Octopus Overlords

Another couple rounds of PANDEMIC: RISING TIDE tonight. Four players, standard difficulty (seven Storms), and random roles.

First round we only had one "strong" role, and three of the ones we felt were a little weaker. However, not being able to rely on the more powerful roles forced us to think creatively and adjust our strategy which was a necessary lesson. We started out slowly, focusing too much on controlling water and not enough on card collecting. There was some early fear that this may be our undoing, and in a way it was. We lost literally one turn before we would have won, due to pulling the seventh Storm card and running out of water cubes. One card order difference in the deck and we would have had it. But alas, such is Pandemic.

The second round we found ourselves with two of the stronger roles, and figured we were in much better shape. It was still a nail-biter though. We managed to control the board very well until the sixth storm, which unleashed hell on us. In imminent danger of running out of cubes, we managed to survive just long enough for our Sanitation Engineer to build the final structure and win the game on his last action. We would have most assuredly lost had we had to survive one more turn.

So after four games - two narrow wins and two narrow losses, with both chosen and random roles, we all agreed that the game seems really well-balanced. I think the primary difference between Rising Tide and base Pandemic is that in the original, hot spot areas tend to slowly creep out of your control. You wind up losing because you can't be everywhere at once. In Rising Tide, you tend to get taken down by sudden mass floods. You may think you're in good shape, but then a critical dike breaks and the board you thought had contained is now a mass of water. It's really neat how it mimics the theme so effectively. There are some ways to make the game harder with optional objectives and population cubes, so there's a lot of replayability here.

We'll be moving on to Pandemic Legacy Season 2 next week, so we're saying goodbye to this one for now. However, I've really enjoyed it and think it's a fantastic variant. Next time I see it on sale I'll probably be picking it up.

Going to pick up my copy of STUFFED FABLES today. I was already convinced to get it from Eric Summerer's impressions, but Tom Vasel's review left no room for doubt. He called it one of the best family games he's played in years.

OK STUFFED FABLES impressions:

First off, the miniatures are incredible:





Tons of fun to paint, and most of them (particularly the minions) are simple enough in detail/design that you could let your kids take a crack at them.

Quick rundown for anyone who hasn't read up on it: STUFFED FABLES is a cooperative family game in which you play a team of "Stuffies" (stuffed animals) who are defending their owner (a little girl) from nightmarish creatures. The game is complex enough for adults to enjoy it, but is primarily designed to play with kids and learn lessons about teamwork, giving, overcoming fears, etc.

The game comes with a nice sturdy spiral bound book which also serves as the game boards. Each left page is a game area featuring a different scene on which the characters play. Each right page contains the storyline, instructions for setup, etc. As you play through the story, you will be directed to different story sections and maps depending on your choices and game outcomes.

Each Stuffy comes with its own sets of powers - an innate power that can be used anytime, and three special powers that can only be used by spending hearts earned through gameplay.

On your turn, you can move, attack, help other Stuffies, or perform other special actions, depending on your dice. And this is where the game's primary mechanic gets really interesting.

The game comes with a variety of different colored dice that are pulled blindly from a bag. Each player draws five dice at random, then chooses what actions they'll take by spending and rolling those dice. Red dice are used for melee attacks. Green dice are used for ranged attacks. Yellow dice are used for searching. Purple dice are wild and can be used for any color. Blue dice don't have any primary purpose, but can be used for movement or holding as a defensive die. In addition there are white and black dice. White dice are rolled to see if you gain life (stuffing) at the beginning of your turn - roll higher than your current stuffing, and you get 1 more. Black dice are enemies, and must be placed in a threat area to the side. Any time these black dice equal or outnumber the number of enemies in play, the enemies get an attack.

This dice draw mechanic is a lot of fun because you have to think on the fly about what you're going to do. There were a couple of occasions where I had planned to make a ranged attack but didn't draw any green dice. I had to then choose a different plan of action.

One particularly neat thing to note is that the game has a bit of a legacy feel to it in that as you progress you'll unlock new cards, new characters, etc. There is a Story Deck that you're not allowed to look at until the game tells you to. However, the game is certainly replayable in that nothing is destroyed or altered during the game.

IMPRESSIONS:

I played this with my wife, my 6 year old, and my 8 year old. Both kids loved the dice draw mechanic, even though they sometimes needed some help in figuring out the best strategic decision on using them. The skill stuff was a little over their heads since this was their first time playing with these characters, but I think with time they'd start to learn their special abilities.

