What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

stoic wrote: 51st State and New Era are more than just a tableau builders. They have... resource management, economic engines, and worker placement mechanics.

No offense, but I hope you're not the guy performing the eulogy at my funeral.

I can hear it now:

He had fewer than three addictions, molested barely a handful of children, and only cheated on his wife with one woman and two men. Plus, his murder spree was forgotten almost as soon as it happened...

I pre-write obituaries for free and lick windows too.

Played Camel Up at a recent meetup. And will never voluntarily play it again. I hated Longshot, and this one is no different except its at least shorter. My definition of fun in a game is a far cry from alot of others idea of fun, and a 20 minute filler based on dice and camels is 20 minutes I'd rather just talk about fun games. How the hell is this thing popular or even selling out at online retailers? It fits the definition of light, inoffensive, easy, and forgettable so I guess that is the explanation.

Also played Mythotopia. Previously I played one game of A Few Acres of Snow and was kinda meh about it. The deckbuilding feature doesn't do much for me. Mythotopia was a little more fun since there are a slew of cards you can buy and add to your deck with unique actions. But the game itself was too bland to get excited about and the drive for VPs that are partially solitary in nature (as opposed to conquering other players territory) isn't a strategy I enjoy. I'd play it again if I didn't have something more promising and wouldn't really mind. The end game was irritating too, all three players collaborated against the guy in the lead to prevent him from winning. Not all that different from alot of games, including those I enjoy like Cyclades, but still it dragged out the game.

As for the Glory to Rome haters you're all just wrong. I disliked that game on my first play because I found it confusing and ugly, but after another play using the Black Box edition I loved it. No downtime between turns, you have to pay attention to what every other player is building/has built and has for clients, and plays in about an hour. Not to mention great combos between buildings with enough variability that most games will show different combos being equally powerful.

Scott_F wrote: Played Camel Up at a recent meetup. And will never voluntarily play it again.

It's because you should have been playing Camel Cup instead. Imagine how much better that would have been.

Attention Knuckle Dragging Mouth Breathers:

Glory to Rome is a great game. With the original art or the sterile and boring Black Box art.

You may now return to your dark land of benighted ignorance.

repoman wrote: Glory to Rome is a great game. With the original art or the sterile and boring Black Box art.

I wouldn't have sex with Glory to Rome if she were the last woman on Earth. Though if she's sterile, as you say, there wouldn't be much point anyway.

By the way, it's cool with me if most of you like horrible games. I'm very understanding and accepting.

GtR isn't sterile, it's loaded with...

Delobius of F:AT and his wife invited Wadenels, his wife and myself over for a big day of boardgames.

Sons of Anarchy: Inspired by the recent incident in Waco, I finally picked this game up, along with the Grim Bastards expansion. I also made a 2-disc soundtrack for the game, based on helpful tip from an old thread here at F:AT. We got one rule wrong (can only activate a location once per turn), but had a complete blast. There were multiple throwdowns every turn, and plenty of smack talk. I thought that I was the runaway winner, but I actually about tied for a distant second place.

Lords of Amber and Chaos: This is my big game design project of the last six months, though it is something that I have been thinking about on and off for most of my gaming career. After a long rules lecture, we got down to business. Alex and his wife were playing Brand and Corwin, Wade and his wife were playing Suhuy and a lord of chaos that I made up, while I was playing the long-lost Osric of Amber. We decided in advance to play a shortened game, so I could get some feedback on rules and gameplay. Alex's wife had already crowned a King Corwin in Amber, with help from his allies Gerard and Dworkin. Osric tried a desperate military coup that failed, but perhaps could have teamed up with Brand in a longer game to overthrow Corwin. Anyway, after a couple of turns of confusion with the setting and the rules, people were having some fun. This was a great first playtest because we identified some major issues along with some simple solutions. Back to the drawing board, but it shouldn't take long to make the improvements.

The Gothic Game: As expected, this was a lot of fun. One player died in the Iron Maiden. Another got bit by a venomous snake. I briefly became a vampire and swooped down upon Alex. Wade was stalked by the Grim Reaper, until he fell into the Oubliette and died, leaving me the winner.

Chaos in the Old World: With five players, we brought in the Horned Rat. I haven't played Chaos much, so I tend to find myself a bit baffled as to what I should do with my turns. There is a bit of disconnect in my mind between what the mechanics do and what they represent in terms of theme. So I muddled along as Tzeentch, falling behind early in the dial race and instead focusing on vp. Wade won as Nurgle by hitting 50 vp, while I was second with just 42.

Just remember no early Birds and plenty of plastic minis in your Lords of Amber and Chaos kickstarter Shellhead!

At KublaCon yesterday, 10am-midnight! Phew that was exhausting but fun.

