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Kevin Klemme
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Mycelia Board Game Review

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River Wild Board Game Review

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Outback Crossing Review

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18 Aug 2016 09:12 - 18 Aug 2016 09:13 #232322 by charlest
We played two games of Cry Havoc last night (my second and third play) and my opinion after my first play hasn't really changed. This is a solid hybrid that plays smooth in 90 minutes with some strong asymmetry. It's not amazing though and besides it's really interesting battle system, it doesn't do a whole lot to really separate itself from the pack.

I wish it had a bit more drama or surprise. It's also very short in terms of game length so you don't get to really spread out and it's more about a couple really big moves that either work your way or don't.

Again, I think it's good, just not fantastic. It's also much better with 4 in my opinion.

Codenames: Pictures continues to be great fun just like Codenames.

Secret Hitler is a little bland at 5. I'm thinking I only want to play this at 7+.

We also playtested the Champions of Midgard expansion, which is in development (still quite aways off). It was pretty fun and some good ideas.

More Cry Havoc and Star: Trek Ascendancy next.
Last edit: 18 Aug 2016 09:13 by charlest.
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18 Aug 2016 13:09 - 18 Aug 2016 13:10 #232348 by Unicron
This week I managed to play a second game of Warhammer Conquest. I’m not sure that I’m sold, but I like the unique feel of each of the factions. It would rely on familiarity with cards and I think you’d want to really dig into the deckbuilding aspect to get the most out of it.

Last night I also had an opportunity to try Princes of the Renaissance. I’m quite relieved I didn’t back it on Kickstarter. Between Wallace’s own Struggle of Empires and CoolMini's Dogs of War (which is pretty underrated), I think every similar mechanic this game inspired is better implemented elsewhere. It didn’t have a sense of theme. Dice weighed far too heavily in combat. A single d6 role could add as much as a handful of purchased units. With a slight tweak to the system (like Struggles’ 2d6 system) the spread could be tempered a bit, while making Treachery Tiles, the Pope and other battle modifiers more significant and attractive. The remainder of the game is a tedious auction of dull tiles that come in six colors (representing cities), but you can only diversify in three different colors. That limitation seems arbitrary when one considers what the game is supposed to be about. The houses of Aragon, Sforza, Medici, etc. were families spread throughout more than three countries in many cases, nevermind more than three cities in Italy (by investment, patronage, marriage, etc). Buying more than three colored tiles would dilute your investments (and ability to protect them), but subpar strategies should be allowed because making meaningful decisions can be fun.

I had hoped this game would be about empire building, not trying to win bids on three colors of tiles. I did awful, btw, really awful, but I wish there had been a way to play even more awful while enjoying some aspect of the game more. Auction games just aren’t my bag. Auctions give designers a shortcut to creating a functional economy in their game while creating a relatively superficial layer of interaction, but they’re pretty terrible for first-time players. Imagine me giving you 3000 rupees and sending you to a store to shop. What do you buy? What can you buy? Is that fun?
Last edit: 18 Aug 2016 13:10 by Unicron.
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19 Aug 2016 09:44 #232411 by Legomancer
Played Neanderthal last night. Here's what I said about it:

I always approach Phil Eklund games with some trepidation. Will there be some content thrown in with the game that I'm going to have a problem with, like being lectured about how colonialism was great for all and unfettered capitalism is the best thing ever, even if there's no reason to include it? Will I once again start to regret the purchases I've made?

And there's always the fact that Sierra Madre rulebooks are often...whimsical...in their presentation, and usually out of date from the moment they arrive, thanks to the concept of "living" (aka, unfinished) rules. His games tend to be puzzle boxes with a number of interlocking parts that are difficult to explain and learn, yet work fairly well once you get going.

One game of his I played in the past was Origins, in which the first part of the game is evolutionary biology and then you get dumped into a fairly rote eurogame. This game, Neanderthal, expands on that first, more interesting part more.

The thing people will hate the most here is the amount of dice rolling involved, with very little means to mitigate it. In fact, there's a whole lot of randomness; if you are someone who likes setting up a plan and just seeing how it plays out, this is not the game for you. Personally, I like a game that includes dice and doesn't try to feel ashamed for doing so.

