Played a short session of Formula D tonight for the first time. It's a racing game that uses dice exclusively to move. The game is so much more than just dice though...

At the beginning of your turn, you are in one of 6 gears. You may choose to shift up (one gear per turn), shift down (one gear for free, multiple gears at a cost of some wear on your car) or remain in the same gear. Each gear has a die associated with it. The gears:

1st: 1-2
2nd: 2-4
3rd: 4-8
4th: 7-12
5th: 11-20
6th: 21-30 (-ish)

The trick is that at each turn on the racetrack, you must 'stop' at least once. By 'stop' we mean your turn must end - your car does not have to come to a halt. Some of the tougher turns require two or even three stops within to safely navigate them. If you overshoot the turn, your car's tires take damage. Take enough damage, and you can find yourself out of the race! There are advanced rules that bring weather and different tire styles into the game, as well as pit stops and custom car modification. We haven't gotten into all that yet.

The game is simple in concept, but navigating the turns elegantly is not simple. If done correctly, it's extremely rewarding to fly out of a turn and hit the straightaway in 5th gear. Incorrectly...let's just say it sucks to spin out and have to start your next turn creeping along in 1st gear.

Unfortunately, the game has many places where an AP prone player could easily bog down the game. Each turn you are counting spaces moved and trying to determine the ideal maneuver for your status/situation, and that can lead to paralysis by analysis quickly. And that's AFTER determining which gear you should be in.

We actually had the most fun with the time trials. As an alternative to simply rolling the dice to see who goes first, you set one player up on the racetrack, and start the timer when he rolls his first die. The driver plays by normal rules, and his goal is to get around the track in as few dice rolls as possible. All the while time is being kept, and the contestant adds a single 'roll' to his total for each minute that passes by. Likewise, any overshot turns result in an added roll to the count for each space the turn is overshot by.

All in all, a lot of fun. It would be crazy fun to try a 10 person game, but I don't know if it would be palatable with all the analyzing that 10 people would have for each move.

There's a Formula D/De online game I tried a while back

Played a short session of Formula D tonight for the first time. It's a racing game that uses dice exclusively to move. The game is so much more than just dice though...

At the beginning of your turn, you are in one of 6 gears. You may choose to shift up (one gear per turn), shift down (one gear for free, multiple gears at a cost of some wear on your car) or remain in the same gear. Each gear has a die associated with it. The gears:

1st: 1-2
2nd: 2-4
3rd: 4-8
4th: 7-12
5th: 11-20
6th: 21-30 (-ish)

The trick is that at each turn on the racetrack, you must 'stop' at least once. By 'stop' we mean your turn must end - your car does not have to come to a halt. Some of the tougher turns require two or even three stops within to safely navigate them. If you overshoot the turn, your car's tires take damage. Take enough damage, and you can find yourself out of the race! There are advanced rules that bring weather and different tire styles into the game, as well as pit stops and custom car modification. We haven't gotten into all that yet.

The game is simple in concept, but navigating the turns elegantly is not simple. If done correctly, it's extremely rewarding to fly out of a turn and hit the straightaway in 5th gear. Incorrectly...let's just say it sucks to spin out and have to start your next turn creeping along in 1st gear.

Unfortunately, the game has many places where an AP prone player could easily bog down the game. Each turn you are counting spaces moved and trying to determine the ideal maneuver for your status/situation, and that can lead to paralysis by analysis quickly. And that's AFTER determining which gear you should be in.

We actually had the most fun with the time trials. As an alternative to simply rolling the dice to see who goes first, you set one player up on the racetrack, and start the timer when he rolls his first die. The driver plays by normal rules, and his goal is to get around the track in as few dice rolls as possible. All the while time is being kept, and the contestant adds a single 'roll' to his total for each minute that passes by. Likewise, any overshot turns result in an added roll to the count for each space the turn is overshot by.

All in all, a lot of fun. It would be crazy fun to try a 10 person game, but I don't know if it would be palatable with all the analyzing that 10 people would have for each move.

Yep, Formula De is a great game. Have several tracks. If you can get a group of players together and play an 8 track season with points, it's a ton of fun. Have done that on a couple of occasions.

Lady H_B and I fired up Pandemic after dinner last night. After playing it probably seven or eight times, I finally won a game.

Looks like Amazon oversold their preorders for the Lords of Waterdeep expansion as a bunch of us are getting e-mails about needing to confirm our order since they can't seem to fulfill it with no given data of delivery, or it is merely delayed by "x" amount of time.

EDIT: Rumor is they got 3 of the 10 trucks in for their order.

So, an update - the girlfriend and I played a few games of Ticket to Ride and Pandemic (2 of TtR and 1 of Pandemic) and loved both games! Ticket to Ride was really easy to deal with and understand, while Pandemic look a little longer to figure out, but both were winners for 2 player games.

The wife and I are finding our groove with Dominion + Prosperity expansion. We had two really good games last night. I feel that the Prosperity expansion makes a lot of changes that add to the fun.

We used a 30 second timer for Formula De, start timer, select gear, roll, and move. If you did not do it in 30 secs, the player behind you moved you. We had to use it once. Kept the game moving, 8 player 3 lap races in roughly 2.5 hrs.

I really enjoy Formula D. I have played the basic rules w/o the drivers. Nice light racing game.
Still waiting on Storm the Castle. Should be here any day. Im like a kid at Christmas time. When I get home, I check the front stoop to see if a box is there.
And Im waiting for my pre-order of 1775: Rebellion. This game looks to be a winner. Watched a review and the reviewer called it his game of the year. It can be played solo up to 4 players. There are scenarios, also.

Come on mail people! Get me my games! :)

Someone's made a VASSAL module for Formula De

Module:Formula De - VASSAL (http://www.vassalengine.org/wiki/Module:Formula_De)

This discussion convinced me to put Formula D into my Amazon wish list…which is now up to 19 games. Might like Christmas for a change this year. :D

One other thing on the Formula D front - get extra sets of dice, it speeds the game up considerably to have each player (or two players) have their own set of dice.

Also, the game lends itself well to a turn timer - hey its racing! You've got 30 seconds to figure out what gear your in or you stay in the same gear.

Tabletop does Lords of Waterdeep:

Lords of Waterdeep: Felicia Day, Pat Rothfuss, and Brandon Laatsch Join Wil on TableTop SE2E10 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7DvEIfrP84)

Just got Storm the Castle. Signed box #437. I havent really dug into it yet. That will be this weekend I think.
But the art work is great. The components are average from what Ive felt.
The mini expansions I got for KSing it were loose in the package box. That was a little disappointing, but nothing damaged or lost.
It looks like Im missing the DVD that came with my KS. I will have to look again.

I love new games.

I love opening a new box, smelling inside, caressing the punch board and slowly punching each one out. Taking the dice and rubbing them on my face and then taking the miniatures and personally introducing myself to each character. Occasionally one of them will flirt with me.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BSRDWygIgAAvAn2.jpg:large

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BSQeTbAIUAAmZ3F.jpg

Tabletop does Lords of Waterdeep:

Lords of Waterdeep: Felicia Day, Pat Rothfuss, and Brandon Laatsch Join Wil on TableTop SE2E10 - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7DvEIfrP84)

While the episode was entertaining, it reconfirms my last play of it. I'm finding I like games where people are going, "Oh look at what they got" less and less.

Well, dug into Storm the Castle.
Kind of disappointed in the quality of components. It felt like the game board front was going to peel on the open fold.
The cards were stuck together and have a bow in them lengthwise.
It was also missing the DVD that was supposed to be sent with my KS level.

Havent got into the rules (though the book is long). Im not a great rule book reader, so Im kind of intimidated. But I will plug away and see if I can understand all the rules. Hoping to play over Labor day weekend.

I hope it plays really well. That would make up for the quality. Jeez, I spent $85 on it.

Game day last Sunday.

5 of us got together. It was supposed to be 6, but one guys wife said 'No". :eek:

We started of the day playing Kemet. This was really cool with 5. Almost all the power up techs were gone. Lots of conflict, with different people. And a close game the entire way. I really like this game.

Then we got into the card games. A quick game of Cards Against Humanity. Always good for a laugh.
Then a game of Smash Up. This game is ok. There are some balance issues, IMO. But those might get resolved as we get better at it.
Finally, a game of Munchkin. I like Munchkin. A fun, light game. I added Dungeons and steeds and Hireliungs to the game. Makes for a more interesting game.

Played from about 1 to 9. Good times.

So a buddy of ours picked up Ascension and the Lords of Waterdeep expansion Scoundrels of Skullport at PAX. We haven't had a chance to dive into Scoundrels, but we've played four games of Ascension and I'm extremely impressed. It's a deck builder, sort of a combination of Dominion and Legendary. The turns are incredibly quick and there is a lot of synergy between cards. There seems to be a tremendous variety in winning strategies. I think what makes it great is that you only ever have 6 cards to look at at any one time. There's no separate villain/hero deck like Legendary, and there aren't 16 different cards you have to choose between buying like in Dominion. Also, since the game works off one single deck, clean up and set up are practically nonexistent.

I worry that the game may get a bit dull after repeated plays because of the static nature of the deck you play, but that doesn't make me any less excited to keep playing it. And there are always expansions to buy...

Game Night.

Short night as we had a new player so we took things slow. My previous assessment of the building lord is back to where it is. I had figured out how to get my highest score ever and still got beat decently. The new player scored as high as I had ever seen a new player score so we tried to emphasize that to her so she wouldn't have been turned off by having the lowest score. Still, the person playing the building lord gets the lord at a freakish rate and has the strategy down to where it's really difficult to counter her when there are fewer players.

Played Suburbia. I scored 149. The scoring track goes to 150. It just ended up being to where whenever the other person could finally afford something, I grabbed it before them and just ran away because of it. I had the Casino, PR Firm, both public goals, and my own secret one. Yeah, I kind of felt sorry for them. This was my own first real negative play of it even though I completely rocked.

I really need to get some new games played within that group though. I bring new stuff, and it always gets shot down. I like my games, but I have more of them. :lol:

Game Night.

Short night as we had a new player so we took things slow. My previous assessment of the building lord is back to where it is. I had figured out how to get my highest score ever and still got beat decently. The new player scored as high as I had ever seen a new player score so we tried to emphasize that to her so she wouldn't have been turned off by having the lowest score. Still, the person playing the building lord gets the lord at a freakish rate and has the strategy down to where it's really difficult to counter her when there are fewer players.

Lords of Water Deep? If so, every game I've played where someone has had the building lord, they've won. It's hard to block them out.

You actively have to take the building spot or the money one and grab the first player token. It is easier with multiple people, but it is hard to deal with when you have fewer players. I thought I had it figured out but then the player who gets it so often changed their strategy to get even more points than usual. In that situation, the game has to be a lower scoring game since you are taking away from doing your quest and blocking the building lord. I really do like the game but the one player has pulled the house lord 3-4 times out of the 7 times we have played it, and I'm tired of it.

Im really interested in picking up Navajo Wars. This looks like a very interesting game.

Navajo Wars | Board Game | BoardGameGeek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102435/navajo-wars)

You actively have to take the building spot or the money one and grab the first player token. It is easier with multiple people, but it is hard to deal with when you have fewer players. I thought I had it figured out but then the player who gets it so often changed their strategy to get even more points than usual. In that situation, the game has to be a lower scoring game since you are taking away from doing your quest and blocking the building lord. I really do like the game but the one player has pulled the house lord 3-4 times out of the 7 times we have played it, and I'm tired of it.

That takes a lot of effort and you end up not falling behind because you're not focusing on your own tasks. Also, you have to worry about certain bonuses and that one building that allows you to place an agent even at a location where another player's agent already is. It's tough.

Have you considered just pulling her card from the game so that she's not an option? I thought about that.

