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

Back to Elder Sign. Now that we'd moved into the "proper" version of it with Gates of Arkham, we decided to start exploring the Omens expansion with the first one, Omens of the Deep. We're in the South Pacific now and the game moves to a two-stage process, where if you get the Omens marker through its track, you'll switch from Stage I to Stage II. However, most of the cards in Stage I are where you're going to be gathering the cool stuff (Items, Spells, Allies, Skills) and Stage II is where you really start racking up the Elder Signs. It comes with three GOOs (Hydra, Dagon, and another version of Cthulhu) and two of them, Dagon and Cthulhu, are specifically tied to this expansion in that several spaces on their Doom tracks summon more members of the Deep One Legion. When you defeat them, they go right to another Adventure card unless you pay a price for them (discarding Items, Spells, etc.) If there are ever four or more Deep One Legionnaires on Adventure cards, your home base (a ship that replaces the Museum Entrance/Streets of Arkham) is sunk and becomes much less useful in terms of spending trophies. Since Hydra is considered easy and Cthulhu insane, we went for "Hard" with Dagon.

He has a very short Doom track (8 spaces) and defeated Deep One Legion end up in a stack by him, which is the amount of damage he deals when he attacks if he gets summoned. We were doing pretty well in our first attempt with Agatha Crane and Silas Marsh, but I had screwed up by not placing one of the Act I special Adventures on the board to start, so we ended up in Stage II with both the yellow die and a green die locked and with no way to retrieve them. There's only one Adventure in the entire game that gives you the opportunity to get a Broken Amulet token, which is what you need to keep your dice free UNLESS you go through the two special Adventures. So, despite making good progress in Stage II, Dagon awoke and killed us both in one swipe. Then we tried again with the proper setup, bringing Sister Mary and Mark Harrigan against the fish god. It took only a few turns for Sister Mary to be killed by the combination of Midnight effects and Adventure costs. She was replaced by Tony Morgan, but we were still fighting an uphill battle and didn't even make it to Stage II before both being driven insane. The expansions certainly make it tougher to play the 7-3/3-7 type Investigators, given the Stamina/Sanity costs involved. Anyway, still enjoying the game. Next time, we'll either go back into the Deep or try out Omens of Ice.

Played a full 6-person session of Unfathomable at the Tuesday night gathering. That means 2 Hybrids and the Cultist in the stack of 12 cards and all three of those ended up in the initial deal. Appropriately, the Cultist was William, the Acolyte and Master of the Tome. Somewhat inappropriately, one of the Hybrids was Singh, the First Mate and Captain. Totally on script was the second Hybrid, which was me, the Stowaway. Singh starts with a gun and allayed suspicion by laying waste to Deep Ones as often as possible. The Stowaway starts with the Starbuck, which does function as a special action (combat and then take another action) but I had the right skills to contribute heavily to the first few checks, which I did, so I spent my first turn or two picking up items and drawing cards. A couple of those checks were failed and it was obvious that someone was dumping cards and the finger got pointed at me because, of course, Stowaway. What I didn't know in adding a couple of those cards was that there was already another Hybrid, so I got tossed in the brig at one point... and then Singh went ahead and revealed himself for some strange reason. I hewed completely to helping out to try for the next few checks to throw off suspicion but other players were already convinced that I was another rat. The ship made it past 7 on the Waypoint level, but then ran out of Souls when I decided to just dump my hand and sabotage a key check. This game is supposed to be easier for the Humans than BSG was, but I remember winning a number of times on BSG and so far we haven't come close to winning as the Humans in the three times we've played this. It's still pretty rough, especially at that player count when you're guaranteed to have two traitors and a half-traitor for at least half the game. It was pretty unlucky to get all three non-Human cards in the opening deal, though.

How is the play time compared to BSG, and the pacing of the game? My friends and I loved BSG and played it nonstop for a long time, but the inconsistent experience meant it eventually stopped getting played and I sold it after several years of not hitting the table.

It's still pretty long. Most games are intended to be social activities, but because BSG/Unfathomable are one step above, in that you kind of have to do some "socializing" in between/during turns to suss out the traitor(s), it's still a pretty slow pace of play. This game took us about four hours. Granted, that's with six people, but still not something you'd generally play in a two hour window.

My experience with BSG was quite different. I picked it up as soon as it was released and we played three times in the following month and it just didn't work with my group. I ended up trading it but then ran into a different group that loved it and so played several times with them (they had acquired a couple of the expansions by then, which Unfathomable has incorporated the better parts of, to the best of my memory) and I thought it was fine. Not sure why it didn't click with my (then) regulars. In contrast, every time I've pulled this out since acquiring it last year, people have loved it. This game was hilariously fun.

That’s awesome.

Haven't posted here much in awhile since a lot of my online time has switched to the phone and Discord.