We only played the first two scenarios, which were pretty easy. Combat is a simple affair, where you simply have to roll higher than the creature's defense value to kill it. However, I'm sure it gets tougher as you progress, and there are boss monsters later on that require multiple "defeats" to take out. But the kids absolutely loved being able to take on the role of a stuffed animal with their unique little weapons made of household objects.

One thing I really love about the game is that the story doesn't in any way "talk down" to kids. The prose is written at an adult reading level, and not like a children's book. It also doesn't shy away from "scary" things like the spider-like minions. This is also why I think it will appeal strongly to parents - even though it's targeted as a "family" game, it plays like an adult cooperative RPG and never feels dumbed down or juvenile.

My only negatives are that the story passages can be lengthy, and a true end-to-end gameplay session can last upwards of 90 minutes. If your kids are anything like mine, their attention spans aren't going to last that long (my 6-year old in particular got pretty squirmy after about 45 minutes). So with no real pause mechanic, you'll have to just throw stuff in baggies, take a picture of the game state, and hope you can piece it all back together next session.

Our single game session was a bit hectic - I was still learning the rules, and the kids were tired, so I'm hoping we'll have better luck next weekend when we can really devote an evening to it. However, first impressions are really positive so far. It's a charming, beautifully constructed little game and I can't wait to unlock all its secrets.

More Gloomhaven this weekend. bb2112 joined redrun and me. We played about 13 hour long session. In that time we completed three scenarios. Half an hour per scenario, my ass. Of course part of it was because we played on scenario twice and one three times... We did, however, finish one scenario in one try for the first time ever!

If I can get my self to be social two or three times a month I think I will easily get my $200ish out of the game, especially if bb2112 and redrun keep feeding me.

LordMortis wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:01 am More Gloomhaven this weekend. bb2112 joined redrun and me. We played about 13 hour long session. In that time we completed three scenarios. Half an hour per scenario, my ass. Of course part of it was because we played on scenario twice and one three times... We did, however, finish one scenario in one try for the first time ever!

If I can get my self to be social two or three times a month I think I will easily get my $200ish out of the game, especially if bb2112 and redrun keep feeding me.

Got to play the first time this week myself. I think it is a good game, and we managed to win the first scenario, but lost two of our three characters. It took us about 6 hours to do that, and learn the rules, and get the characters created. Hell, 3 hours of it was set-up and working through what was what.

Quick question, in combat the elements are generated, and can't be used by the same person. But then they wane at the end of each round. So unless you go first and generate an element so someone else can use it, or if you generate two instances of it, they all go away before the next round, correct?

The elements last for 2 rounds -- the turn generated and the next. I thought you can immediately use the generated element when you can play a second card that can use it. That's rare but I think we pulled it off a few times. More often, we'll combo with another player or set up for next turn.

We have more elements in play now that a few players added them to their combat decks.

RMC wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:12 am Quick question, in combat the elements are generated, and can't be used by the same person. But then they wane at the end of each round. So unless you go first and generate an element so someone else can use it, or if you generate two instances of it, they all go away before the next round, correct?

> Element is activated by a player. He may not use the element in that round.
> Anyone (player or enemy) after him my use it that same round and it will go to waning. The element may then become active again is someone else triggers or it will become inert if someone else uses it a second time.

> A round goes by. If the element is active it moves to waning. If it is waning it moves to inert.

So you will have a chance to use an element you generated the next round if no person or monster uses it before you go next round.

LordMortis wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:28 am

RMC wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:12 am Quick question, in combat the elements are generated, and can't be used by the same person. But then they wane at the end of each round. So unless you go first and generate an element so someone else can use it, or if you generate two instances of it, they all go away before the next round, correct?

> Element is activated by a player. He may not use the element in that round.
> Anyone (player or enemy) after him my use it that same round and it will go to waning. The element may then become active again is someone else triggers or it will become inert if someone else uses it a second time.

> A round goes by. If the element is active it moves to waning. If it is waning it moves to inert.

So you will have a chance to use an element you generated the next round if no person or monster uses it before you go next round.

Oh, so it goes all the way to the right, and then moves down one notch at a time.... That makes a lot more sense.

Zarathud wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:27 am The elements last for 2 rounds -- the turn generated and the next. I thought you can immediately use the generated element when you can play a second card that can use it. That's rare but I think we pulled it off a few times. More often, we'll combo with another player or set up for next turn.

We have more elements in play now that a few players added them to their combat decks.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... l9aZl9nLTQ

A single icon cannot be used to consume more
than one infusion, and it is not possible to create an element
and consume it on the same turn, but it may be consumed by
anyone with a later turn in the initiative order of the same round

It's bolded in the book.