It works if other players join in. I actually abused two new players into having them counter the building lord player while I went and freely worked on what I wanted to do. I'm just waiting for the expansion as more lords means it less likely getting pulled. I don't know the odds of a specific lord getting pulled, but it seems to be rather high so far. I know it will work out in the end.

Pre-ordered Blood & Roses tonight. Still looking for a copy of Men of Iron. The entire series looks compelling. Navajo Wars is gaining interest as well.

Picked up Bioshock: Infinite on Friday but didn't get an opportunity to play it over the weekend. Looks like it should be pretty fun, though.

What we did play was a bunch of Resistance and Cards Against Humanity. Super fun.

Its almost here. 1775: Rebellion. It is supposed to arrive at CSI on Wednesday. I figure, if thats true, I should get it in a week after that.
I keep reading about it at BGG and I am hearing nothing but great things about it.
I cannot wait to get this game. I may even call in sick when it gets here and spend a day learning it and playing it. :)

Btw, Lords of Waterdeep is $29.99 on Amazon today. I picked up a copy myself.

edit: silly me, forgot the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Lords-Waterdeep-Dungeons-Dragons-Board/dp/0786959916/

Thanks, Isiddiqui, I might have to grab it at that price.

I have a problem - I buy way too many games!!! I watch a video of a game - if I like it, I "have" to own it!

Please tell me I'm not the only one on here with this problem ;)

I have a problem - I buy way too many games!!! I watch a video of a game - if I like it, I "have" to own it!

Please tell me I'm not the only one on here with this problem ;)

The fact I have a 5% discount at Coolstuffinc should tell you my answer

Okay ;)

I have a 4% discount and only started this hobby in November. I like that I spend the extra 3.99 to ship today and they don't even charge me the expedite fee. What a perk!! Lol

Jeez. I told myself I was done buying games this year. Well until Christmas. But I have a $100 order in my shopping cart at CSI. I know I will break down and go through with the purchase. And the said thing is I had to buy a Anakin Skywalker Jedi Fighter to get me over $100. Like I need that for anything.

Well, you always have to get that free shipping!

Jeez. I told myself I was done buying games this year. Well until Christmas. But I have a $100 order in my shopping cart at CSI. I know I will break down and go through with the purchase. And the said thing is I had to buy a Anakin Skywalker Jedi Fighter to get me over $100. Like I need that for anything.

I told myself that too, but have already broken it. Thankfully my wife let me break my promise with the caveat that I am spending my christmas money.

Pathfinder adventure game looked too good to pass up. I got a few others as well. The one area I am doing better at is kickstarter as I only did one small expansions once since Cthulhu wars ended.

I haven't even looked at kick starting games. I hope I never do ;)

I havent had much luck with KS. I doubt I back another game unless it is by a proven publisher and/or designer. This last one I got Im none too happy with. The one Im waiting on will probably be a year late.

I havent had much luck with KS. I doubt I back another game unless it is by a proven publisher and/or designer. This last one I got Im none too happy with. The one Im waiting on will probably be a year late.

I have had nothing but positive experiences and have actually turned quite a bit of a profit on some of my kickstarters. Which ones did you back?

I haven't even looked at kick starting games. I hope I never do ;)

The high of watching the total go up and up and reaching stretch goal after stretch goal is addicting. I will say however that if you are smart about what you kickstart, there is little risk as you can make a good profit on them if you end up not liking the game

Storm the Castle and Lost Valley.

Storm the Castles components were not what I was hoping for.
Lost Valley just finished the rule book and had a release date of April. This is a re-print by Pandasaurus.

I like to look, but I will wait until they are mass released, like I did with 1775: Rebellion. From what i heard the stretch goals are ok, but nothing spectacular.

But I do admit that I have a few KS projects bookmarked and I subscribe to the KS thread at BGG. I imagine I will back another one someday.

Do you guys have accounts on BGG? My name over there is DanKD in case anyone wants to geek buddy me.

My BGG username is Broth32. I could not figure out how to add buddies so feel free to add me ;)

My BGG name is Tarc. And Im in the same boat. Not sure how to add.

search for someones name. In their avatar area, there is a down arrow. Click that and select add geekbuddy

I added both of you

I always thought that was a heart. :)

Warhammer on BGG

So I work at a small comics/toys/games shop in the Houston area. We get some very cool things in, but usually not many board games. That changed tonight. When I came in to work my normal Wednesday night shift, I found a box of classic board games that my boss had picked up at a yard sale. In the box were two games this board might be particularly interested in

Strat-o-matic football (http://www.ebay.com/itm/STRAT-O-MATIC-PRO-FOOTFALL-TABLE-GAME-COMPLETE-AND-UNPLAYED-/350870954643?pt=Games_US&hash=item51b189e293)

Pro Football Franchise NFL Table Game (http://www.ebay.com/itm/PRO-FOOTBALL-FRANCHISE-NFL-TABLE-GAME-COMPLETE-AND-UNPLAYED-/300961630294?pt=Games_US&hash=item4612b60856)

Now, we resell used stuff all the time in our store, but this stuff was amazing quality. It may have been opened before, but none of it has even been played with. There are a couple other games in the lot, Liftoff, Top Gun, Intern, Time, and a D&D adventure. None of those looked like they had even been played either. The Top Gun game pieces were still unpunched and the D&D dice bags were still sealed. I figured you guys might be interested.

So I work at a small comics/toys/games shop in the Houston area. We get some very cool things in, but usually not many board games. That changed tonight. When I came in to work my normal Wednesday night shift, I found a box of classic board games that my boss had picked up at a yard sale. In the box were two games this board might be particularly interested in

Strat-o-matic football (http://www.ebay.com/itm/STRAT-O-MATIC-PRO-FOOTFALL-TABLE-GAME-COMPLETE-AND-UNPLAYED-/350870954643?pt=Games_US&hash=item51b189e293)

Pro Football Franchise NFL Table Game (http://www.ebay.com/itm/PRO-FOOTBALL-FRANCHISE-NFL-TABLE-GAME-COMPLETE-AND-UNPLAYED-/300961630294?pt=Games_US&hash=item4612b60856)

Now, we resell used stuff all the time in our store, but this stuff was amazing quality. It may have been opened before, but none of it has even been played with. There are a couple other games in the lot, Liftoff, Top Gun, Intern, Time, and a D&D adventure. None of those looked like they had even been played either. The Top Gun game pieces were still unpunched and the D&D dice bags were still sealed. I figured you guys might be interested.

Played the heck out of Pro Football Franchise as a kid, though I had a complete set of house rules as the base game is pretty bad.

What years are the cards in Strat-o-Matic. Doesn't say.

I always thought that was a heart. :)

lol

Played the heck out of Pro Football Franchise as a kid, though I had a complete set of house rules as the base game is pretty bad.

What years are the cards in Strat-o-Matic. Doesn't say.

I'll call in tomorrow and get them to add that in. I didn't see when I looked at them, forgot to check.

And I was never able to get a chance to call over there today due to kids and everything else. Sorry guys, best chance to find out might be to ask a question on the ebay page.

Strat-o-matic looks to be for the 1991 season.

So I recently picked up Mice & Mystics but haven't dove into it yet, as I'd like to paint the mini's first.

However...

I've never painted miniatures before so it's a little intimidating. I see the designer has a guide up on the website, although it seems a little overwhelming. I've looked into the Dip Method a bit as well as the Magic Wash.

Is there anyone here who has experience painting mini's and any tips for a beginner? I'm not looking to win any competitions and just looking to add some substance to the figures.

I just pre-ordered Tomorrow. This caused a little bit of controversy over at BGG. But I think the game looks awesome. Dnny, couldnt hold out. Had the need to buy bug.

Tomorrow | Board Game | BoardGameGeek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/89342/tomorrow)

So I recently picked up Mice & Mystics but haven't dove into it yet, as I'd like to paint the mini's first.

However...

I've never painted miniatures before so it's a little intimidating. I see the designer has a guide up on the website, although it seems a little overwhelming. I've looked into the Dip Method a bit as well as the Magic Wash.

Is there anyone here who has experience painting mini's and any tips for a beginner? I'm not looking to win any competitions and just looking to add some substance to the figures.

I used to paint Warhammer 40k minis back in the day. I was never any great shakes but I had a couple that I thought turned out pretty solid (you can see them here (http://www.coolminiornot.com/artist/Fidatelo)). I'm not sure what sort of advice to give as its been so long, and I don't remember anything about dips or magic washes.

I learned how by reading a few White Dwarf magazines as well as a small book that I picked up that was dedicated to painting miniatures. I also tried to get tips from the comments on various coolminiornot items that I would peruse. And finally the rest just came from lots of patience.

This looks pretty cool.

Robot Turtles: The Board Game for Little Programmers by Dan Shapiro — Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/danshapiro/robot-turtles-the-board-game-for-little-programmer)

I am not artistic and fine motor isn't great but I used dip method on descent figures and they came out pretty good.

Dip method is spray on primer, paint, dip or brush on mine ax poly shades and then if wanted spray matte finish for extra protection / less shiny look

Forgot to mention that after I picked up Lords of Waterdeep on that great Amazon price, the girlfriend and I played a game on Saturday and LOVED it. We plan to play more - though the builder is obviously overpowered (though I got her in the game ;)). Maybe we'll be all semi-roleplaying the next game around. ;)

1775: Rebellion came in the mail today. I have been out all day, so tonight I wont be digging in to it. I think that will come tomorrow evening.

Im very excited about this one.

The designer of Risk: Legacy is teaming up with Plaid Hat Games on a legacy style game. This time it drops the Risk aspects of it since the designer isn't with Hasbro so it is a seafaring themed 4x game.

Rob Daviau Announces Next Legacy Game | News | Plaid Hat Games (http://www.plaidhatgames.com/news/296)

I need a few suggestions from the crowd. I am pondering starting a board game club at the school I teach at. What are the best games to engage the middle school age group that can be played in about a 60-75 min timeframe?

I played a couple solo games of 1775: Rebellion. What an outstanding game. It is easy to learn and has very deep strategy. Check this one out if you get a chance.

The designer of Risk: Legacy is teaming up with Plaid Hat Games on a legacy style game. This time it drops the Risk aspects of it since the designer isn't with Hasbro so it is a seafaring themed 4x game.

Rob Daviau Announces Next Legacy Game | News | Plaid Hat Games (http://www.plaidhatgames.com/news/296)

This is awesome. Risk: Legacy is fantastic, and more games need to use that campaign style.

I need a few suggestions from the crowd. I am pondering starting a board game club at the school I teach at. What are the best games to engage the middle school age group that can be played in about a 60-75 min timeframe?

What "type" of game are you looking for?

I need a few suggestions from the crowd. I am pondering starting a board game club at the school I teach at. What are the best games to engage the middle school age group that can be played in about a 60-75 min timeframe?


For this kind of thing, I think games like Saboteur(sleeve your cards) and Seven Wonders work great. King of Tokyo is another, though if you have more than three players I find there is a lot of dead time.

Others to consider
Kingdom Builder
Dominion- again sleeve the cards
Forbidden Island
Pandemic
Dice Town
Ticket to Ride
Shadows Over Camelot

If you want to up the complexity a bit
Alhambra - not more complex just more pure euro
Lords of Waterdeep
Alea Iacta Est
Alien Frontiers

Far from a complete list, but those are games that have fairly quick setup times, relatively easy rules to shorten the rules explanation period, and games that I've had a pretty good success introducing new and non gamers to.

I'll highly recommend King of Tokyo, Dominion and Ticket to Ride for your purposes.

My group also picked up No Thanks! Recently and we are really enjoying it as a filler game while we wait or everyone to show up or even between games during the night. Quick, easy, simple, yet has a nice strategy component to it.

While stumbling through Geeklists last night, I discovered a solitaire block war game called Blocks in the West (there's also a Blocks in the East). I'm intrigued enough to make it my next purchase.

dola - The games I've played with 5th grade that have gone over well:

Conquest of the Empire
Settlers of Catan

Plan on doing Ticket to Ride this year and Blokus.

