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

Fate of the Fellowship again and I have to say that the supposed magic ingredient of moving the Eye is definitely helpful and is something that should be done, but certainly isn't the end-all, be-all, either. We had three players again and in wanting to branch out from the suggested pairings, we might have taken things too far. I was playing Gandalf and Eomer and then there was Legolas and Faramir, as well as Frodo and Gollum. Gollum's ability to avoid the Search and Prepare anywhere is fantastic, but it also means having to keep destinations clear of friendly troops. That's why we took so much battle ability with the other four, but the key thing we were missing was someone who can do a Muster without Friendship. None of us could do it (Arwen, Eowyn, Gimli, and Boromir are the four that can) so that, even with Gandalf's ability to double Muster, I still was short of Friendship for much of the game in order to use it (or having Gandalf in the right spot.) Once again, we fairly easily did the Favor of the Elves and Isengard objectives, but stalled on getting that many dudes to North Ithilien in order to Challenge Sauron. We kept the Eye away and got up to 8 Hope at one point, but then lost Helm's Deep again because we simply couldn't cover that many bases and still didn't have enough dudes to do the third objective before we ran out of player cards to draw and, thus, ran out of Hope. Frodo had enough Stealth to get through Udun to Mt. Doom and would've had enough rings with one more turn of exchange from Faramir, so it's not like we faceplanted like the other night with 5 players, but we still couldn't have finished Challenge Sauron in the process.

Review forthcoming. There are a lot of positives. A lot of them. But there's an issue with the rulebook (the Search description in the book is incredibly vague on Nazgul dice requirements, compared to the hints card; something we didn't notice until today, so many of our Searches in the previous two games were probably worse than they should've been) and, in general, it simply feels overtuned, such that the enjoyable experience outstays its welcome for how long it takes to plan your way through everything.

Have you been using the suggested starting objectives each play? That's fine as an intro, but you should totally start randomizing those at some point. There are lots of neat things in there calling to key moments in the books and integrating the broader themes. It won't likely change how you think about the game or anything, just a suggestion if you hang onto it for future play.

Yes, we have, because I assumed that those were the "easier" objectives but the Challenge Sauron one is quite logistically unfriendly when compared to the other two, since it seems to assume that you'd do Elves first, then Isengard, and then Challenge, just like the story. But the variables of Shadow cards, Event cards, and dice seem to make that one extraordinarily difficult, such that when the other two are accomplished, we're largely spent in terms of resources to move things around. Again, we're not completely lost on it and we could probably have accomplished it last night, but we ran out of cards. I was thinking about your suggestion after the game last night, in that having different things to strive for might change my perspective on it. I'm not totally soured on it, as I remember taking a couple games to get the hang of Pandemic, too. It's just that the average game of Pandemic didn't take three hours, either.

Three hours seems pretty long. Takes us around 90-120 with lots of discussion. This is at four and five players.

Yeah. One of our three is a mild AP type of player, especially in co-op games where he's always concerned about making things worse for everyone else. He's fine in playing 1v1 stuff like Ankh. So, yeah, it's possible that the "outstays its welcome" is at least partially group generated.

SETI, 2p. Huge, sprawling point-salad Euro. Doesn't do anything new, but it does a lot of things I like pretty well. Has a rotating solar system where the inner planets rotate faster than. Cards with lots of uses. Many ways to get points. Science-y veneer. Each game has two (of five possible) alien races, each of which provides different ways to engage and get points in the endgame. Apparently there's an expansion that provides variable player powers.

Going to be making a major move (alliteration!) in the near future and the collection is going to have to be winnowed down some, so I've been making some effort to dig through the "not played very often" pile and see what's going to be kept and what's moving on. Tonight it was Gandhi: The Decolonization of British India. It's a COIN game from GMT and while we were scheduled for 4, one had to drop out, so we played with 3. One had played once before, but the other was a total newb, so there was some explanation involved and, since we only had 3 hours before the Alehouse closes, I took the two non-violent factions (Indian National Congress and Muslim League), the experienced player took the Revolutionaries, and the new guy took the Raj and we set up the short game.

