OO Boardgamers, what did you play this weekend?

Fishbelly · Post by **Fishbelly** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:31 am

hepcat wrote: Every time I play Too Many Bones, I want to to play it again immediately. Such a great, great game.

Agreed. It was the only game on my table for a good 4-5 weeks after I first received my copy. Also the first kickstarter game I've actually enjoyed as much as expected. I'm anxiously awaiting my 1st edition upgrade kit as an excuse to play once again.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 4:30 pm

Yeah, I ended up ordering everything else available for the game last week. Can't wait to try it again with all the extra goodies.

In other news, I have to say I'm disappointed in First Martians so far. The game is riddled with issues (both mechanic and component based) and you need to read the rules forum on bgg to actually play it. Thank god I got this on the cheap.

Moat_Man · Post by **Moat_Man** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 5:18 pm

Catan

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 6:48 pm

hepcat wrote:Yeah, I ended up ordering everything else available for the game last week. Can't wait to try it again with all the extra goodies.

Hadn't heard of "Too Many Bones" until this... and looking at getting in on the 2nd printing pre-order. When you say all of the "extra goodies" do you mean those three characters and the Adventure map? That puts the total up to what, $215 and I'm not sure if that includes shipping. It looks awesome but really need to ponder this.

Chaosraven · Post by **Chaosraven** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 7:09 pm

Saturday wrote:Terraforming Mars
Marvel Munchkin
Chez Goth
Fairy Tale.

Gaming and laundry tomorrow!

Turned into a three day Con

Sunday was more T.Mars
followed by Magic, Commander and 60 card. Free for All and Star
Then versus the Horde decks

Monday turned into
Dominion
and
Alien Frontiers

Laundry did get done, and I am wiped out.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 7:18 pm

MonkeyFinger wrote:
hepcat wrote:Yeah, I ended up ordering everything else available for the game last week. Can't wait to try it again with all the extra goodies.
Hadn't heard of "Too Many Bones" until this... and looking at getting in on the 2nd printing pre-order. When you say all of the "extra goodies" do you mean those three characters and the Adventure map? That puts the total up to what, $215 and I'm not sure if that includes shipping. It looks awesome but really need to ponder this.

Just go with the base game for now. it's got more than enough to last you for months. well, if you play like I do and want to try all the various skill trees, that is.

Chip Theory was selling TMB in a bundle at a great price at gencon. I got a 5th character and some dice mats for the 125 that they normally charge for the base game. I then grabbed a sixth character before I left on Sunday. I finished off the entire set with my order last week.

Harkonis grabbed a copy after seeing me lug it around Friday night at the convention. I believe he's a fan of it now too.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:04 pm

Will do, thanks!

Harkonis · Post by **Harkonis** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:27 pm

I am. I have all the extra characters, the map, the premium health chips, 4 rolling trays and stuff. lol Need chip holders and I think I'm set. It's expensive, but it's quite fun and everything feels pretty good physically.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:49 pm

hepcat wrote:In other news, I have to say I'm disappointed in First Martians so far. The game is riddled with issues (both mechanic and component based) and you need to read the rules forum on bgg to actually play it. Thank god I got this on the cheap.

I was really afraid of that after watching a few more videos. We're starting it Thursday, and I can't say I'm really looking forward to it. Even after watching Rodney's Watch It Played video twice, I'm not totally sure I grasp it (and I'm a veteran Robinson Crusoe player).

A buddy of mine came over last night so on a whim I broke out PANDEMIC: IBERIA. I bought it on release just because it was a limited edition, but have never actually cracked it open. The first round I forgot to put the Epidemic cards in the deck so it was really easy!

Fortunately we realized our mistake early on and reset.

Second round was a lot more fun. We managed to get a good coast-to-coast railroad going which helped travel, and with some luck on the part of event cards managed to win. However, we literally won on the last action of the last turn before we would have lost due to running out of the player deck. It definitely made the victory most satisfying.