...
Dice Town...

How is this? It looks appealing but the rating on the geek isn't great.

I need a few suggestions from the crowd. I am pondering starting a board game club at the school I teach at. What are the best games to engage the middle school age group that can be played in about a 60-75 min timeframe?

I'll toss in one of the versions of The Resistance.

Thanks guys for all of the ideas, I will take a close look at each one. Sometimes I wish I had a local friend with some of these so I could take them for a spin myself in person before putting out cash. Ah, the limits of a busy life!

Watching episodes of Wil Wheaton's Table Top on YouTube is highly recommended. Almost as good as playing yourself, and they're entertaining.

Survive: Escape from Atlantis could be good too, as long as no one takes it personally.

A lot of the games have apps you could check out for a few bucks. Or as mentioned, watch them on Tabletop (or Dice Tower reviews, Rahdo Runs Through, or Watch it Played),

A few more...

Forbidden Desert
Flash Point: Fire Rescue
Castle Panic (better with the expansion)

Are all co-op games.

Small World and Zooloretto could be good options as well. Females may like the Zoo theme more than some of the other games.

How is this? It looks appealing but the rating on the geek isn't great.


I like Dice Town. The Boom Town expansion as well. I have found it to be a pretty fun and interesting filler. The games don't take long, and who doesn't like rolling dice for poker hands? I've found that even new gamers can comprehend the game quickly enough to implement a useful strategy in their first game. Even if you don't win, formulating a plan is a big part of having fun.

You roll the dice and the best hand wins the opportunity to take an action on the board. You can see your opponents' hands as they develop, so you can adjust your target if you don't look to win what you started to go for. There is a lot of luck, and that can kill a game on the geek. I think the variety of options available each turn out weighs the luck factor.

Does anyone know much about Relic Runner?

Amazon.com: Days of Wonder Relic Runners: Toys & Games (http://www.amazon.com/Days-of-Wonder-Relic-Runners/dp/B00DH8D1DU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380147066&sr=8-1&keywords=relic+runner)

Played my second War of the Roses themed game with a local gaming group. This one was "Crown of Roses". Like Richard III it's a card/block game, but Richard is more a 2 player game and Crown is definitely a four player game that ups the complexity.

Got my ass handed to me in round one as the Lancastarians. But I started to figure things out by Round 2. I stayed quiet and out of everyone's way, licking my wounds, then influenced the heck out of several nobles in the last phase and grabbed 3 nobles from a couple of different players. Since I'm the newbie, one of them took offense and went after me in Round 3, but I managed to trap him in a couple spots and came away relatively okay in our big battle. I didn't lose a noble while two of his died. Think I earned my stripes with the group. Damn fun game as well. With four, plenty of intrigue and treachery to be had.

So this past weekend we had a game day. There is one guy who brings a bunch of newer games every visit to our house, and I asked him to skew his selection "light" as another newish but willing gamer was bringing his wife. The wife being more newish and a little less willing to dive into something like Trajan.


We kicked off the day with one of my offerings. My new copy of Circus Train. This is one of the Victory Point Games "Gold Banner" editions. The components are a huge step up from the original that came in a baggy with a folded paper board. I played this at GenCon in '12, and really enjoyed it, but I was waiting to get better components from the second edition. The wait was worth it, but I wish this title hadn't stalled on GMT's P500 list. I say that because while the Gold Banner components are better, they are still a good distance from what GMT has put out. That said, Circus Train's game play was great. It was a cut throat affair, sniping performances from each other hiring talent away on "drive bys". Everything a game inspired by prohibition era circus trains should deliver is there. This one is a lot of fun and a definite keeper.

Wow too much on that title, with a bunch more to go. Mascarade is a bluffing game where folks have a role card that provides them some powers, but those role cards are switched "under the table" and away from prying eyes. Once your role is taken by another player and held under the table a couple of times, you don't know what your role is. On your turn, you claim a role and execute its power. If someone else things they have that role, both of your roles are revealed. The player who is wrong pays a fine, and that could be both players. The player with the named role gets to execute the power and play continues. If your role is revealed, you must swap or appear to swap your role with another player on your next turn. Pretty fun little filler game. Was good with four, would be great with six or more.

The Rise of Augustus, otherwise known as "Gamer Bingo", was an SdJ nominee this year. Symbols are drawn from a bag, you use the symbols "bingo" style to complete objectives. The objectives give you abilities to improve your bingo efficiency or step you toward VP Goals. This one was ok for me, but my wife enjoyed it. I've since acquired it, so time will tell with varying audiences.

Sushi Go is a draft style game a la 7 wonders, where you select a card and immediately play it. Some cards are straight VP, other cards score in multiples, Wasabi multiplies Ngiri scores, and there a couple of other scoring mechanics in there as well. This one was quick, simple, and strangely satisfying.

Edit to add: Formula Motor Racing. This is a knizia racing game that really appealed to my nine year old. There is no track, you just lay the cars out from first to last, and play cards to adjust the order or potentially take guys out with crashes, spin outs, and blown
engines. The cards are most often applied to one of the cars by color. "advance a blue car 3 positions". That is a cool card if you're blue, or as it turns out if one of Blue's cars are in front of you because you can draft along with him. This one is simple, and strangely satisfying. I also picked this one up because my son really like it. It is a GMT title, and available on their site.


After the lighter gamers went home of off to bed, we broke out Bora Bora. I'm a fan of Feld's "point salad" type games, and this one was pretty cool. It is a lot more interactive than most euros, and I think it can be almost as cut throat as Vanuatu. Vanuatu is the meanest euro game I've ever played, and this one is close. Bora Bora is a little less mean because there a few in game mechanics that let you get around some of the blocking of other players. The game play is simple, you roll three dice each turn and have to apply the dice to "actions", sometime selecting available actions from a common pool. You can't play a die on an action unless it is lower than the other dice already on that action. This is where the blocking comes in. There are many one shot powers in game that let you over come this obstacle, but if you don't have one then you can easily miss out on sizable VPs. This primarily because you can complete a goal each turn. Goal selection is a free action every turn, and is performed in turn order. Turn order is also fought for every turn. There is a lot of interaction, and a lot of ways to score points here. This one is looking like a very solid offering by Feld.

Watching Spellslingers(M:TG) on the Geek and Sundry channel and the one sided nature of some of the matches reminds me why I don't get back into the game. I'm still waiting for an actual strategic summoner type of game that really doesn't have the card draw or dice rolling issues.

Everything a game inspired by prohibition era circus trains should deliver is there.

This is one of my favorite sentences ever.

Ricky Royal did a playthrough of Circus Train. Link (http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5UyaJ4tfEqxB37ZmplRt0pmlFPALp5kj)

Got a 4 player game day set up for Friday. Games to play include: Fortress America, Kemet, 1775: Rebellion, Empires of the Void.
Im going to push for a game of 1775: Rebellion and Fortress America. But I know the guys will want to play Kemet. We will have about 5 hours to play.
1775 will take around 1 to 2 hours depending on when the truce cards come out. Fortress America could take 3 hours. Kemet 2-3 hours. EotY 3 hours as well.

Oh, I wish we had more time. Ive really been itching to play FA. I may have to wait and play that solo. Which is doable, but not as fun. I dont think any of them have played it and that will add tot he time for instruction. Its not a hard game, but its been awhile since I played. My daughter has basketball practice, so I will take the rule book to freshen up. Its a fun game and they made additions to it.

Then we could play Game of Thrones (2nd ed.) with the feast for crows expansion. Thats a great expansion and makes it playable. Its a faster game, also.

2 of them have to leave after the 5 hours. One of the guys might hang around so we can get in a game of Twilight Struggle. Which is an outstanding game. So we make have a few adult beverages and play.

So many game, so little time.

Can you tell Im an AT guy? :)

And Im trying real hard to get into wargaming. The brain is saying yes, but the heart isnt so sure yet. They can be complex and time consuming. But Im ready to start a new hobby. The Supreme Commander is on my must buy list. Its a game about ww2. hex and counter, but not tactical. More strategic. GMT is producing it. And they had some minor fixes to do. This is something I think i would really enjoy.

Marco just did a series on the Top 10 Wargamers for Beginners. It might be worth a look.

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Game Night ended up being the usual LoW but played twice, and yes, the person notoriously known for drawing the building lord drew it again. I finished twice both times. Both of the new players won once. The game seems to play far better with 4+ than 2-3 players despite people on BGG saying otherwise.

Game day at the LFGS had me play a game of Trains. I had unofficially killed Dominion, but I can officially do it. The addition of waste and the train aspect completely gives it a different feel to me. The game simply moves along at a brisk pace. You don't have the issue of simply drawing 5 cards, doing actions and buying, and various amounts of shuffling along the way. The ever changing board forces you to keep tabs on it and interact with it. Sometimes doing something that gives you points gives another player points as well. It's strategic and yet simple enough we were up and running in no time. The game is suppose to last 45 minutes, but it honestly felt like 30 minutes at most. Even three rounds in the board had changed enough to where it felt like a lot was going on. Out of the 26 new games I have played this year, this is easily looking at being in the Top 5. Oh, I misplaced something and gave the guy who won points as well, and if I had placed it at another spot I would have tied him for the lead. It might take Christmas or my birthday, but this will be had at some point.

Last game was Merkator. A solid textbook Euro in terms of being a rather pasted on trading game. I'm not 100% sure if there is much more to it than a fairly obvious strategy as that was what I kind of went with and ended up winning decently. Things fell into place for me and nobody really actively tried to counter what I was doing. Once I started to plan things out multiple rounds out, saw I could force the game end, and build an advantage towards end scoring, I went for it and left some other players scrabbling on the final round as it felt unexpected for them. I've been there before. It sucks.

Ended up with 3 at game day.

We played 3 games of Race For The Galaxy. Fun game. There are different strategies to play. It was interesting.

1775: Rebellion was next. I played the British Regulars and the Loyalists against the other 2. Made a fatal error on the last round. Cost me the game. All enjoyed it.

2 games of King of Tokyo. I like this game. Light and fun. The other guys enjoyed it as well.

Then played Munchkin Spies. Or whatever it is called. Good way to end the day.

Lots of quick games. Good variety. Enjoyed the afternoon.

I got a non-update from Amazon in regards to the LoW expansion. At this rate I likely won't get my copy until there is another print run and there's no real word on it.

I've been playing a new solitaire game a lot lately called Navajo Wars.

Navajo Wars | Board Game | BoardGameGeek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102435/navajo-wars)

Because I am a geek, I also started a dynasty thread about my campaign in the other forum. It also gives some insight to how the game is played.

Survival of the Navajo - Front Office Football Central (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/showthread.php?t=87729)

I am really interested in Navajo Wars. I am going to watch your dynasty.
Im really trying to get into the solo experience. In my shopping cart at CSI, I have 4 solo-playable games. Just waiting to make the purchase.

A couple Eastern front war games, a 1967 Israeli/Arab 6 day war game and Labyrinth: The War on Terror.

Trying to figure out I can sneak 4 games past my wife. Once I do that, They will be on the way. :)

Then Im having a TarcCon. A solitaire gaming convention. I have pre-purchased my ticket. So Im good to go. Im just waiting for a date. It looks like it will be in late December.

Played Love Letter for the first time. It was very OK to me. I won decently in a 2-player game.

We played Flash Point: Fire Rescue which I have been wanting to play again for some time. We lost due to structural damage. I understood why the player putting out the fires played like he did, but one corner that was covered in flames was totally ignored until way late, and we started to roll heavily in that area, and it simply chained into a big mess.