I've never done the two-factions-at-once thing, since we've always played with 4 before and it's, uh, quite the brain melter. Since the two have multiple actions that affect each other, you have to win with BOTH, so you can't just lay down with one and win with the other one. But since they have multiple actions that affect each other, it's kind of a challenge to make progress with both of them in the same way you normally would. The short game is a boost, though, since it begins with both of them in a fairly advantageous position. At one point, we had the Raj down to 16 points but he came roaring back after the first Campaign card and leaned heavily into Imperialism (from Govern) for the rest of the game, eventually ending up with 43 points (4 more than needed) before I played an event that blew up his position in West Bengal and then drove him out of a couple of the smaller states, as well, bringing him back down to 37 and with no Resources remaining. The Revolutionaries played a good, subtle game, keeping most of their guys underground and out of the sights of the British. I made great progress with the Muslim League, setting up Muslim states in Sind, East Bengal, Assam, and Punjab (i.e. almost what became Pakistan and later Bangladesh) but I just couldn't get over the hump with the Congress, being stuck on 19 points. So, when the next Campaign card came up, the Revolutionaries walked off with it with 17. It was a really solid game, given that one player had never played before and I was playing for the first time in years and trying to manipulate two factions. I was pretty sure this one was on the 'keep' pile and I think this confirms it.

Sometimes those COIN games really stretch to find a 4 way free for all situation where there may not be one, but that one feels like it actually has some legitimate positions.

Totally agree. I think Cuba Libre suffers from that to some degree, in that the DR positions seem kinda hackneyed versions of a couple of the others just in order to have a 4th faction (and uses the same card progression system as Gandhi.) But the four in Gandhi have such clear intentions that it makes them quite distinct, which is impressive since almost all of the League and Congress actions are the same things. I think that territorial separation is what really makes it work. Speaking of which, Cuba Libre is on the "does it stay or does it go?" pile, too...

Have played three games of Cthulhu: Death May Die since the last time I posted here. We jammed through Season 2, Episode 1 (Strange Bedfellows) against Nyarlathotep in fairly routine fashion. I don't remember all the Investigators we had, but there were three of us and Robert's Slaughter track soon turned him into an irresistible killing machine. One of us died, but we dispensed with the Dark Pharaoh in about three turns. And then one of my regular playing partners left for grad school, so I've played a couple solo, which is really my least favorite method of board gaming, but I've got little choice if I want to keep making progress in a reasonable time frame.

First game against episode 2 (Nameless Woods) was against Hastur and instead of lining up a balanced party, I just took two investigators that I'd been wanting to play in Ikeda Saito and Salvador Dali. The former's speed, toughness, and ability to alter dice based on wounds I thought was flexible and cool enough to try, while Dali is Dali and he also has some rerolls with Flexible and Arcane Mastery. But the Yellow Sign tokens kind of wore us down and the Nightgaunts turned into something of an extraordinary problem because we couldn't do enough wounds to take them out before they'd flock somewhere else. In the end, we got ground down and couldn't complete the ritual before Hastur arrived, at which point it became too much and both characters died from wounds.

The next time I tried, I again just took whoever looked cool or that I'd been wanting to try, so I teamed up Amir with Bert (Albert Einstein) against Tsathoggua. The latter is quite cool because he has Toughness and can investigate in dangerous spaces. That allowed him to pick up quite the collection of items and companions. Between the chainsaw (+2 green dice against monsters, -1 die against cultists) and the Bowie knife (+2 green dice if fighting a solo monster), Bert turned into the front man destroyer, while Amir with Swiftness was able to run around and disrupt the ritual before the big toad could arrive on his own. Of course, I only realized after I'd picked them both that that they both had what many consider the best skill in the game, which is Arcane Mastery. Some rapid advancement of that and suddenly Bert's rolls were kind of insane. But the toad's Fatigue tokens when in his final form were really onerous and Amir died to them on his last turn while Bert would have died if he hadn't managed to get two attacks in on the GOO and wipe it out before that. So, again, a close game that was interesting, even though Arcane Mastery was a decided edge.