For us we had monsters comboing up and using it in the same turn. They can use elements with viscous effects that way. Kinda unfair IMO. But hey, it's a challenge, right?

Also, I highly recommend printing a copy of the rules and having two copies at the table. It servers us well. We've probably played a combined 20+ hours and "know" the rules and yet one person at the table is constantly looking things up. Two copies and an FAQ to the Internet keeps the game moving.

Thanks, I will get a second set printed up and the FAQ as well, and get them into the box.

YellowKing wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 12:07 am OK STUFFED FABLES impressions:

Thanks for the impressions. I demoed it at BGG.CON and really liked it. I can't wait to play it with my kids. I think it should arrive this week along with my copy of Whitehall Mystery (and more Ashes decks I will never use).

If hepcat has taught me anything, it's to go to BGG and look at the reference materials and print one copy of anything that looks useful and multiple copies of any useful looking quick reference sheets.

coopasonic wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 11:13 am my copy of Whitehall Mystery

Excellent.

LordMortis wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 11:25 am If hepcat has taught me anything, it's to go to BGG and look at the reference materials and print one copy of anything that looks useful and multiple copies of any useful looking quick reference sheets.

Well, that and always talk to strangers.

So...

Saturday I played a 3 player game of Spirit Island which we won. I think we may have erred on our side a few times because it seemed rather easy. However, it was just a learning game (my 2nd) so that's fine.

Then we played a scenario from Gloomhaven before one of the players had to go. Still wanting more, the remaining player and I played another Gloomhaven scenario. I got my Cragheart up to lvl 5 during the last one. I've still got a ways to go before I can retire him, but we already have two other characters waiting in the wings when I do...and hopefully more as a result of my eventual character retirement.

I think Gloomhaven's real strength lies in the impressive variety in the scenarios. The developer really went the distance on that aspect. Every game we've played has been far more than just hack and slash, with numerous scenarios calling for us to use our smarts to accomplish something, instead of just busting down doors.

That being said, our last game on saturday was simply busting down doors, and it was a nice palate cleanser after the previous one that required quite a bit of thoughtful maneuvering. A tank and a tank/healer can really tear a dungeon up.

hepcat wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 12:54 pm

LordMortis wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 11:25 am If hepcat has taught me anything, it's to go to BGG and look at the reference materials and print one copy of anything that looks useful and multiple copies of any useful looking quick reference sheets.

Well, that and always talk to strangers.

You need to teach me that lesson better. I suck at talking to strangers and clam up if there is one around me. That and I need to learn how to look someone in the eye when I talk to them.

You just have to find an "in". For example, if they're carrying dental equipment for no apparent reason and seem confused, use that as a conversation starter.

hepcat wrote: Mon Feb 05, 2018 1:02 pm You just have to find an "in". For example, if they're carrying dental equipment for no apparent reason and seem confused, use that as a conversation starter.

Hey do those come out? That's totally hot if they do.

Played our last rounds of PANDEMIC: RIDING TIDE.

For this session we wanted to try out the optional goals included in the game. These replace the standard "gather 5 cards and build a structure" goals. There are two goals for each colored region, and you choose one for each region at random.

Some of these goals are population goals which require a certain number of population cubes in a region. Population cubes can be placed for an action but take up a cube spot (which means they can cause flooding (outbreaks) if cubes get added). One goal decimates your orange region at the start of the game by removing coastal dikes and forcing a flood. Then there are a couple of goals that require you to build 4 pumps or 4 ports in a particular region. All four of the goals must be met to win the game.

I REALLY enjoyed this style of play because it removed (or at least drastically diminished) a central tenet of Pandemic, which is the collection and moving around of cards. With the optional goals, cards suddenly became an afterthought while we focused on containing damage and making steady progress towards the win conditions. It also gave everyone a bit more ownership in their roles, as the game became less about "who has the most of that color" and more about "how can you use your role's strengths to move us towards one of our goals?" There were multiple occasions where all four of us were separated on the map each working on a different end goal.

We wound up winning 2, losing 1. One win we played "easy," so I don't truly count it. It's an incredibly well-balanced game, and with the optional goals packs a hell of a lot of bang for the buck. It would be easy to dismiss this as "just another Pandemic variant" but I really fell in love with this game.

Next week? PANDEMIC LEGACY: SEASON 2!

CSI sent me an alert to let me know Gloomhaven is in stock (and they sell it for $139). I went to check how many copies they have so I could advise interested parties. It was out of stick this morning when I checked. So glad I left work to get the copy I did and overpaid for it.