Played LoW and won again. I changed up my strategy and won by two points. The player who usually is last got second. The thing that helped was as other players went for the big 25 point quests, I kept hammering the smaller stuff for my lord benefit and added in a couple that I got no bonus from but were plot quest that gave me added resources. I almost never build buildings unless I am countering the building lord. This time I built four because the tiles were good for what they gave, the ownership bonuses, and the amount of VP tokens piled on them. I still somehow literally thought the game ended one round earlier than it did so I had no real gameplan for it and patched together a solid round.

Played Survive and got my first win ever winning by a point. I got very lucky with some rolls and who I took out.

Got Kemet in the mail yesterday and Terra Mystica shipped last night. I'll give impressions when we get to them, hopefully Thursday.

After a local con in Rockford, IL I picked up a very quirky Rio Grande game titled "Fearsome Floors." The concept is pretty simply, you have three characters that are stuck in a dungeon with a monster. You need to be the first one to move two of your three characters safely out. The game actually has a pretty cool but simple rules set and forces you to do a lot of strategy for each of your turns. It plays fairly quickly (about 20 minutes for a four player game) and is a lot of fun. I would highly recommend this.

Dunno if any of you saw this Kickstarter, but it sounds kinda cool (and kinda perfect for someone like me who doesn't really have anybody locally to try to play some D&D-type stuff with): playsets — The future of social storytelling. by the playsets team &mdash; Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/985647565/playsets-the-future-of-social-storytelling)

I'm going to back it, looks like it could be cool.

/tk

After a local con in Rockford, IL I picked up a very quirky Rio Grande game titled "Fearsome Floors." The concept is pretty simply, you have three characters that are stuck in a dungeon with a monster. You need to be the first one to move two of your three characters safely out. The game actually has a pretty cool but simple rules set and forces you to do a lot of strategy for each of your turns. It plays fairly quickly (about 20 minutes for a four player game) and is a lot of fun. I would highly recommend this.

Made by the dude who did Power Grid.

Preordered Suburbia expansion and Chronicle. I don't really have a trick taking game outside of stuff done with a normal deck. It has cards with abilities, and you draw a card each round saying what is required to win the 1-2 tricks. Three tricks wins so it will be a quick game. I figure it was all of $7 at CSI so it would be worth trying out. People on BGG talked about it in a geek list so I started to look for it.

Kemet is a great game. I imagine you will really like it.

Went up to the local brick and mortar OLGS. They have a dent and ding wall. They have 4 copies of Twilight Imperium (3rd ed.) on it for half off. Went with a friend and I think I talked him into buying it. He has to clear it with the wife. We have a game day scheduled for the 16th and that may be on the docket.

I have a question about shipping. Hope someone can help. When a company sends a shipping notice, but its not up on the shipping company, does that mean it hasnt been logged in at the shipping company yet? Even though you have a tracking number?

LoW's expansion will be back in stock at Amazon on the 10th. Hopefully this is a reprint.

When a company sends a shipping notice, but its not up on the shipping company, does that mean it hasnt been logged in at the shipping company yet? Even though you have a tracking number?

If I understand the question right, yeah that's probably the case. For example, if you're using UPS online to print your labels, then there's several hours between the time you print the label (and get a tracking number) and the time you drop off/it's picked up and scanned into their system officially.

If I understand the question right, yeah that's probably the case. For example, if you're using UPS online to print your labels, then there's several hours between the time you print the label (and get a tracking number) and the time you drop off/it's picked up and scanned into their system officially.

Yep, you read it right. Despite my poorly worded question.

Thanks for the reply.

Some nice new interesting aspects in this one. It would be nice to see PHG have another solid hit on hand.

Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game Coming Soon | News | Plaid Hat Games (http://www.plaidhatgames.com/news/309)

My buddy is coming over tonight to play one of my new purchases. Which one should we play tonight? Galaxy Trucker, Talisman (with City and Haighland expansions), or Kemet??

If you play Galaxy Trucker, make sure you guys are all ok with your creations being destroyed. My group reviles that game like no other because they hate seeing their beloved ship get destroyed. I'm actually disappointed that they hate it so, I'd like to see it reach the table more often.

Finally found a game my wife loves to play: Dominion. Really enjoyed playing it as well, which means I'll probably end up asking for some expansion for Christmas.

Some nice new interesting aspects in this one. It would be nice to see PHG have another solid hit on hand.

Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game Coming Soon | News | Plaid Hat Games (http://www.plaidhatgames.com/news/309)

Sounds interesting. Haven't had a chance to check out the podcast in the article yet, but I wonder about replayability; unless there's real variation (or some overlap) in the hidden agendas, after a few plays it's going to be fairly easy to determine motivations.

If you play Galaxy Trucker, make sure you guys are all ok with your creations being destroyed. My group reviles that game like no other because they hate seeing their beloved ship get destroyed. I'm actually disappointed that they hate it so, I'd like to see it reach the table more often.

Yikes - we played galaxy trucker for the first time and both really thought it was boring and frustrating. Maybe in a larger group it would be fun? We played about a hour of Talisman and it is was pretty fun. He got tired and said he'll come over this weekend to finish the game.

Finally found a game my wife loves to play: Dominion. Really enjoyed playing it as well, which means I'll probably end up asking for some expansion for Christmas.

My girl is really into it, too. We play this and the Catan card game.

We are kinda noob Eurogamers and looking to add to the stable. Right now we are considering either a Dominion expansion or Race for the Galaxy. Any opinions one way or the other?

RftG is more of a gamer's game than Dominion is. Dominion is ok, but runs the risk of burn out and being solvable with certain card sets. RftG is a bit more random in that regard, but it is in part about making the most of what you get.

I prefer race by a fair margin.

If you play Galaxy Trucker, make sure you guys are all ok with your creations being destroyed. My group reviles that game like no other because they hate seeing their beloved ship get destroyed. I'm actually disappointed that they hate it so, I'd like to see it reach the table more often.

I've seen this as well, my group loved it as with the expansions some funny things would happen. My favorite was one guy losing everything but his command module on the second roll. First roll was a large asteroid that took out the battery compartment on the one unprotected spot on the ship. Exploding batteries took out half the ship, a small asteroid took out the other half on the next roll.

RftG is more of a gamer's game than Dominion is. Dominion is ok, but runs the risk of burn out and being solvable with certain card sets. RftG is a bit more random in that regard, but it is in part about making the most of what you get.

I prefer race by a fair margin.

Thanks. I have a feeling I will prefer race, too.

I agree with the "solvable" part in regard to Dominion. With all due respect to her, I feel like I "solve" the deck kinda quick in Dominion and she tends to inevitably adopt a similar strategy and then it gets a little . . . meh.

Not always, of course, but often enough.

Race is a much better game, but Dominion can be played by many more people and is easy to introduce to new gamers. If you introduce Race to new gamers, they will soon be non gamers.

Got Terra Mystica in the mail yesterday, got a 5-player game in tonight. We had 6, so I 'officiated' while explaining rules. One player had to leave right before the last turn, so I stepped in to finish the game.

Initial reaction: this may end up being my favorite game.

Short version: Board control/resource management game combining popular mechanics from several other games (Eclipse, Agricola/Lords of Waterdeep and Smallworld come to mind) with incredible versatility in replay options and featuring many, many paths to victory.

Long version: It feels like the designers got together, pulled their favorite mechanics from other popular board games and mashed them together to make this one. In a glorious way. The game is (almost) entirely about board control, but what really sets it apart are the interesting mechanics of the 'currencies' of the game. There is no direct attacking or warfare here; once a player builds on a tile, it's his for the remainder of the game. As such, you are forced very early on to balance expansion (gotta get to that tile before my opponent locks me out) with upgrades - focus too much on either end of the spectrum and you'll find yourself too hemmed in to accomplish anything, or not powerful enough to do anything with all that land you grabbed early on.

The basic gameplay is very reminiscent of Eclipse: each player has their own unique faction, which has its own special bonuses and rules. The game comes stock with 14 different factions to choose from (7 double-sided cards), and the special powers of each are different enough to encourage totally different play styles. The game is made up of 6 rounds, and to start everyone collects their income. Once income is resolved, each player performs one action from a list of several available in turn order. Any action can be taken in any order, but each player only gets one action at a time. Play continues in order, with players typically taking several 'turns' each round. Once a player determines that he has nothing left to accomplish that turn, he/she may pass. The first player to pass gets the benefit of the first turn on the following round. The round is over once every player has passed. An interesting twist is that every round, certain actions award bonus points. Equally intriguing: the round bonuses are randomly assigned every game, so no two games play exactly the same.

There are no fewer than 5 currencies in the game: Workers, Priests, Coins, Power and Victory Points. Managing these resources is truly the key to the entire game. Early on, it seems very easy to feel overpowered; early game growth will net you some great advantages and expand your options quickly. It won't be long, however, until you find yourself just one resource shy of being able to pull off that epic combination. I really enjoy that the designers built in a way for players to trade AWAY already earned victory points for Power. I'll need more plays to truly analyze the mechanic, but it just FEELS fun to have a meaningful decision to make on a regular basis.

Speaking of meaningful decisions, the game definitely provides you with tons of them, all the time. None may be as important as your decision to expand near your opponents or to get away from them. Expanding near neighbors will reduce the costs of said expansion...but will also provide them with opportunities to gain Power, a strong (and somewhat scarce) resource. The caveat: to gain that Power, they are going to have to sacrifice Victory Points.

Victory Points are earned throughout the game via various feats, but the real big point winners are the end game results. The faction with the largest single settlement (adjacent buildings) gets 18 points, while 2nd and 3rd place get 12 and 6 respectively. There's also a cult board with four tracks which is advanced on throughout the game. At the end, 1st, 2nd and 3rd place on each of the four tracks is rewarded with 8, 4 and 2 points. If you somehow managed to sweep all the categories (well nigh impossible to do), you'd be due a 50 point bonus.

This is really only scratching the surface of what the game is. I really, really enjoyed myself and I'm really looking forward to getting it back on the table.

Game day tomorrow!!! 5 of us for a long session. Starting at 12:30 and hoping we go until 10 or so.

Im excited. I got Tomorrow in the mail this week. So this is on tap for the 1st game. I think this one will be right my groups alley. I have read the rules and watched a great video explaining the rules a couple times. The rules are easy and straight forward. I reall am excited to get this one on the table.

One guy picked up Twilight Imperium (3rd ed.) off the ding and dent wall at our local OLGS brick and mortar location. Got it for 50% off. Im not sure if he will bring it or has read the rules. Im hoping he has and does bring it. I have wanted to play this game for a long time. It is epic and could be the only other game we get too. It takes 6-8 hours to play. And with us being new to it and having a couple guys with AP, Im not sure we get through a game. Im hoping we do.

If we dont play that, I have lots of games my group likes. Kemet, Tammany Hall, A Game of Thrones. Among others.

Cant wait.

Played Puerto Rico for the first time. That's definitely Top 5 material if I can figure out what gets knocked down. :lol: It was a three player game, and I wasn't last. I doubt I would have won, but I miscalculated the player who won having a wharf and thus one of my trader actions wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be. He got 5 VP for it, and I lost by 4.

My girl is really into it, too. We play this and the Catan card game.

We are kinda noob Eurogamers and looking to add to the stable. Right now we are considering either a Dominion expansion or Race for the Galaxy. Any opinions one way or the other?

My wife actually looked through the different expansions and settled on Prosperity for Dominion. Some really neat cards to enhance the game. Think I'll ask for Intrigue for Christmas. We invited some friends over and played it the other night. They seemed skeptical….4 hours later I'd say it was a big hit! Definitely a nice change of pace from the war games and sports board games I normally play.

If I ever went "all out" on Dominion, I would do base game, Intrigue, Prosperity, and Seaside. The problem is online implimentation is so vastly better, and Trains so far has killed Dominion for me.

I need to look into Trains. Love Dominion, but I see it getting tons of love from just about everyone.

