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05 Feb 2015 09:44 #196918 by Shellhead

JEM wrote: Looking at the rules for Cthulhu Wars, it looks like something you could make up with an old copy of Risk, some card and a sharpie.


Yep. That's how prototyping often works in the early stages of game design. I bet that at least a dozen DOAM games were designed while using a Risk board. The designer of Zombies!!! deserves a royalty for all the games that were designed using his game for prototype parts.

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05 Feb 2015 09:50 - 05 Feb 2015 09:51 #196920 by iguanaDitty

Legomancer wrote:
The thing is, we already HAD a shitty dice game from Tom Lehmann -- To Court the King, which is also about turning dice into not dice.


I haven't played roll for the galaxy but man I wanted to court the king to be good. And kept trying to figure out how to fix it to make it good. And it's just not good. I still feel like there's a good game in there somewhere,
Last edit: 05 Feb 2015 09:51 by iguanaDitty.

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05 Feb 2015 10:17 #196925 by VonTush

cdennett wrote:

VonTush wrote: I own and played Steam Park quite a bit with one group before it broke up. Honestly though the speed element is crap. I hate it. That alone is the reason why I don't get it to the table as much as I could or should.

This killed it for my wife, as well. I'm not sure I'll get her to play it again. She can only handle time limits/speed in co-op games, not in competitive games.

Also, the Casino is fucking over-powered and the Security Booth (I think) is under-powered. I came up with a house-rule after two plays to fix this (though not tested) that makes the Casino allow you to make a blank die act as any other die and make the Security Booth allow you to draw additional goal cards to select from. That might fix the rush to Casinos and the Security Booths sitting unbought at the end of the game.


There is a rule that you can't buy more than one of a particular type of booth at a time. I missed that rule the first time, found that out later, then upon re-reading the rules the other night missed it again! So, point being, it is easily missed. That does take out some of the race element to snatch up all the casinos.

I'm thinking about doing two tweaks to the game:
First Remove the Speed Element - On a player's turn you roll your six dice, and you have to keep at least one, reroll the rest. Continue doing that until you're out of dice.

Second Remove the Bag Seeding - Just throw all the robots into the bag at the start of the game. Since the odds of getting exactly what you want lowers that means the value of the Promotion, Info and Security tents all increase because those allow you to manipulate your draws more. So do you really want that second Casino when you need to place robots on rides to score points?

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05 Feb 2015 14:41 #196936 by DeletedUser
Played 3-player Eldritch Horror last night and got our asses handed to us. We never really got going and ended up calling it when Cthulhu awakened with four rounds to go and no mysteries solved. We got unlucky with a couple of really nasty Mythos rumors and some badass monsters guarding gates and shit. This game can be really unfriendly.

I did win a game of Diamonds though which was small consolation for the violation received in EH.

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05 Feb 2015 14:55 #196937 by JEM
Odd numbers are worst with Eldritch Horror, and three is the worst of those, because of the mysteries that require Investigators/2 clues rounded up, etc.

A solution might be to add Charlie Kane as a fourth, communal investigator, this brings two benefits:
1) You get an even number of investigators.
2) Nobody has to play Charlie Kane, who is usually obliged to be the group's sugar daddy.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gary Sax, DeletedUser

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05 Feb 2015 15:59 #196942 by VonTush
Last night during my second solo game of Rune Age of the night the race I was playing finally clicked - After about six solo runs of the Rise of the Dragon Lord scenario. I was playing as the humans and, after I realized a key card said 'destroy' rather than 'discard' I was able to focus the deck and the human's ability to scout their deck and draw additional cards finally was effective.

The second game I never really felt threatened and that I think is going to be the problem with that scenario here on out solo. Without the competition there to push you and to make you be a little more aggressive it is possible to play casual and progress when you want to, not when the game state or opponents say you should to stay a step ahead.

I'll try again with the humans just to double check and see if I can move a bit quicker, but I think with that specific setup I'm done. But I look forward to figuring out the other races in this scenario. And revisit once the expansion that's on order comes in. And then move onto The Cataclysm scenario and start this process over again. So, despite being a multi-player game that I'm playing solo, there's a surprising amount of plays in it.

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05 Feb 2015 16:29 #196945 by stormseeker75
Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice. It's awesome.

