Revisiting: Neuroshima Hex

This game has gotten a lot of good press on this site in the past and I'm inclined to think it's held up. But I also prefer it with 2 players and there are a lot of popular 2 player games it has to compete for table time with.

How has this held up? Are you still regularly playing it? Is it a shelf toad for you now? Did you sell it or trade it with no regrets? And the big question for this one, has the iOS version taken over as the only way you want to play it now?

Did you know I was the first person in the US selling NH? I imported something like 30 copies direct from Ignacy back in 2007. I actually sold copies to Aldie, Derk, Thornquist and Schloesser. Of course I autographed the shrink for them. And for years, Portal had quoted from me and Frank Branham on their banner.

It's still a great game, but admittedly IOS killed its table time. Mainly bcause automating the battle resolution takes out the one really unpleasant part of the game. No more "OK, that hits that guy...but befor that, that guy hits that guy...I think..." As a 10 minute handheld game, it remains one of the best.

The expansion and the new factions were all really good, haven't seen the 3rd edition though.

Probably a good place to remind folks that the same designer's Theseus is REALLY good...

I have buyer's remorse.
Great game, but one I quickly realized that I'll never play it to the level that it should be played to really "see" what's going on in the game.

I'm with Barnes---this is a fantastic game but now that it has an excellent iOS implementation I don't feel the need to own the physical copy.

But see Dan, on IOS you can play WAY more and get to that level...I'm certainly not, I'm terrible at it...but playing it on the phone off and on over the past three years has definitely given me more of a perspective on its depth and the possibilities. Much more so than if I had played it on the table.

I owned the third edition for about 4 months and played it a couple of dozen times before trading it on.

Its a decent game. I liked it a lot. My main reason for picking it up was that i really like multiplayer conflict games, and my group tends to not be interested in anything longer than 20mins unless theres a popular IP garishly splashed over the cover. So it got a lot of play at 3-4 players. Its not amazing with 3, but it worked well enough. At 2, i'd pick some of my other games off the shelf. After awhile i felt i'd explored it enough so it bit the trade.

I have played the IOS version, which is neat, but i still prefer the board version. I like sitting across the table and chatting to my opponents, and yes you can do that with a pad, but i prefer physical pieces.


On the third ed. Mixed views. The board art is much better than the 2nd ed. THe counters are a bit bigger and thicker, and the art is clearer, but not necessarily better. The spinners are terrible, just use score markers instead. The solo card deck wasn't play tested (it requires more tiles than are available in the box) and is a bit boring anyway. The box cover art is horrendous.

I've played the iOS version 200+ times on the subway. I've played the board version, which I own, twice. So for me the game itself will hold up for countless plays, BUT I'm not sure the board version would ever get that many. Mainly because as Barnes pointed out its kind of a hassle to resolve the battles. This makes it difficult to say if the game deserves forever shelf status since its technically a shelf toad right now. Were it not for the iOS version the decision would be much simpler and I would probably declare it to be a classic.

We play 99 percent of NH on iOS. I used to own the 1st edition - the one Barnes was selling (with the DDM) but sold it. After playing on iOS, I bought 3rd edition and hated it.

design wise it was awful and I missed the old junk yard board. The elimination of the black borders on the tiles in the 3rd version makes this game a graphic design mess. The cover too. ugh.I sold it and picked up the Polish 2.5 version without the DDM but with Alabama (?) incl. the mad bomber. bought the steel police, New York, neojungle, and a couple other expansions. I have duel and the other big expasnsion, too, though I haven't used the terrain tiles yet or rules. I expect it will get more table play as the kids get a little older.

Status: keeper.

Still love it.

Always been my favorite, and still is. Had a 3 player game just last weekend. Theseus has knocked it aside lately, but we will see if that continues. It's not going anywhere.

Always gets a great reaction! I played it with a newbie gamer and he loved it, ex Marine, he said he loved "setting up range attacks"

The game is worth keeping just for the fact that Barnes gave copies to THE OLD GUARD(Aldie, Derk, Schoesser, Thornquist)

I will agree that the iOS version has killed any desire for me to pick up the physical game. That is a great little port. Also, the physical version has lots of expansions which always makes me hesitant of investing in a game. I've realized that I'm perfectly fine playing the game on my iPad.

I tend to believe that Theseus (from the same designer) is a much better design. I love the space/sci fi veneer and it's really just an excellent design. Every time I sit down to play Theseus I come away impressed with a tactic or move that I hadn't seen before. For some reason though it doesn't seem to get the same acclaim as Neuroshima Hex. If both games were set up on two tables and I had the choice...I'm sitting down to a game of Theseus 9 out of 10 times.

Update: They changed the graphics on my Android version. I dislike the new ones so much I uninstalled the game. Just not a fan of bland, lifeless graphics.

Did they change the graphics from the junkyard to the city of the 3rd edition?

I played the ipod version some years ago and found the game quite fun. Think I'd prefer the tabletop though, so have considered picking it up at some point. From what I can tell, I think I prefer the new cityscape board.

Mr. White wrote: Did they change the graphics from the junkyard to the city of the 3rd edition?

The board, yeah. The tiles have the same art as before, they just changed the colored backgrounds and some of the icons. I like the new look.