Played a second game of Terra Mystica tonight, this time without the first-time rules and only three players. Including set up and tear down, the game was about two hours - though it felt much quicker than that. Had a great time again. The final score ended up 87-85-84, so an incredibly tight game. Although one player completely dominated the Cult aspect of the game (1st place in each of four Cult Tracks for 32 points), she ended up with 84 points, edged out by the more balanced approach of the other two factions.

Second game of Ogre with my son.

We've split so far. I really want to play an Ogre. Maybe next time we'll go with a different scenario.

The setup really is pretty amazing. 28 lb box with wonderfully designed inserts and more maps than you can shake a stick at.

28 lbs? Jeez.

My wife actually looked through the different expansions and settled on Prosperity for Dominion. Some really neat cards to enhance the game. Think I'll ask for Intrigue for Christmas. We invited some friends over and played it the other night. They seemed skeptical….4 hours later I'd say it was a big hit! Definitely a nice change of pace from the war games and sports board games I normally play.

Might still get her/us a Dominion expansion for Christmas. Prosperity is definitely in the mix -- trying to decide between it, Intrigue and Seaside.

Meanwhile, RftG arrived today.... Can't wait to jump in....

I.LOVE.TWILIGHT IMPERIUM.

Just an impressive game. So much depth. But not so much stuff to inhibit it.
If I compare it to Eclipse. Ecplipse sucks. TI is sooo much better. WOW.

I could play it agian after a 6 hour game. Set it up again.

Tomorrow was good. Not great. Interesting. But a couple of us teamed up to keep the game from ending. And it cost me. I shouldnt have launched my nuje. Maybe I win. Very interesting game, though.

What a cool gaming night.

Puerto is very good as long as not playing with snob gamers

If you like TI3 try Space Empires.

My only problem w/ TI3 is I just never have the time to play it because it's such a long game. It is a fantastic experience, however.

My only problem w/ TI3 is I just never have the time to play it because it's such a long game. It is a fantastic experience, however.

And at least with pre expansion, it had a major mechanical flaw that encouraged turtling. Eclipse seemed to have gotten around that and I haven't seen anyone turtle.

And at least with pre expansion, it had a major mechanical flaw that encouraged turtling. Eclipse seemed to have gotten around that and I haven't seen anyone turtle.

Some of the factions are designed to turtle though - Planta and Hydran Progress in particular are perfect for forming a choke point and isolating themselves from everyone.

Edit: In Eclipse. Haven't played Twilight Imperium yet. Tarcone, what exactly is it that you like so much better about TI?

Some of the factions are designed to turtle though - Planta and Hydran Progress in particular are perfect for forming a choke point and isolating themselves from everyone.

Edit: In Eclipse. Haven't played Twilight Imperium yet. Tarcone, what exactly is it that you like so much better about TI?

Turtling in Eclipse is a whole different experience than the one in TI3. I haven't seen a game of Eclipse (without expansion) take longer than 3 hours. TI3 I've seen take over 12 hours with no end in sight.

So is TI's game end mechanic utter domination? That seems silly in this day and age :)

So is TI's game end mechanic utter domination? That seems silly in this day and age :)

Either you have a certain number of capitals or the players just agree it's over.

In my heart I like utter domination. But since my group doesn't get many opportunities to play, given our family responsibilities, the euro point style or limited turns until end game leaves us a much more satisfied gaming experience. If we were in college with unlimited time, our thoughts would be different I'm sure.

Either you have a certain number of capitals or the players just agree it's over.

In my heart I like utter domination. But since my group doesn't get many opportunities to play, given our family responsibilities, the euro point style or limited turns until end game leaves us a much more satisfied gaming experience. If we were in college with unlimited time, our thoughts would be different I'm sure.

As much as a part of me enjoys utter domination, I'm not that big a fan of people having to sit around for a long time after being eliminated.

As much as a part of me enjoys utter domination, I'm not that big a fan of people having to sit around for a long time after being eliminated.

Agreed, we tried Axis and Allies anniversary edition and were bored to tears.

IMO, Eclipse, Waterdeep, etc. do a lot better in keeping everyone engaged most of the time.

Yeah. It's a tough line to walk, because I want poor decision making to be punished, but I also don't want someone to lose interest because on turn two they made a mistake that is insurmountable.

Played Puerto Rico for the first time. That's definitely Top 5 material if I can figure out what gets knocked down. :lol: It was a three player game, and I wasn't last. I doubt I would have won, but I miscalculated the player who won having a wharf and thus one of my trader actions wasn't as awesome as I thought it would be. He got 5 VP for it, and I lost by 4.

Found this game really popular with my older kids/teens as a family-type game. (But I've got more than a few gamers in my bunch). What really makes it work is that it's hard to know exactly who's winning until the game is over and the points are counted. Maintains interest and always makes you feel like you have a puncher's chance of pulling through the victory. Also adds the element of crescendo at the end, as players are eying one another, trying to figure out who should end the game; and a few players are scrambling to try to score some last-minute points before someone ends it all.

Puerto Rico is on the to do list

Might still get her/us a Dominion expansion for Christmas. Prosperity is definitely in the mix -- trying to decide between it, Intrigue and Seaside.

Meanwhile, RftG arrived today.... Can't wait to jump in....

I'll give my standard Dominion expansion treatise.

If you like Dominion, but NEED it to be more complex, more of a gamer's game, then you will want Intrigue.

If you love the simplicity and accesability of the base set, then steer clear of Intrigue for a bit longer. Prosperity adds a lot to the game with all of the money cards. Seaside increases the complexity by introducing durations, but it isn't the complexity of decisions brought on by Intrigue.

Personally I like Prosperity or Seaside more than Intrigue. Some of my favorite cards in the game come from Intrigue, but on the whole I often exclude Intrigue cards from selection because I enjoy a "lighter" Dominion experience.

We played TI3 with the 10 point VP limit or the card that triggers the end game. We didnt play domination. Still took 6 1/2 hours with 4 of us. But it was everyone in the groups 1st time.
Lots of decisions, lots of depth. I prefer TI3 over Eclipse by a long shot.

We played TI3 with the 10 point VP limit or the card that triggers the end game. We didnt play domination. Still took 6 1/2 hours with 4 of us. But it was everyone in the groups 1st time.
Lots of decisions, lots of depth. I prefer TI3 over Eclipse by a long shot.

You're killing me smalls, give me some details :)

There are a lot of decisions. In our 4 player game you got to choose a couple of actions. Or you can pass. The person who chooses the action gets the primary action of that action. But there are secondary actions as well, that the other players can use for a cost. Lots of depth and decisions. You are limited on how many of those secondary actions you can use.
You are limited in you movement and strategy and fleet sizes by command tokens.
Movement tokens you lose. Though you do get 2 at the end of each round.

The actions are great. I really like the political action. You draw a political card and, if it is a law, everyone votes on it. When you take a planet, you get more votes. This leads to discussion and negotiation. And it changes a rule in the game.

The actions are balanced and fun.

Then you have the tactical and the part where you can move ships, kind of like reinforcement in risk, to minimize the example. And it takes command tokens to move.

Or you pass. But you have to play the strategy cards. You dont have to move or reinforce.

Then you get action cards, which have bonuses and actions. And you refresh your planets which have resources or influence, which you can use to buy ships. Along with your trade goods.

Oh, one of the actions allows you open trade negotiations. You have two trade contracts that you can swap with players to get trade goods. Or the money of the game. Or you can cancel all trade contracts. Cool stuff

It is just a deep game full of meaningful decisions.

And it has death stars.

We played for the 6 1/2 hours and time flew by. I didnt realize we had played that long.

I cant wait for it to hit the table again.

We played TI3 with the 10 point VP limit or the card that triggers the end game. We didnt play domination. Still took 6 1/2 hours with 4 of us. But it was everyone in the groups 1st time.
Lots of decisions, lots of depth. I prefer TI3 over Eclipse by a long shot.

That still seems like you played at a good clip. My limited experience has seen games of only nine or more hours. I loved the game but sold it in favor of eclipse, because it is actually played.

It would have gone longer. But the guy with 8 VPs was choosing actions 3rd and the 1st 2 didnt take the Imperial action which gets you 2 VPs. So that was the game. It was a new player mistake.

EDIT: I prefer Empires of the Void to Eclipse as well.

There are a lot of decisions. In our 4 player game you got to choose a couple of actions. Or you can pass. The person who chooses the action gets the primary action of that action. But there are secondary actions as well, that the other players can use for a cost. Lots of depth and decisions. You are limited on how many of those secondary actions you can use.
You are limited in you movement and strategy and fleet sizes by command tokens.
Movement tokens you lose. Though you do get 2 at the end of each round.

The actions are great. I really like the political action. You draw a political card and, if it is a law, everyone votes on it. When you take a planet, you get more votes. This leads to discussion and negotiation. And it changes a rule in the game.

The actions are balanced and fun.

Then you have the tactical and the part where you can move ships, kind of like reinforcement in risk, to minimize the example. And it takes command tokens to move.

Or you pass. But you have to play the strategy cards. You dont have to move or reinforce.

Then you get action cards, which have bonuses and actions. And you refresh your planets which have resources or influence, which you can use to buy ships. Along with your trade goods.

Oh, one of the actions allows you open trade negotiations. You have two trade contracts that you can swap with players to get trade goods. Or the money of the game. Or you can cancel all trade contracts. Cool stuff

It is just a deep game full of meaningful decisions.

And it has death stars.

We played for the 6 1/2 hours and time flew by. I didnt realize we had played that long.

I cant wait for it to hit the table again.

:D

SI

I'll give my standard Dominion expansion treatise.

If you like Dominion, but NEED it to be more complex, more of a gamer's game, then you will want Intrigue.

If you love the simplicity and accesability of the base set, then steer clear of Intrigue for a bit longer. Prosperity adds a lot to the game with all of the money cards. Seaside increases the complexity by introducing durations, but it isn't the complexity of decisions brought on by Intrigue.

Personally I like Prosperity or Seaside more than Intrigue. Some of my favorite cards in the game come from Intrigue, but on the whole I often exclude Intrigue cards from selection because I enjoy a "lighter" Dominion experience.

Great stuff, thanks! I think you just sold me on Intrigue -- the more complex the better, in my book.

A more broad question to the group: Is there really any place better than Amazon for shopping for board games? I haven't found better deals anywhere else online and don't have a decent shop nearby.

coolstuffinc and miniaturemarket are the best ones if you spend $100+. I primarily shop at coolstuff since I get a 5% discount, but both are pretty comparable price wise.

We have Dominion Intrigue here.. I love the depth of it.. But the best way to play it is online, IMO. Then you can use a mix of all the card sets.

I generally compare Amazon and CSI. Under $100, Amazon wins out a lot but not always. As mentioned above, if you get free shipping with CSI it can be rather cheap. I think I did an order that was 16% off of what Amazon would have cost me. CSI having their rewards helps as well. I'm at 2.5%.

I generally compare Amazon and CSI. Under $100, Amazon wins out a lot but not always. As mentioned above, if you get free shipping with CSI it can be rather cheap. I think I did an order that was 16% off of what Amazon would have cost me. CSI having their rewards helps as well. I'm at 2.5%.

I hit 5% about three months ago. Dont know if I should be happy or terrified lol

Hey guys,

My 13 yr old son has gotten into strategy games of late. I am reaching out to see some suggestions from the group. He likes some of my games like Settlers of Catan and the expansions, Ticket to Ride, Roborally...he has asked for Memoir 44 for Christmas, and I am thinking what would be other cool games for him...

I hit 5% about three months ago. Dont know if I should be happy or terrified lol

I figure the easiest way to hit it would be to buy the limited edition War of the Ring. This way I can keep a smaller collection. :lol: That's definitely a discount that is hopefully far away for me. I'm low enough in 2.5% off that I would have to nearly double what I have already spent to go to 3%. That's a mere $.50 on a $100 order. :lol: I'm almost terrified of what their Black Friday deals are going to be when I already have a preorder on hold.