Last night was the debut of Dark Blood to my group. This is a gorgeously overproduced worker placement game that also has area control, take that mechanics, and even some bidding. It has a lot in common with Cthulhu Wars but there are no dice and no actual battles.

Each faction is a different cult trying to wring the most power out of a poor village of peasants. I controlled the Necromancers, and two other players had the Demonologists and the Doom Sayers, which are basically plague doctors predicting the end of days.

The game is complex, and the manual is lacking in some key details, but I had gleaned many of them from an FAQ thread on BGG. There are cases where actual TERMS are missing from the manual.

Each faction has its own strengths. My Necromancers can build up their cult cheaply and don't rely on peasants so much. The typical way to gain cult members is to convert peasants. Since I did not need peasants (I just spend bones or silver since I'm basically raising the dead), I set about murdering peasants to deny them to the other players.

There are many ways to score VP (hilariously referred to as 'taint' in this game) and picking your battles in terms of which ways you intend to make VP is pretty crucial. I knew I was going to get the points for largest cult, and I had been hording blood all game, so I knew I'd win most blood as well. You spend blood during blind bids, of which there are 5 during the game. I played it coy and only won a single one of the bids. Further, I had a power that gave me blood any time I lost a bid, so I just made sure I would lose. And, when I wanted to win, I was able to change the power to reward me for winning, AND had another power that allowed me to change my bid AFTER bids were revealed. I used this to win where I otherwise would have lost, and it was delicious.

The game is very cool, and is only held back by a couple of rules that are a bit "game-y", and a lackluster manual. It was very well received and I expect we will have it back to the table soon to try different factions.

After that we tried another new acquisition, The Gang. This co-op poker heist is simpler than I even anticipated, and we played it twice in short order. I'll probably check out the add-on powers or equipment cards, something like that. I liked it, but I think it probably really shines above 3 players.

I'm interested to know which rules you'd consider "gamey"? First I've heard of it, but I like the overall description.

Jackwraith wrote: I'm interested to know which rules you'd consider "gamey"? First I've heard of it, but I like the overall description.

One is that the game has the following "resources": Silver, Blood, Sulfur, Graveyard Bones, Anvil Dust, Graveyard Dust. But only the last 4 are actually "resources" in game rule terms. If something requires 1 resource, you can't use silver or blood for it. Some factions do make exceptions with this, but it is just a bit incongruous.

Another involves determining area majority. It is determined once at the beginning of resolving a location, and even if cultists get killed before they activate, the "majority" order never changes. It makes sense in game terms but is again a bit off-putting.

Neither of these are big deals, but they just seem a bit weird. I think you'd like the game.

One of the regulars at the Tuesday night Alehouse group brought March of the Ants. I own a copy of 1st edition, but I knew that he was bringing a copy of the Kickstartered 2nd edition, so it would be a good opportunity to try it out and see what changes they've made. The most basic change to gameplay was extending the formerly three-season game to four seasons because three seasons was always too short and would get worse with someone Resting early, such that it was difficult to do much of the central tenet of the game, which is evolving. I still got caught out by that once, when a season ended before I could get a couple evolutions down when I wanted to, but I still managed to get two complete sets (head, thorax, abdomen) which I never would've been able to do in that scenario in 1st edition. They also enhanced some of the basic actions and opponent reactions and upgraded a number of the cards to be more impactful. The most basic upgrades were visuals, as now all of the ants are wooden insects, rather than cubes and the artwork on the player boards and cards is significantly improved. There are also variants species on the back of each player board, if you'd rather play an (buzzword incoming) asymmetric game, which is cool.

I still enjoy the game, but probably not enough to make it come off the shelf often enough to make it avoid the purge pile. Even with the additional season, it still feels like there are too many constraints and too many aspects to the game that simply won't be sufficiently explored (like the meadow tiles, most of which you won't see because you only score for those around the Great Tunnel (which has been enlarged, so it is superior to the old one.) I think the basic design is still too bottlenecked to really become what was intended, which is unfortunate.