Overall I enjoyed it quite a bit. Adds enough variation to make the gameplay fresh for someone like me who has played PANDEMIC into the ground. And offers enough variants to keep you busy for a long time. Given my preference I'd rather play REIGN OF CTHULHU, but it's still a solid addition to the collection.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 9:46 pm

I read one review that stated you'll hate the game if you only play it once, I guess it gets better after you have a few games under your belt. But beyond the annoying mechanics that aren't fully explained in the manual, the lack of components that Ignacy acknowledges and the resulting rules patch that essentially tells you to just substitute whatever you handy for anything you run out of (shutdown tiles is the one I keep reading about), and the crappy app that will frustrate more than help; the game just feels so clinical and by the numbers. Robinson Crusoe had a ton of theme. You really felt like you were facing adversity on an island. First Martians oftentimes feels like I'm playing a game that simulates being a CPA.

I really hope my opinion changes after a few more games, but right now it's just disappointing.

Not as disappointing as Apocrypha though. Ugh, that game...

P.S. If anyone wants to get a feel for Too Many Bones, there's a fan made PC port that Chip Theory is okay with. You can find a link to it on bgg in the TMB forums. It's clunky and unintuitive, but you can at least get a glimpse at what the game is all about.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Mon Sep 04, 2017 11:02 pm

This was the first weekend that I had the kids home and out of school since GenCon, so we got to break out a couple of our new (to us) games for the first time.

We ran one game of Legendary: Marvel and had a lot of fun stomping Loki. I've gathered a number of deck building games, so the basic mechanics were quick to learn. We really liked it. For one thing, it's the only cooperative deck builder we have (although there is a poorly reviewed coop mode we haven't tried out in the DC deck builder.) That was a nice change. The art was nice, the theme was there, and the game flowed really well for a first group run, although I had run a couple of solo games before, but multi-handing and using the actual solo rules. It'll be a regular.

Galaxy Trucker was our favorite of the two so far. The chaos of building is great, followed by the complete ruin of all of your plans and hard work. That was something the kids didn't grasp for the first game. They tried to build the perfect ship to overcome all of the challenges, then got annoyed when it all went wrong. This is especially true when you get into the last round and the difficulty jumps up in such a way that it is genuinely unfair. For the next game, though, we had all realized that the goal was not to do well. The goal is to be the guy that fails the least. With that mental leap made, the game was a blast.

I started gaming with my kids when they were single-digit people. I had to be very careful about what games we played. Backstabbing games and games with early elimination were out. In cooperative games, I had to play the table commander most of the time. In competitive games I had a choice between winning 100% of the time or throwing the games (I won 100% of the time.) Now, though, both kids are teenagers, and I have to fight for my wins. Years of gaming mean that they pick up on new strategies really, really quickly. In the third round of our second game of Galaxy Trucker, both Ian and I noticed that Caiden was putting on a lot of weapons. Ian got done building first, but didn't grab the "1" starter tile. I figured he'd forgotten. But he waited until Caiden finished and grabbed it, then took #2. He'd realized that having Caiden going ahead of him meant that his brother would be taking out all of the attackers and he wouldn't keep getting hit. It's a manipulative strategy that is not obvious right off the bat, but he noticed it right away.

Anyway, it's going to be a couple of weeks before we game together again. That gives me some time to learn Shadowrun: Crossfire and try to do a little better at Hostage Negotiator.

Bad Demographic · Post by **Bad Demographic** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 1:40 pm

Tried King of Tokyo last night. Our friend Derek crushed us (killed off four of us in one shot!).
I'll have to play it a couple more times before I know if I like it.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 3:28 pm

Bad Demographic wrote:Tried King of Tokyo last night. Our friend Derek crushed us (killed off four of us in one shot!).
I'll have to play it a couple more times before I know if I like it.

