What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

Been there, done that.

Went to a group just like that for years. Only 6x a year but I went. Puerto Rico, San Juan, shit like that. They played Cosmic once and we all had a blast, which is why I kept going, but it never came out again.

There was a local meetup that I went to that had sort of the same problem. I eventually stopped going as well. They were nice enough people, but the games that they got excited over was stuff that generally made me very sleepy. The thing with the fillers drove me nuts. It was like they couldn't stand to not fill every second of the game day without a game...regardless of how dumb it was. I'd rather just sit around and shoot the shit for a few minutes instead of forcing myself to play a game to kill the time.

It's funny that you mention finally settling on 7 Wonders. I've literally lived that actual situation several times at a gamestore/meetup. It has lead me to dubbing 7 Wonders the vanilla ice cream of boardgames. When trying to get 5 or 6 people who aren't close friends to decide on a game...all roads eventually lead to 7 Wonders. This is with 50+ games available to choose from. It's like it was designed to be just palatable enough for all to consume. It lacks the excitement of Moose Tracks or the zaniness of The Tonight Dough, but most people will say yes to a scoop of plain ass vanilla ice cream. You were essentially offering up Peanut Butter Fudge Swirl Ice Cream when most people wanted either vanilla or cookies n cream. Man what the fuck am I going on about???? I need to eat lunch.

I've found that if you want to play a specific game then you need to mention that in the meetup prior to going. Otherwise what inevitably ends up happening is someone shows up with their brand new, recently released game and everyone is excited to give it a try. If you send out a message saying, is anyone interested in Study in Emerald...I'll teach. Or something like that...it's usually has better results. Once at the meetup people just get blinded and either fall back on easy to teach standbys (7 Wonders) or whatever is new (Quadropolis).

I know you hate co-ops but the fact that Eldritch Horror and Dead of Winter were being played was at least sort of hopeful. That means that there are at least some AT players in the group. Still those are like two of the most popular games out there, so they might not deviate from them. That is something else I noticed about meetups...people rarely stray from popular "en vogue" designs.

If you spotted Munchkin in their possession, run far far away.

As for me, I went to my usual Wednesday board game night. I first played Time 'n' Space which a friend had just acquired from the recent CSI sale. I had no idea what the game was about, but it sort of reminded me of Galaxy Trucker after he explained it. I did enjoy the game, but I can see it becoming a gimmick that would fall flat after multiple plays. I also felt like it didn't have as much interaction as I would have liked since I honestly didn't pay much attention to what others were doing for the majority of the game.

After this, we talked about what to play. I was hoping to play Scythe again, but one of the other guys had already set up his copy of Yggdrasil he had just picked up in a trade. This guy is notoriously bad at explaining games, and he often doesn't read the rules beforehand and has a tendency to just read through the rulebook out loud. His "explanation" is usually rambling, takes way too long, and ends up being insanely confusing. This is one of my biggest pet peeves with people. Know how to play your game and digest the explanation down to a few minutes.

Anyway, we asked him if he knew how to play Yggdrasil and he said he had played it before or something. We then suggested playing Scythe, but then he whined that he had brought Yggdrasil to the group for 3 straight weeks without it getting played. So we said fine and played Yggdrasil. He then proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes rambling through the rulebook jumping from section to section while boring and confusing everyone else. I was rolling my eyes and pursing my lips at two other guys who were doing the same. Finally, I just told him, "Can I make a suggestion? If you're going to bring a game to play, read the rules, watch a video, try it out yourself a little bit beforehand so you can explain the game in a way that takes long and ends up confusing people." He got all defensive and accused me of not paying attention and playing on the phone (I was doing this because he lost me like 10 minutes in). The thing is that the others were also lost. Two guys ended up talking about Pokemon Go while the rulebook was being read out loud. Another guy looked like he was paying attention, but he was yawning and even he admitted he was totally lost. So, the dude who had brought the game got all pissy and flustered, so I just shut up.

Well, we ended up wasting 30 minutes on his shitty explanation before we started playing. The game lasted another 2 hours after that and we all had to look up things in the rulebook many times during the game. I was so pissed because I felt like a dick for speaking up when I know others felt the same way as I did. Also, the game was actually pretty decent once we kind of started playing it and just doing stuff.

What do you guys think? Did I overreact? I feel shitty for having to tell him this during his reading of the rulebook, but I felt like he was dishonest about how much he knew about the game and I was angry that he had done this to me multiple times.

I've been playing mostly Euros lately, kind of by happenstance but they've been good ones so I'm not complaining.

We kicked off game night last night with a return of Animals on Board. Taught a new player who decided to go out and buy it.

Then we brought back out Via Nebula, Wallace's newest which I'm a fan of. Light, some interaction, solid theme.