More Cthulhu: Death May Die. I'm on Season 2, episode 3: Sanctifiticur Nomen, where someone has committed a murder and you have to interrogate the suspects to find the guilty one and then kill him or her to disrupt the ritual(?) But this is taking place in a large church with associated weird caves, so among the suspects are a janitor, a monsignor, and a mother superior. I decided to test out my theory about Arcane Mastery in the most extreme example that I could think of by taking two Investigators who don't have it and also contesting the most difficult of the GOOs: Black Goat. Here's where we stop for a minor editorial: I understand the decision to refer to this entity as "Black Goat of the Woods", since no one wants to use the original name for it (Shub-Niggurath), as it's one of HPL's more obvious racist references. However, I still question why the mini for this GOO is male, when Shub in the stories was always referred to as female (Mother of a Thousand Young) and why its monsters are referred to as Dark Spawn, rather than the original Dark Young (as in "Thousand Young.") Weird, and not in the usual HPL way.

Anyway, knowing that Dark Spawn have to be one-shot (they have 3 wounds) or they'll (ahem) spawn another one of their kind, this episode is complicated by the fact that one of the episode monsters are Ghouls, who also have 3 wounds and also have to be one-shot or they'll summon another of their compatriots. The other episode monster are Star Vampires, who do wounds back to anyone who hits them with Elder Signs (aka Arcane Mastery symbols.) So, if I'd taken AM Investigators, I'd still be killing things faster but I'd also be getting hit in return. But wanting to be combat-forward, I took Agatha, whom I've been wanting to try, who can take Stress to add wounds to her attacks and has Marksman and Stealth, as well as Munoz, who has the Mystical Insect token which he flips like a coin to add a level to either his Toughness or his Brawling.

My first attempt was a complete faceplant, as my dice were horrible, the Spawn started swarming, and Agatha died about four turns in. Already in the midst of a frustrating evening from non-game events, I wondered if I'd set the bar too high. I'd also drawn Madnesses that encouraged both of my people to discard the Items or Companions they got from Investigating. So, I reset and grabbed one Artifact each: the Ritual Dagger for Munoz and the Runecarved Spear for Agatha. I also drew two new Madnesses in Hypochondria and Psychotic Episodes, which are both much more positive in their results. I proceeded to bash my way through things, interrogating suspects and narrowing it down to the Prefect, whom I then killed to disrupt the ritual and summon Black Goat. I was rolling pretty well and had only summoned more Ghouls and Spawn a couple times. Munoz fully engaged the insanity of the moment, rocketing up the chart and getting extra dice, while Agatha proceeded much more slowly. At one point, Black Goat had teleported to the Yellow gate, where a Spawn and Ghoul were already in residence. At that stage, he starts dealing out 1 wound to every figure in his space and adjacent spaces at the end of every turn. So, in the course of 1 turn for each of my people, suddenly there were 3 Spawn and 3 Ghouls in that space. Meanwhile, Agatha came behind them and blasted the Goat (along with some helpful volatile chemicals), whereupon the Goat teleported again... right next to Munoz. At that stage, he also summons all of the Spawn to him if he takes wounds and then can't be wounded if there are monsters or cultists in his space, so Munoz had to Brawl through things a bit, but then put more wounds on the Goat until Agatha could show up at the door and blast him again, winning the day.

In the end, neither Dagger nor Spear did a whole lot; basically just cleaning up some stray Cultists because I didn't want to use the Dagger on new Spawn or Ghouls because they would just summon more and because Agatha didn't pick up any extra dice in her attacks for a long time. I did boost her Killer Instinct, so she was dealing out 2 extra wounds for each Stress she spent, which is how she kept the numbers low when she did attack, though. At one point, Munoz was down to 0 Stress and 1 wound, so it was (ahem) dicey there for a bit, but eventually they came through. I don't think this proves or disproves my Arcane Master Is The Best Skill theory, because dice and because sample size. But it was at least refreshing to win without one Investigator wielding that ability and against the toughest of the Big Bads. The only GOO I haven't tried yet is Nug or Yeb, so I think I'm going to load up one of them next time (Shootout at the H. P. Corral.) Of course, using either of them means the other is on the board as a monster, so there's that. Corral also bring in Bokrug, which is another big monster, so this might be kind of a slugfest.