OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

[Isgrimnur]

[YellowKing]

Got another (half) game of Star Trek: Frontiers in. DAMN that game is long. We did a 2-player co-op, 6-round scenario and only got through 3 rounds in 4 hours. Unfortunately I don't really see us speeding up that time significantly - the guy I'm playing with is very deliberate and likes to think out every turn in detail, discuss with me, etc. I don't actually mind this style of play, but for this type of game it does make for some marathon sessions. For that reason we're developing a system to put it on pause and rebuild it, so we can stretch a full game out over a few weeks if need be.

The biggest mistake we made was in exploration. He went one way and I went another, and that wound up biting us hard. Whereas he ended up getting a good mix of ships and planets to fight, I wound up getting stuck in really bad areas. The result is that he quickly zoomed away ahead in experience, whereas I floundered for most of Round 1, thus putting me significantly behind for most of the game. I never could recover from my poor start, so I spent most of the game running around picking up his scraps. I'm also not totally sure we did tile placement exactly right. If it's done correctly it expands out in a cone shape, and ours looked a little "sprawly." I need to go re-read that section, because we may have screwed that up. It doesn't really matter as we wound up abandoning this one when it was clear we weren't going to finish.

I need to read up more on the strategy for this game (or maybe even Mage Knight, since there's more info out there for that one). I think because we're still learning, we're playing a little too conservatively. For instance, in three rounds I only had 1 damage total to my ship. That's all well and good, but by avoiding fights that would cause me damage, I wound up passing up a lot of much-needed XP. I'd have been better off sucking up the damage early on and repairing when I could, versus floating around aimlessly in space hoping experience fell in my lap. I think this game rewards a certain level of aggressive play, and that didn't click until the very end of the game tonight.

I don't say any of that to complain, because we had a blast. I'm really enjoying this one a great deal, with the only negative being the time it takes. There were several instances tonight in which a clever combination of cards and crystals allowed us to pull off some super move using every single card at our disposal, and the feeling you get when you figure out that perfect combo is extremely rewarding.

I'm also really enjoying the theme more than I thought I would. I've always been more of a fantasy guy than a sci-fi guy, and more a Star Wars fan than Star Trek. But it really does work so well in this game that it actually made me MORE interested in Star Trek. One of the rare instances where the game led me to the IP rather than the other way around.

[AWS260]

All the hype around Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition inspired me to dig out the first edition for another spin. We ended up playing two games over the weekend, which is a pretty serious time commitment by our standards.

I think I like it better this time around. That may be because my wife and I have switched roles -- she's now the evil keeper, while I play the intrepid investigators. I'm pretty comfortable with either role, but apparently she prefers to be in control.

[coopasonic]

Solo game of Legendary Encounters: Aliens... it was an easy win.
After spending three weeks sorting cards, I finally got a play of Legendary Encounters: Predator in with X(10). We were annihilated on the third objective.
Finally a game of a very dust-covered Lost Cities against X(10). He did pretty well for his first game. If he had two more turns he would have won.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Managed to get FUSE to the table over the weekend, after snagging it during Amazon's GenCon sale when it was on offer for $16.49. For anyone unfamiliar with the game, it's described as follows on BGG:

Intruders have made their way onto your ship, and their goal is total destruction! More than twenty bombs have been detected onboard, and the countdown has begun. Your elite Bomb Defusal Team (BDT) has been called upon to neutralize the threat. Does your team have what it takes to work through the intricacies of the bombs and defuse them all in time?

FUSE is a real-time co-operative game that employs 25 dice and 65 cards. Each game is set to a ten-minute timer, and players must work together in that ten minutes to defuse all of the bombs. Each bomb is represented by a card which needs a certain combination of dice in order to defuse it. A player will draw a number of dice equal to the number of players out of a bag and roll them. Players must then decide who will get which dice, but each player must take one and only one.

