Re: What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

HEAT, 7p, at a community game night I've been going to. Like any public event, it's hit or miss in terms of people, but for the most part it's a decent crowd. Heat is such a fun game, manages to be well-designed without having that bland, over-developed feel where all the interesting parts are smoothed over in a bland nerf layer. This was back and forth, but I managed to have just enough heat in my engine to burn all but two on the last corner, slipstreaming past the leader and then ramming it into 4th gear and boosting for the win.

HIBACHI, dexterity plus auction/bidding. An oddball combination but a charming game nonetheless. I made my three dishes first. I liked it.

READY SET BET. Ridiculous fun, real time rolling and betting. Came in 3rd of five. This is a great party game. My friend had the "high roller" edition which is preposterously overproduced.

dysjunct wrote: HEAT
READY SET BET. Ridiculous fun, real time rolling and betting. Came in 3rd of five. This is a great party game. My friend had the "high roller" edition which is preposterously overproduced.

Was someone the announcer, or were you using the app? I've only ever used the app so far.

Someone was the announcer. He mentioned that there was an app but being the announcer seemed fun. Plus there was the aspect of playing the house and betting anyway so it wasn't a big deal.

Gary Sax wrote: Ah Pook and I played a 2p game of Uprising Curse of the Last Emperor.
....
I have such enormous affection for the game, my tilt is off the chart on it. I really think, on this site in particular, there are a lot of people who would resonate with this game.

Yeah, your posts have sold me on this, feel like I've got a couple of guys that would dig this, but it is a bit of a bear to acquire. On my 3rd trade offer before deciding if I just buy an expensive copy...

I'm going to wait for the final big box kickstarter I think, which should be this year. The tabletop simulator module is pretty good and will tide me till then. You can even give it a spin there just to see if it's too your taste since it's an expensive buy.Ah Pook found a reasonable copy w/shipping so it is possible.

My old two-player partner is finally out of night school, so he showed up to play something and we busted out Battlelore, 2nd Ed., which is still one of the best- if not THE best -minis games that I've ever played. Say what you will about Terrinoth's generic fantasy, but it was cool to be able to play the same units in Runewars, Rune Age, and Battlelore. Plus, we hadn't played in I don't know how many years, so it was great to get it on the table again.

We started out with me as the forces of Waiqar the Undying vs him as the Daqan Lords. I picked Manor of the Duke, so for 2 Lore I could reverse the section references of my Command card (so left became right and vice-versa) and I would score a point if I kept two units adjacent to the manor on the right side of the board (a building hex.) He took Mustering the Militia, which lowers the cost of Citadel Guard units by 1 and allows him to score for every two building hexes he occupies. We both took weenie lists; him because that's what his card called for and me because I hadn't used the Banshee in a long time and wanted to try out her ability with a bunch of Necromancers. My Command hand was wonky for the entire game. I simply couldn't draw anything that was useful at any given moment, so he was regularly scoring 2 VPs to my 1 for a few rounds and that ended up being the (ahem) death knell, since I couldn't dislodge him from buildings with my Reanimates and Bone Horrors and the Banshee ended up getting kind of neutralized by my initial placement behind a lot of terrain in the center section. I also wasn't able to take advantage of my scenario ability, because instead of drawing cards that I could reverse, I only drew condition-based card (Order 3 units adjacent to enemies; Cavalry Charge (for my lone unit of Barghests), etc.) I lost, 16-12.

Then we got into a second one, where he took over Waiqar and I brought in the Uthuk Y'llan. He took The Cradle of Whispers, which meant that once per turn he could spend 1 Lore to move a unit one hex and he scored by keeping me out of the two Graveyards included in the scenario (he also added two more in his army list.) I had Staking a Claim, where friendly units didn't have to stop their movement when entering forests and I could score if I occupied each kind of terrain (hill, forest, plain.) Again, we both took largely weenie lists, as I wanted to try to break away from my beloved Obscenes. So I had a couple units of Flesh Rippers, but also a pile of Viper Legion, Berzerkers, and Blood Harvesters. I told him I was also handicapping myself by trying out the Doombringer. He stuck with Skeleton Archers and Reanimates, since he had the 4 Graveyards, but also kind of hamstrung himself by using two units of Black Knights. But he also brought the Barrow Wyrm, which is among the best of the legendaries. In the end, the Doombringer did some damage but died in one fight. Similarly, the Wyrm did some damage, but then got taken down by a unit of Flesh Rippers (it was already wounded), aided by a spell that gave them two more dice. After that, it was a lot of slogging away over banner spots and trying to disrupt each other's victory conditions. I managed to finally occupy a Graveyard (not only to stop him scoring but also to keep him from using it again, since he regenerated units with the other three(!)) and did, in fact, reach 16 points first to his 15. But I was also the first player, which meant that he got one more turn and played a Lore card to score an additional point, which meant that we reached the beginning of my turn with me on 16 and him on 17, so I lost again.