KoT is a fun, lightweight dice chucking game that leads to tons of goading and trash talking and epic lucky rolls. With the right crowd, the game is a hoot.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 4:01 pm

YellowKing wrote:
I was really afraid of that after watching a few more videos. We're starting it Thursday, and I can't say I'm really looking forward to it. Even after watching Rodney's Watch It Played video twice, I'm not totally sure I grasp it (and I'm a veteran Robinson Crusoe player).

Looks like the Shut Up and Sit Down guys had the same experience as I did with First Martians.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 4:38 pm

hentzau wrote:
Bad Demographic wrote:Tried King of Tokyo last night. Our friend Derek crushed us (killed off four of us in one shot!).
I'll have to play it a couple more times before I know if I like it.
KoT is a fun, lightweight dice chucking game that leads to tons of goading and trash talking and epic lucky rolls. With the right crowd, the game is a hoot.

Amen.

King of Tokyo is a heady mix of Rampage, King of the Hill, and Yahtzee (with enjoyably hefty dice), preferably with plenty of bombast. When played with the appropriate mindset (i.e. tongue-firmly-in-cheek), it's an absolute blast.

That said, I personally much prefer the clean and simple cartoon-themed artwork and characters of the original version of the game to the updated Power Rangers-esque busier artwork and characters of more recent versions, e.g.

Original Cyber Bunny

vs.

Upgraded Cyber Kitty

Harkonis · Post by **Harkonis** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:11 pm

Blackhawk wrote: We ran one game of Legendary: Marvel and had a lot of fun stomping Loki. I've gathered a number of deck building games, so the basic mechanics were quick to learn. We really liked it. For one thing, it's the only cooperative deck builder we have (although there is a poorly reviewed coop mode we haven't tried out in the DC deck builder.) That was a nice change. The art was nice, the theme was there, and the game flowed really well for a first group run, although I had run a couple of solo games before, but multi-handing and using the actual solo rules. It'll be a regular.

If you enjoyed Legendary I can't stress enough how much more I prefer Legendary: Encounters (any of them) over the normal version. Hard to describe all the differences in a way to do it justice but it's basically the same game refined in a way that just feels better to me. They are also all very good at capturing the theme of whatever they are trying to (aliens, predator or firefly).

Don't give up on Crossfire too fast, it's a beast. It's quite hard until it 'clicks' and you understand how to win. Dragonfire is probably a bit more consistent though and they are updating Crossfire to be a bit more like it sometime next year. Quick key to doing well is not to mess up the Crossfire card count mechanic and to make sure you prioritize assists whenever possible. The expansion that is already available does a good job of opening the game up a bit too between new cards, new classes and some easier missions to run than the starter mission in the box. There is also a second starter mission available somewhere on Catalyst's website you can run as well I believe

Harkonis · Post by **Harkonis** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:12 pm

hentzau wrote:
Bad Demographic wrote:Tried King of Tokyo last night. Our friend Derek crushed us (killed off four of us in one shot!).
I'll have to play it a couple more times before I know if I like it.
KoT is a fun, lightweight dice chucking game that leads to tons of goading and trash talking and epic lucky rolls. With the right crowd, the game is a hoot.

Now that I have the expansion that allows use of all KoNY monsters in KoT while using the Power-up cards the game feels varied enough to play more often for us. The game is simple enough my inlaws enjoy it and they aren't really gamers. The Cthulu pack also adds some interesting cultist mechanics.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 6:50 pm

Harkonis wrote: If you enjoyed Legendary I can't stress enough how much more I prefer Legendary: Encounters (any of them) over the normal version. Hard to describe all the differences in a way to do it justice but it's basically the same game refined in a way that just feels better to me. They are also all very good at capturing the theme of whatever they are trying to (aliens, predator or firefly).

Yeah, theme is a big deal to me. The choice of Marvel wasn't accidental - I'm dragging a new board gamer into the fold who loves Marvel, so I picked up a couple of Marvel-themed games (Legendary and Munchkin: X-Men.) I also grabbed the Guardians of the Galaxy expansion for Legendary.