Basically, it's a manic and highly entertaining little cooperative game that plays in real-time, so each and every game lasts exactly 10 minutes. The publisher provides a nifty companion app that includes a thematic 10-minute countdown timer along with amusing snarky commentary from the ship's computer. The first games you play will almost inevitably result in failure. But it's an enjoyable explosion of failure. Each time you play, you’ll typically get slightly closer to defusing all of the bombs, and that sweet sense of victory (though we were only successful once out of the six games we played, and that was at the Training level of difficulty). There are five levels of difficulty to choose from, that range from Training, Standard, Expert, Elite, and Insane. Even the Training level was far from a pushover in our experience, but fortunately it's one of those games that remains enjoyable even when you do lose. Another nice touch is that it also includes an option for solo play.

TL;DR version: it's a tense, exciting, panicky collaborative bomb defusal game that doesn't take itself too seriously and literally only takes 10 minutes to play. It would also travel really well, since the components are essentially 25 digital-readout dice in 5 different colours, the cloth bag that holds 'em, and the deck of bombs and fuse cards, though you may want to think twice about playing it while travelling by air.

[hepcat]

Excellent game of Star Trek Ascendancy on Saturday, preceded by a fun little asymmetrical (and boy howdy is it ever) game called Vast: The Crystal Caverns. All at Zarathud's place.

Vast was fun. It's a fairly easy to grasp game, but since everyone is playing characters with different mechanics and different victory conditions, it can probably take some time to digest for newcomers. I played the Dragon and my goal was to wake the hell up and get out of the cavern before the Knight (Seppe) killed me. Three goblin tribes (Zarathud) were there to try and kill the knight at the same time, as well as providing me with food (one of the conditions of my awakening).

I managed to wake up (something I rarely do in real life) and get to the surface, but I couldn't make it to the entrance tile, which would have won me the game. The knight got to me and snicker snackered me, thus winning the game. I'd play it again, that's for sure. I think the radically different characters you can play (and the number of them) gives it some legs.

The main event for me was a full game of Ascendancy. We were randomly assigned our races. I got Klingon, Zarathud got the Romulans and Seppe was the Federation. It started off innocently enough. The Klingons tried to build up their culture and production after finding some rather lackluster worlds initially, while the Federation raked in the research thanks to some great research rich worlds early in the game. The Romulans seemed to have some tough luck with their starting exploration, if I remember correctly. I don't think they found anything too great.

Eventually the Klingons found their way to the Romulan sector and established a trade agreement with them. I then did the same with the Federation. I was then rolling in production. Unfortunately, I kept using the smaller quantity specialized fleets instead of shifting to the large quantity generic fleets. That was a strategic mistake when I betrayed the Romulans and attacked one of their fleets. It didn't help that they'd researched both cloaking and first strike capabilities. In the end, my large fleet was just too decentralized to mount an effective attack. Lesson learned.

While we squabbled on the edge of the (what I will call) neutral zone, the Feds built up their production and culture engine and managed to ride their way to victory by showing up to view the wreck of the Klingon empire and the weakened Romulans who couldn't mount an effective strike against them after years of war with the Klingons.

I still love this game a great deal. It is long (our game ran almost 5 hours with 3 players), but you're always engaged with the game. At one point, the Romulans sent a fleet into warp, and I watched in growing agitation as he kept adding warp tokens to it at the end of each turn. Since you don't reveal your destination until you exit warp, and you can travel through a number of systems equal to your warp token quantity, I knew my homeworld could possibly be in danger since his cloaked fleet could pass through my defensive line.

Two big thumbs up for fans of Star Trek and/or 4x games.

[Anonymous Bosch]

Got another (half) game of Star Trek: Frontiers in.

...

I'm also really enjoying the theme more than I thought I would. I've always been more of a fantasy guy than a sci-fi guy, and more a Star Wars fan than Star Trek. But it really does work so well in this game that it actually made me MORE interested in Star Trek. One of the rare instances where the game led me to the IP rather than the other way around.

I'm not sure if you're one for pimping out your games, but I thought you might be interested in the following Upgrade Set for Star Trek: Frontiers from Litko, that I just recently ordered myself:

ST: Frontiers, Game Upgrade Set (145)


(click to embiggen)

Set of 144 tokens and 1 dial.

Designed for use with the Star Trek: Frontiers* board game.

