Front Page

Content

Authors

Game Index

Forums

Site Tools

Submissions

About

KK
Kevin Klemme
March 09, 2020
35142 2
Hot
KK
Kevin Klemme
January 27, 2020
20816 0
Hot
KK
Kevin Klemme
August 12, 2019
7404 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
December 19, 2023
3965 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
December 14, 2023
3491 0
Hot

Mycelia Board Game Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
December 12, 2023
2074 0
O
oliverkinne
December 07, 2023
2582 0

River Wild Board Game Review

Board Game Reviews
O
oliverkinne
December 05, 2023
2250 0
O
oliverkinne
November 30, 2023
2494 0
J
Jackwraith
November 29, 2023
3009 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
November 28, 2023
1971 0
S
Spitfireixa
October 24, 2023
3692 0
Hot
O
oliverkinne
October 17, 2023
2619 0
O
oliverkinne
October 10, 2023
2461 0
O
oliverkinne
October 09, 2023
2289 0
O
oliverkinne
October 06, 2023
2505 0

Outback Crossing Review

Board Game Reviews
×
Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)

Recent Topics paging, uploading images and preview bugs require a patch which has not yet been released.

× Use the stickied threads for short updates.

Please consider adding your quick impressions and your rating to the game entry in our Board Game Directory after you post your thoughts so others can find them!

Please start new threads in the appropriate category for mini-session reports, discussions of specific games or other discussion starting posts.

What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

More
25 Nov 2015 14:37 #215907 by Chapel
I will suggest a game that I think would be a hit for some folks here. It was for me. It's called Ponzi Scheme, and it's deliciously evil. Played it over the weekend.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 14:39 #215908 by stoic
Last night we played three games of Wiz-War. We used the big book of spells variant, permanent objects are permanent, no maintained cards that limit hand-size etc.--I like the classic rules. We had so much fun. I chuckled every time I put a funny card into my hand in anticipation of playing it...who knew you could have so much funny summoning a giant mallet and crushing another wizard to death with it? I won 1 out of the three games played. The last game was epic. The evil necromancer skull wizard player transformed into slime to slide under the goofy carrot top looking wizard's home door to steal his treasure for the last victory point, but, not before having boxed me into a corridor with a stone block and rosebush. Too much fun!
The following user(s) said Thank You: Not Sure

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 15:09 #215917 by Columbob
I hadn't played SC:AM in a little while and wanted to change that, so last night we played the first Moon mission (rescue 2 thralls and figure out 2 schematics before evacuating in the elevator) with First Officer Annie Fletcher and the Professor. First couple of turns we forgot to use our O2, had bad rolls, and got overwhelmed shortly after punching out the thrall control system. We tried it again with the same Cadets (still had to setup, reshuffle and redistribute all the Aliens and Discovery tokens which is frankly the worst part of the game IMO), and this time the opposite happened, it seemed things were all going our way and we cleared out with nary a wound. There was this one green man who withstood three volleys of atomic rifle without flinching, but it was just a matter of time before we vaporized him.

Still having lots of fun with Overkill, when we roll enough successes.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 15:35 #215922 by stoic

Chapel wrote: I will suggest a game that I think would be a hit for some folks here. It was for me. It's called Ponzi Scheme, and it's deliciously evil. Played it over the weekend.


Dude, we prefer to call it multi-level marketing. I have a great business opportunity that I'd like to discuss with you. It could change your life!
The following user(s) said Thank You: Dr. Mabuse

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 15:37 #215924 by bfkiller
The wife and I have blown the dust off of Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization and played three games of it this past week. I think that's kind of necessary because the layout of the rules is a hot mess, so re-learning and re-teaching it is a chore. The game is much better and smoother when the rules are solidified in your mind. I've won handily each time so far, but I'm not sure why that is. I honestly can't see what I'm doing more efficiently than she is when it comes to how I've built up my economic (cultural) engine.

One thing I continue to have a hard time with is remembering to adjust the sliders during and after each player turn. I don't know if I've played another game that involves so much administrative work (well, maybe Twilight Imperium...).

I took part in three games of Bomb Squad, which is pretty much combines Space Alert with Hanabi. Players work together to operate a bomb-diffusing robot to move, open doors, rescue hostages, and diffuse bombs, all against a real-time clock (the game uses an app). Each player has a handful of cards that enable these actions, but they're held face out so your fellow players need to provide you with clues as to what cards you're holding (ala Hanabi) before you can assist in programming the bot. There's nothing really innovative about the game, but the clever choice to fuse these game mechanics, the constant countdown to detonation, and the unique theme make it a fun play. The game comes with multiple scenarios -- I think we were playing one of the easier ones. We finally won on our third attempt.

The wife and I also blew the dust off Agricola after about a five-year hiatus. Part of the reason it sat on the shelf for so long is that I HATE the rule book. It makes the game seem so much more complex than it really is. We punched through two games in about 90 minutes. I didn't remember the game being so quick, but I always played with more than 2 players before. We each won once. She was fairly ho-hum on it so I may decide to find it a new home in the near future.