I do have $6600 worth of sales at BGG,so that makes me feel a little better about my 5%. Of course that doesnt include purchases ive made at other sites or kickstarters. Overall, I figure I am in about 8-9k for my board game collection.

Yes, I have a preliminary cart of items already.

Hey guys,

My 13 yr old son has gotten into strategy games of late. I am reaching out to see some suggestions from the group. He likes some of my games like Settlers of Catan and the expansions, Ticket to Ride, Roborally...he has asked for Memoir 44 for Christmas, and I am thinking what would be other cool games for him...

My group is big on strategy and death on randomness. Some of our favorites:

Power Grid
Game of Thrones (2nd Edition)
Dominant Species
Terra Mystica
Eclipse

But these are also pretty complex. Nothing a 13 year old wouldn't be able to pick up, but maybe more than he'd WANT to pick up.

Edit to add that Power Grid isn't all that crazy complex, but the other four are.

Hey guys,

My 13 yr old son has gotten into strategy games of late. I am reaching out to see some suggestions from the group. He likes some of my games like Settlers of Catan and the expansions, Ticket to Ride, Roborally...he has asked for Memoir 44 for Christmas, and I am thinking what would be other cool games for him...

I would like to go beyond my own favorites, but Lords of Waterdeep really is a stellar entry point for strategy based games. Add in the expansion if you would like. Suburbia, Puerto Rico, Samurai, and 7 Wonders are also good possibilities. PR is the only one with any real weight to it.

Hey guys,

My 13 yr old son has gotten into strategy games of late. I am reaching out to see some suggestions from the group. He likes some of my games like Settlers of Catan and the expansions, Ticket to Ride, Roborally...he has asked for Memoir 44 for Christmas, and I am thinking what would be other cool games for him...

Do you think he would like Ameritrash games?
How many players?

For some reason Fortress America comes to mind. Dice, Area Control. Men on a board. Can be played 2-4 players. Can be simple or complex.

Now here's a kickstarter I can get behind.

Villains and Vigilantes Card Game by Game Salute &mdash; Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gamesalute/villains-and-vigilantes-card-game)

Loved V&V had a lot of fun with it back in the day

Yeah, most important question for the 13 yo is how many people will he have who will regularly play with im.

Lords of Waterdeep is out on iOS, and the review I read sounds like it's a good implementation.

Lords of Waterdeep is out on iOS, and the review I read sounds like it's a good implementation.

I bought this last night and it's actually an awesome port!

Any plans for Android implementation?

Now here's a kickstarter I can get behind.

Villains and Vigilantes Card Game by Game Salute &mdash; Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gamesalute/villains-and-vigilantes-card-game)

Loved V&V had a lot of fun with it back in the day

I loved V&V. Me and my friends used to play it all of the time back in the day. We played trough a lot of the modules and made a bunch of our own up. I used to just sit up in my room and roll up and create all these various villains and heroes. It's not like the system was simple either. Some of those equations were ridiculous.

The fun part was that you roll up two new characters. One could have 13 hit points and another a few hundred.

It was really the only super hero RPG I ever played.

I loved V&V. Me and my friends used to play it all of the time back in the day. We played trough a lot of the modules and made a bunch of our own up. I used to just sit up in my room and roll up and create all these various villains and heroes. It's not like the system was simple either. Some of those equations were ridiculous.

The fun part was that you roll up two new characters. One could have 13 hit points and another a few hundred.

It was really the only super hero RPG I ever played.

Completely agree -- the level of fun, complexity, and "replay value" was off the charts. Good memories blowing hours and hours on that game.

Yeah, most important question for the 13 yo is how many people will he have who will regularly play with im.

With being part of the club at school, I would say 4 to 6 players...I play them with him at home as well as his sister so 2 to 3 there....

Do you think he would like Ameritrash games?
How many players?

For some reason Fortress America comes to mind. Dice, Area Control. Men on a board. Can be played 2-4 players. Can be simple or complex.

I forgot about Fortress America...

Yeah, I think the Ameritrash games would be right up his alley...

Thanks everyone for suggestions!

Kemet might work as well.

Kemet is a great game. I really enjoy playing that one. Lots of strategy, lots of replayability. And really cool minatures.

Loved the recommendations up thread for Kings of Tokyo. Picked that up and, while at 2 players, it's kindof boring, with 4 it's excellent. Any of the expansions worth picking up?

Second, trying to decide on an edition of Ticket to Ride to get. It's primarily for my wife and I but also for light board game members of my family. While I'd like to play the original, it sounds like Europe might be better for beginners

SI

I've been playing some of the Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars games recently. X-Wing Miniatures is the kind of money sink you'd expect though thankfully one of my friends has been buying the bulk of the ships for our group. It's a two player game but works well breaking up the squads for multiple people on each side. There's a lot of depth to squadron building though I still feel like I have no idea what doing when it comes to building a good squad. It is great to have the Fantasy Flight Event Center nearby since we can go there are use the play surfaces FFG made for the X-Wing world championship they hosted and drink their $7 beers.

My group also recently started playing the Edge of the Empire RPG through Google Hangouts which has a very handy dice roller app for EotE. It's the first pen and paper RPG I've played and I've enjoyed it through our first few sessions.

Also, in the opinions of games vein of my earlier questions: I really enjoyed Bang for a nice warmup card game. Is the added value of the expansions or the giant bullet thing worth it or should I just stick with the original for 1/3rd the price?

SI

Also, in the opinions of games vein of my earlier questions: I really enjoyed Bang for a nice warmup card game. Is the added value of the expansions or the giant bullet thing worth it or should I just stick with the original for 1/3rd the price?

SI

Bang is fun, the expansions add some features and makes it so those that die can still play, instead of having to wait for the game to end. We played Samuri Sword our last game night (which is the same game system as Bang) and it was a blast. Both are great games when you have a larger group. The Resistance is again a very similar game (they are all Mafia/Werewolf related games) that we love to play when we have a larger (7+) group.

Loved the recommendations up thread for Kings of Tokyo. Picked that up and, while at 2 players, it's kindof boring, with 4 it's excellent. Any of the expansions worth picking up?

Second, trying to decide on an edition of Ticket to Ride to get. It's primarily for my wife and I but also for light board game members of my family. While I'd like to play the original, it sounds like Europe might be better for beginners

SI

The Power Up expansion for King of Tokyo is pretty great. Each monster gets a unique set of evolution cards that are shuffled and kept near them during the game. Any time that player ends a turn with three hearts showing, they get to draw one of the evolution cards. They're very thematic and give the monsters individual flavor so that you feel different from the others. We've found that it tends to greatly slow down our games, however - and that's not exactly a great thing, as we like to use King of Tokyo as a "filler" game prior to or in between our big games of the evening. Without the expansion, we can get through a game in 20-30 minutes. With it, it's closer to an hour.

Got into the board game a day during advent geek list at BGG. You play board games everyday from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24/25. Then post it on your entry. The guy running it offers points for participation. The person with the most points gets a game. I think.
Im doing it for the challenge of playing a game every day during advent. Going to learn Thunderbolt Apache Leader. Going to try and figure out what games to play if we stay over night at in-laws when my daughter has basketball tourneys. Im excited for the challenge.

Clash of Cultures | CoolStuffInc.com (http://www.coolstuffinc.com/p/182568)

43% off hence $45.99. Oh yes, I caved. I still think it really needs an expansion, but I think it becomes my multiplayer epic game of choice in the end.

I felt 7 Wonders was OK after I played it once but after playing so many other games I think I would like it a lot better if I played it again. My FLGS will have it for Black Friday at $24.99. It is cheap enough that it is tempting.

Speaking of Civ games. I saw this one on the Jack Vasel auction. It looks like it would be THE Civ game.
Imperios Milenarios | Board Game | BoardGameGeek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/132416/imperios-milenarios)

Unfortunately it is published in Buenos Aires. Im not sure if it will become available in the US. But Im keeping my eyes open for it.

Well, I would like more than 12 ratings to judge a score on, but there does look to be a second edition coming out so hopefully they go for greater distribution.

Check this review.

A New Standard of Excellence | Imperios Milenarios | BoardGameGeek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1048132/a-new-standard-of-excellence)

The game sounds pretty fantastic. Here's hoping there's a second run so we can hear more about it.

Edit: @#$%^ my ex just moved back from Argentina to San Francisco. I was hoping to have an in to getting it moderately priced :)

The manual is two pages. I watched the video on the game, and it lies somewhere around being streamlined to the point of being abstract, but it isn't. I would say the closest game that it reminds me of would be Concordia, which has a four page manual itself.

While I can see my friends playing CoC, I can more likely see my church group playing this although I haven't really tested the waters of longer games with them. We usually play 90 minute games tops although we don't usually get 7 players in a game so the 150 minute play time likely would be shorter. In the end I respect the design and like how streamlined it is. I'm just not sure how much it excites me, and if it would be a game that would really win out in terms of me wanting to play it over other games.

Trains at $25 and no way for me to know about it until it was already sold out. :banghead:

Looks like CSI is taking a knee for this holiday season. Their Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been pretty much dumping of crap they don't want with typical daily deals.

Looking forward to my copy of Eldritch Horror to arrive this week. I love me some Arkham and this sounds like a streamlined version of Arkham.

This morning I preordered a copy of Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy from CSI. I also took advantage of their Cyber Monday sale to pick up a copy of Snowdonia and a few game expansions.

Then I get home this evening and see that Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy just arrived at CSI. So my order shipped today. Yay.

Christmas + my own ordering should come out to be:

Chronicle
Suburbia Expansion
Trains
Clash of Cultures
L5R Starter set with all 9 Clans
L5R Booster Box

The newest edition of L5R is coming out so stores are dumping the previous stuff hard. What I got is around 75%-78% off. I'll see about finding a complete list for the edition, work on completing it, and calling it good. It has been one of my grail things to do for some time.

Looking forward to my copy of Eldritch Horror to arrive this week. I love me some Arkham and this sounds like a streamlined version of Arkham.

UndeadViking did a 90+ minute review of it. Arkham is his favorite game, and he said this surpasses it.

I really need to expand my board game collection. I've been big into RPGs these past few years but have only recently started buying board games. I love looking up the things you discuss or suggest. I'm building my Christmas shopping list from lots of things listed above!

Dola- Meant to ask, I'm a huge fan of the PLAAY Games set of sports games. Has anyone played their History Maker Baseball? If so, what are your impressions?

Call it a preview of my eventual Top 50. Catan and 7 Wonders should go up, but I haven't taken the time to do it yet. Far too many have single plays since I don't own them so they are more of a feel than anything. I play with friends who do big thematic gaming, to more euro players, to newbies. Far too many of my own games haven't been listed due to lack of being played. Case in point, I can see Ticket to Ride as being decently ranked and it is a great gateway, but we don't play it for whatever reason. Well, Lords of Waterdeep gets played a lot so hence the lack of rotation. My goal for the new year is my new to me list is vastly my own games.

Also note my ratings are done in three parts: quality of the game, would I buy it if I was starting out, and how likely would I want to play it again. This means something like a 7.88 is a solid, but not great game that I'm glad to have in my collection and willing to play often. The exception is obviously a 10. Ratings generally go down over time, but can go up if they continue to be solid. I'm working on a Lords of Waterdeep review since I've played it 10 times were I give it a 7.98 but it is more of a 8.98 with the expansion so assume that will get changed as well.