Complete upgrade set for your game. Upgrade those thin and fiddly cardboard tokens with thick durable and bright acrylic custom cut tokens.

Includes:

12- Command Division data tokens

12- Science Division data tokens

12- Operation Division data tokens

12- Captains Innovation tokens

12- Risk and Improvise data tokens

12- Unknown data tokens

4- Away Team tokens, 1 each of the 4 faction colors

8- Red Shirt Crew Damage tokens

15- Blue faction tokens

15- Yellow faction tokens

15- Purple faction tokens

15- red faction tokens

1- Game Turn dial

Speaking as someone that wasn't overly impressed with the quality of some of the game's components (particularly the data crystals, which were a little too small and fiddly for my liking), this was right up my alley. Bear in mind, the link is for the complete upgrade set, but you also have the option to purchase the components separately if you prefer (e.g. data tokens, away team tokens, faction tokens, and game round dial).

Edit: Relevant links added to purchase the components separately.

[YellowKing]

I'm not sure if you're one for pimping out your games, but I thought you might be interested in the following...

Thanks Anonymous!

Yeah, I'm actually pretty big into pimping my games out. I bought 3D-printed towers and walls for my Castle Panic, and I've replaced cardboard character tokens with miniatures for a couple of games. The biggest "conversion" I did was for Robinson Crusoe - I made food, fur, crates, etc. out of Fimo clay to replace all those boring wooden cubes.

I don't know if I'd necessarily need all of those upgrades, but I'd love to replace those data crystals. I totally agree they are just too small. That game turn dial would be pretty sweet too.

[hepcat]

And let's face facts: Wizkids is notorious for cutting corners when it comes to quality. I would call them the absolute worst even.

[coopasonic]

I don't know if I'd necessarily need all of those upgrades, but I'd love to replace those data crystals. I totally agree they are just too small. That game turn dial would be pretty sweet too.

They sell some subsets, including data tokens and the turn counter:
http://www.litko.net/search.php?search_ ... rs&x=0&y=0

[hepcat]

but you also have the option to purchase the components separately if you prefer (e.g. data tokens, away team tokens, red shirt damage tokens, turn dial etc.)

[coopasonic]

but you also have the option to purchase the components separately if you prefer (e.g. data tokens, away team tokens, red shirt damage tokens, turn dial etc.)

but I gave the link. It was not trivial either. It doesn't show up on their list of supported games. That website is a travesty.

[Anonymous Bosch]

but you also have the option to purchase the components separately if you prefer (e.g. data tokens, away team tokens, red shirt damage tokens, turn dial etc.)

but I gave the link. It was not trivial either. It doesn't show up on their list of supported games. That website is a travesty.

Yeah, that site is a bit naff. Anyway, I've since edited in the relevant links for the separate sets of tokens and components to my post above.

[LordMortis]

And let's face facts: Wizkids is notorious for cutting corners when it comes to quality. I would call them the absolute worst even.

*cough* *cough* Asmodee

Wizkids are the cheapest when it comes to cheaply produced plastic crap though, which is odd, as that's how they came in to existence... Actually never mind. It's not odd. I imagine the cheap plastic crap gave them a huge margin for Mage Knight that allowed them to become the powerhouse they did.

...

Also getting a 3D printer to custom print board game stuff? How cool would that be? If only I were made of money and excess.

[Isgrimnur]

Don't you not have a house payment anymore?

[LordMortis]

Don't you not have a house payment anymore?

Yeah, and so far this year I've save almost nothing after normal frugal expenses, plus house maintenance, plus medical and saving for an early retirement is theoretically my primary motivation...

something something Dali Lama something about sacrificing your health for work so you live to take care of your health or something like that.

[YellowKing]

So we're back to Robinson Crusoe, and I knew we were in for it when a fourth player showed up. This game seems infinitely harder with a full group.

We tackled Scenario 2 where you're exorcising the island, and got through four games. We lost all four, though the last two we were just one turn away from winning.

The first game was a bit of a throwaway - we misunderstood fog placement and made things more difficult than it actually was. So we scrapped it about 2/3 of the way through.

