Octopus Overlords

hepcat wrote:To be fair, a lot of trusted reviewers seem to really like it.

That's what turned me around on it. It is getting rave reviews. While it may be the new hotness the programmable actions is really cool.

Chrisoc13 wrote:

hepcat wrote:To be fair, a lot of trusted reviewers seem to really like it.

That's what turned me around on it. It is getting rave reviews. While it may be the new hotness the programmable actions is really cool.

I also like that damage doesn't eliminate a player, it just totally screws up his carefully built programming. It's just one of a bunch of very cool things they did with this game.

hepcat wrote:To be fair, a lot of trusted reviewers seem to really like it.

I have decided that these reviewers tend to rave about any New Hotness. Tom Vasel even admits it in his new title "Every Game is Awesome!" Rahdo also seems positive about most every game. Joel Eddy is more balanced and UndeadViking moved away from reviews to work for TMG. I trust Marco, largely because we have similar tastes and philosophies.

That said, I got to play Cry Havoc and I do not feel the reviewers steered me wrong. It was a good two player experience, lots of fun, although there may be a slight imbalance in the asymmetric factions.

If I had 2-players regularly I would grab mechs and minions. But it does not look like a fun solo game.

The only review site I actually pay attention to is SU&SD, and the review Pip did there was positive. Otherwise, I'll wait for impression from the Fortress Ameritrash crowd. Their tastes tend to match mine pretty well, and they're mostly jaded bastards.

baelthazar wrote:

hepcat wrote:To be fair, a lot of trusted reviewers seem to really like it.

I have decided that these reviewers tend to rave about any New Hotness. Tom Vasel even admits it in his new title "Every Game is Awesome!"

So much cynicism. Show me on the doll where Rahdo touched you.

baelthazar wrote:

hepcat wrote:To be fair, a lot of trusted reviewers seem to really like it.

I have decided that these reviewers tend to rave about any New Hotness. Tom Vasel even admits it in his new title "Every Game is Awesome!"

Yes but zee and Sam also loved it, they don't always, and Tom said at one point on a podcast that it might be a top ten all time game for him, which is obviously a very strong endorsement. I don't love every game room loves, but his top ten all time games are ones I usually agree with.

Maybe it won't be worth it, but it does look interesting. Plus I watched a play through on dice tower and like what I saw.

But I have been taken by the new hotness many times before and been let down. Most recently with scythe. The game looks beautiful, sounds fun, feels like it should be fun, but I just can't seem to enjoy it that much. So we will see with this one, could be along the same lines, but I hope not.

hepcat wrote:

baelthazar wrote:I have decided that these reviewers tend to rave about any New Hotness. Tom Vasel even admits it in his new title "Every Game is Awesome!"

So much cynicism. Show me on the doll where Rahdo touched you.

"Rahdo Runs Through Baelthazar"

Played an intro good of Food Chain Magnate and then half of a full game with Isgrimnur. I think it holds up to the hype that drove me to buy it. I really like it even though I feel like I will be figuring it out for years.

We then played a game of Evolution which I won pretty handily with a foraging cooperation setup and limiting food supply. That's probably my last game of evolution. I am expecting the Climate conversion kit to come in in the next few weeks.

Then we played some 8-ball which he won 2 games to 1. It's a dexterity game that I really need to practice more if I am going to be competitive. It takes a LOT of space!

Food Chaim Magnate fell down for me on the Achievement boards. Cool took a 8-2 lead, including with a backhanded swipe that didn't further his strategy at all, something I don't care for in a game (Hansa Teutonica).

I think it would be a good game without it, but turning it into an early achievement hunt that is somewhat divorced from long-term strategy for me kind of kills my desire to play it.

Played a tutorial mission for Infininity, a miniatures game. With a 403 page freakin' rule book, I think this one is a bit heavier than my favorite miniatures game, Malifaux. But it fills a gap in my collection for sci fi minis. It definitely alleviates a lot of downtime by adding a reaction mechanic that allows your opponent to act on your turn if you do something in their line of sight. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Time to paint up my space Muslim group.

Then we played about 4 hours of Descent with the app. And lost...badly. Goodness gracious it's tough. Still, I love a challenge. Just need to kit my characters better, I guess

If I had time for a rebuttal, I would do a clip video of every time Tom Vasel said a game was on of his top ten of all time. His top ten contains hundred of games!

Can you solo play Descent with the app (like the new MoM edition)? Because I need to grab that if so! Although I have no idea where my Descent tackle box is.

I still need to get Defenders OTLS and Dawn of the Zeds to the table.

Pyramid Arcade should be shipping soon. I am pretty excited about this, but cannot tell you why. Also, CMON has said nothing about Masmorra, but it may be coming.