As with other Eklund games, I liked it a bunch, but it's going to be a bear to get to the table regularly, since learning and retaining the rules (which, since I started this sentence, have changed three more times) is so tough. Hopefully I'll get to see more of it.
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19 Aug 2016 10:08 #232417 by JEM
The main thing that threw me with Neanderthal (which so far seems less twiddly on rules than Greenland) is that it has this whole potential second half of the game with tribal societies, domesticated animals and tool usage that rarely seems to play out. By the time you've developed brain enough to go tribal there might only be a couple of turns left in the game.

Rolled a six, killed my elder again!
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19 Aug 2016 11:20 #232429 by Legomancer
That was our feeling too, JEM. Two people made it to Tribal and we barely did anything. I think with more plays you'd be able to know how to work the cards better to get there sooner. I forgot to include that bit.

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19 Aug 2016 13:41 #232437 by Gary Sax
Sometimes it's weird that it feels like of all the places online I read about boardgame stuff, this is the only one where people actually consistently play the games. That last exchange re: Neanderthal is a perfect example.
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19 Aug 2016 17:28 #232453 by Hex Sinister
ARMADA fleet action - I decided to try out a 'black dice' fleet with two Glads and two Raiders. Total glass cannon build with extra attack power in the front and sides. I circled my prey like sharks would but sharks don't slam themselves into rocks and coral reefs like my fleet hits asteroids and debris clusters. They do bite each other, I think, and I did manage to have my own ships collide with each other TWICE. I am my own worst enemy. The torp frigate coming out of hyperspace on my flank on round 2 didn't help. I couldn't even get superiority with my fighters for fuck's sake. So my squadron tactics need as much work as my driving. Meanwhile, the fiance arranges this perfect triangle with her ships with maximum attack coverage. I don't even know how she did it. Round 6 I got tabled hard. Game over. If I field this again I know to go in hard and not dilly dally. Even if I lose a cruiser, if I can get good arc with 3/4 it's like 16 dice worth of attacks...

TLDR I SUCK
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19 Aug 2016 17:47 #232455 by Gary Sax
^Tonight I'm playing Armada on a proper 6x3 (I got another mat). I'm super excited except that I have to choose both fleets but whatever.

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19 Aug 2016 19:32 #232459 by Hex Sinister
Awesome!. Please do a battle report.

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19 Aug 2016 20:00 #232460 by Michael Barnes
I just got all of the new stuff so I'll probably be playing over the weekend too. Everything looks awesome...only X1 of each.
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19 Aug 2016 23:17 #232470 by Da Bid Dabid
I finally got to play some games after being mostly settled during two months of moving/getting house ready after moving.

Convinced my wife to play with some buddies and when that happens she pushes the trend of games toward euros. A fantastic game of Puerto Rico with three really close scores all with vastly different strategies. A game of Ra where I got fuckin crushed, perhaps one of my worst defeats in all of my time playing board games. I think I managed to have gained like 3 points when it mercifully ended.

A few days later I got to play the 4th and final round of our current Blood Bowl tournament. This tournament is being played online via fumbbl as it includes some old friends/coaches who reside out of the country. It was all new teams, who will be eligible to enter in the next league season with a few game head start on development. My Dark Elves took on a strong Orc team as the top two seeds after three rounds, both teams with a 2 win, 1 tie record and being undefeated. Basically this became a play in game for the championship match, with the winner being the top team from the swiss group rounds. The orc team had two level ups, both being doubles rolls on blitzers who took dodge. Knowing my likely opponent after round 3 I took wrestle on a lineman to try and neutralize the strong blodge advantage.

I won the coin flip and elected to play D first. Even my kick skill couldn't stop a touchback and the cage set up early. The slow roll was effective at keeping the elves from the ball for most of the first half, but when the chance in turn six popped up, they pounced and with a nice lucky bounce away from the bulk of the orcs, their speed flipped the field for a DE score on turn 8. Confident in my play but knowing that my offense is always weaker than my D. I set up for a mid half score that should seal it. The orcs made sure that didn't happen and with 4 turn remaining a Black Orc held the ball, with casualties mounting for the elves. The Black Orc rumbled toward the goal line, and as the final turn came about. he was in a single elf tackle zone and 5 spaces away from the endzone. A blitz that pushed away the only tacklezone on the ball carrier went off without need for reroll. So with reroll in hand the Black Orc marched forward to tie the game on the final turn. My oppoenent tripped on the first GFI roll, which made him awful happy he had coached well enough to save his reroll for the final turn. He was less happy when the reroll also came up "1". Game Over - Dark Elves await an opponent in the tourney title game.