Khrysos: a tactical game of moving around a board "hunting" jewels and fighting other hunters. Was not very into it. All your movement or abilities are tied into a single dice roll each round, and there wasn't much investment in the game when it wasn't my turn.

Tongiaki: Really enjoyed this game. The theme and mechanics fit really well, and I loved the tight organic array of islands and ocean that slowly expanded and got more visually appealing. Also just loved the fascinating little series of chain reactions that would occur as the board got larger and fuller. I did get a kick out of how little we cared when our ships went off and sunk in the ocean. Dark idea, but just didn't really matter as players. I will probably buy this when I next have some spending money.

Sushi Go! Yup, it was fun. Only played one round, the aesthetics made it, curious how I'd feel after a few more plays.

Camp Grizzly: Every time I play a co-op game, they always feel so fundamentally similar. Pandemic, Forbidden Desert, Camp Grizzly. But Grizzly was fun, and for the most part it worked, because it really recreates the feel and events of being in the second half of a horror film. Fantastic art and characters make it really shine. I wish it weren't sooo tied into a map with fetch-quests where we all matter, but also don't matter. But I still had a bunch of fun, and the names, events, items all really do well to build the story and scene. Guess I should keep trying other co-op games.

Scoundrels: Played a skirmish with a couple friends, and a full 6-player game with a family. It was great, they were exactly the crowd my game is for, just shooting, and boarding, and being assholes to each other, but laughing the whole time. Probably going to simplify a couple details down even more.

Playtested a couple other people's games that were okay.

The Gothic Game: As expected, this was a lot of fun. One player died in the Iron Maiden. Another got bit by a venomous snake. I briefly became a vampire and swooped down upon Alex. Wade was stalked by the Grim Reaper, until he fell into the Oubliette and died, leaving me the winner.

Who's copy? I like keeping track of the, like, five copies in the world...

One of THE BEST games ever made. Not mechanically. In terms of FUN. You guys are always on about games where things happen that you rhapsodize about for years to come...I have NEVER played a single game of this that didn't have some kind of now-legendary event occur.

After getting back from watching Mad Max, we played Merchants & Mauraders with the new expansion. Top to bottom what I like about the expansion:

1. Contraband. Now you don't just have to be a merchant or pirate but you can also be a smuggler. Contraband, makes you $7 profit and for ever 2 contraband delivered, you receive 1 glory point. This makes get a sloop a very viable option and speeds up the game a little.

2. Treasure Ship. Nobody went after the Treasure ship but it was a tempting target.

3. Improved NPC. Gallons, NPC with modification makes things a little more dangerous.

4. New mission, rumors, captains, modification, etc. I loved my crows nest which gave me +1 scouting. I won the game based on my last two merchant raids.

5. Random turn order. Adds some danger and uncertainty with random turn order.

6. Adding the Brig and modified Galleon,

7. Locations, nobody used the locations. Maybe they might be useful.

We didn't play with favors, loyalty or wind and weather.

Michael Barnes wrote: The Gothic Game: As expected, this was a lot of fun. One player died in the Iron Maiden. Another got bit by a venomous snake. I briefly became a vampire and swooped down upon Alex. Wade was stalked by the Grim Reaper, until he fell into the Oubliette and died, leaving me the winner.

Who's copy? I like keeping track of the, like, five copies in the world...

One of THE BEST games ever made. Not mechanically. In terms of FUN. You guys are always on about games where things happen that you rhapsodize about for years to come...I have NEVER played a single game of this that didn't have some kind of now-legendary event occur.

Wadenels has a copy of The Gothic Game.

Saturday the local store had a beginners/casual tournament xwing day. I supplied the prizes, from previous OP kits I've won. Waited about an hour after start, and everyone who was there was reasonably experienced, so made it a three round tournament.

New players showed up about halfway through the first game, so I gave up my spot and my list so one of the players could learn and play. Just as well, I spent most of the day answering rules questions and explaining to people how things worked.

(Pro tip: if you don't know how to play don't net deck one of the more confusing lists in the game and proceed to look like a doofus when nothing works like you think it should).

I had put some beginner lists together for learning games (limited upgrades and mobility) but when we started no one was a "beginner", so that was down voted.

I think next time they are going to order one of the summer OP kits, I'll run the tournament, and I'll organize things better. Several lists were illegal (mostly miscounted points) including the guy who "won" with my dual ig2000s that he borrowed.

Still, if it keeps me from having to drive 2 hrs to get decent xwing in, I'm ok with it.

lj1983 wrote: (Pro tip: if you don't know how to play don't net deck one of the more confusing lists in the game and proceed to look like a doofus when nothing works like you think it should).

Heh. This made me snortle.