Harkonis wrote: Don't give up on Crossfire too fast, it's a beast. It's quite hard until it 'clicks' and you understand how to win. Dragonfire is probably a bit more consistent though and they are updating Crossfire to be a bit more like it sometime next year. Quick key to doing well is not to mess up the Crossfire card count mechanic and to make sure you prioritize assists whenever possible. The expansion that is already available does a good job of opening the game up a bit too between new cards, new classes and some easier missions to run than the starter mission in the box. There is also a second starter mission available somewhere on Catalyst's website you can run as well I believe

Thanks for the tips. I've already got the High Caliber Ops expansion, which I picked up on the recommendation of folks here. Dragonfire was one of the hot sellers of GenCon, and there were plenty of copies left when I was in the booth. I avoided it, mostly because I'm trying to diversify my collection a bit. I was drowning in fantasy.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 7:14 pm

Ugh... FFG released a 2-player starter pack for Star Wars Destiny last week for Force Friday, and I can't help it, I jumped on it. I've been looking at Destiny for some time, knowing eventually I would bite... sadly that time has come. But I must say the game is fantastic! Honestly I really enjoy it. It is quick, easy to teach and get to the table, and pretty fun with lots of Star Wars. It of course doesn't need to be Star Wars to work but I do like the way the cards and dice interact. I have already spent a little too much on Boosters at this point too.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 8:41 pm

I really, really wish they had a Star Trek or horror themed version of Destiny. It's an incredibly fun system but I've had my fill of Star Wars.

Still, I own a couple of starters because it is just so damn fun.

Chrisoc13 · Post by **Chrisoc13** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 10:06 pm

hepcat wrote:I really, really wish they had a Star Trek or horror themed version of Destiny. It's an incredibly fun system but I've had my fill of Star Wars.

Still, I own a couple of starters because it is just so damn fun.

Truthfully I'm a huge star wars fan and I've had my fill. Ffg has way too many of them out now and now I'm staying up to date on 3 of their systems which feels like too much.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Tue Sep 05, 2017 11:12 pm

I've played a bunch of games recently, and I'll post on them when I have the time, but here's one of them:

Expedition Game is a casual RPG for 1-6 players. Casual as in playable in an hour, which is nice for people who want to play an RPG without putting in a lot of commitment. The game comes with an app for android or IOS (or you can use the website), that acts as the DM, giving you both the story and instructions when it comes to combat. The story consists of a simple choose-your-own-adventure style read, with one player reading out to other players and the group choosing which choice to make. There is a tutorial quest, three other quests and other community-written quests.

You choose your character (or two, if you're playing solo) out of a deck of them, and each one gives you a total of six cards from two decks (melee, ranged weapons, magic, song, etc) with which to attack/heal/etc during combat. Additionally, you might have or acquire one use items.

When you engage in combat, you will be told which creature(s) you're dealing with, and you take them out of their deck. Fighting is in real time, with each player getting three cards randomly from their hand and choosing one within 10 seconds. You then roll to see if your card succeeds and if you take any damage. That card is set aside until the end of combat, or until you've used up your hand and need to shuffle the other cards back in. Also, if you're slow to select, the monsters gain a benefit that turn.

There appears to be a print-and-play version of the base game, and there's currently a kickstarter for it's expansion. While it isn't quite my cup of tea, I could see myself playing this if others wanted to play a game of it or I have a good group of players (or if some of the adventurers are well made)

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:11 am

hepcat wrote:
YellowKing wrote:
I was really afraid of that after watching a few more videos. We're starting it Thursday, and I can't say I'm really looking forward to it. Even after watching Rodney's Watch It Played video twice, I'm not totally sure I grasp it (and I'm a veteran Robinson Crusoe player).
Looks like the Shut Up and Sit Down guys had the same experience as I did with First Martians.

