What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

Wow Josh, thanks for dissecting it...I was in the "no reason for a new edition" camp but that does sound pretty good overall, definitely some improvements.

Dang, I personally procured the review copy for Nate...what was I thinking! He's just going to go and write some smart stuff about it and not complain about the box art for 750-1000 words!

Michael Barnes wrote: Wow Josh, thanks for dissecting it...I was in the "no reason for a new edition" camp but that does sound pretty good overall, definitely some improvements.

Dang, I personally procured the review copy for Nate...what was I thinking! He's just going to go and write some smart stuff about it and not complain about the box art for 750-1000 words!

I'll make a specific point to say how awesome the box art is.

Yeah, Evasion suuuucked. It's gone. Dracula's new lifeline is healing, primarily through the Feed card and by using Fangs in combat (another reason for him to fight!) Few other things I'm super stoked on....

Hypnosis, the card that would auto-reveal Dracula on Mina's turn? Also gone. Instead Mina gets this awesome ability by default where if she's with another hunter, as an action she can force Dracula to tell if he's in the same region as she is (PS, the board is now broken into colored Risk-like regions, this ability being the only place where it comes into play).

Newspaper Reports was also terrible. Just like countless others, this card seemed to come up without fail second or third turn while I was playing Drac and would pretty much immediately give away where I was. Now it only reveals locations that are adjacent to the hunter who pulled it. So unless Dracula is playing really boldly and sitting right next to you when he sets up, that situation isn't possible anymore.

No more Resolve! When I realized it was missing I thought, "Man, that's crazy." But I'm glad it's gone. As I said, teleportation on either side was such a souring experience. It's still very possible for the hunters to set up "the net," now they'll have to rely on taking the train to get there.

Speaking of train, I love the new train mechanics. It's pretty much lifted right out of Eldritch Horror. You pull random train tickets as an action, those tickets still read like the die used to, but no more 0 or X result. It takes an action, but you can hold up to two of them and with the "Chartered Carriage" event card, you can use 4 railroads. Really great when you're trying to cut Dracula off.

The way the game ramps up is a work of beauty. Each go around the clock adds a "Despair token," which does two things. First, Dracula can't play an escape card until he's played more non-escape combat cards than there are despair tokens on the board. Thematically, they're saying that's his pride. However, if he kills a hunter, he gets 2 points plus the number of despair tokens. Great way to keep Dracula from just disappearing and going for a cheap "wait it out" victory. In fact, he doesn't necessarily get points for the passage of time anymore, but when he does get all 3 despair tokens out, he scores 3 points every time he doesn't more by sea, guaranteeing the game is only going to go on for so long.

The combat...so fucking good.

Yeah, Michael...I was in the same camp as you. I got it for my birthday without even asking for it, was just a suggestion my wife made to my inlaws, but damn am I glad I got it.

I was hoping that I wouldn't need to get the new Fury of Dracula. The 2nd edition is still one of my Top 5 games, and it's the only game with minis that I liked enough to paint the minis, so far. (I will eventually paint my Spartacus minis, too).

But it sounds like 3rd is really worth getting. Maybe I will compromise by using my 2nd edition minis and box cover.

Shellhead wrote: Maybe I will compromise by using my 2nd edition minis and box cover.

Same exact minis. I painted my 2nd edition ones, too, was glad to find I could still use them.

How does FoD stack up against Specter Ops?

You stack FoD on top of Specter Ops and watch the former crush the latter.

There goes another $60. Glad I didn't pay money for my 2nd edition copy.

God damn it. I do not have money to spend on board games in general, let alone editions of games I already own. I hate you all.

Right this way to MiniatureMarket.com, folks.

Yeah, Miniature Market is NOT in my good graces at the moment. Kind of a First World Problems issue, but I preordered the new Survive AGES ago with them. I saw it came out, thought, "Cool, it will be out in time for a birthday thing I was hosting. Couple days go by, I emailed them thinking they missed my preorder or something. Nope, shipping department is "2 days behind" I'm told. 2 weeks go by, still no shipping notification. Game is in stock. I check Amazon, it's in stock there, too, Prime shipping. I email MM, tell them to forget it. You're not going to win the war against Amazon that way. Get my refund along with a, "Ho Hum, no skin off our backs" email from MM, spend it on the new edition of Samurai. Probably a win? Still, I'm a whole hell of a lot less likely to do business with MM now.

Fuck 'em.

Fury of Dracula - coolstuffinc.com
Fury of Dracula - amazon.com

Yeah, I'm in the disgruntled with Miniature Market boat too. Has anyone else noticed that since switching to a $5.95 flat shipping rate their delivery times went from three days to two weeks? Like J-Lo I had to prod MM for a shipping update on my last order and voiced my opinion on the new shipping process...no response.

On topic: I scored Loopin' Chewie for my birthday and got to play it last night. I now understand the enthusiasm displayed in that video from a few weeks back and can say it's good times bumping the Falcon around trying to wreak havoc on opposing stormtroopers.

Been listening to the Good the Bad and the Ugly Soundtrack while playing Flick Em Up. I ain't gonna get embarrassed at Trashfest. Nope. OK, well...I might...

I was so glad that I sold my copy of Fury 2nd Ed. right before they announced the new one (for $160, too.) Now I'm doubly glad, because the changes sound excellent. The Resolve/Evasion teleportation always bugged me, as did the insane risk that Dracule took entering combat, even if the point of the game was for him to run and keep running. With both of those resolved, this sounds took good to pass up.

Josh Look, talking about the changes to FoD2 in FoD3, wrote: ... there were always these random things you had zero control over and were just so much bullshit. Removing those elements, not to mention the dice entirely, could have easily pushed this edition into bone dry Letters From Whitechapel territory...

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up there. Bone dry? No game makes me and my friends sweat with anxiety more than playing Letters From Whitechapel as Jack. It doesn't create as many narrative moments in a game as Fury of Dracula does, but LfW nails the tension of the cat-and-mouse chase sooooo much better.