Anyone heard much about Arkham Horror LCG? Do I need to buy two sets to solo play it?

Yes, you can solo Descent 2nd edition with the Road to Legend app. Just play more than 1 character, is my suggestion.

And no, you won't need two CoC lcg boxes to play solo or 2 player. But you will if you want to play 3 or 4 player.

Hep,

Not the CoC LCG, the upcoming Arkham Horror LCG. I suspect it is the same answer, however.

Sorry, got the names mixed up, but that is what I was talking about.

hepcat wrote:Sorry, got the names mixed up, but that is what I was talking about.

There may be a joke here about having CoC on the brain... but I am too much of a gentleman to make it...

Above and Below came down off the shelf today, for the first time in a while. My son happened to see it at Barnes and Noble, remembered that we had a copy, and insisted that we play it.

It remains a lot of fun, although I inevitably spend too much time exploring the underworld and not enough building my economic engine. The story book is just too darn fun.

baelthazar wrote:If I had time for a rebuttal, I would do a clip video of every time Tom Vasel said a game was on of his top ten of all time. His top ten contains hundred of games!

There's a guy on another forum I visit that I think might actually be Tom Vasel. He's always playing whatever the new hotness is, and if he likes it, he always declares it either in his Top 10 games of the year, or one of his Favorite Games of All Time. Usually he'll then only mention this new favorite game once or twice after that. You could make a drinking game out of this guy's posts.

I've trimmed my collection to the point where I can actually turn some games on the shelf for display.


edit: linked to full image in case you need a bigger version to see something.

I have that same Plano case. I use it for my paints and painting and modeling tools.

That's my X-wing Minis museum.

I am about ready to start filling my fourth red Plano case with X-Wing miniatures.

Zarathud wrote:I am about ready to start filling my fourth red Plano case with X-Wing miniatures.

my 720 battle foam is full. Need to figure out a solution for more. Maybe another 720 who knows.

Played a game of PACG last night with Tao and a friend from Texas. We played over TableTop Simulator. Does it still count?

Anyway, it was a crazy game. Went from fail to fail to win to fail to WIN!

Things started out a bit rocky. Pulled the Henchman on the first location on the second exploration. And then failed to close the location. Rather than waste 8 more turns, we relocated. On the next location, part way through, I pulled a monster that required magic to defeat. I have a card that lets me do magic! Roll... and the RNG gods spit in my face. I lose. I lose the item that lets me do magic damage. And I get sent to another location. I move back on my turn. And pull that monster again. Except this time I don't have the ability to do magic damage. I "win" and don't take damage, but I get dumped on another site again. Two cards left in that location. Luckily the next person pulls the villain and wins. The annoying monster gets sent back to the box. The villain jumps to a new location. But since I got dumped to different location, I attempt a temporary close. I need a 6 on a d6. Get it and the boss moves to one of two other locations (including the one that has no henchman).

We are hemorrhaging turns at this point. We have two stacks of 10-11 cards and one of 9 with somewhere around 12 turns to go. The other two move to the stack that we know has a henchman (and may have the boss). We pull the henchman immediately. My friend beats him... and then beats another one (the location required a bandit henchman be pulled and defeated to close), successfully closing the location. We check the cards... and the villain is there! So we pull everything and leave just the villain. We now have a good chance to win. I move to the bridge location (the one with no henchman) because it's a dex check; and I have the best chance of temporarily closing it. Tao moves his wizard to the academy in order to temporarily close it (it's a intelligence/arcane check). It's his turn so he goes ahead and explores - and finds the henchman. He defeats it and goes for the easy close (d12+2 for a 6). And the RNG gods spit some more. Oh well, at least he's in position to block the villain from moving.

With a few turns left, we tackle the villain. I roll and close my position. Tao tries again for the temporary close... and again fails. My friend beats the boss and he jumps to the open academy.

So now I'm sitting at the bridge doing nothing. Just waiting to see if I need to close it. We have ... I think... 7 turns to go through an almost full location at the academy... With only 2 characters able to explore. So basically 2 rounds (I think it was my turn). Doesn't look good. BUT... the academy lets you explore again if you don't get a spell. And we end up pulling a trap that, when failed, makes you fight a monster from the location. There is only one monster in the location. That lets us get rid of 3 cards - the trap, the monster, and go again because we didn't get a spell.

We are down to 4 cards in the location: 2 spells, an item, and the villain. And one turn (well, there are 2 blessings left, but one of them is mine and I'm at the bridge, not the academy). My friend pulls the first card... it's the item. He can explore again. 3 cards. 33% chance for a win. He pulls the villain. I beat the temporary close check. He beats the villain. We win with 1 turn left.