It's been sad reading the impressions and reviews of this one. I really liked Robinson Crusoe, but hated that the manual of the first edition was borderline useless (and was pretty annoyed that there was a second edition that fixed and improved the first edition I have). I was hoping that the system and manual would be cleaned up and improved, enhanced by the app, and have extra legs with the campaign stuff. But it looks like they broke it even worse.

In other news, I still can't find a copy of the core set of the Arkham Horror card game for at or below retail at Amazon, and that's annoying. Yes, I know I can order from one of the other online stores, but I'd rather get free shipping from Amazon because I'm a cheapskate.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:23 am

Chaz wrote:In other news, I still can't find a copy of the core set of the Arkham Horror card game for at or below retail at Amazon, and that's annoying. Yes, I know I can order from one of the other online stores, but I'd rather get free shipping from Amazon because I'm a cheapskate.

This is why I am no longer purchasing the Arkham Horror card game. After completing the Dunwich cycle via pre-orders through CSI, I'm done. I have no interest in "subscribing" to a service that will automatically mail me the game and I don't have the interest in going to CSI daily to try and get a pre-order before they sell out. I love the game, but I'm not enough that I'll put up with their new policies for being able to sell copies.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 9:28 am

Chaz wrote:
It's been sad reading the impressions and reviews of this one. I really liked Robinson Crusoe, but hated that the manual of the first edition was borderline useless (and was pretty annoyed that there was a second edition that fixed and improved the first edition I have). I was hoping that the system and manual would be cleaned up and improved, enhanced by the app, and have extra legs with the campaign stuff. But it looks like they broke it even worse.

Ignacy has dropped from the number 1 slot on my favorite designers list to about the 4th or 5th spot over the course of the last few years. I have to wonder if he's just stretched too thin with the growth that portal games has experienced.

I broke down my copy of First Martians that I had set up on my kitchen table last night. I'm of the mind that I won't be touching it again until there are significant improvements via a revised rule set. If I don't see one by next Gencon, it goes onto the auction block.

Ah well, I have Fable: The Affliction, Too Many Bones, two Warfighter games, and quite a few others to take its place in the Saturday afternoon play rotation.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 9:51 am

So hepcat has ruined First Martians and Apocrypha for me so far this month. What else have you got?

I sold my zman robinson crusoe in anticipation of first martians... wonder if I can sucker someone into trading me the new robinson crusoe for my unplayed copy of first martians?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 10:02 am

I bought both, so I'm a victim here too, pal!

Of course, I've also got Massive Darkness coming soon, and that one is getting less than stellar reviews too.

But to be fair, I love more than a few games that have received negative reviews. So your mileage always varies in these matters. You may love First Martians after you've grocked the rules, so I say give it a whirl.

Apocrypha though? I'm not sure that one can be saved by anything. But I'm still going to try the campaign mode. Maybe I'll be surprised. However, my new rule is that if I can't find the fun in a game after two to three tries, I'm out. I've got way too much of a backlog to waste on games that fail to offer up any sign of hope by then.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 11:09 am

To be fair to Apocrypha, it was funded in May of 2015, due to backers in April of 2016. While I'm glad they took the extra time (16 months) to tweak and polish the game, to say that the boardgaming world has changed significantly since 2015 is a huge understatement. Above and beyond my own personal preferences changing, it's part of the reason I've been slowly backing away from backing KS board games. Very rarely to they live up to the hype and the longer development cycles shuffle expectations. I'm at the point where it needs to be <$50 for me to even consider it and miniatures are a no-no.

I'm still futzing around with painting figures, not playing anything. I'd like that to change but this time of year is insanely busy for me and when I have the choice, video games are low-level entry points of stress reduction, not board games.