I was glad to try CO² again. I think it's a very unique game -- mechanically, aesthetically, thematically, and I'd even say in terms of utilizing game play to express an artistic / political statement. The designer obviously believes that energy industries need to widen their narrow focus on profits and be more collaborative in terms of developing innovative green technologies. But you can also tell he's cynical that this will actually happen as the world's reliance on energy inexorably increases. I think he thinks we're screwed.

As for the session we played, the four of us managed to not pollute the earth (pssh... so much for his cynicism) and ended up with very tight scores, ranging from 46 to 49. We got a few rules wrong, but we've scheduled another session in a few days, this time with five players, so we'll see how impactful those misplayed rules were.

I took part in the first attempt at the scenario that comes with T.I.M.E Stories. This is a hard game to describe, in part because pretty much any description of the session would include story spoilers and in part because there really isn't a comparable tabletop game that I can think of... the closest analogues I can think of are Nintendo DS puzzle games like Professor Layton or Phoenix Wright mixed with the movie Groundhog Day and TV show Quantum Leap ("Oh, boy..."). Basically, the game comes with a single story scenario that players will play through, again and again until they get it right in the time allotted. Some clues you learn become consistent changes in the scenario, though, so it's not like you're just playing the exact thing over and over. It's incredibly unique and innovative, and full of great characters and loads of style. Once you've finished a scenario, though, there doesn't look like there's any replayability (worse than Mansions of Madness), so those future expansions providing all new scenarios will be essential for fans.

I have two critiques (besides the finite number of times you can play it). One is that it's over-produced. It has a superfluous board and seems to have more tokens than necessary. For a game with such low replayability that necessarily puts you on the expansion treadmill, it'd be nice if they made the package smaller and with a lower price tag. The other is that it has this awkward and, as far as I can tell, unnecessary rule that players can't read out the clue cards they get to access to other players who aren't in the same space of the room, but can describe the gist of it. What's the difference?

"If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die historic on the Fury Road!"

Okay, the trashy classic that is Thunder Road was released almost 30 years before the amazing spectacle that is Mad Max: Fury Road, but the quote applies very well to this game. (Milton Bradley's 1986 release was an obvious love letter to The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome.) Each player controls three vehicles and a helicopter racing down a highway trough a post-apocalyptic wasteland. What is the prize for this race... a tanker of gasoline? An oasis of water? Avoiding being pasted across the hot asphalt? Whatever the prize, there is a sense that your survival depends on you leaving your competitors as mangled wrecks far in your rear-view mirror as you speed down the infinite highway to nowhere.

Great fun with many laughs, cheers, and groans of despair. This is what simple beer and pretzel games should aspire to.

My copy has the weirdest frigging print mistake, though. The board was printed upside down on one of the boards, so the "puzzle piece" board connectors don't line up the road properly. To describe it in a way that Barney will understand, the male bits bump against each other instead of slotting into the female bits. I had to overlap the edge of the boards rather than connect them. A little awkward, but workable.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Dr. Mabuse, Egg Shen, Gregarius

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 15:59 #215930 by Michael Barnes
Had an old friend from the Atlanta Game Factory days over last night so I coerced him into a game of Merchants and Marauders with some of the expansion stuff. He pretty much went all pirate, making the Spanish absolutely hate him. Just a total terror to the merchants. He was really raking it in with the new contraband goods. He got a mission to help the Nemesis (a rumor that modifies an NPC ship), so he did that and took the money and then turned around and attacked it on the next turn. I tried to play like a nice Dutch trader, buying low and selling high and collecting Glory for meeting the demands of commerce, but man...that Spanish treasure galleon. It's just a floating boat full of money. So I had to knock it over. I was in a Brig, I bought some special weapons and made for it. I barely defeated it, but I got all of their money AND took their boat. So then the Spanish hated ME. We called it early but it was 7-5 in his favor. For all of the Spanish angst toward us, we didn't have many battles with NPCs and no PVP.

The expansion stuff seems like kind of a mixed bag, which is fine because it's modular. We didn't do Favor, Crew Loyalty, or the special locations. That all seemed kind of iffy to me, just adding more text to keep track of. Although the Crew Loyalty module looks pretty fun- you can make dudes walk the plank and all. The new cards were all fine and added variety but were mostly unnecessary, the Treasure Galleon ruled, we liked the low maneuverability galleon and brig choices. Contraband was great, I really liked that it added a nuance without piling on rules. Weather/wind was kind of dumb and we kept forgetting about it anyway. The rules are sort of shaky, especially since there typically aren't eight directions for it to move in. It was more of a nuisance than anything.

