What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

Gary Sax wrote: One weekend without games wouldn't make me question my gaming commitment.

I seldom play on weekends anymore, too busy with family and house activities, errands, seeing friends, keeping my relationship going (14 years and counting), etc. I only get to see my kids and their mom in the morning and between work and bedtime during the week, I'm not going to ditch them first chance I get to play some games.

1-2 weekly game nights, after kids are in bed (or almost there), are plenty for me right now.

That Spad S.VII is a nice plane to play. A much better choice.

The Duel Pack with the XIII is nice to look at because the paint job is so damn sharp. But I think it doesn't represent the game well because that XIII more or less zooms, immelmanns, zooms, immelmanns . . . just takes you too long to bring the nose around.

S.

I want the "Thank You" the last three pages of this thread.

I had a really tough couple of weeks, and this thread is helping me get through some stuff. The traded off conversations about how this plane versus that plane in WINGS OF WAR works with the meta-conversation I started about the hobby is exactly why I keep coming back here.

ldsdbomber probably has the FATty post of the year with that grooming bit though, that was great. And Sag zeroed in on the disease whose symptoms include RNG whining.

MattLoter and I talked about this when he visited LA. I am the same online (and in public) as I really actually am and I make the assumption others are as well. This is probably a mistake, as for some, the real world is a masque as much as being online is.

Grudunza wrote:

Gary Sax wrote: Robinson Crusoe. Amazing game. Gets better the more you know it. Lots of subtleties that don't become clear till you play multiple times re: the decks.

Played this last night for the first time in several months, and I've resolved to bring it back out a lot more... It is so great, and I still have to work through the Darwin campaign expansion, which I've only barely touched. We played 4p with the Robinson Family scenario. That's supposed to be super hard, apparently, but we breezed to a win in the 7th round. I'm feeling like the scaling is not very good in the game; seems very hard with 1-2 and often easy with the full 4. I know it tries to scale by adding Friday and the Dog with fewer players and changing the cost of wood/fur for shelters, but it still seems like having more people and pawns to do stuff will always make it easier, especially on that scenario where you have to build a ton of stuff. I tried imagining doing that well (winning in round 7) as a solo or 2p game and couldn't remotely imagine that happening.

You're probably on to something re: balance not perfect. I've only played with 1-3 players, and it's plenty hard and fun.

To elaborate on one example, playing a lot more has driven home to me that it is not always best to build when you have a bunch of options. The first reaction when you look at the board is "I should always be building rather than gathering, maybe even exploring." That isn't true, but the only reason you would know that is if you had played a few times and found out how brutal the building event deck tends to be. Way worse than gathering deck, worse than the explore deck, both of which have a decent chance of even being positive. So instead you invest all your time in doing risky one pawn building shit and racking up these brutal events, which is a bad idea (at least with the number of players I've played with).

This game, at least for me, showed the way forward for the "flip a card" Talisman style adventure games we see so many of---basically making the flip a card events have lasting effect that reoccur and you can prepare for. It makes the game a lot more strategic. There'll always be a place for the simple "flip it and deal" games, but I think we're going to see RC informed ones start appearing from here on out.

I'll tell you what, playing in a neutral venue with strangers is a very different brand of gaming. I know you want to just be your normal self but you pretty much have to play more politely and be more reserved than usual just due to the social contract. Years ago I was playing Timber Tom with three guys I had never met, and one of them did what you do in Timber Tom -- he put a tree in front of my guy to block my movement. It's a pretty innocuous move to make, but it was straight at me. To break the ice I put on a funny voice and declared him my new sworn enemy in the forest. Not my best work, but I wanted to loosen up the mood with these guys so I went with light comedy to reach out to start a relationship.

Nothing happened. I don't mean like nobody cared, I mean nothing happened like the next guy didn't take his turn and nobody said anything. The table just froze and I realized that I was the only person there with a sense of humor. What would have been normal bullshit across a game board with my buddies had apparently been too brusque and the guy the comment was aimed at was looking like I had put a knife on the table beside me. I added, "at least for the next 20 minutes" and everyone decided that maybe I was kidding after all and we got back to playing.

I'd be curious to know if games at these new boardgame taverns where people have a beer or two in them work any better. It would seem to me it might soften the mood a bit. Given how little most hardcore gamers drink and throw in how cheap they are, it might not make much of a difference.

S.

I was banned from an 18XX group for similar reasons.

Of course, I can't say I was surprised.

Erik Twice wrote: I was banned from an 18XX group for similar reasons.

Of course, I can't say I was surprised.

Did you thank them for the favor?

charlest wrote: Did you thank them for the favor?

No, but I had quite a laugh afterwards.

I haven't been kicked out of anywhere yet, but we used to get dirty looks at MAGIC:THE GATHERING tourneys when 5-Color was a thing. That could get pretty raucous (as far as MtG goes), and we probably weren't helping things by having "BIG FAT COCK" written on cards, &c. We did perfect the art of using one's removal cards to flip up and literally remove the targeted things from the table. I saw someone do that at the world championships this weekend and had happy thoughts.

These trunk-full-of-love guys are packing just big games. I need something that sets up, plays, and cleans up in 1 hour. KING OF TOKYO will work. Any other ideas?

A Chudyk card game?