My friend has a copy of Mars Crusoe and I fear we'll never get to it, particularly after seeing all the issues people are having. But yes, over the last year I'm thinking more like hepcat and doing everything I can to cull my collection. I'm pretty sure I could play a new game in my collection 5 nights a week and still not see a repeat for months. That's untenable.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 12:04 pm

Over the past six weeks I have had Outlive, Apocrypha, The 7th Continent, Storm Hollow, Pugmeier, the expansions for Champions of Midgard, the expansion for Xia, and the giant Massive Darkness box arrive. My wife is really giving me the stink eye about all of these games showing up. Of all of these, the only thing I can see myself touching anytime soon is the expansion for Champions of Midgard.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 12:48 pm

But let's talk about a new game that I did play and enjoyed the hell out of: Dragonfire.

Had a buddy pick this one up for me at GenCon, along with the Heroes of the Sword Coast add on. Played the quick start scenario last night to learn the game. None of us had ever played Crossfire, so it was all new.

It took us a little bit to get our feet under us properly. I made a major mistake with the Quick Start Scenario, and where you add new encounters. I missed the sentence about only adding new encounters once all of the previous encounters were eliminated, so by the 4th turn we had become completely overwhelmed with critters. But I discovered my little error early enough that we just reset and started over again.

The other part that wasn't apparent to us first time we played was that you can attack ANY encounter, not just the one that is attacking you. We were also playing with 3 players, so we had to use the rule that one of the characters "dabbled" in another field of study. Worked out OK, better than playing with one person playing two characters.

Anyway, we survived the first battle, and everyone agreed that it was a great time. I'm now reading up on the campaign rules to start up a full fledged campaign. A little disappointed that the Heroes pack didn't include Paladins, because that's what I was wanting to play. Guess I'll have to settle for Cleric of some sort instead.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 12:53 pm

Thanks for sharing - it's on my list and I'll admit I'm completely confused as to why so many copies were available at GenCon for sale but the game isn't actually being released until October. I get that they want to build hype, but it just feels a bit long to wait. I do keep seeing mixed reports on the player count. I know the developer said they reconfigured things to allow for true two player situations, but I' keep reading AARs suggesting it doesn't actually work in practice. The only reason I'm considering this game is because of the 2-player / 2 character support. If it really requires 3+, I'm out for sure.

hentzau · Post by **hentzau** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 1:01 pm

I'll see if I can get a few 2 player games in, maybe if I can tear my son away from Destiny 2 this weekend, and give you a report. I know with 3 things got dicey at the end of the scenario, and would have been better with 4 to spread out the encounters. But that may have been just something with the particular scenario and how it threw out encounters. I need to look at an actual scenario and see how the dole out encounters.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 1:49 pm

I had a similar experience last year with too many Kickstarters materializing, leaving a hefty backlog and dissatisfied spouse.

I assembled the Meeple Realty insert for Xia which looks pretty amazing but took over 3 hours to finish. The pieces fit super snug and rushing would have been a ticket to failure. I just need a replacement bolt for the hinge on the box for NPC ships, and for the bits of glue to dry.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:12 pm

Smoove_B wrote:Thanks for sharing - it's on my list and I'll admit I'm completely confused as to why so many copies were available at GenCon for sale but the game isn't actually being released until October. I get that they want to build hype, but it just feels a bit long to wait. I do keep seeing mixed reports on the player count. I know the developer said they reconfigured things to allow for true two player situations, but I' keep reading AARs suggesting it doesn't actually work in practice. The only reason I'm considering this game is because of the 2-player / 2 character support. If it really requires 3+, I'm out for sure.

I've read that the quick-start rules don't really work with two, but that might be specific to that subset of the rules. I am dying to get my hands on it myself.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Sep 06, 2017 2:15 pm

I played Dragonfire with Harkonis at Gencon. He's a fan of the Shadowrun: Crossfire game, which this is based on. I'm not, though. However, I thought this was a pretty decent attempt to address the shortcomings of Crossfire. It's still not a game I'm going to buy, but I wouldn't turn it down if asked to play.