Made my second attempt at Harry Potter: Hogwart's Battle Book 7. That game is no joke. I may have coasted through the previous books, but 7 is kicking my ass.

Spoilers for those who don't want to know any details on Book 7 features:
The more I play that game the more I love it, particularly the final Book. It's WAY fiddly with all the ongoing effects and things you have to keep up with, but I've had a lot of fun trying to master it.

[UPDATE 2/10] - Managed to beat Book 7 with a 3-man team of Harry, Neville, and Hermione. First game I was totally screwed from the beginning with a bad villain draw, so I conceded halfway through and started over. Second game went much better. While I still got beat up early, I got some fantastic luck with some very powerful Hogwarts cards out of the gate. Was able to keep the last location from flipping until Voldemort was revealed, then went full offense and put him away just in time.

YellowKing wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 2:59 am Managed to beat Book 7 with a 3-man team of Harry, Neville, and Hermione. First game I was totally screwed from the beginning with a bad villain draw, so I conceded halfway through and started over. Second game went much better.

This section, particularly the bolded part, sounds like some really dirty Harry Potter fanfic.

AWS260 wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2018 9:30 pm

I was just thinking about this game and that I need to break it out again.

Game is still ongoing. He's kicking my butt.

bb2112 and redrun and I did another two boards of gloomhaven and I have to say their estimates of how long a dungeon take are way off. One failure and two successes took which means two set up times took about 8 hours.

We're 8 adventures in and redrun broke my retirement goal. I think keeping that stuff hidden is kinda bullshit. My character is going to go on hiatus until redurn unbreaks my goal. I'ma start with another figure now. Which will be alright. I'm kinda excited to see what the remaining two starting guys do.

I just realized that this is the second time I've posted a picture of my son with A Few Acres of Snow. December 2014:

AWS260 wrote: Mon Dec 01, 2014 10:37 pm

Unlike 3+ years ago, this time he actually grokked the rules and played a proper game. And beat me. In my defense, I was playing the French.

LordMortis wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2018 10:11 am bb2112 and redrun and I did another two boards of gloomhaven and I have to say their estimates of how long a dungeon take are way off. One failure and two successes took which means two set up times took about 8 hours.

We're 8 adventures in and redrun broke my retirement goal. I think keeping that stuff hidden is kinda bullshit. My character is going to go on hiatus until redurn unbreaks my goal. I'ma start with another figure now. Which will be alright. I'm kinda excited to see what the remaining two starting guys do.

He broke your retirement goal? Wow. I'm no expert, but that seems really hard to do.

hentzau wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2018 11:55 am

LordMortis wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2018 10:11 am bb2112 and redrun and I did another two boards of gloomhaven and I have to say their estimates of how long a dungeon take are way off. One failure and two successes took which means two set up times took about 8 hours.

We're 8 adventures in and redrun broke my retirement goal. I think keeping that stuff hidden is kinda bullshit. My character is going to go on hiatus until redurn unbreaks my goal. I'ma start with another figure now. Which will be alright. I'm kinda excited to see what the remaining two starting guys do.

He broke your retirement goal? Wow. I'm no expert, but that seems really hard to do.

It's not broke, it's just unattainable for the for the foreseeable future, probably until after his character retires. bb2112 reads the forums, so I'm not going to discuss the specifics. Needless to say role playing light ways, where you're not supposed to discuss these things my character got very pissed off... Which will explain his taking his marbles and going home, while watching and waiting for redrun to change his greedy evil ways...

I have a character who needs to go to certain locations but will never get there as I'm the drop-in and out member of the group. That's ok because I like my character.

Where do you see in the rules that personal quests are supposed to be secret? Battle goals are supposed to be kept secret, but there is no rule that I can find that says personal quests must be kept secret.

Also, if your personal quest has been locked because a scenario you needed for it has been completed without you getting what you needed, or a global/party achievement was completed that locks you out, you can always play a scenario again in casual mode and it WILL count towards your personal quest.

But remember, there are 9 levels you can reach with a character. The intent was never to make retirement something that happens early in the game.

hepcat wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2018 2:42 pm Where do you see in the rules that personal quests are supposed to be secret? Battle goals are supposed to be kept secret, but there is no rule that I can find that says personal quests must be kept secret.

Also, if your personal quest has been locked because a scenario you needed for it has been completed without you getting what you needed, or a global/party achievement was completed that locks you out, you can always play a scenario again in casual mode and it WILL count towards your personal quest.

But remember, there are 9 levels you can reach with a character. The intent was never to make retirement something that happens early in the game.

Heh, the goal I accidentally threw away was defeat three bosses. That happens in the course of the first few main adventures. In 8 adventures, we've already defeated four bosses.