Game two we tried to play the "long game.' However, four players requires four wood or 3 pelts to build a freaking roof, and with fog covering everything it was almost impossible to generate those kinds of resources. We held on for awhile but eventually the elements just wore us down.

Game three we tried to play the "short game." Build five crosses as quickly as possible, ignoring everything else. This actually worked right up to the end - we had four of the five crosses built, but as soon as weather came in we took massive damage and died.

Game four we attempted the short game again since we came so close the previous time. It played out much like Game 3 - got 4 of 5 built, then the elements killed us. Even with a bed (which provided 2 heal per rest), we couldn't outpace the damage.

This scenario is a bitch because unless you get really lucky, you're never going to be able to build the damn bell to clear fog. And if you can't clear fog, then everything is taking an extra action and you're not generating resources. It's maddening.

I feel really confident we could beat this one with three players, but adding that fourth just completely skews the difficulty. To date I've never won a game of Crusoe - any scenario - with a full group.

[Chrisoc13]

Played a four player game of scythe last night. Man that game is absolutely beautiful.

I can't decide how I feel about it. I like the game. I really like the game. But I want to like it more than I do. I can't explain it but it just feels like it's missing a little bit more to push it into legendary territory for me. Right now it's a really good game though.

I won pretty handily this time. Honestly I'm not even sure why. I had two combat stars and pushed the enlist action so I fed off everyone else's actions. That was enough to launch me to a thirty point victory. Our game had more combat this time then previously though.

[baelthazar]

Played a four player game of scythe last night. Man that game is absolutely beautiful.

I can't decide how I feel about it. I like the game. I really like the game. But I want to like it more than I do. I can't explain it but it just feels like it's missing a little bit more to push it into legendary territory for me. Right now it's a really good game though.

I totally agree. I like the game, but there was just something shy of being legendary. If anything, it feels like a more complicated Hyperborea (which is, admittedly, one of my favorite games). I think the fact that it is largely a solitaire experience with the exception being fairly rare combat encounters is what makes it miss the mark a tad. Here I have this huge map, huge mechs, all sorts of resources, and a cool looking hero unit but I mostly kept to my area of the map and built up my engine. Heck, we hardly ever used the produce action, because we could use trade or get what we needed in other ways.

I still like the game though. And one of my non-gamer friends who played it was asking to play it again, so it must do something right!

[Lordnine]

Played a four player game of scythe last night. Man that game is absolutely beautiful.

I can't decide how I feel about it. I like the game. I really like the game. But I want to like it more than I do. I can't explain it but it just feels like it's missing a little bit more to push it into legendary territory for me. Right now it's a really good game though.

I totally agree. I like the game, but there was just something shy of being legendary. If anything, it feels like a more complicated Hyperborea (which is, admittedly, one of my favorite games). I think the fact that it is largely a solitaire experience with the exception being fairly rare combat encounters is what makes it miss the mark a tad. Here I have this huge map, huge mechs, all sorts of resources, and a cool looking hero unit but I mostly kept to my area of the map and built up my engine. Heck, we hardly ever used the produce action, because we could use trade or get what we needed in other ways.

I still like the game though. And one of my non-gamer friends who played it was asking to play it again, so it must do something right!

You’re missing the best way to mess with your opponents if you don’t have a ton of workers; the Human Shield defense! Use a Mech to carry a boatload (mechload?) of workers into enemy territory and just drop them off in important spaces. You will suddenly have a much more interactive game.

[hepcat]

Week 2 of the Seppe and Hepcat Malifaux campaign was played on Saturday. It actually ended in a draw. I may have finally found a crew that works well together. I've been in a buying frenzy for minis for the game for a few weeks now. But dagnabit, when you have figures like THIS



to choose from, how can you resist?

I would've scored a few more points near the end, but Seppe paralyzed my tank with a horror attack, thus preventing him from performing a heal that would've kept him in the game.

Then we played Pillars of Eternity: Lords of the Eastern Reach, a kickstarter I backed and received last week.