Regardless, it was great to break this one out. I'm thinking it might have been 8 or 9 years since we last played it. I'm tempted once again to get Budgernaut's Latari Elves expansion printed, especially since it's a lot easier to do so with all of the print-on-demand companies around these days.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HILL

Got a play of this in this past weekend. Its a 4 player game where the table plays various German officers/factions during WWII. Its got a bit of a Republic of Rome vibe to it. Each player starts with a group of generals as well as a role in the German high command - OKW, head of Personnel, head of Operations, head of Production. Every year those roles change ( til the high command reorganizes, at which point the OKW role is locked, while the other 3 are drafted each turn ) . As well, mid game each player gets one of five agendas ( yes that is more than the number of players, so there is some doubt as to which one isn't in play ) . The agendas dictate how that player will score VP at the end of the game. One faction wants Germany to fall, another wants to preserve the German old guard officer corps, another is more fanatic, etc .



During each turn, various decisions are undertaken by each player depending on their role. For instance, head of Production decides how to allocate resources towards replacing/building military . Head of Ops decides what techs to research. Another prosecutes the strategic warfare. Along the way theater commands are created and must be filled. Successfully implementing policies along these lines nets that player VP. The heart of the game is probably operations, where Germany undertakes military ops. Each area activated has to have a general in charge. If things go well, that general gets VP. If not, that general gets blamed - and possibly dismissed and losing a VP ( removed from the game ) . But just being in command gets you a VP no matter what. Where its most like RoR is that when a command is open, each player nominates a general - the highest seniority gets it, with ties being decided by head of OPS. Besides seniority, each general has a special ability - better w/tanks, better on defense, Kesselring good in shite terrain, etc. So the most senior might not be the best man for the job. Oh yeah - after Germany picks where to attack, the Allies don't choose where to attack - they are checked to see if they attack everywhere they are in contact. And those battles need generals to take the blame, I mean be in command As the war progresses, these attacks get larger and deadlier ( the Combat deck is coded by year and gets harder as the war progresses ) . Some generals might change factions and become dissidents.



We played the 1943 start and got through about a year ( seasonal turns with summer having 2 operations/military seasons ) . The scale is somewhat abstract and very high level. Is it glorifying Nazis - I don't think so. Germany is gonna get stomped on no matter what I think. Its a matter of how and when. If you don't attack during the summer campaign season you lose VP. Our army in Russia was a lot smaller than when we started that's for sure. We didn't get to end game scoring. As I was leaving, another game started up using the 1939 scenario. The game visually looks daunting, but has very good iconography and player aids. About my only quibble is that there are a lot of cards to manipulate, but that's minor. Your first play will probably be pretty choppy, but after the first play it will go a lot smoother. The hard part will be figuring out how to leverage the game mechanics to reap you the most VP. Your agenda card will help guide you.

Got invited to a small dinner party. Host asked one person to bring wine and another to bring pie. She asked me to bring a board game, and was really hoping that I had Masterpiece. I do not, but it's a classic game that I wouldn't mind getting. It feels amazing to sell someone a forgery and then study their face for suppressed reaction.

Instead, I brought a few Ameritrash classics plus Rock Hard: 1977. There was some interest in Kill Dr. Lucky, but two votes in favor of Rock Hard: 1977, so we played that. The other three players struggled with the game concepts at first, but really enjoyed the theme. By the fourth turn, they totally got it and enjoyed the game. The game is reasonably fun despite being a sort of worker placement game. The artwork and the pieces really support the setting. I still play like an accountant, but I did start to get into the spirit of things late in the game (after a couple of turns of no longer shepherding the others through each phase). I came in third place.

Took Shellheads advice in my search for Battles of Westeros expansions and it worked - I posted on the MN boardgame exchange and managed to pick up two expansions for a fair price.

So I've been glueing little men to stands and battling away in Westeros. I've plan a lot of Command and Colors and BOW rules / flexibility are just better.

Had a good 2 player game night tonight. Started with Deathwatch Overkill, which is the spiritual GW successor to Space Hulk, but the secret is that it's way fucking better than Space Hulk. It moves faster, and while it is less strategic, it's more fun in my opinion. Each round is wildly bloody.

My friend had never played, but he still chose the Genestealer Cult, which I knew he would. I explained that a fun way to play is to do a mission, then play it again, switching sides. He beat me in the first mission, partly because of my idiocy. We played mission 4, which involves the Deathwatch running off the map while board sections explode behind them. I foolishly chose a slow marine as one of my 4, and to make matters worse, the Genestealers played a card on round 1 that forced him to not move at all. He ended up exploding due to not making it off a board, which meant my opponent only had to kill one more marine to win. The name of the game for the Genestealer Cult is to swarm and gangbang one marine until you kill them, and he did just that, winning pretty handily.

I suggested swapping sides, but instead he chose to do the next mission and remain as the Cult. That mission involved 2 marines starting at a mine elevator, and 1 starting many spaces away from them. The idea is they meet up and take the elevator down into the mine... but as I attempted to get them to meet, the lone marine was taken down. This again meant he had to kill one more marine to win the game, and he ended up doing that. I think I would have had a better chance if I had completely bailed on the lone marine from the start, and sent my two marines at the lift down to the mine in an attempt to escape right away. I did not please the God Emperor tonight.