Hoping to play Elder Sign this weekend.

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05 Feb 2015 17:34 #196951 by SuperflyPete
Steve, that's what I'm playing tonight. Got 1/5th of the bamboo floor in (who knew they are made of pain-needles dipped in pain?) and after I'm done getting a little more in, it's Dinner With Cthulhu.

I think Beef Stroganoff pairs well with Elder Sign. I'm highly sensitive to sour cream, so I figure both are inherently evil and both will cause evil to pour from a portal.
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05 Feb 2015 18:34 #196954 by stormseeker75
I had picked up Unseen Forces a month back for like $10 so I figure I should play it.

I also grabbed Red November in the last math trade I was in. Need to get that played as well.

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05 Feb 2015 21:55 #196955 by moofrank
Three games in on Xcom. That's a really interesting game, and feels more like Artemis than any board game I've ever played. Even Space Cadets.

The game is basically a series of events where you get 10-30 seconds to make your choice, which are presented in pseudo-random order. Then you roll dice in a simple and very consistent press your luck game to see what you burn off.

That makes it probably a terrible game. Hard to make serious plans, but the results of all of your snap decisions definitely add up. But it takes out the Alpha player problem with the speed, and the experience is absolutely engrossing. The roeles are very different. The different missions look the same, but the app seriously screws with order and behavior and frequency of events for the different missions.

Best part. You don't really know why. The details on how all this happens isn't documented. There are hints in the rules, and you start to see patterns and get better, but the only way to get better is by actually playing...you can't just analyze it to death.
The following user(s) said Thank You: ubarose, Gary Sax, lj1983, Gregarius

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05 Feb 2015 23:48 #196964 by Grudunza

moofrank wrote: Three games in on Xcom. That's a really interesting game, and feels more like Artemis than any board game I've ever played.


Yeah, that's a good description. You're each in your own role and really need to own it. But as a whole, some of the information is obscured and sketchy, and you need to squeeze whatever you can out of your various techs and abilities to have a chance.

I know they list it as 1-4 players, but this really feels most like a 4 player game to me, and one of the most truly cooperative I've ever played.

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06 Feb 2015 01:09 #196965 by Space Ghost

SuperflyTNT wrote: Steve, that's what I'm playing tonight. Got 1/5th of the bamboo floor in (who knew they are made of pain-needles dipped in pain?) and after I'm done getting a little more in, it's Dinner With Cthulhu.

I think Beef Stroganoff pairs well with Elder Sign. I'm highly sensitive to sour cream, so I figure both are inherently evil and both will cause evil to pour from a portal.


Bending many nails yet? That shit is hard if you don't knock the hell out of the nail gun.

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06 Feb 2015 08:24 #196968 by edulis
X-wing Flew two defenders (guy who gets the target lock who also had outmaneuver and a PS 1 guy) with Ion Cannons and a scimitar squad bomber with Ion Torps and a proton bomb. Played two games, one against a phantom, bomber, night beast and Fel. Lost badly. Twice I had the phantom in my sites while he was uncloaked. The first time was range one with a defender- rolled four blanks! two turns later took a range three shot at it with my ion cannon since he only had 1 hull left and I was packing a focus token.... 3 blanks. Got stomped.

Second game was against a swarm of Z-95s packing a range of missiles. I flew one of my defenders as a flanker and worked outmaneuver to my benefit and ion-ed my target to keep outmanuver working. My bomber had a shot with 4 z-95s in range one with the Ion torps, but manged to roll 4 blanks! I did hit two Z's with my Ion bomb, causing a -1 agility to an uninjured Blunt. Won this one only losing one Defender.

I was going for the idea that the bomber would Ion a bunch of enemy fighters with the Ion Torp and then the defenders would use their super k-turns to get behind them and Ion them into the proton bomb. Never worked great, but I enjoyed flying Defenders, even if they are one-trick ponies. K-turn Ion- k-turn Ion.