Still can't believe we won. That's the first time I've ever used the temporary closed mechanic. We never would have had a chance otherwise.

Five games into seafall now. This game is getting good actually. I'm a huge sucker for legacy games though. But there is so much to do now it's really pretty great. I'm guessing we might burn all the way through it before the month is out. But I'm really loving it.

Hmmm...the game Roll Player has me interested. I like the conceit of a game about creating a character for an rpg...but not actually about the adventuring part.

hepcat wrote:Hmmm...the game Roll Player has me interested. I like the conceit of a game about creating a character for an rpg...but not actually about the adventuring part.

That does sound interesting.

hepcat wrote:Hmmm...the game Roll Player has me interested. I like the conceit of a game about creating a character for an rpg...but not actually about the adventuring part.

Considering that is often the most fun part of playing an RPG, call me interested as well! I confess, I am a min-maxer and an altoholic, so this is made for me!

baelthazar wrote:

hepcat wrote:Hmmm...the game Roll Player has me interested. I like the conceit of a game about creating a character for an rpg...but not actually about the adventuring part.

Considering that is often the most fun part of playing an RPG, call me interested as well! I confess, I am a min-maxer and an altoholic, so this is made for me!

Traveller was 100% about creating characters and ships.

The concept has me intrigued.

Hepcat,

Make sure to have this at my disposal if I make it to OctoCon next week.

I've been debating it, but then miniaturemarket had a sale and I ended up buying some Infinity miniatures and a copy of Assault on Doomrock. Plus, the Arkham Horror LCG is right around the corner.

I like the review. It's Yachtzee drafting with a twist and another twist and another twist...

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/video/106 ... -tom-vasel

I am intrigued as well. I will be looking for an opportunity to check it out at BGG.CON.

1–4 Players

LordMortis wrote:It's Yachtzee drafting with a twist and another twist and another twist...

What if you don't have a boat to play it on?

LordMortis wrote:I like the review. It's Yachtzee drafting with a twist and another twist and another twist...

But it does look pretty fun.

Okay fine. I just called a store that says they're expecting Roll Player today and told them to hold a copy for me.

That's how you talk me into getting up a driving to Octocon, when life is so much easier when I just lounge around, never leaving the house.

Well, we finished off Robinson Crusoe in a big way last night. Played the last (in box) scenario, the Swiss Family Robinson one in which you basically have to survive, raise a family, and build a ton of inventions. We thought this one would be really difficult, but even with four players we finished it really easily.

The big challenge in this one is food, as you start having kids at Round 7 that must be fed or you instantly lose. Fortunately we had a shortcut, a corral, and some other perks that were pulling in 5 food a round. At that point it was just a matter of managing weather until we could get a roof built.

Combined with a good set of inventions and a little luck, we breezed through and finished in Round 11 with none of us below half health.

Fortunately we had brought a backup game just in case we won quickly: FLICK 'EM UP!

This was the first time playing for two of our group, and they were really excited. By the end of the night, they were both ready to buy it this weekend.

We only played the first two scenarios which are pretty basic and are meant just to teach the mechanics. The first scenario is just a wide open shootout, so that ended pretty quickly. The second scenario, however, involves a lot of dueling. So that one dragged out quite a bit.

We had the soundtrack for The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly playing the entire time, and the cheers and laughter when someone pulled off an amazing shot was so loud I thought we were going to get kicked out of our building (we play in a conference room at one of the guy's offices after hours). It was fantastic fun, and I have a feeling there will be many more requests to get this one on the table.

Next week is up in the air - we are all set to go with the Robinson Crusoe expansion or the official downloadable scenarios, but it depends on how burned out they are. I'm really anxious to introduce them to Legendary Encounters: Alien as well.

Also this weekend our FLGS is donating 100% of their proceeds to the local food bank to assist with Hurricane Matthew flood victims, so I definitely plan to go down there on Saturday and pick up something.

I have a hard time getting Flick Em Up to the table. Nobody wants to play against me.

Played a solo game of Roll Player Friday night, and a two player game on Saturday. It's a fun little puzzle game that's easy to learn, but deceptively brainy. It manages to keep to the theme of building a character for an rpg, but it's a unique combination of dice manipulation and resource acquisition. I don't own anything quite like it, so I think it fits nicely into my collection.

Watched a friend of mine playtest a strategic army game that one of the locals is developing, gave some feedback over dinner, then played Merchants and Marauders. Bowed out after I got sunk by the pirate ship, as it was getting late, and I was so far behind as to make little difference.

Love M&M. Would like to get it on the table this weekend.