We split into a couple two player games and I broke out 7 Ronin, which is a Polish 7 Samurai game from the company that did Waste Knights. Grey Fox is releasing this in the U.S. (comes out at Gen Con) and I liked it quite a bit. I know Dan Thurot is a fan and I can see why. Double-think, bluffing, drama. Fun. Reminds me slightly of Sun Tzu/Dynasties.

Closed out the night with three player Tigris and Euphrates. I picked up the FFG version in a recent MM sale and didn't plan on getting to play it for awhile. Great game and I won by a single point. I'm not sure if I prefer the plastic over the wood, and I personally definitely prefer the cubes for scoring, but the game is great regardless.

Scott_F wrote: But the overall selection there really made me question whether I'm ridiculously picky about the games that I like or whether I'm in the right hobby in the first place. The real kick to the balls was a lot of these guys are about my age and lack spouses/children, so I would expect them to be a little more partial to deeper more involved games with conflict when just the opposite turned out to be true.

Nah, they just like really shitty games.

My take, by the way, Varys---that exact same phrase can be delivered two ways depending on tone, inflection and timing. There is a version of chatting with him afterwards or at a strategic social moment during the explanation where you go, "hey man, can I make a minor suggestion that would get the game played easier? If you put some more time into practicing it... yadda yadda" but there's also a version of those words, phrased almost exactly the same way, that is dickish---interrupting whatever pathetic flow he had going through the rules, rolling your eyes dramatically and sarcastically saying "can I please make a suggestion? Next time we do this can you be better prepared?"

So it's hard to say. I don't think you should feel bad for bringing the information to his attention at all, being proactive is a good thing for him and you folks learning. But it can come off different ways.

Also, overall, you are in the right. That unprepared rules thing is a super shitty thing to do to people, especially more than once.

If the guy had brought it three weeks in a row you'd think he would have had the rules down. I don't see a problem with what you said. Some people are notoriously bad at teaching games. Reading directly from the rules is almost a surefire way to lose people. Unless it's a short little game or something you have to look up because people need a quick refresher you shouldn't be buried in the rulebook. Though I will also say that if it's the first time playing a game of any decent complexity...there should be a certain expectation that its a learning game and you have to roll with a few hiccups here and there.

Back on topic of games that I've played recently.

I've cracked the seal on my Zombicide Black Plague base game. So far I've played the training mission and then the the first actual quest. It's MUCH more enjoyable than the original Zombicide. They've streamlined some things and taken out some of the more bullshitty rules in the game (dropping weapons when attacked / automatic friendly fire with ranged weapons). This is a VERY basic hack n slash game. There really isn't a whole lot going on. You search buildings for weapons/items, try to accomplish objectives and roll fistfuls of dice to slaughter the undead. This game feels like it could have come out in 2006. It's closer to Last Night on Earth and Zombies!!! than it is with Dead of Winter. The main difference being the amazing production. I didn't think I'd love the plastic dashboards, but they're pretty fucking awesome. It removes tons of clutter and the game really doesn't have many tokens which I like.

The most interesting thing going on gameplay wise is the leveling up system. You gain experience via items, killing zombies and by accomplishing objectives. As you level up you unlock upgrades and the sense of progression is nice. Each game this resets since it isn't a campaign and I love that. It makes it easy to just rip it off the shelf, set up and play. This is pure Ameritrash and more in lines with a Games Workshop design than a FFG joint. It seems to be a decent time waster where you crack open some beers and decapitate as many zombies as you can.

Also, I'm just playing with the base game and none of the kickstarter stuff. I wanted to get a feel for how the retail experience would be. My gut is telling me that its fine, but I'd be ordering Wolfsburg and Hero Pack 1 almost immediately for more variety with heroes and weapons/items.

Totally agree with your actions Varys. Bringing a game that you suck at teaching or have to read from the rules more than either the setup or to clarify a detailed question is an auto failure to me. He should've noticed by the reaction of his listeners that he was failing and finally needed actual words to get the message home. Maybe next time he will be more prepared.

Aside from the failed Wednesday I played a few better games last weekend. Argent, a darling for some here, with three players. Maybe my 6-7th play and I still like it alot. Yes there is worker placement, but the game provides alot of options to fuck with placing and offers alot of unique spells every game to change things up. Or maybe I just want to be head wizard. I don't play it often, maybe once every couple of months, but with 3 I really enjoy it and the massive table space it dominates.

Hyperborea. I remember when people talked about this game. First impression is its a mess of symbols and gives the appearance of dudes on a map but is more engine building. The symbols and actions are a disaster at first, nothing makes inherent sense and the theme is lacking to tie in with the gameplay. Also really needs player aids. Deterministic battles and unique tech cards as well as variable game ending make it kinda decent. Probably not something I would ask to play but I wouldn't leave the gaming event if this was my only option. I suspect there isn't that much interaction with further plays of the game as combat points are pretty limited and instead focuses on things like efficiency and engines. Meh.