Game and Replay here for anyone into that sort of thing: fumbbl.com/p/match?id=3828368
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19 Aug 2016 23:36 #232471 by Not Sure
I'd have rooted for your opponent, simply because he has "Handsome Dick Manitoba" on his team.

Not personal, you understand. But in sport you gotta take sides.
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20 Aug 2016 00:00 - 20 Aug 2016 00:18 #232473 by Gary Sax
Completely brutal annihilation for the rebels (me). We hadn't played in ages so my opponent took two cap ships and a bunch of fighters in a 200 point game, I took three glass cannon cap ships. It was an absolute murder. I had thought I could hit speed 4 and blow past his victory ISD and instead ended with a corvette right in his front/flank firing solution and was ended in a turn. His gladiator had some solid maneuver and eliminated my frigate near the end and my scout mon cal frigate just didn't do enough with a full broadside to finish his gladiator. In the end I had only finished a single tie fighter and he had murdered everything on my side except the mon cal scout frigate.

Great game, though. Fits into JUST the right amount of time. Totally satisfying 2 hours but no more vs. probably a few X-wing games. Only beef I have with the game is that with 6 rounds (no objectives, again we hadn't played in ages) it can really be 3-4 turns of sides passing/jetting by one another and then inconsequential maneuvering behind the lines. Wish there was a bit more melee a la Nelson, that may be an issue with movement decisions/speed, though.

Expensive, but would recommend the game to anyone with cash to spare.
Last edit: 20 Aug 2016 00:18 by Gary Sax.
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20 Aug 2016 10:59 #232481 by san il defanso
Last night was Pandemic Legacy. Our second game in September was a narrow victory, and one that we felt was very well-played. The next game (October 1.0) was less successful. Fun fact: our win prevented us from opening the "lose 4 games in a row" box, so that's fun.

Without spoiling anything, there was a big twist in the overall story last night, and it gave the game a much-needed shot for me. Before this, I confess that I was kind of tired of Pandemic Legacy. There had been a stretch where the game had become incredibly difficult for us, and it was starting to feel more and more like a grind. Thankfully last night I feel like I found the energy to make it through the last couple months. The truth is that I just don't like Pandemic in its original form all that much, and the Legacy version is always kind of pushing against me not wanting to figure out when to use One Quiet Night to survive one more turn. The fact that I actually quite like Pandemic Legacy says a lot about what the legacy mechanic does for it.

But I still have this little bit of frustration with the game, and that's with the story and how the players are involved. I LOVE defacing the board, and I love that our game is messed up in its own unique way. Also in the later game there are some interesting plot developments that do hinge on the player performing certain actions (I'm being vague to prevent spoilers, but bear with me). But I'm having trouble escaping the feeling that I'm kind of along for the ride, like all of these plot beats are going to happen no matter what. I'm not sure that's necessarily true, and I'll know better at the end. But it still feels like the narrative itself is not tied as strongly to player actions as I want.

It's possible that I want something out of this game that it can't offer, but the thought that I'm getting basically the same story as every other group is kind of a bummer to me, since board games have such potential to craft emergent narrative. There's plenty of narrative in Pandemic Legacy, but very little of it is emergent. I'm also wondering if part of this is just a matter of the game being cooperative, but I don't know since I've not played Risk Legacy or Seafall yet.

For that matter, this annoyance might also be my problem with campaign games in general: it doesn't allow the story to originate with the players, and it never really can.
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20 Aug 2016 11:04 #232482 by Michael Barnes
The new ships look freaking amazing. I'm thinking onesies on the big ones and maybe two packs each of the Rebel Transports and Imperial Assault Carriers. Fab's Fleet Generator had been updated with them.

After spending half the night building the scenery, I tried Deadzone last night. Just a starter fight with pre-gen 100 pt squads. It's REALLY good, it could be of the better "miniature skirmish as a board game" titles. It has the same, loose area movement as Deathwatch: Overkill. Tests are generally 3D8 vs. a target number with some circumstances adding dice rather than adjusting stats or results. One roll to hit, target makes a survive check, if there are more hits the difference is damage, which goes against an armor value and the model's size to determine an injury or wound. It's very easy to grasp, the actual rules are just a couple of pages with the remainder being abilities, items and army list stuff.

I love the item pickups- you seed the board with eight random crates. Move on to one and you see what it is. But it could be a booby trap!

Very fast, very fun and I felt like it may be more approachable for board game players than many miniatures games are. No measuring- everything is on a cube-based grid that allows for vertical movement.
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