In other news, I just got the Cardassian and Ferengi faction packs for Star Trek Ascendancy. Now to get a 4 player game together. Of course, that's going to be an all day affair considering how long a 3 player game takes. But this game is worth it!

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 12:52 pm

Another game I played was Villagers and Villains. In this card game, you build up your own village for points.
There are four types of cards. Villagers, that give you some amount of gold each turn and may give you some benefit and victory points. Buildings, that give you some benefit as well as victory points. Heroes, that help in combating monsters. And challenges, which are monsters (or monster locations) that can hurt your village.

Each turn, six cards are laid out, going from one to six. Each player decides which card they want, and roll for it, having to roll at least as high as the position that card is in (so getting the first card is guaranteed, you have 5/6th chance of getting the second, and so on). If you don't roll high enough, you get the card in the first position. The cards move down to fill up the vacated space and the next player goes. Once everyone has gone, all the cards except for the challenge cards are put in the discard pile and the challenge cards move down to the bottom.

Challenges you acquire go into your city and will attack them, other cards go into your hand. You get an opportunity to defend against the monster (as well as one more opportunity for each hero), and if you succeed, it goes into your hand and you may get some benefit, otherwise it pillages the city (costing you some gold) and remains there for next turn.

Then you get the opportunity to build/hire a card from your hand. (sometimes, you might be able to build more than one).

At the end of the game, points are earned by the VP in your town, as well as earning points for things like having the most heroes or the most defeated villains, and so on. It's not the greatest game, but I enjoyed it for what it was, and most of the games all ended close.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Thu Sep 07, 2017 2:23 pm

Smoove_B wrote:This is why I am no longer purchasing the Arkham Horror card game. After completing the Dunwich cycle via pre-orders through CSI, I'm done. I have no interest in "subscribing" to a service that will automatically mail me the game and I don't have the interest in going to CSI daily to try and get a pre-order before they sell out. I love the game, but I'm not enough that I'll put up with their new policies for being able to sell copies.

I'm with you, Smoove, but for different reasons. So far I've spent $150 on the core set and all the mythos packs/standalones, and we've still yet to finish the campaign. The 2-player restriction just doesn't lend itself well to our gaming schedule. For that same $150, I could have bought two 4-player games we would have gotten a lot more play out of in the interim. Particularly considering our impending backlog (Gloomhaven, Pandemic Legacy Season 2, First Martians, Black Orchestra), I don't even want to think about picking up the new campaign.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Fri Sep 08, 2017 12:06 am

Ok, FIRST MARTIANS time! And for those on the fence, I came away with some slightly more positive first impressions than hep.

First off, as much as I like Rodney's WATCH IT PLAYED videos, I actually found the one from JonGetsGames to be more useful for this game. The one advantage to Rodney's video is that he spends a good amount of time on setup. I'd say watch the first 15 minutes to get the setup mechanics down, then jump over to Jon's for the real skinny on gameplay. Jon jumps right into a full scenario playthrough and explains as he goes along, and I found his approach a bit more effective. Fair warning - he does make some rules mistakes, but corrects them in the Closed Captions. I actually found this to be informative, as it made me aware of potential pitfalls in understanding.

I'd also like to preface this review by saying that yes, you will still have questions. Yes, you will be running to BoardGameGeek even in the starter scenario. However, reading through the Hints section in the app and reading the player-generated FAQs on BGG beforehand will go a GREAT deal towards alleviating this frustration. Also pay very careful attention to information on the scenario card - there were a couple of things we stopped to look up that were right there on the scenario card if we'd been more careful with reading comprehension. As it stood, we still managed to get two three-player games in during our 4-hour session, even with brief stops to look up things here and there. Should we have had to do this for a starter scenario? Absolutely not, and I'm in no way defending the sometimes vague or difficult to find rules. On the other hand, don't think that this is some insurmountably complex beast that can't be comprehended. One of our newer players Duane - a guy who had never even played Robinson Crusoe - had the basic mechanics and strategy down pat after one night.