I had my doubts about this one after reading numerous complaints about how random it was on Boardgamegeek. However, I ended up enjoying it more than I expected. It's not something I'd whip out a lot, but if you ever get the urge for a game that plays like Thunderstone married to Seven Wonders while dating Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, you can't go wrong with this one.

Finally, we played a coop game against a Titan in Hoplomachus: Rise of Rome.

I don't think I'll do that outside solo play again. It's just too easy. Well, that or we did something wrong. I think head to head is the best way to play the Hoplomachus games.

Hopefully next weekend I can get in another game of Star Trek Ascendancy and maybe some Mare Nostrum.

[MythicalMino]

I got a copy of Defenders of the Last Stand, along with the KS bonuses. I am in the middle of my 3rd game....love this version!

I had Defenders of the Realm, really liked it, but got rid of it after a few years. But Last Stand is awesome. There is so much in the game I really like. The map is gorgeous and so much more interactive (with the Karma tokens, Excavation tokens, and the Adventure tokens). The Monstrosities are fun, the artefacts are great. Just a great upgrade over Realm, in my opinion.

[hentzau]

Got in a game of PACG tonight, first one in like a year and a half. Halfway through the Skinsaw Murders adventure. Really do like this game, glad to be back playing.

[Bad Demographic]

Wasn't quite on the weekend (Monday night), but we met up with some local boardgamers for Defenders of the Realm, one hand of Deer in the Headlights, and a game of Conditierre.
We had never played Conditierre before. It was pretty fun.

Oh - and the previous meetup (2 weeks ago) we were introduced to Killer Bunnies.

[YellowKing]

Got our asses kicked in the Cursed Island scenario of Robinson Crusoe once again. The only game where we came close we were only two wood short of winning, so I think we have the strategy down. It's down to just hoping luck breaks our way just enough to see it through.

Because we've now lost six games in a row, the group has decided to cut back and mix games for next week's session. So we'll attempt Crusoe one time, then the rest of the night we'll be dealing with Ghost Stories. One of the group owns the game but has never run it, so he's looking forward to learning it. The other two just want something that's a change of pace but still challenging, so I figured that fit the bill.

[Zarathud]

Your group is a glutton for punishment, Yellowking. Robinson Crusoe is tough, but I like how the story plays out every time. Ghost Stories sometimes feels like a puzzle that kicked me in the balls and took my lunch money -- and I'm still not sure what I did wrong.

[Fishbelly]

Your group is a glutton for punishment, Yellowking. Robinson Crusoe is tough, but I like how the story plays out every time. Ghost Stories sometimes feels like a puzzle that kicked me in the balls and took my lunch money -- and I'm still not sure what I did wrong.

I've never won Ghost Stories, despite the fact I'm usually good at games with a figure-out-the-strategy-puzzle aspect. I must admit I'm perplexed at the love thrown on Ghost Stories. I've grown weary of getting my ass handed to me over and over again.

[YellowKing]

It all depends on your tolerance for that sort of thing. Three out of our group of four (including me) are indeed gluttons for punishment. I love really challenging games and losing only makes me want to win that much more.

The fourth of our group hates losing. To the point he always wants to opt for the easiest difficulty, and has no moral qualms about fudging turns or rolling back moves in order to get a better outcome. He would never cheat without the consensus of the group, but that doesn't stop him from suggesting it. Fortunately we have the numbers to overrule him.

I've beaten Ghost Stories twice out of maybe ten plays, with two players. I hear it's harder with four though, so it's going to be interesting how it plays out. I ran a solo game last night just to re-familiarize myself with the rules and held my own, but it was still a bitch. I did wind up losing, but it was more my fault for overlooking something than the game's fault.

The problem with both Crusoe and Ghost Stories is that you're fighting the randomness of both dice AND cards. Co-op games with just one of those components seem to be so much easier.

[YellowKing]

Got in a couple of rounds of Sentinels of the Multiverse with a buddy of mine. This was the first time I've been able to actually play it non-solo since I bought it, because my regular game group isn't very interested.

First game we made the mistake of only playing one hero each against Baron Blade, and got soundly destroyed. It didn't help we had one of the hardest environment decks (unbeknownst to us at the time).

