Gears of War Officially Out Of Print

I like one character myself and that's all I run now. There are some cards that aren't used and the reaction ability is altered. That is true, not a big deal.

For me, I feel a better connection with the game when running one character. I feel more attachment when trying to balance my hand of cards to do what i need to do and keep progressing in the mission but provide enough buffer where I can take a hit and still live to lick my wounds.

And with this connection there's that moment - That part of the game where I've tossed the dice from an enemy attack and realize that it's over. First there's a moment of disbelief, looking at the dice in a bit of stunned silence not fully comprehending the results. Then the moment of doubt, eyes darting from the dice, to the hand of cards, to the character cards double checking the math not accepting the results. Which then transitions to sorrow and pain for your character. Then onto frustration that the adventure is over. Then the mind sets onto revenge and before you know it your hands are reshuffling cards and setting up the game again not content with the sudden and abrupt ending to the game. This all takes place in a matter of 20-30 seconds.

That's why I like one character.

Gary Sax wrote: Still psyched I got MM's last copy of the print on demand while prices are already going up. So on to gameplay---playing solo, am I right in thinking it's best to play solo with two characters? Seems like some of the gameplay options are contingent on having multiple players cooperating.

Definitely 2, 'cause: a) there's a buddy to pick you up when you're down; and b) you can use those "c'mon and do the locomotion with me" cards.

Gary Sax wrote: Still psyched I got MM's last copy of the print on demand while prices are already going up. So on to gameplay---playing solo, am I right in thinking it's best to play solo with two characters? Seems like some of the gameplay options are contingent on having multiple players cooperating.

Yes, play with 2.

Gary Sax wrote:

MattDP wrote:

Gary Sax wrote: I think the base game is going to be cheap for a long time... you probably don't have to worry.

Ok. Can someone then explain to me why copies of what I assume is a print-on-demand expansion are rare and not, erm, everywhere seeing as they're print-on-demand?

Well, the whole business strategy of print on demand is not to have to carry major inventory of the expansions, right? So they keep just enough out to stores to keep them stocked.

Well, that means infinite supply---until their license dries up and they contractually can make 0 more. Which means that the advantage of PoD (small inventory) means that there are very, very few out in the wild.

This is something I heard from one of my FLGS dudes who is well connected around the area: One day he received a text photo from one of his customers showing boxes of Death Angel PoD packs getting boxed up to send to FFG HQ.

My impression was that customer's employer was hired to print these. Meaning the "On Demand" means a very small print run...Not one copy or a dozen copies at a time but more the magnitude of a few hundred or perhaps a thousand.

Interesting... those would definitely run out pretty quickly.

Because of the co op nature try 2 just to get a feel of the mechanics but you can easily play all 4 (my preference). I really dig this game and have completed all the base game missions. The POD is fucking hard, I've yet to complete a mission but it's really awesome.

Not sure why I haven't said much before on the forums about GOW but I think it's a solid game. I'm disappointed this didn't do better. More PODS or even a small box expansion would have been fantastic,

Even though I played the video game and liked it just fine, the board game has never strongly piqued my interest (even though I'd probably like the board game just fine, too).

But there's a clearance copy for $40 at one FLGS and the PoD expansion collecting dust at another...

And Doc likes it and we are of one mind...

Now I'm torn.

Trade for my copy of the base game and buy the PoD.

Went to Amazon in Canada and I see one copy going for $ 83.46 + $ 16.90 shipping!!! What the shit?!

Holy SHIT this game is good. Unpolished in a couple parts, but amazing system. Easily my favorite Dudes in a Corridor. Inspired me to write up a long article...

Looking forward to your article, Gary. I'm new to Gears as well but the couple of plays I have under the belt give me high hopes that this title has legs. We've finished the first mission only and we just managed to pull it off and that was in large part to a couple of well placed bolo grenades. Rules are pretty simple but the abstract movement and cover gave us fits. We had a time remembering to add in range and cover penalties when attacking/defending and using the command cards for their reaction bonuses was tricky.

Re: Gears.

