Help with trash lite!

Michael Barnes wrote: Dude, did you buy Wiz-War yet? Stop being dumb.

Not yet. There are a lot of games on this list, I have to study!

I will probably end up getting several of these titles over the course of the year. I need to make a huge priority list like Black Barney trying to decide on a movie lol.

What about the new version of Catacombs?

Michael Barnes wrote: Dude, did you buy Wiz-War yet? Stop being dumb.

Puzzle Strike is delightful bullshit.

Why am I in the games criticism business and you aren't?

Because whenever I sit down to write a review of a game that's longer than a 2 or 3 sentence blurb I feel like I'm just regurgitating the same Board Game Review Tropes that are in every other review. If I were to do it I'd want my criticism to be different and meaningful. Gaming is a lot of fun for me, I feel like writing about it at a level that I'd be proud of would take a lot of the fun out of it, and I don't want to do that.

High praise though, thank you.

craniac wrote: What about the new version of Catacombs?

My lady has a... well, a neurological disorder that basically makes her dexterity a 5. So I tend to stay away from games that require delicate hand coordination (or speed) because I want her to have fun too. There is no Cornhole 3 in our future either heh.

I really think the answer is Spartacus.

Extremely Ameritrash and very easy to change amount of time game takes with little change of how the game actually plays. Not to mention its the best of the GF 9 games and that is high praise.

One of my friends in my group actually bought Spartacus, played it, and sold it before I could freaking borrow it or try it out. He said it was terrible, which I thought was strange because everybody else seems to like it. I can't help but to think they got something in the rules wrong for it to bomb that bad. I'm still confused by it but I'll have to skip it for now.

It irks me because I was so happy that FINALLY somebody else buys a fucking game besides me. And then I don't even get a stab at it? =P

Small update:

Well, I picked up Wiz-War to start and have been doing test runs with my gal. I'm really digging it and am mad that I didn't get the expansions too. I think this will be a hit. And it's actually a lot better with just two players than I would have imagined. So, bonus points there! I've been studying the old threads on here trying to figure out what is the *best* way to play which seems pretty much like "season to taste". I'm going to start with Deadly Treasures and Permanent Creations. I have no clue what the purpose of the black cantrip deck is for though. Sounds pointless? *shrug*

I haven't decided what to get next but I think the one that came as a surprise was El Grande. Normally not a game that I would look at and when I saw the cover I shrieked. But it sounds really interesting and I would really like to try it. The price made me choke hard though so I will probably opt for a couple budget titles first. And there are a lot of titles to choose from. I didn't think there would be such a huge list lol.

So anyway, thanks again.

You have chosen...wisely!

It does play pretty well with two, but you don't see the "get two treasures" win nearly as much. It's more of a Wizard of Wor-style deathmatch. Even more so if you use the Bestial Forces expansion, which adds some cool summons and such. The expansions are definitely of the "more cards" variety, but it's the kind of game where that's a good thing.

I staunchly refused to play with the "schools of magic" method of paring down the deck at first, but with the expansions I've come to like it. It focuses the deck more so you can see some synergies between the different types of spells

El Grande is up there with T&E and the "best of the best" class of Eurogames. It really is as good as it's made out to be, but it is pretty much a three to five player game. I used to play two players with two colors each, lowest color was your final score, and that worked but it needs the dynamic of third/fourth/fifth player. It's really a pretty aggressive, sometimes brutal game if you know how to take a good opportunity to mess around with someone. I believe there is a reprint in the works at Z-Man, so don't pay the highway robbery aftermarket prices right now.

El Grande remains just about the only "favorite game" level title for which I have never played a single expansion. I have all of them in the Decennial Edition, just never used them.

Although I am a big fan of both the Spartacus and Sons of Anarchy games, I think that Sons of Anarchy is a better fit as trash lite than Spartacus. Sons of Anarchy is easier to learn, easier to play, and offers a shorter game than Spartacus.

SoA has been pretty popular around here but I don't think anybody in my group has watched the show (including me). Probably doesn't matter too much but it would help, I think.

@Barnes - Wizard of Wor, yes! I was totally thinking about it when we were playing. God, I sucked at that game...

El Grande seems to fit in with my Cosmic criteria - that being light on rules but lots of game. Plus it sounds like you can be a bit of a dick in this one? I'm not sure if it would fly but I sure as hell want to play heh.

Yeah, the z-man one is coming around and it has all the expansions for $60-ish online. I guess I'll get stuck with this edition whether I want the expansions or not.

Hex Sinister wrote: SoA has been pretty popular around here but I don't think anybody in my group has watched the show (including me). Probably doesn't matter too much but it would help, I think.

I still haven't seen Sons of Anarchy. But the boardgame delivers plenty of theme anyway. From the bold color scheme to the mini-screens that look like oversized black leather wallets, the components are great. And the game does a great job of forcing conflicts right away, potentially leading to grudges that will last the rest of the game.

Spartacus I have seen, at least three seasons of it, and that game only focuses on capturing the feel of the first season and the prequel season. The whole scope and focus of the show changes dramatically in the second season, but the game designers wisely stuck to the original format of the show, keeping the game about the best parts of the show.

I can count the number of biker gang games in my library on zero hands. That's totally some flavor I can dig into so SoA does stand out from the crowd. I shall interrogate... I mean investigate it further.