We closed out the night with Fast and the Furious. This Prospero Hall joint is a fun light co-op that channels Thunder Road. We attempted to steal cargo from a semi truck, and performed many wild stunts, including throwing cargo from one car to another, even though the second car was not manned because Dom was actually on top of the semi at the time. No matter! I ended up playing some enemy card timing wrong a few times, which made it harder on us than it was supposed to be, and we ultimately lost by running out of time. We had a narrow chance at victory, had the dice and enemy cards played out just the right way... but they did not. Oh well, it's all about family anyway.

Bust out the X-wing stuff (2.0 rules) for a 2 vs. 2 game on a 6 by 6 mat. My daughter, flying rebels and I, flying imperials whooped up on some Jedi/ republic and then played 5 person blood bath on a 3 x 3 matt where we put debris out each time a ship blow-up.

I think it has been over a year since I played X-wing, I did not care for the AMG changes, so I am glad I have friends willing to stick with 2.0 rules and I am also glad AMG killed it, so there aren't new rules coming out to create confusion. Still my favorite miniatures game.

What was the gist of what AMG did? I didn't follow. I knew the 2.0 and what happened with that in broad strokes.

I am a big fan of 2.0 and think it fixed a lot of the power creep and created a more strategic game (fixed turrets, added more maneuvers and dual and red actions)

AMG changed the rule set to what many call 2.5- I have never played Marvel Crisis Protocol, but I heard the new build structure mirrored that game. The new squad building rules are you pick a ship/pilot for a certain amount of points and then you have additional points to 'load-out' that ship. And for some reason named pilots could have more bombs, missiles, etc. than unnamed pilots, which pretty much made the unnamed pilots useless.

So rather than buying a squad for 200 points where you could fiddle with a mix of aces and generics with a missile here and there you were given 20 points to buy ships and then another amount to add all the missiles, but unnamed ships could have less. You ended up with all ships full of missiles and torpedoes and talents, even if they did not play into your list idea. This new build structure was the biggest issue with me and my prime refusal to adopt the new rules..

There were also lots of rules changes- random dial reveal for tied initiative, missions rather than straight dog fight in tournaments, new rules for bumping that discouraged blockers and a bunch of other stuff, some okay some bad.

And I don't think they ever had the rules available in any box set, so a new player would buy the game and get 2.0 rules, but have to know to go to AMG website, and find the tiny Star Wars link to find X-wing stuff to even know the official rules.

Oh and then the just quit making it.

Yeah, Armada had a couple late adjustments that I don't think ever made it into products but they weren't very objectionable, just balance adjustments.

That change would drive me crazy too.

Played Salton Sea for the first time tonight. Ugh. No, really, I mean UGH. Just not not not my style of game. It's a bog-standard Euro/worker placement process game. I'm OK with process games. I love John Company. But the appeal of JoCo and going through all the mechanical twists is that a lot of the game is played above the table. So, yes, we're going through these gyrations in a simulation of the East India Company and its depredations, but we really have to engage each other in order to make the whole thing work, for individual benefit and to keep the game going. Salton Sea is your standard head down, barely need to speak a word to each other except to say "It's your turn" kinda process that seems like someone was a lifelong solo gamer and decided to make a game for people that only want to play that way.

I'm being harsh, although mechanically it has some interesting points. You use cards not only as money to perform actions that cost it but also as many of the actions themselves. So you can take a single Extract action on your board and that's the only one you can do for the round. Or you can use a $1 card to do that action and do it twice, but now you have 1 less dollar to spend. And you can still take the action again on your board. So, there's a good push-pull system there and there is a bit of a race that involves buying shares in the companies that are buying the energy you're processing from your extracted brine. Those shares turn into VPs and also unlock bonus tokens and so on, But that's about the limit of the interaction, other than when you sell and make money, you take cards from the market which only gets refreshed at the end of a round (when everyone is out of actions.) However, something else that elevates JoCo above something like this are the random elements of both the dice and the event deck. There's RISK in JoCo, not only in how you push your luck with the dice but in what might come out of the deck. There is no risk in Salton Sea, other than that someone might choose to buy shares before you and get one of the bonus tokens you wanted or sell before you and take a card off the market that you wanted (much, much less trying than when such a thing happens in, say, Pax Pamir, since there are so many more cards in Salton Sea's market.)

So, it's not a BAD game. It's just not my style in the same way that a classic like Power Grid really isn't, either. Hand me a Knizia Euro and I'm all about it. Hand me most of the modern ones that I've played like the Brass series and... they're just not my thing. The friend that asked me to play is someone I've known through the Jen Con people for a few years and he plays with a local group that I know a few members of from previous weekend groups. But they always play on Tuesdays and we're usually at the local indy theater (we're members and Tuesdays are free movie night for members.) We just happened to not be seeing anything tonight so I managed to show up. There was a 4-player game of Arcs happening on the next table. Since they usually only play between 7 and 10 at one of the local breweries, I was glad to know that there are other people who think a game of that can be completed in three hours. I would gladly have switched tables, if the opportunity had presented itself.