Still playing a lot of Summoner Wars (online mostly) although I have taught the 9 year old daughter and some local players. Still running the podcast (Discard for Magic) with my co-host Aaron. Been about two years and over 50 episodes now. A couple new factions are due next week. The basic "dwarf ass dwarves" called the Guild Dwarves and a faction of humans that ride dragons, the Drakesun Rebellion. That'll bring it to 30 factions, out of a mathematically possible 66. Releases have slowed to 4-6 factions a year, so that means the game will keep going for some time if it's successful enough for PHG to keep the lights on.

I play Magic (commander) with two separate groups because that's kind of the game du jour. I prefer sealed and draft... will be going to the Avatar set pre-release tomorrow and look forward to it as I really like the source material... probably even more than when they did this for Final Fantasy or LotR.

When I make it to the normal game club I often play Root, as those guys miss playing Root with me.

I have started up with BGA a little. Currently playing a game of Race for the Galaxy with friends. I found that Res Arcana had turns a little too small and I'd forget what the heck I was doing days later. Name is the same there as here.

You, me: half-same on Magic. I was a hardcore tournament player in constructed for all of the 90s, but my favorite format was still probably draft. There was a group that met in a store in Ann Arbor on Tuesday nights for a couple years in the late 90s that was me, Pat Chapin, Erik Taylor, and a few other regulars and we'd draft every time, reserving constructed for the weekends. On release days, I'd spend all day at Neutral Ground drafting (was really the best way to pick up and test new cards, too.) In contrast, I detested sealed. It was too luck dependent, whereas draft felt like there was more skill involved.

Glad the podcast is still rolling for you guys. I saw when the Filth were released and was slightly tempted, but I think the game just isn't for me.

Gary Sax wrote: I played a game of Vantage solo over the last three days or so... it was one of those magical plays of the game that really went somewhere epic and unexpected (when I got a mech suit in the first couple locations, it was on). It's a pretty brave and bold decision to make a design that I've played maybe, like 10 times and have had 2 very epic legend worthy games and like 8 very humble and fun little adventures. Your tolerance for 1-2 hour romps with a *possiblity* of pretty wild stuff is going to be an issue.

Tom at SU&SD basically just panned it . I was a third of the way into his video while he was extolling its virtues and I thought: "I bet he's going to be making a reference to multiplayer solitaire before we're done here." And, sure enough, he mentions that not only is there no reason to pay attention to what anyone else is doing, but most of the adventures aren't interesting enough for you to want to pay attention in the first place. This has been my universal reaction to every Stonemaier game I've played. They're not bad games. Many of them have been quite good games, like Wingspan. But they're also all excellent candidates for game players who have no problem playing a game alongside other people, but often aren't interested in playing a game with those people. That's why I traded Wingspan, because I realized that it was possible to play a game of it without saying a word to the other people in the room. His assertion is that Vantage is the same way and the fact that Jamey said there's a 99.99% chance that something you're looking for is already in the game just means that the vast majority of the adventures are as generic as possible to be able to cover all those bases. When I first heard about it, my initial thought was that the concept sounded cool. My second thought was that it sounded like an enormous choose-your-own-adventure book which, again, is fine for people that like that. Probably won't be for me, though.

As Jackwraith says, UNFATHOMABLE is going to play like BSG with some of the latters rough edges smoothed out, mechanically. I've only played it once, vs probably 30+ plays of BSG. In my one playing the humans got hit with a bunch of stuff earlier on; had it been BSG I think they would have been cooked. But in UNFATHOMABLE they seemed more reslient - again it was only one game. The group I played it with had more experience but echoed the same thoughts.

I still vastly prefer the theme of BSG, but from a pure game perspective I like what they've done with UNFATHOMABLE.

Had a 4 player game night last night, with my girlfriend and another couple. We started with The Gang, and after several attempts finally won a game. It was well liked and the other couple bought their own copy on the spot.

Next was a game they had brought, Ransom Notes. Each player gets a little magnetic board, and a bunch of tiny magnet tiles with words on them. Each round a card is flipped with instructions on it like "what are you saying to the teller to tell them you are robbing the bank?" and then people have to use any of their available tiles to make a "ransom note" on their magnetic board. It went on a bit long for my taste but it was okay.

Finally we played Hellapagos, and it went over very well but my girlfriend was NOT happy when I shot and killed her. She was actually brought back to life by one of the other players, but then I was able to steal a card from everyone, which got me the Conch card FROM my zombie girlfriend, and I used it to avoid dehydration and escape while all the other players died. I heard about my actions in this game ALL DAY.

That's what a game of Hellapagos should always be. Well done.

I played some Captain's Chair in person last week with a friend at a brewery. There's just no way around that it's a) a longer game of this type (2 to 2 1/2 hours perhaps) and b) there's a lot of fiddling with your own stuff even in 2p.

