainment from each module, I figure it'll still be a superior value compared to a typical cinema excursion to see a new 2 hr-long flick, or buying Blu-ray discs for a similar amount of dosh (in terms of cost per scenario).

Well my first complete playthrough of Defenders of the Last Stand was much smoother after my initial attempt at playing which I aborted due to forgetting a few rules and not reading things closely. Unfortunately, can't blame my defeat on misreading the rules. Damn raider overruns spawned a whole bunch of ammo/oil supply bases and before I knew it I ran out of ammo/oil bases to place which is one of the many ways to lose the game. It's like the raiders are the descendants of Halliburton workers, efficiently establishing oil rigs/ammo dumps throughout the desert.

I was playing scenario one which is rather daunting in the beginning after you place all the raiders in their spots. My daughter asked how many of the minis were good guys. She thought I was doomed when I told her "two". My two rangers were holding their own though but I should have kept track of those pesky bases. She also wondered if the raiders fought each other which I thought was a good idea but I said "No, but they probably would have turned on each other after one of them conquered the city of Last Stand."

I've played one game of time stories and it just didn't suck me in. I was hoping it would the way pandemic legacy did but in the end I'm not sure time stories has enough actual game in it for me. It felt far more like a puzzle than sitting down to play a game. I'll probably try to get through the base game at least but honestly it feels a bit like a chore to even think about it at this point.

Chrisoc13 wrote:I've played one game of time stories and it just didn't suck me in. I was hoping it would the way pandemic legacy did but in the end I'm not sure time stories has enough actual game in it for me. It felt far more like a puzzle than sitting down to play a game. I'll probably try to get through the base game at least but honestly it feels a bit like a chore to even think about it at this point.

Interesting. Horses for courses, I suppose. From what I gather, it's definitely designed to play out as less of a game in the traditional sense, and more of a collaborative puzzle-solving 'mystery theatre'-esque experience. Speaking as someone that grew up on Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and old school Infocom IF games though, it's right up my alley.

BTW, how many people did you play it with? Because I've heard from multiple sources that, despite what it says on the box, it's worthless as a two-player game, since the two-player version ruins the immersive roleplaying narrative of each player paraphrasing, and informing the party of what their particular individual character encountered in the story.

Finally opened the copy of Pandemic I bought awhile back and played a game with Mrs. Kub and her mom. Didn't get all the rules right on first play through, and we lost (due to running out of player cards),but we did cure 3 diseases and had a fun time.