Second game we each played two heroes, and it was far too easy (we were playing Omnitron and Megalopolis environment deck). Not much of a challenge there, but at least it gave us a chance to try out some new heroes and better understand the game mechanics.

We were both instantly hooked and he's already wanting to go ahead and buy some expansions.

[TheMix]

I thought the rules made it pretty clear that 2 Heroes was strongly ill-advised. They designed the game for 3-5 Heroes.

Also, there are a few Heroes that make up a "Dream Team". If I'm tackling a new or hard boss, I'll often include one or more "ringer" to make things a bit easier. But if you played with several of them, I'm not surprised it was easier. I've also come to realize that the first bosses are WAY easier than the later ones (at least Baron Blade and Omnitron; and the Warlord - if you take the variant of Bunker). There are some later villains that I still have no idea how to beat.

[hepcat]

Saturday I met up with Seppe, Archinerd and another gaming friend at our FLGS for a morning/afternoon of gaming.

First up was Mare Nostrum: Empires, a remake of a game from a decade or so ago. I backed this on kickstarter a while back and I grow increasingly glad I did with every game. It really is a true classic that has been remade into an even better game.

Everyone was vying for one of the four victory conditions (conquering capital/legendary cities,acquiring 5 heroes/wonders, becoming a leader of all 3 main areas of the game - economy, culture and military, or simply building the pyramids - an expensive endeavor), but ultimately it came down to none of us freakin' watching Seppe. Thus he was able to win by acquiring 5 heroes/wonders. We were all so worried about another player who we thought was closer to that goal, that we completely forgot to pay attention to everyone else.

It didn't help that he was playing Rome and I think we all expected him to go for a military win. If only we'd watched his economy.

Still, I had a blast and I look forward to getting a full six player game of this in at the next Octocon.

Then we played the updated version of Archinerd's homemade game, the name of which escapes me at the moment. The first time I played at an Octocon, RMC got me a win by pointing out what to do. This time I won because one of the other players wasn't watching all the pieces on the board and made a fatal step that allowed me to rush my way into a win.

The game is a really cool mix of chess and wholesale destruction, and I hope he eventually decides to send it off to a publisher.

We ended the day with a game of The Gallerist. While I like this one, it's a bit too fiddly for end of the day gaming. I was fried by that point and I just couldn't be bothered to pay attention...at least to the degree this game demands. Seppe won another one, even though he was vocally opposed to ever playing it again in his lifetime.

[Archinerd]

Then we played the updated version of Archinerd's homemade game, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

That's because its not a great name. Since Lordnine is having some success getting help naming his game I'll probably ask the board for some name suggestions of my own very soon.

This time I won because one of the other players wasn't watching all the pieces on the board and made a fatal step that allowed me to rush my way into a win.

I'm going to tweak that end-game condition a bit. I do want the game to play in about an hour but that was a bit too sudden. Congrats on the win though, I don't want to take that from you.
By my math, you're the top ranked player in the world right now with a perfect record.

First up was Mare Nostrum: Empires, a remake of a game from a decade or so ago.
Still, I had a blast and I look forward to getting a full six player game of this in at the next Octocon.

I enjoyed it, looking forward to getting a chance to play it again at Octocon.

[hepcat]

RMC essentially won my first game for me. So we're tied, in my estimation.

A full six player game of Mare Nostrum (six with the Atlantis expansion I have) will be a thing of beauty. I played with the same number of players at Origins this year and we had a ball. There's just so much backstabbing, conniving and treachery involved at that level that it's hard not to enjoy it.

[Lordnine]

Mare Nostrum

Did anyone buy the poker style resource chips? I passed in the KS because of how expensive they were but after playing the game, I actually wish I had splurged on them.

[hepcat]

Ditto, but to be honest they're just bling. I can live without them (and the 40 some bucks they cost).

[Archinerd]

Ditto, but to be honest they're just bling. I can live without them (and the 40 some bucks they cost).

The cardboard ones you have do the job just fine.

[Chrisoc13]

Mare Nostrum

Did anyone buy the poker style resource chips? I passed in the KS because of how expensive they were but after playing the game, I actually wish I had splurged on them.