Mare Nostrum. First this thing needs a bigger map with bigger icons. Yes they made a huge one but it was another $50; extra Cthulhu Wars maps aren't even that much. Second after one play I'm really afraid the game rewards turtling; the forts are very strong defenses and some of the empires (Egypt, Rome) can sit back and pull in crazy amounts of gold/unique goods per turn. I want to like the game but am on the fence after one game. It didn't help that our first game saw only 2 attacks, I'm ashamed to say. I built up legions as Rome but Greece just spammed forts all around me and Egypt won on turn 5 by building the Pyramids.

More Cthulhu Wars. Still a favorite game of mine after maybe 25 plays total and with all the extra factions. Sometimes there is trouble convincing 3 other people to play it, but more often than not the same 2-4 guys really like the game and we end up finishing after one hour total and switch factions for a second game, including grudges from the first game.

The gold thing was a classic strat from the original that it takes a few plays to combat. The thing is you have to combat it with a trade embargo from players who know that's what they need, IIRC they can't win by getting all that gold just using their rich starter provinces but have to have naive players trade them at least some.

FWIW, I didn't like Mare Nostrum much the time I tried it either despite its enthusiasm around here

Zombicide Black Plague has turned out to be THE big surprise of...the past five years? It's just about all I want to play right now, aside from the GW stuff.

I love that it is so basic- move, stab, get chomped on, spawn more. Search rooms to get stuff to move and stab better or get chomped on less. That's basically it, and I love the leveling system - successful stab, you get a click on the track. Get so many clicks, you level up, yay! But it makes the game harder, so it scales right along with you on the spawn cards. There is NOTHING fancy about this game, there is nothing extraneous. It does not strain to have a "theme" with a bunch of counters and card decks. And I too love that it is not a fucking campaign with a bullshit sense of progression that actually means nothing more than keeping a +1 sword card for the next game.

You definitely want Wulfsburg. The Wulfz are good, they are sort of like runners but they get three activations, which can be BRUTAL if you get swamped with them. But more significantly, you get the new tower tiles and a bunch of new weapons including powerful magic items. The new heroes are pretty good in that set too. I don't have the Hero Pack or any of that yet, I will probably go with the NPCs pack to get more vault cards and then the Deadeyes and Crowz.

It's such a good game, and it is definitely more GW than FFG. Hell, make the zombies Genestealers and the survivors Marines or IG or whatever and it could practically be a GW game

I bought Black Plague + Wulf last week. Just need to pick it up.

I got Hyperborea from Charlie and he recommended it to me. He was wrong, which doesn't happen much. I fear he's in Euro Revibal mode of late; disturbing at best. I despised it both times I played. One guy who I played with liked it well enough but never asked for it again.

V: Fuck that guy. Someone had to speak up. Be glad you did, not ashamed. People like that infuriate me. "Next time, prepare. Learn the game. I've got limited gaming time and I don't want to spend an hour of it watching you read rules you should've known before you ever set it up." Totally legit. I reiterate: fuck that guy.

Scott_F's avatar may be my spirit animal.

Gary Sax wrote: The gold thing was a classic strat from the original that it takes a few plays to combat. The thing is you have to combat it with a trade embargo from players who know that's what they need, IIRC they can't win by getting all that gold just using their rich starter provinces but have to have naive players trade them at least some.

FWIW, I didn't like Mare Nostrum much the time I tried it either despite its enthusiasm around here

In our last Mare Nostrum play (a couple weeks ago), I won via combat as Rome. I was doing well acquiring goods and trading, and the rest of the players conspired to shut me out of trading, offering crap. I had no way of getting 12 unique resources unless 1 player offered a specific good. Thus, I had to resort to fighting.

I have been trying to learn to play guild ball and remembering that I am not a huge fan of painting and assembling miniatures. I also learned that zapagap can go bad and no longer bond items even if it does not dry out.

Have played two games so far both with other new players, of course in both games we did things wrong. After the games I reread the rule book and actually watched a video to figure out a few questions. We are all so used to GW games where models only attack once that no one realized that models can attack multiple times by paying 'influence'. This caused the games to be very long.... but it also got me thinking about gaming in middle and high school, when we did not have the internet videos and forums to help learn the rules. If we did not understand a rule we just made shit up or if we misplayed a rule it would stick and not be discovered for years later, since typical one person read the rules and explained the game. I played Axis and Allies from Middle school until I was 18 or 19 before one of my friends reread the rule book and pointed out that we were loading too many guys on transports, playing Submarines all wrong, and a few other things... random thought.

Preface this by saying all my parts came in perfect shape and GMT sent me more control cubes.

So I just set up a game of twilight struggle I'm playing with a good friend this evening. Now that some time has passed, I STILL cannot believe people were outraged at the production of collector's edition. I think it's wonderful and I am eternally grateful I got a collector's edition---and they're sending 2-3 reprinted cards very soon to correct the minor errors in it that had people screaming! Only one of them, Brush War saying early war on it, was really significant.