Glad to get that modern classic back on the table. It's not as complicated as I kind of remembered it, but it is quite detailed. Still definitely, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the best pirate game ever made. I do think that in terms of the kind of game it is ("open world-adventure-commerce-PU&D") I might like Xia and Merchant of Venus a little more. But I do probably like it over Firefly.
The following user(s) said Thank You: aaxiom

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 17:17 #215936 by engineer Al

Columbob wrote: We tried it again with the same Cadets (still had to setup, reshuffle and redistribute all the Aliens and Discovery tokens which is frankly the worst part of the game IMO).


Here's a little trick for when you want to retry a scenario after a failed attempt: You don't have to reset the map. Just flip the scanned tiles back over and and change the orientation of the starting tile. This changes the direction of ALL the tiles as you play and produces a completely different map.

Glad to hear that you are having fun!
The following user(s) said Thank You: mads b., Columbob, aaxiom, Gregarius

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 18:02 #215940 by aaxiom

engineer Al wrote: Here's a little trick for when you want to retry a scenario after a failed attempt: You don't have to reset the map. Just flip the scanned tiles back over and and change the orientation of the starting tile. This changes the direction of ALL the tiles as you play and produces a completely different map.


Oh, that's freakin' BRILLIANT! Thanks for sharing that, Al! :-)

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 18:06 #215941 by aaxiom
Michael, do you think the expansion is a must-have for M&M? I enjoy the base just fine, but does it really add any significant butt-tonnage to what's already there?

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 18:22 #215942 by Hex Sinister

bfkiller wrote: One thing I continue to have a hard time with is remembering to adjust the sliders during and after each player turn. I don't know if I've played another game that involves so much administrative work

Ew. I've been curious about TtA for a long time but after trying to watch a tutorial and falling asleep and now hearing this... I might just pass.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 18:32 #215943 by Michael Barnes

aaxiom wrote: Michael, do you think the expansion is a must-have for M&M? I enjoy the base just fine, but does it really add any significant butt-tonnage to what's already there?


I dunno, that's hard to say after a play and without using the more extensive modules. I would say that the new stuff adds some extra flavor and detail, but I wouldn't call any of it essential. From what I read in the rules, some of the stuff we didn't use makes the game noticeably harder, so that may be something you do or do not want.

Through the Ages...that is a game I have never once said, in like six or seven years, "I'd like to go back and play that again".
The following user(s) said Thank You: aaxiom

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 19:30 - 25 Nov 2015 19:35 #215946 by bfkiller

Michael Barnes wrote: Through the Ages...that is a game I have never once said, in like six or seven years, "I'd like to go back and play that again".


I still dig it quite a bit. I prefer it to Nations because I like the higher potential for conflict and I think the elements of your tableau do a better job of "simulating" your civilization. But there are definitely a LOT of moving parts, both figuratively (which is arguably a positive or a negative, depending on taste) as well as literally (which is definitely a negative, but one I can put up with).

But getting through that rule book to re-learn it... Possibly the worst one I've ever taken the time to learn from. (Well, maybe Pax Porfiriana's...)
Last edit: 25 Nov 2015 19:35 by bfkiller.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Hex Sinister

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
25 Nov 2015 22:40 #215953 by Chapel

Michael Barnes wrote:
Through the Ages...that is a game I have never once said, in like six or seven years, "I'd like to go back and play that again".


Well, I've clocked in 250ish plays in the last seven years, so I took up your slack....Best game ever!
The following user(s) said Thank You: Cranberries, repoman

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
26 Nov 2015 07:25 - 26 Nov 2015 07:26 #215963 by charlest
We did the first TIME Stories expansion scenario The Marcy Case. This game is one of the most unique experiences I've ever had. We had 7 people total wanting to play this (most already having a taste from the base game) and we loved it. I'm 100% all in and anyone here who digs a narrative game needs to be playing this.

We also played Spyfall, Coconuts, and Wits and Wagers but it's hard to fling poo or ask questions when everyone's still talking about TIME Stories.
Last edit: 26 Nov 2015 07:26 by charlest.

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
26 Nov 2015 08:34 #215967 by drewcula
The great Beach House on Thanksgiving w/ artists 2015 began late Tuesday night. We arrived too late to start playing games, but we corrected that error yesterday morning.

Epic Spell Wars x 1
Historia x 2
Magical Athlete x 1

This crew LOVES Wiz-War, so we'll probably start throwing cards this morning. Yesterday however, we committed ourselves to Historia. Previously, only my wife and I played. A two player game is fine, though it requires the maintenance of at least 2 "CivBots." Playing Historia with FIVE HUMANS is infinitely better. It's a fun 4x. With the exception of my wife, the other players agreed: Historia is a good, slightly abstracted, 2.5 hour Civ game. But it would be better with a little more "screw you" moments. Any opportunities for player interaction is really "passive," i.e. I'm buying this Wonder before you, I'm contesting this territory before you score more points, etc. I guess that's Euro for ya.

Happy Turkey Day y'all.
The following user(s) said Thank You: stoic

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Moderators: Gary Sax
Time to create page: 1.228 seconds