I must admit to you all that the one big AT genre I’ve never been that into is dudes in a corridor. I like Warhammer Quest, it’s cool, but I’ve never had a need to get it again since I had it in middle school. I am NOT a fan of Descent v1, and v2 isn’t anything I enjoy particularly either. By contrast, Gears of War is awesome, the best Dudes in a Corridor game I’ve played. But it’s rough. I’ve only played about 6 games solo, on scenarios 1 and 3 I think. So don’t take this as an educated last word on it---

Awesome improvements to the genre

1) Real tempo---Unlike the other dudes on a map I’ve played, Gears of War has serious tempo in it. Specifically, Warhammer Questish games are focused on chipping away at HP, grinding it down, long term considerations. I find it, actually, quite athematic. By contrast, Gears of War regenerates your health quickly. So what you’re really worried about is getting into an intense firefight and losing, not marginally how much damage it’s doing to you long term for when you’re at the end of the dungeon.
2) Non-marginal improvements---when you pick up something in the dungeon, it fucking matters. Getting additional grendes, boomshot (rocket launcher), torque bow. They’re like a dying man getting a drink of water. The same thing could even be said for ammo you pick up. Great moments. No +1 sword that’s a tiny bit better.
3) No counting squares---the min-maxing is severely reduced by this decision. It makes range and LOS a bit weird, but it’s worth it and speeds the game up, pulling a trivial decision out of the game.
4) Frequent key decisions---some of the things that people don’t like about the game (e.g. orders are health) make the game interesting turn to turn. As in, win/lose type decisions. So using ammo or not is a key decision. Picking up weapons or items is a meaningful decision. Which orders to use are a key decision. Whether to dodge or interrupt the monster’s turn is a key decision. How close to get to the enemy based on your orders is a key decision.
5) Faithful---if it matters to you, it’s extremely faithful and thematic to the GoW franchise, which most people don’t like.
6) Enemy toughness---the wound system in this game is genius. It dispenses with HP, and makes tough enemies tough without making them a bullet sponge. An incredibly elegant solution that has been needed for years in this genre.

Rough Stuff

1) Gamey strategic flow decisions---especially the decision about keeping locusts alive so that more don’t spawn. This is bullshit design. There should be a reward for slaughtering the enemy. I think this could be solved easily by putting in some “quiet day” type cards that activate the enemy if they exist but otherwise give you a turn of respite if you kill everybody. It needs some tweaks in the AI card system. The game should be about intermittent, intense encounters with a breath between rather than some gamey situation where you manipulate a constant spawn rate. Your incentives should ALWAYS be to kill.
2) Uninteresting theme---I like the theme and prefer this theme. But this system deserves to live in a widely loved theme, it is that good. If you don’t know the theme, everybody looks exactly the fucking same!
3) Range and LOS---the system is creaky. But I don’t think there is anything to be done about it, and the tradeoff is well worth it by taking out lots of other tedious decisionmaking.
4) More teamwork orders---there is some nice teamwork order stuff in the game and it could use more. Follow is cool, and the game could use more mechanisms like this and more order cards based around proximity and use of other players on your turn.
5) Poorly balanced for number of players---this doesn’t work right. It works great with 2, but it’s easy to see how fucked up it would be with 4. The more players, the more enemies. But enemies get to act every turn while each individual player only once every few turns. It isn’t balanced quite right, needs a ton of playtesting to get this right.
6) No campaign or persistence---obviously, for this game to take its rightful place as the new go to for Dudes in a Corridor, it needs a campaign system. How to balance that with some of the thrilling things it does because it doesn’t do this (e.g. picking up weapons in the middle of missions) is a challenge.

Anyway, this is a criminally underappreciated game. I think a lot of the problems in this game are easy fixes, especially the strange incentives. I think that's the biggest flaw in the game. Ideas from this game should be driving Dudes of Corridor now, IMHO. But they are not, because Corey K’s amazing ideas were put into a theme that they fit perfectly into, but that boardgamers aren’t into.

Those are all good comments/observations Gary. I do really like the cover system and think it's one of the best parts of the game so I don't mind the Range/LOS at all. The fact that LOS is abstract unless cover is involved cuts down on time but makes cover really matter. I think it's pretty ingenious actually.

We've won with 4 but it's certainly more difficult. You really have to preserve player's health and use your reactions/follows correctly. It's not nearly as bad in terms of scaling as Legendary: Encounters though.

Something I forgot when I wrote that bit that is awesome about the game---it is not a game made with obvious expansions in mind. If you know the theme, they crammed EVERYTHING into this game that they could. It has all the weapons. All 4 of the core COGs. All the enemies through GoW 2.

It really sucks that they didn't release a big box expansion but the blow is softened by how full a release the game is.

The only thing the game could really use is some shorter missions than the ones in the base game and the POD expansion. I would love for something that could easily be played in an hour or so with a couple of COGs.