Gloomhaven although it’s not just new to me. Regardless, it’s in my top 5 if not my favorite all time. I have played it about 15-20 times more often than any other game this year. It’s changed how I evaluate games.
quozl wrote: Frostgrave for me. It's an RPG / miniatures game hybrid that is simple to play and tons of fun.
I'd like to know more about Frostgrave. Is it like Mordheim? What do you need other than the rule book to play? Do you use terrain or paper maps? Proxy miniatures or ? How is the campaign?
It's the same sort of game as Mordheim but just flows better in my opinion. The multitude of spells make it a lot of fun. And yeah, it's a game you need to play with miniatures and terrain but it's got a relatively low model count and you can literally use whatever models you like.
Here's a link to a review I wrote for it over on that other board game site:
Unfortunately, I don't have any scenery for a game like Frostgrave. So, I'm going to wait till an after-Christmas Sale and then purchase every Christmas village and winter diorama scene for pennies on the dollar. Thereafter, I'll destroy Christmas like a Grinch and take a hammer to it all in order to reproduce the snowy winter wasteland apocalypse that is Frostgrave.
I really like Gwent. The whole competitive card game thing is something I get the urge to play for a while, then I fall off of it for a while. I quit Hearthstone a long time ago and will never go back to it, thanks to its insane power creep.
I did install Elder Scrolls Legends at one point, I just need to remember to put some time into it. I am a big fan of the Elder Scrolls games, so I'm already pre-disposed to like it. I'll like it even more if some card starts talking and calls me an "Outlander".
Egg Shen wrote: Near and Far - This is probably Ryan Laukat's best design. It's mixture of Route Building, Party Assembling, Paragraph Reading, and Exploration feels like the boardgame equivalent of the mighty platypus. I need to play this one a few more times, but my initial exposure to it has been very positive. The world that Laukat has been carefully curating over the his past few games is interesting and filled with wonder.
That's cool, this one is on my Christmas list. I've played Laukat's Islebound a bunch this year with my son, and we both like it a lot. I really like Laukat's art.
The only warning I'll give about Near and Far is you need to set your expectations accordingly in regards to how much adventuring you'll actually do. Much like Above and Below, the paragraph narrative portions aren't the primary focus/central game mechanic. If you're expecting an experience akin to Eldritch Horror where you read an encounter every turn then you'll probably feel slighted.
For me it makes for a more interesting adventure game that feels completely unique...but since the storytelling aspect was so heavily touted I can understand why people were miffed at the final product.
Cosmic Encounter: While I played this once at a convention like three or four years ago it was not until last month I bought it and played it. Man, what a great game. It's now one of my favourites for sure. Would play this every day, cannot stop myself from talking about it.
Dune: Made my own copy, loved the only game I've played of it. I'm hopinh yo bring it to the table more often because every single one of its mechanics blowed me away.
Terraforming Mars: This isn't as much of a great game as the above but I like playing it a lot. I have racked a ton of solo games too, can't wait to get Venux Next. And hey, if I'm lucky one of my Corporations will make it into the game woo!
March of the Ants: I think this is a very sharp design. Only played twice so far but I find it super intrigiuing from a gameplay perspective. The cool theme helps, too.
quozl wrote: Frostgrave for me. It's an RPG / miniatures game hybrid that is simple to play and tons of fun.
I'd like to know more about Frostgrave. Is it like Mordheim? What do you need other than the rule book to play? Do you use terrain or paper maps? Proxy miniatures or ? How is the campaign?
It's the same sort of game as Mordheim but just flows better in my opinion. The multitude of spells make it a lot of fun. And yeah, it's a game you need to play with miniatures and terrain but it's got a relatively low model count and you can literally use whatever models you like.
Here's a link to a review I wrote for it over on that other board game site:
Unfortunately, I don't have any scenery for a game like Frostgrave. So, I'm going to wait till an after-Christmas Sale and then purchase every Christmas village and winter diorama scene for pennies on the dollar. Thereafter, I'll destroy Christmas like a Grinch and take a hammer to it all in order to reproduce the snowy winter wasteland apocalypse that is Frostgrave.