Edit: also a quick word search and I think you are right. It think there is no mention of quests being secret. That just means there expense involved, not waiting for redrun to do what I need him to do!

There are a few personal quests that can be completed very early in the game; but they're the exception, not the rule. If you were hoping to retire a character after less than a dozen or more scenarios, this is not the game for you.

I didn't hope but it would have happened. I was just afraid the quest was going to be impractical. After discussion, I revealed my quest. Redrun has a unique item I need use. He can sell it and I can buy it. I just have to save a pretty penny now to do it. That's fine. What I wasnt going to do was play my character knowing he had the item, crying about my prescious until he retired his character so I could buy the item and then go about using it to finish the quest if I still could.

I played a game of Powerships on my boardgametables.com Duchess this weekend. It worked out well. Powerships is a retheme of Powerboats from Cwali games, which is mostly out of print and one of my favorite racing games. I played with my 8 year old and he kicked my ass, with a little advice from dad. I am not sure he is getting advice next time. It plays pretty much the same as Powerships for all those people that were dying to know. The board is a bit more open allowing for more speed and options.

I wanted to get Stuffed Fables to the table as well, but I was too entranced by Monster Hunter World and my 11 year old with Zelda. Damn devices. I did read through the rules and think I am ready to go.

baelthazar wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2017 4:40 pm I hear that the newest entry in COIN series, Pendragon is set to charge and ship this month. I have been looking forward to this one for at least a year. As a medievalist, it is perfectly in my wheelhouse, and as an Arthurian legends fan it is personally in my area of interest. I am hoping for the best COIN experience yet.

This week I finally got Pendragon on the table, and it is very very cool.

I've enjoyed every COIN game I've played (FITL, LoD, FS), yet this one seemed a little daunting because the battle sequence is multi-step and multi-variable and because there are some new systems related to economy, but so far the flow and choices are all fitting together beautifully.

It helps that we happen to be reading THE ONCE AND FUTURE KING aloud as a family right now.

Started up a full campaign of Imperial Assault using the Legends of the Alliance app. Had a few bumps, and a few parts of the rules automation that we didn't play correctly, but it was still a lot of fun.



This was the final turn of the game as our rebels desperately tried to hold off waves of imperials. And yes, that's Vader they dropped in our laps.

The app for this game has given it new life for me. Admittedly it's only one game in, but so far so good!

Holman wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2018 10:43 pm This week I finally got Pendragon on the table, and it is very very cool.

I had this in my grubby little hands the other day while at my FLGS, but ultimately passed. I haven't even played my copy of Falling Sky yet. It's just so hard to get 4 people together to play this, and playing with any less calls for using the oftentimes confusing flowchart for the AI player(s).

hepcat wrote: Wed Feb 14, 2018 1:42 pm

Holman wrote: Mon Feb 12, 2018 10:43 pm This week I finally got Pendragon on the table, and it is very very cool.

I had this in my grubby little hands the other day while at my FLGS, but ultimately passed. I haven't even played my copy of Falling Sky yet. It's just so hard to get 4 people together to play this, and playing with any less calls for using the oftentimes confusing flowchart for the AI player(s).

The AI charts are neat, but since COIN games have no hidden information there's really nothing lost in solitaire playing all sides to the best of your ability.

I just am not a fan of the flowcharts they use. They’re way too much work when playing solo...and still drag the game down when playing with two or three.

Went to the PlayThrough games convention in Raleigh yesterday. Imagine Origins, but about a quarter of the size. Went by myself and had just a little trouble finding folks to try games with, but managed to try and see a few.

First off was Tiny Epic Galaxies. I've had this on my radar since I met the developer several years back now. I thought it was terrific. Takes a good 20-30 minutes to really get the general sense of the rules and game flow, but a really nice game that only takes about half an hour.

Next up I spotted a couple who wanted to try Eldritch Horror, so I offered to play with them since I've played it about three times with my kids. I warned them that setting it up was a bear, and they ended up bailing out about 3/4ths of the way through the setup. Bummer. Such a fun game once you get rolling.

Then I joined in with a couple who was learning Machi Koro. Loved the simplicity of it. It's a perfect lightweight card game.

My last one was joining a couple of young guys in Smash Up. I have this game, but haven't played it in a long time, since I didn't like the weird complications of how the decks interacted. They had a couple of expansion decks, so I figured it might be fun. Well, it was only fun because the guys were fun to play with. I still hate the game though. It's a strategy game that's broken in so many ways that you can't even pinpoint what's wrong with it.