1. Mage Knight: 10
2. Summoner Wars: 10
3. Suburbia: 8.99
4. Glory to Rome: 8.99
5. Cosmic Encounter: 8.99
6. Puerto Rico: 8.99
7. Trains: 8.99
8. Hanabi: 8.98
9. The Resistance: 8.98
10. Samurai: 8.98
11. The Castles of Burgundy: 8.95
12. Lords of Waterdeep: 8.88
13. Power Grid: 8.87
14. Red Winter: 8.74
15. Flash Point: Rescue: 8.37
16. Starcraft: 8.06
17. Pandemic: 8.05
18. Tzolk'in: 8.05
19. King of Tokyo: 7.98
20. Carcassone: 7.78
21. Acquire: 7.77
22. Survive: Escape for Atlantis: 7.77
23. Lord of the Rings 7.57
24. Uncharted: 7.57
25. 7 Wonders: 7.57
26. No Thanks!: 7.55
27. Citadels: 7.55
28. Boss Monster: 7.55
29. Havana: 7.45
30. Indigo: 7.37
31. Ra: 7.35
32. Pillars of the Earth: 7.17
33. San Juan: 7.14
34. Dominion: 7.12
35. Legendary: 7.05
36. Merkator 7.05
37. Maori: 7.04
38. Quarriors!: 7.03
39. Vegas Showdown: 7.02
40. Kingsburg: 6.57
41. Pickomino: 6.45
42. Smash Up: 6.36
43. Sushizock im Gockelwok 6.16
44. London: 6.06
45. The Settlers of Catan 6.05
46. Shadow Hunters: 6.04
47. Love Letter 6.04
48. Coloretto:6.04
49. Zombie Dice: 6.03
50. Easter Island: 6.01
51. Memoir '44: 5.00
52. Cranium: 3.00
53. We Didn't Playtest This At All: 2.00
54. Myst: 2.00

I have never played PLAAY.

I just bought Betrayal at the House on the Hill on BGG at an auction, NIS.

Im hoping this is a game my family can play together and will enjoy. Its looks like a fun game. And sells out really fast at the OLGS. The Wil Wheaton effect.

Israeli Independence is getting a lot of play in game game a day advent adventure at BGG. It is such a fun, light but tense and tough game. Great little solo game.
I need more Victory Point games. Especially doing something like this. Time is such a commodity.

I just bought Betrayal at the House on the Hill on BGG at an auction, NIS.

Im hoping this is a game my family can play together and will enjoy. Its looks like a fun game. And sells out really fast at the OLGS. The Wil Wheaton effect.


Our gaming group plays this and it is absolutely awesome, lots of fun and has high replayability.

Dola- Meant to ask, I'm a huge fan of the PLAAY Games set of sports games. Has anyone played their History Maker Baseball? If so, what are your impressions?

This is a longshot, but I'll throw it out there. My favorite table-top game right now is History Maker Baseball by PLAAY.com games. Next month on 9/14, the game designer Keith Avallone is coming to my town (Oceanside, CA) to host a day-long pre-play of the MLB 2013 Playoffs. I'm hoping there might be some of you in the Southern California area that may want to participate, as the more people we get, the more successful and fun the event will be.

HMB is different than most modern card & dice games in that the players are described by "qualities", not by ratings. These qualities are then checked on each dice roll and the game book drives the action. Additionally, the game incorporates "outside the lines" events that can change the makeup of a player and/or team throughout a series or season. You can read more about it on the website: HISTORY MAKER BASEBALL Big League Baseball Board Game (http://www.plaay.com/baseball.html). It's not meant to be a strict replay-focused game like Strat, Dynasty League, Replay, APBA, etc. It's designed to allow for some interesting variations in player performance, and also allow the game player to step into the role of manager with the ability to influence team-chemistry, give a struggling pitcher a pep-talk, etc. It's really a blast to play.

Keith is pretty confident that with about 75% of the season completed, the player quality definitions will be largely the same as if he waited for the season to end. So he is going to create the 2013 player cards before the season is over, allowing gamer's to play along with the end of the season and the playoffs if they want. Of course he's also hoping this event will help with sales and getting the word out about the game.

If anyone is interested, you can contact me (padresfanmods at mac dot com) and I can fill you in on the rest of the details!!

Al

Your welcome.

Our gaming group plays [Betrayal at the House on the Hill] and it is absolutely awesome, lots of fun and has high replayability.

Ditto us. We just got it, but it's seen a lot of table time already and I expect it to continue to be a regular play.

I really need to expand my board game collection. I've been big into RPGs these past few years but have only recently started buying board games. I love looking up the things you discuss or suggest. I'm building my Christmas shopping list from lots of things listed above!

I so hope I get you for the secret santa again ;)

Call it a preview of my eventual Top 50. Catan and 7 Wonders should go up, but I haven't taken the time to do it yet. Far too many have single plays since I don't own them so they are more of a feel than anything. I play with friends who do big thematic gaming, to more euro players, to newbies. Far too many of my own games haven't been listed due to lack of being played. Case in point, I can see Ticket to Ride as being decently ranked and it is a great gateway, but we don't play it for whatever reason. Well, Lords of Waterdeep gets played a lot so hence the lack of rotation. My goal for the new year is my new to me list is vastly my own games.

Also note my ratings are done in three parts: quality of the game, would I buy it if I was starting out, and how likely would I want to play it again. This means something like a 7.88 is a solid, but not great game that I'm glad to have in my collection and willing to play often. The exception is obviously a 10. Ratings generally go down over time, but can go up if they continue to be solid. I'm working on a Lords of Waterdeep review since I've played it 10 times were I give it a 7.98 but it is more of a 8.98 with the expansion so assume that will get changed as well.

1. Mage Knight: 10
2. Summoner Wars: 10
3. Suburbia: 8.99
4. Glory to Rome: 8.99
5. Cosmic Encounter: 8.99
6. Puerto Rico: 8.99
7. Trains: 8.99
8. Hanabi: 8.98
9. The Resistance: 8.98
10. Samurai: 8.98
11. The Castles of Burgundy: 8.95
12. Lords of Waterdeep: 8.88
13. Power Grid: 8.87
14. Red Winter: 8.74
15. Flash Point: Rescue: 8.37
16. Starcraft: 8.06
17. Pandemic: 8.05
18. Tzolk'in: 8.05
19. King of Tokyo: 7.98
20. Carcassone: 7.78
21. Acquire: 7.77
22. Survive: Escape for Atlantis: 7.77
23. Lord of the Rings 7.57
24. Uncharted: 7.57
25. 7 Wonders: 7.57
26. No Thanks!: 7.55
27. Citadels: 7.55
28. Boss Monster: 7.55
29. Havana: 7.45
30. Indigo: 7.37
31. Ra: 7.35
32. Pillars of the Earth: 7.17
33. San Juan: 7.14
34. Dominion: 7.12
35. Legendary: 7.05
36. Merkator 7.05
37. Maori: 7.04
38. Quarriors!: 7.03
39. Vegas Showdown: 7.02
40. Kingsburg: 6.57
41. Pickomino: 6.45
42. Smash Up: 6.36
43. Sushizock im Gockelwok 6.16
44. London: 6.06
45. The Settlers of Catan 6.05
46. Shadow Hunters: 6.04
47. Love Letter 6.04
48. Coloretto:6.04
49. Zombie Dice: 6.03
50. Easter Island: 6.01
51. Memoir '44: 5.00
52. Cranium: 3.00
53. We Didn't Playtest This At All: 2.00
54. Myst: 2.00

Just checking back into this thread and was intrigued by your list - as in I don't know anything about most of them. But I do see a few games that I recognize as having an iPad version. How many others would have a good port to electronics? I'm just getting ideas for new games to try on my iPad.

Just checking back into this thread and was intrigued by your list - as in I don't know anything about most of them. But I do see a few games that I recognize as having an iPad version. How many others would have a good port to electronics? I'm just getting ideas for new games to try on my iPad.

Lords of Waterdeep and Ticket to Ride are great on the Ipad...

Agricola and Eclipse as well.

http://www.rnrgames.com/Product.aspx?id=094923ac-56f1-47f2-8f52-2d8f097c61ac

Code: CyberMonday

Hanabi at 20% off and free shipping. One of the best gateway games out there. It is listed as out of stock, but they will ship it when they get it, and it is suppose to be in next week. If nothing else, this sells out in a hurry whenever it does come in. It won the German 2013 award for being the best game to introduce people to the hobby. Being dirt cheap means people are willing to pick it up.

Dola- Meant to ask, I'm a huge fan of the PLAAY Games set of sports games. Has anyone played their History Maker Baseball? If so, what are your impressions?

Your welcome.


Yes I have a couple of the PLAAY games Second Season, Red, White, and Blue Racing, Hockey Blast and History Maker Baseball. I highly recommend HMB.Checkout the forum for them on Delphi:
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Just checking back into this thread and was intrigued by your list - as in I don't know anything about most of them. But I do see a few games that I recognize as having an iPad version. How many others would have a good port to electronics? I'm just getting ideas for new games to try on my iPad.

iOS versions of Board Games | BoardGameGeek (http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/67659/ios-versions-of-board-games)

Thank you, I will take a look at all of the recommendations.

Fantasy Flight Games has a sale (http://store.fantasyflightgames.com/client/client_pages/sale2013.cfm/) going.

Fantasy Flight Games has a sale (http://store.fantasyflightgames.com/client/client_pages/sale2013.cfm/) going.

Fortress America for $25 really has me tempted. Wish I was going over there this week as it's probably not worth it for me to drive to Fantasy Flight to avoid the shipping cost.

It was too deep in my list of things to get. I have a feeling this won't be the first time it goes for cheap either. It doesn't help that there's only one group of people who I play with who would play it, and I play with them the least. I fear I would play it once and be done.

Fortress America is a great game. Lots of fun. A couple variations, depending on how difficult you want it to be. $25 for that game is a steal. Esp. if you grew up on big box games like I did.

I went over to FFG. I see Nexus Ops is on sale for $25. Anyone ever play? If so, thoughts?

Fortress America is a great game. Lots of fun. A couple variations, depending on how difficult you want it to be. $25 for that game is a steal. Esp. if you grew up on big box games like I did.
I also was looking at FOA and wondered if it is a game that could be easily played solo or are there double blind or other secret hidden mechanisms that make that not a great option?

Fortress America is a great game. Lots of fun. A couple variations, depending on how difficult you want it to be. $25 for that game is a steal. Esp. if you grew up on big box games like I did.

I also was looking at Fortress America and wondered if it is a game that could be easily played solo or are there double blind or other secret hidden mechanisms that make that not a great option?

While checking out the FFG sales, I noticed Eldritch Horror has been released.

Hrmm... I will likely end up getting it at some point. I still love Arkham and we still play it often. I've probably played 50+ games of it, but something new can be fun. That said, I didn't really like "Mansions of Madness."

I went over to FFG. I see Nexus Ops is on sale for $25. Anyone ever play? If so, thoughts?

Nexus Ops is a great little game that plays well 2P or multiplayer and is manageable. It is very good for kids as well.

I also was looking at Fortress America and wondered if it is a game that could be easily played solo or are there double blind or other secret hidden mechanisms that make that not a great option?

It doesnt have a solo option. But I have played it solo. You just have to play each faction as if you were playing them against other players. I guess thats the best way to describe it.
I dont really think there are any hidden mechanisms that would detract solo play.
The US player has cards they use to get reinforcements. There is a variation where the invading players have cards as well.

It does take some time to play. 2-3 hours. But if you have time, its worth a play.

It doesnt have a solo option. But I have played it solo. You just have to play each faction as if you were playing them against other players. I guess thats the best way to describe it.
I dont really think there are any hidden mechanisms that would detract solo play.
The US player has cards they use to get reinforcements. There is a variation where the invading players have cards as well.

It does take some time to play. 2-3 hours. But if you have time, its worth a play.

Thanks.

I have not had a chance to go through the boardgamegeek site yet - sorry. But I was sitting thinking about my favorite board games as a kid and was wondering if anyone knew if they made a computer port for these and if so, if any good:

Careers (my all-time favorite as a kid)
Masterpiece
Dealer's Choice
Landslide
Pit

Dola- Meant to ask, I'm a huge fan of the PLAAY Games set of sports games. Has anyone played their History Maker Baseball? If so, what are your impressions?