That said, our game was quite interactive, and we weren't using the most combative decks (Sisko vs. Shran). My opponent was blasting me with a self-replicating mines/Major Kira combination until I finally logged it, and I was killing a lot of away teams with my disruptors and weapons, dismissing duty officers with other weapons, and getting glory for it.

I think it can simultaneously be true that the game has a lot of combo diddling in your own tableau but that it is also simultaneously *not* multiplayer solitaire at all.

Gary Sax wrote: I played some Captain's Chair in person last week with a friend at a brewery. There's just no way around that it's a) a longer game of this type (2 to 2 1/2 hours perhaps)

I was wondering how/if they slashed time off the imperium play time. I was hoping for 90 minutes.

I wouldn't say it's very different in play time.

Games have a time ticking VP time clock that can be rushed, which I think is a nice improvement in terms of game end from Imperium. But there's so much on all the cards, you're really working through them pretty hard, so I haven't found much game time difference. I could imagine a glory (VP) focused sides rush the game to get to 90 minutes (the klingon deck, Koloth, in the base set), but generally probably not.

Had Game Day yesterday and the usual suspect, Nate, showed up. I had been playing a lot of Elder Sign: Omens and was actually itching to play Elder Sign, but after the Domestic Goddess that is my wife made lunch, she said, "I'm just going to lay down for a bit. Wake me when Nate comes." Nate arrived, and I tried rousing her, but she was a grumpus. So, I let her lay for a bit more. When I tried again, She had locked the door, which is her saying "I'm sleeping like a Necron on a Tomb Word."

So, we didn't play ES. I suggested Dungeon!, and Nate was all for it. We played the intro rules (Heroes or Elves) and I gave him a heads up as to where all the magic swords could be found. I also told him not to venture down to level 4 until he had a weapon. Then, we started playing.

Nate had it REAL easy as an Elf, seeing that most of the low level monsters were easier for him to kill. He found Baby's First Sword +1 and had a bag of gold. He got uppity for an Elf and went down to level 4. Met a mummy, failed to kill it, and had to drop his gold. Nate said, fuckit I'm gettin me money, and went back in. This time, he threw the sword at the mummy. Now swordless, the hapless Elf went to the 2nd level to try his luck.

I was on the second level, got the sword, and then went to the 3rd level for more opportunities for the big bucks. I killed a giant spider and found an ESP medallion. Huzzah! That would make my job easier, as I trucked down to 4th level. Guess who didn't use the medallion before entering the Crypt chamber? Me. My monster? Green Slime. I attacked and failed. Thinking, eh I have enough treasure to lose. I roll snake eyes.

An Uppity Hero got slimed like an actor from You Can't Do That on Television. Since this version has PLAYER ELIMINATION on death, Nate won, crying "DEE-FAULT!" Nate wanted to play again, this time with the full game. Guess what we picked as characters? Hero and Elf.

The usual shenanigans occurred, but this time the Overconfident Elf decided to brave 4th level again and met a Werewolf. He failed to kill it and got wounded for his troubles, losing all his treasure and being sent back to start to do it all again. I, on the other hand, was making out like gangbusters. Oodles of treasure and a magic sword and I decided to go to 3rd level. My first monster? A Mummy.

Those fucking things are the Bouncers of the Dungeon, because they don't take anyone's shit and make you hurt financially. I went full on with the Gambler's Phallacy. I would go in to kill the Mayor McMummy, and get my ass kicked, and lose treasure. I did this FIVE times, losing my sword in the end. What did I do? I DIDN'T HEAR NO BELL! For the next six turns, I would go in, get my ass kicked, and then do it all over again. It got so bad, Nate's piece was close to me and he chortled, "Y'okay there, bud? Need some help?" I waved him off, went back in and got the 'retreat two spaces, drop one treasure, and lose one turn' result. Which I interpreted as me going into the room, door shuts, scuffle occurs, door flies open, my Hero is bodily thrown against the opposing wall, and the door shuts. i didn hear no bell. It was the seventh try before I got my stuff back.

Now, flush with cash and an implement of destruction, our plucky Hero decides to go to the Storeroom to plunder the rooms past it. Black Knight stands there (Evil Superhero). NONE SHALL PASS! I draw my sword and charge! Superhero holds out sword and I run my stupid ass through.

"Omae wamo shinde iru."

"nani?" DED! Nate laughs again. He starts describing his Elf leaving the dungeon singing to himself. I said, he's dance walking to the exit while singing "Lovely Day".

We both thought that was hysterical.

The last game we played was Eaten by Zombies!!, which was pretty uneventful and I lost, because of course, when I should have Fought instead of Fleeing. I failed to run away and discarded 8 cards from my deck and hand. When I went to fill up to six, I could only do five... Game over.

Next game day will have Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, come hell or high water.