Evolutionby North Star games. My wife gave me this for my birthday. She looks for games that she would actually play with me. In this game, you get so many actions that are used to create creatures, evolve already created creatures (give special powers to be able to breed faster, get more food or be a carnivore), increase population or increase body size. Then everyone competes for available food, either plants or other animals. Animals that do not get enough to eat lose population and/or go extinct. Players determine how much plant food is available by secretly playing card at the start of the turn, so there is some strategy in trying to starve your opponent. Played pretty quick and is obviously ripe for expansions. I'd play it again.
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06 Feb 2015 12:18 #197000 by Egg Shen
I finally made the trek over to Uba and Engineer Al's place for a game night with some of the CT F:AT crew. Along with Uba and Al, Josh Look and Jeff (Repoman) were there for this monumental occasion. They let me choose a game for the night so I went with Cosmic.

Players/aliens

Me - Void
Al - Warrior
Shellie - Sorcerer
Josh - Remora
Repo - Graviton

Highlights

- Jeff jumped out to a big a 3 colony lead. He proceeded to threaten all with the his ability of GRAVITY. If you dared to aligned against him a promise of sending your ships to the warp was sent your way. I don't think he got invited as an offensive ally for the rest of the game.

- As we crept closer in colonies to Jeff he played a Flare card that let him eliminate four ships of his to BLOW UP a planet. He blew up the one planet in his system in which every other player had a colony on. Fuckin A.

- On one of my earlier turns against Shellie, I played a 00 attack card because I figured she was gonna switch with the Sorcerer. She in fact...did not switch. I sent myself and few allies to the warp.

- On another turn Josh Look and I decided we will both play Negotiate cards and swap a colony...one for one. I played a negotiate...he laid down his card. "You better not fuck me" is what I think I said about 30 times. We flipped to reveal...Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand he fucked me. He suckered me in and I took the bait. Hook line and sinker. Well played.

- Eventually Josh, Myself and Shellie had four colonies. Al was behind with only 2 and Jeff sat at 3. Al then proceeded to almost effortlessly have two successful encounters in a row and tied for the lead. This was much to the chagrin of the regulars at the table who were apparently used to seeing Al come back and dominate.

- Before it gets to my turn I did a Hand Zap to draw a new hand as the deck was low and nobody had played the 40 attack yet. I splayed the cards in my hand and like Charlie Bucket hoping to see a golden ticket prayed for the attack 40 to be in there. The final card my eyes locate is in fact the attack 40. YES! I just need to wait for Repoman's turn to be over and I'm fairly confident I can get a solo win.

- It makes it back to me and I draw Al as my destined opponent. Before we do anything Al plays a card that lets him name a card from any opponent's hand and if he guesses correctly he gets to take said card. He looks at everyone...then sees me with roughly 10 cards in my hand. "Attack 40". Fucking unreal. I hand over my recently acquired card over to Al. I then proceed to attack with 4 ships and play a negotiate which lets me steal back the attack 40. I know the game isn't going to make it back to me for another turn to use it.

- Finally Shellie attacks Josh Look. No allies are sent to either side. She hasn't used the sorcerer ability AT ALL the entire game. The cards are laid down. "Switch the cards!" The cards are switched and she pulls out the win!

Awesome game.


We then played a game of Quantum which is all sorts of awesome. Very tight little design which encourages aggressive play. I like it quite a bit. Shellie won this game as well...making her Space Queen of the Universe.



Hanging with CT F:AT crew was a blast. Shellie and Al's gaming room is all sorts of kick ass and they're all just awesome people in general. If you're in the North East these are some of the best people you can find to hang with. Conn Con, Trashfest NE...if you're ever on the fence just go knowing you'll get to play games and shoot the shit with some great people.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gary Sax, Josh Look, repoman, engineer Al, scrumpyjack

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06 Feb 2015 17:14 #197024 by Scott_F
Quantum is a very cool under an hour game; I've played it maybe 20 times total bt. 2-4 players and still like it alot, although I always tend to go for domination for my last cube and always take a combat oriented command card or the aggression card. I really enjoy that attacking is encouraged until your opponent buys a card to either destroy the attacker or destroy both players. Love that red button suicide card.

I played two games in a row of Tammany Hall, four players. Third & fourth time playing the game. I still like it but twice in a row is just punishment. The game forces you to constantly count majorities and cubes every single placement. Its a good game and I like it but damn does it give me a headache over four hours of gaming. I won't be asking for this one anytime soon again. Kinda the same feeling I had after playing it once, almost like a constant evolving spreadsheet of a game.

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