Stoic,
There are plenty of cheap papercraft scenery that can be purchased. I have been using that to throw together my Frostgrave setups.
Tech?No! Bowl is the first game in a long time that actually made me sit up and say "Wow, this is fun."
I don't own it and only played it at Trashfest but I did play it three times.
The downside is that if I actually bought a copy, it would never and I mean NEVER get played. It would be placed lovingly on the shelf next to other dynamite games that will never see the light of day again....like Mage Wars and Archipelago.
Cthulhu Wars. It's shorter play time means it will likely stick around, at least till the wave 3 shows up in a year.. It's a little strange to hold on to CitOW, Blood Rage, and Cthulhu Wars. Seems like I should be able to drop at least one of them but still holding all of them for now.
Da Bid Dabid wrote: Cthulhu Wars. It's shorter play time means it will likely stick around, at least till the wave 3 shows up in a year.. It's a little strange to hold on to CitOW, Blood Rage, and Cthulhu Wars. Seems like I should be able to drop at least one of them but still holding all of them for now.
Da Bid Dabid wrote: Cthulhu Wars. It's shorter play time means it will likely stick around, at least till the wave 3 shows up in a year.. It's a little strange to hold on to CitOW, Blood Rage, and Cthulhu Wars. Seems like I should be able to drop at least one of them but still holding all of them for now.
How do you like Blood Rage?
It's likely my least favorite of the 3. What really sets it apart is its drafting mechanism. Understanding the cards and how to draft them help reduce all of the complaints things like "losing battles as a strategy is too strong", "winning battles don't gain enough effect", and "there are too powerful cards in age 3". I like how the asymmetry in the forces builds as the game goes on, you get the feel of crafting and fine tuning your viking death machine. It is shorter than CitOW and doesn't feel like it ends too early (i've heard this is a complaint for CW but haven't played that enough) so I think the pacing is spot on. I also really like the need to balance drafting different things, although quests may be just a hint too powerful, sometimes a player can double up on completing their quests fairly easily - again less of an issue once everybody knows it. Due to how the game limits units in regions their is not a lot of feinting and battles to set up other things, this is by design and would be a totally different game with different movement mechanics... but I think its just a bit clunky. Usually its more of a brute force deployment approach without a ton of subtlety.
My brother and cousin are big time into Magic and they are huge proponents of drafting and figuring out the cards. A lot of me holding on to it is likely because of them, otherwise I think CitOW and CW would be enough. Oh and the miniatures are fucking great so there is that too.
All 3 of those games have merit, but if I was ranking them it would be:
1. Cthulhu Wars - easy to play, great asymmetry, most overall fun
2. Chaos in the Old World - classic, cool factions, board made from skin
3. Blood Rage - tamest of the 3, no dice, but the drafting is cool and you generally feel in charge of your fate
san il defanso wrote: Bemused - I know this game has really not worked for some people, but it has been gangbusters for me. My only beef is that I really think it needs six people to be at full strength. Otherwise I really like it.
We like playing where players can make deals on their turn like "I'll use my ability to do such-and-such if you give me a random card from your hand" or "I'll show you my gemina if you throw a doubt on so-and-so." Deals outside the obvious quid pro quos really open up the game.
I did my
BEST OF 2017
list. Click there for details, but here's the list (in roughly ascending order):
Medici: The Card Game
Aquileia
Fallout
High Frontier
Cobras
Roll Player
Black Fleet
Crossing
Automania
and GAMES OF THE YEAR: TIME Stories (and The Lost Expedition, Spirit Island, Escape from 100 Million B.C. See the post for why)
There's a link there to my
bottom ten
(with some explanation):
Tramways
Alien Artifacts
Downforce
Evolution: Climate
Sagrada
Century: Spice Road
The Bird Told Me To Do It
A Game of Thrones: Hand of the King
Legendary: A Marvel Deck-Building Game
Great Western Trail
Games
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