I'm sure you know, but as a reminder HMB is on sale today. I picked up a copy myself from Sports Simulation Board Games from PLAAY.com! (www.plaay.com) today.

I put up a year in review geeklist.

http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/166445/2013-year-in-review

Great post Matthean! You reinforced my interest to pick-up Boss Monster which I'll have to do in January.

I'm sure you know, but as a reminder HMB is on sale today. I picked up a copy myself from Sports Simulation Board Games from PLAAY.com! (http://www.plaay.com) today.

Yeah, missed the sale but I'm still on the fence between Hockey Blast and History Maker. Eventually I'll decide to grab one of the two to add to the collection.

I have not had a chance to go through the boardgamegeek site yet - sorry. But I was sitting thinking about my favorite board games as a kid and was wondering if anyone knew if they made a computer port for these and if so, if any good:

Careers (my all-time favorite as a kid)
Masterpiece
Dealer's Choice
Landslide
PitI loved both Dealer's Choice and Landslide. I have often thought about writing the computer version of Dealer's Choice. Maybe some day. I would also be interested in hearing if there is a computer version of either game already in existence.

Small World 2 is on Steam at 20% off. There's DLC for some of the expansions as well. I'll wait to see if it goes on sale during the big holiday sale. I grabbed some stuff for my Kindle Fire(Hey That's my Fish!, Tichu, Carcassonne, etc).

Amazon has Agricola for $38.81(45% off).

Santa is bringing me these games for Christmas:

Navajo Wars
Storm Over Stalingrad
A Victory Denied
Labyrinth: War on Terror 2001-?

Getting my Solo Wargaming fix this Christmas.

I'm looking at Nations and it looks like it may be my next purchase

Santa is bringing me these games for Christmas:

Navajo Wars
Storm Over Stalingrad
A Victory Denied
Labyrinth: War on Terror 2001-?

Getting my Solo Wargaming fix this Christmas.

I've got Navajo Wars set up on my table, and have done the tutorial and started my first game. It's interesting...I love the appearance and components, but am not sure about the system yet.

I just watched the first part of the tutorial for Navajo War and it looks fascinating. Too bad I don't play manual board games as this one would be fun.

Ive read the tutorial for Navajo Wars is dry. Its just used to get you familiar with the rules and the rules book. Otherwise, the reviews are very positive.

I'm hoping to see these games under the tree this Christmas morning...

Nations
Mage Knight
D-Day Dice

Dipping my toe into the board game/card game waters this Christmas with..

Sentinels of the multiverse
Legions of Darkness
Dawn of the zeds

Dipping my toe into the board game/card game waters this Christmas with..

Sentinels of the multiverse
Legions of Darkness
Dawn of the zeds

Having a blast with Dawn of the Zeds, my favorite solo game to date.

Having a blast with Dawn of the Zeds, my favorite solo game to date.

Excellent to hear. Every walk through video I have seen makes it look great.

I guess I missed it - some of these games can be played solo? How does that work in a board game?

I guess I missed it - some of these games can be played solo? How does that work in a board game?

Some games, like Dawn of the Zeds by Victory Point Games are designed to play solo. Look at their States of Siege series of games for more. Basically, these games have decks of events that keep the bad guys marching on your position. Kind of a board game version of a tower defense game.

I play other games, usually those meant to play cooperatively, solo as well and they work just fine. Games like Pandemic or Darkest Night, where you normally work with other players to beat the game. I hear that Mage Knight works really well as a solo game, so that's why it's on my wish list this season.

I'm hoping to see these games under the tree this Christmas morning...

Nations
Mage Knight
D-Day Dice

If you don't get D-Day Dice, let me know. I supported the kickstarter, but other than opening the box, never have had the time to play it. Might be willing to trade if you have something lighter weight that i can play with my 6 year old (pretty much the only gaming i get these days).

Lots and lots of solo games out there. The game has an AI, if you will. They are card driven games (CDGs) usually.
If you want to start off playing solos, I highly recommend Victory Point Games.
I bought Israeli Independence. It is really light, but it is intense and has some decisions to make.
I really like it.
I havent gotten back to VPG, but like the others say, Dawn of the Zeds is supposed to be outstanding.

Thank you.

Also, pretty much any co-op can be played solo. You just need to play as many of the characters, roles, etc as needed.

Puerto Rico has a new edition out. It looks to be the Limited edition without the metal coins so it is sanely priced. So far it is only out in Germany, but I would expect an English version at some point.

Amazon.com: Sentinels of The Multiverse Enhanced Card Game (2nd Edition): Toys & Games (http://www.amazon.com/Sentinels-Multiverse-Enhanced-Card-Edition/dp/B0095ZFA5Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387082765&sr=8-1&keywords=sentinels+of+the+multiverse&tag=article-boardgamegeek-20)

The most thematic superhero game out right now at $20.51. It has been on and off on my wish list and right now I'm sticking with not getting it while it is off my wishlist. Had I not caved on the Agricola deal, this might have been too tough to resist.

Thats essentially half off for an awesome game. Amazing deal

SotM is now $19.48 or 51% off.

I'm glad I did a preorder which enabled me to add a number of items on as they went on sale, but now that the preordered item is suppose to be in today, I've come to the conclusion I'm not getting the order for 8-12 more business days at best.

SotM has too much accounting for me. I would gladly trade it or sell it to someone here. Prefer a trade. But I wouldnt be adverse to selling it.

But it is very thematic.

The bookkeeping aspect was one of the things that kept me from getting it before. I'm honestly getting better at holding off on getting games. Eldritch Horror was a daily deal for CSI, and I skipped on it. I would rather invest in Mansions of Madness: Call of the Wild versus getting a new game. I saw eekamouse's review for BattleLore 2nd edition and while it looks great, I'm passing on it. I can't keep getting games for a friend and I to play when he lives out-of-state. I think I honestly debated adding Sekigahara to my order everyday for a week only to not do it. I know I'll get it at some point, but I see no real reason to get it right now when it is just its regular price, and I have games I could use to play with that specific person anyway. Pandemic was a Amazon deal, but I just can't pull the trigger on that game. It's solid, but it's just decent.

Suburbia Inc. did come in today at CSI so hopefully that will be sent out asap. Agricola + Farmers of the Moor came in and I bagged everything. The box is rather heavy even with just the base game in it. I'm just waiting on The Goodies expansion to be reprinted so I have everything I want for that game.

iOS versions of Board Games | BoardGameGeek (http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/67659/ios-versions-of-board-games)

I'm about 1/3 of the way through the list (thank you!) and found a few games that I want to get for the iPad.

Unlike I am misinterpreting but it looks like High Society is a "Masterpiece" type game (bidding on art with events).

Game Day Tomorrow!!!

4 of us are gathering at my house for a long day of gaming. Lots of games on tap. I think 1775: Rebellion, Empires of the Void are sure bets. I may push for a game of Fortress America. havent played that in awhile. And then we will see what else tickles our fancy.

Cant wait.

Played a few games of Smash Up today - just the base game, no expansions.

Fairly simple game - there are a number of different factions, and each has a 20 card deck. Decks are made up of Actions and Minions. Each player combines two factions into a single deck, shuffles and deals themselves 5 cards. 5 Base cards are then turned over from the Base deck onto the common area - this is where the majority of your cards will be played. Starting with the first player, each turn is comprised of playing up to one minion and one action. At the end of your turn, draw two new cards. Actions can be played on yourself, other players, on minions or on bases. Minions (who have individual power values) are played on one of the bases. Points are scored when a base reaches its break point (indicated in the upper left corner of the card) - the total power value of all minions at a base are added up at the end of each turn, and any base that has reached (or surpassed) its break point in total minion power is scored. Typically, the player with the highest value in minions gets the most points, but each base is different and provides different benefits.

Each of the factions plays a little differently. Pirates are good at moving cards that are already on the table around. Robots start small, but typically grow as more and more of them hit the table. Zombies are great at coming back onto the table from the discard pile. Dinosaurs are super strong individual cards. Wizards are great at drawing extra cards and pulling specific cards out of the deck. Ninjas are good at assassinating cards on the table. Tricksters are tough to get a handle on - lots of card effects that make other players discard, but the effects are seemingly pretty easy to avoid. Zombies, Dinosaurs and Robots seemed to be the strongest card sets tonight, while Tricksters and Ninjas were repeatedly pretty weak.

Quick game to learn, and it's pretty light on the strategy. Fun to find good card combinations as well, and many of the decks have great synergy with one another.

Zombies matched up with the Ghosts is an unbeatable combo. Too powerful.

Fun little game. Light, some decisions. Good filler game. Probably get a play today.

Robots and Wizard is a perfect match if you want somebody to deal with fighting their hand the whole time. The Tabletop episode was a perfect flashback to how my play of the game went.

Today we played Betrayal at the House on the Hill twice. Once with 3 and once with 4. The Heroes lost the 1st one. We missed a rule, but it wouldnt have mattered.
The 2nd game I was the traitor and got beat. Not even close.
I think that game is better with more players.

Played 1775: Rebellion with 4. Outstanding game. This one is my Game of the Year. me and my teammate were the Brits and we dominated. Won like 11 colonies to one. Everything went our way. Very satisfying.

3 games of King of Tokyo ended the session. We played with some house rules the 2nd and 3rd game. One we switched the Hiy points and VPs. So you had to get 12 VPs and could take 20 HPs. It was fun that way. I didnt win any of the games.

Great fun

Played LoW at game night and played the long game with the new expansion. Never going back to playing the base game only again. The expansion is a huge benefit to the game and one of the more required expansions around, and I even rather like the base game.

My wife and I just got our butts handed to us in Defenders of the Realm. Great fun, but we were swiftly overwhelmed with tainted lands.

My wife and I just got our butts handed to us in Defenders of the Realm. Great fun, but we were swiftly overwhelmed with tainted lands.

I really like this game. It's usually our "end of the night" game, because it's pretty relaxed.

That said, we're just around or slightly over 50% in terms of winning. We've never lost because of too much tainted land. Usually it's the orcs. We ignore them for a round or two and then - BOOM - they are all over the map and it's game over.

Our biggest flaw, I think, is that we are far too cautious when going up against generals. We always wait too long to gather too many cards and get too many people involved.

I really like this game. It's usually our "end of the night" game, because it's pretty relaxed.

That said, we're just around or slightly over 50% in terms of winning. We've never lost because of too much tainted land. Usually it's the orcs. We ignore them for a round or two and then - BOOM - they are all over the map and it's game over.

Our biggest flaw, I think, is that we are far too cautious when going up against generals. We always wait too long to gather too many cards and get too many people involved.
Same!

This was an unusual start-up because it was undead-heavy, with virtually no blue on the board. I was playing the Cleric, so I went after the undead hordes while my wife tried to keep the orcs in check. But then the demons went bonkers, and I do mean bonkers. Game over.

Playing Betrayal at the House on the Hill, one of the guys looked up the price on Ebay. $239. Sealed. I got it on a Geekbay auction for $36, shipping included. Sealed. Im wondering if I should have re-sold it.
Nah, Its a great game. Lots of fun. Lots of replayability.

Got Trains for Christmas and since my friend and I were playing games today my Mom gave me the game early. We did another run at Mage Knight beforehand. We weren't able to pull it off by the smallest of margins, and we came to the conclusion we were too spread out to really to get to the final city in a timely fashion. It took my friend a bit of time to grasp the game but he picked it up rather well in the end. I of course beat him decently, but I have played deck builders and Trains before so I wasn't surprised about the outcome. He enjoyed the game though.

Just played my first game if Sentinels of the Multiverse. Used three Heroes (Wraith, Bunker and Tempest) against Barron Blade in the Primal environment. Lost the battle but it was fun learning the mechanics and seeing how the heroes worked.