I'd also like to preface that we played the first scenario on Easy. So I do realize that there are some game mechanics we didn't see that may introduce questions down the road. It also means we didn't see the full wrath of what this game can throw at you. For what it's worth, we got our asses kicked on our first try, and won in the last round on the second try. So even on Easy I found it sufficiently challenging to be fun.

So on to the game itself. Obviously the game's general mechanics will be very familiar to those who played Robinson Crusoe. The round phases, events, explore/gather/build actions, pawn placement mechanics, etc. are all lifted from that game. FIRST MARTIANS just adds an extra layer of complexity. Whereas I sometimes felt like I had 2 or 3 good options for a turn in Crusoe, in this game I sometimes felt I had 6 or 7. In a way it's a bit like a reverse Crusoe. Instead of starting with nothing and building what you need to survive, you start with everything and have to keep it from falling apart. It can be quite a stressful balance of managing the best of multiple worst case scenarios, however in general we found that Crusoe strategies worked well here. IE - keeping morale high, guaranteeing build actions whenever possible, careful use of skills, etc.

The app itself is a bit hit or miss. It does a fine job of keeping track of round phases and reminding players of what needs to be done each round. I found it a tremendous help in learning the game with the constant step-by-step reminders of what to do in each phase. On the other hand, there are some occasional confusing decisions. One example - there is a "Next Round" button at the end of the action phase, so when we first played we didn't know if this meant it would walk us through the remaining Malfunction and Cleanup phases or just jump to the next actual round (turns out it's the former). Also the game doesn't automatically give you a victory even after you've satisfied all objectives - you have to finish out the phases. I'm not sure if that's a rule or just a fault of the app, but either way it would have been nice to have a quick blurb or something clarifying it. It's not the greatest thing in the world, but at the same time it's functional and certainly not the useless nightmare I've seen it described by some people.

One of the chief complaints I've seen besides the learning curve is that the game feels thematically sterile, and to some extent this is true. However, I'm not sure if that's the game's fault or just the setting in general. You're playing scientists on a barren planet, so there's inherently a clinical feel to the actions you're taking (researching, collecting samples, repairing things, etc.) However, we all enjoyed the flavor text that came with events and had fun making "whoooooOORRRRRRRRRRRRR" sounds when bringing a facility back online. I think you get out of it as much as you want to put in. Some people are just going to enjoy the theme more than others. I'm playing with a bunch of engineers/astronomy nerds, so they all had a blast with the idea of being trapped on a remote planet in a hard sci-fi setting.

So to wrap it all up - is it fun? Once the rules started to click I thought it was just as fun as Crusoe, and I get the sense that there's an even greater game than Crusoe under here somewhere. However, I don't think it's for the faint of heart. Like Crusoe, I think it will take repeatedly getting punched in the nuts to really grasp the nuances of play. And I don't blame anyone for not wanting to put in the kind of time investment it probably requires to get good at it. There are, after all, plenty of other games out there with clearer rules and more compelling themes. But I can't shake the feeling that the rules controversy is overshadowing a really solid game that deserves a fair shake. We plan on committing to this one for at least the next two months, so it will be interesting to see if my instinct is borne out or we all quit in frustration. I'll keep you posted.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Fri Sep 08, 2017 1:29 am

hentzau wrote:Over the past six weeks I have had Outlive, Apocrypha, The 7th Continent, Storm Hollow, Pugmeier, the expansions for Champions of Midgard, the expansion for Xia, and the giant Massive Darkness box arrive.

I would love to play the 7th Continent. Been drooling over that one.

Harkonis · Post by **Harkonis** » Fri Sep 08, 2017 5:27 am

Got a free copy of Robinson Crusoe that I need to try out, never played it before. Was reminded when I read someone else mention it above. so little time.