Yeah I did. After the kick starter. I haven't opened them yet though but someone already offered me more money than I paid for them... So at the very least I can always turn around and sell them.

[YellowKing]

Oh man, am I kicking myself.

One of our group found out tonight (after reading through the gargantuan Robinson Crusoe FAQ) that we had been making the Cursed Island scenario WAY too hard on ourselves. We though fog had to be placed on island TILES, but it can also be placed on island SPACES. This made all the difference in the world. We beat it handily the first try playing the correct way. Ouch.

It was then time for GHOST STORIES, which we didn't expect to win so easily. This didn't go as well. We played a four-player match on Initiate (easy) difficulty, but got overrun about halfway through the deck. This was the first time playing for everyone but me, though, so the loss wasn't too upsetting. Everyone really enjoyed the game.

One player had to drop out early, so we played another round with just three of us. This time we stacked the deck in our favor a bit and chose our powers. We also got lucky with the Buddhist Temple being placed in a corner. So one guy just stayed put in the corner and did nothing but pick up and place Buddhas the entire game. This time we won fairly handily, never getting into any major danger. I read and re-read FAQs on Ghost Stories and watched several tutorials to refresh myself, so I'm pretty confident we didn't screw anything up.

Next week's goal is the third Crusoe scenario, Rescuing Jenny, and more Ghost Stories. Now that everyone understands the game, we'll bump the difficulty up to Normal and go random with the characters.

[hentzau]

Played a game of Star Trek Panic in honor of the 50th Anniversary.

We did not honor the show's memory.

[TheMix]

My best friend was in town for a week. He left on Wednesday. While he was here, we did some gaming.

We started off with Zombicide: Black Plague. It was my first time playing. We ran through the tutorial and then the first mission. And finished with the first mission of the expansion. Mostly it was pretty easy. I think we might have had a mulligan or two in the first two games. For the record, drawing an abomination in the first turn or two is puppies. There is no way that you can survive. In the last scenario, we pulled two abominations on the same turn. It was still earlier, but somehow I'd managed to score the materials for Dragon Fire in some of the first searches. So we adjusted our strategies and retreated, drawing the two abominations to the same square... Then nuking them. It was definitely sweet.

I definitely like the game. The necromancers definitely add flare and new challenges. Since these were my first games, we held off on a couple of the add-on abominations (the troll that is immune to everything except Dragon Fire, and the minotaur that can run through walls). We also left out a couple of the new necromancers. Looking forward to more games in the future.

And that was the end of our luck...

We tried a game of Galaxy Defenders, but it wasn't happening. Through lots of helpful tweaking, and plenty of re-rolling, we managed to "end" with 3 soldiers still alive. Though it was a turn or two after the deadline. I think we probably could have salvaged a partial victory. Maybe. It was pretty depressing.

Then we tried a game of Pathfinder. That was worse. We actually tried it twice, with different characters. We just couldn't make anything happen. It felt like two characters was just too tough. I've played it a couple other times with three characters. I think that works better. With two, we just seemed to always have the wrong stats. In our first game we had no magic (and no magic weapons yet, of course). So naturally we pull a monster that can only be killed by magic. Grrrrrr.... That is not a mechanic that I enjoy. After giving up that game, we tried again. My friend played a wizard. So at least we had some magic. But, of course, the magic only monster that popped up this time (twice!) was against my warrior. We kept struggling, but ended up losing on time. Or was it damage? This was the first game where I've seen characters take so much damage. He ended up having a full hand and no cards to draw. So he couldn't take any damage. Ended up being a lot of "un-fun". If I ever try two characters again, I've first going to vet the monsters and traps to make sure that they are beatable. And I should have looked at the locations too. One relied on a Wisdom check of 6; both of us had d6 for Wisdom. Makes the check a bit challenging. It didn't help that the RNG was REALLY against us. We were failing to kill monsters that only needed 8s and 9s... with d12+d8, etc.

We should have stuck with Zombicide. It was nice to get some gaming in. But it would have been nicer to not have the crap kicked out of us.