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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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What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

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02 Jul 2014 10:59 #181485 by jeb
Not in a gaming place for some reason. I have been playing SAN JUAN, which is harmless. I thought about TITAN kind of out of blue--maybe it's all the dice shaming posts I have seen in social media lately.

Kind of tired a lot. I am getting old and boring.

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02 Jul 2014 10:59 - 02 Jul 2014 11:41 #181486 by bfkiller
I've played very few games in 2014, but the wife and I have played a few in the past week (first games I've played since April).

Mage Knight: We played a game of Full Conquest, which is our go-to mode. Her score slaughtered mine: 143-72. I should have played more aggressively and conquered some of the keeps she'd previously conquered to at least close the gap.

Firefly: We tried the Pirates & Bounty Hunters expansion. I was Jubal Early in his ship and she was the other new guy in the other new ship. I was just about to drop off a bounty to claim victory by collecting a fifth goal token when she raided my ship to collect a goal token for herself as well as steal one of mine to snatch victory for herself.

Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit: As always, I played as the Trade Federation and she played as the Naboolians(?). What a close, back-and-forth game! The palace guards were being mowed down by my Battle Droids. Then Captain Panaka fell while guarding the Queen (though it turns out it was her decoy). Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon but was quickly cut down by a vengeful Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan swooped into the palace, but the wife made the tactical error of running past Battle Droids to get to the third floor instead of destroying the stragglers on his way. This would come back to bite her in the ass.

On the battlefield, my Battle Droids were able to bring down the shields by taking down one of those dinosaur things. I mowed down her Gungans with my AATs, though her catapults were quite competent at mowing down my AATs in return.

In the end, my Battle Droids that Obi-Wan ran past earlier were able to make it to the third floor, kill the Queen's decoy and secure victory for the glorious Trade Federation. This occurred just after Anakin failed in his attempt to reach the final spot on his flight path and destroy every droid. Epic game. I think my wife has learned her lesson: the best defence is a good offence.

Oh, and I rolled a pair of double-hits with a Destroyer Droid to kill Captain Panaka and a trio of double-hits with Darth Maul to kill Qui-Gon in back-to-back attacks. The odds of five double-hits with five dice? 1 in 7,776. My midichlorian count must be off the fucking charts.
Last edit: 02 Jul 2014 11:41 by bfkiller.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Ska_baron, jeb, Dr. Mabuse, Msample, Jackwraith, charlest, Gregarius

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02 Jul 2014 11:47 #181489 by Sagrilarus
My boys have rediscovered Quarriors, and I think my constant reminders that I don't have to be present for them to play board games is finally sinking in.
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02 Jul 2014 21:02 #181528 by wadenels
Played a 2P game of Thunder Alley because I'm impatient and I wanted to. Loved it. It's a team strategy / hand management game all the way through. Very tactical and positioning is critical.

The rules seem really simple, but I found out the hard way that it's important to do a few movement examples before the first play. I thought I had explained everything well using just a couple quick examples while I went through the rules, but I realized about two turns in that my wife wasn't really getting it. We paused and I used the current track situation to explain how each type of movement could be used to an advantage, which I should have done to begin with. Understanding how movement works, and understanding how movement can be set up for a big draft/push later in the turn are two different things.

Also, the damage mechanic works great, and I almost blew up half my cars on the last lap.

I really want to play it with more players. With 2 it works well, but unless your opponent is playing like a real bastard it isn't too difficult to keep your cars in groups that can always benefit from drafting, leading, or pursuit. With more players and fewer cars per player it seems that you'd have to coordinate more, which could be really interesting.

Anyway, highly recommended if a racing game where managing and coordinating a team of cars around the track interests you. Very different from games like Ave Caesar or Formula D/De.

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02 Jul 2014 21:12 #181530 by Michael Barnes
Wonder how it compares to Um Reifenbreite, which is also a team racer.

Very excited to be getting a review copy...love it when GMT stretches out of the wargames genre.

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03 Jul 2014 01:39 #181536 by repoman
Played it with four tonight. Really liked it. Other thoughts in Sag's thread.

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03 Jul 2014 09:27 - 03 Jul 2014 09:29 #181540 by Bull Nakano
Last edit: 03 Jul 2014 09:29 by Bull Nakano.

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04 Jul 2014 00:00 #181582 by repoman
F:AT Thursday tonight featured Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective.

I stopped by Myriad Games in a Manchester NH yesterday when I had to tow a car up to Concord and they had a copy on the shelf. It was a Ystari edition of the game and the components are really nice. I was quite pleased with it.

It's sort of a multiplayer "Choose your own adventure" type game where you or your team decide when you've learned enough to solve the crime and answer some questions. The thing is, that you are being graded by Sherlock himself and if you take more time than he did then he looks at you somewhat disappointedly and Tsk Tsks you.

We played two of the mysteries tonight. The cases of The Munitions Magnate and The Tin Soldier. There was Uba, Engineer Al, Cranky Dan, myself and a special guest appearance by my Mad Scientist Wife who rarely games with me.

We did ok on the first mystery. Nailing the correct perp but for all the wrong reasons. However we smoked the second one and scored an even 100 and thereby matching the Holmes himself.

I thought it was great fun and my wife had a good time playing as well which made the victory complete.
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04 Jul 2014 08:54 #181592 by stoic
We've been playing The Convoy. So far I've played thrice as Moloch because my son won't abandon the Outpost--I don't know when I'll get to play that side. We've worn out the rule book though, paging back and forth for rule clarifications. I really dig the post-apocolyptic Neuroshima theme so I'm a sucker for these games. I don't like the artwork on The Convoy compared to 51st State, but, it isn't that bad. Overall, I prefer 51st State, New Era, and Winter, but The Convoy plays quicker. Has anyone played the new Ruins expansion yet?

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04 Jul 2014 09:17 #181594 by SuperflyPete
Last night I ended up at my new game group's house. Battlestar was the main event, and I still have yet to be a Cylon. We lost. We would've lost sooner because the Admiral was a very clever Cylon, but he was new and didn't know he had to nuke our civilian ships BEFORE revealing.

Great fun. No dickheads, APers, or boring people at this group.

Next up was One Night Werewolf. Probably the single most inane game ever, but they are huge fans of party games and Werewolf especially, so it was fine. I tolerated it well and didn't complain.

Then came Shadow Hunters. Fun little short game. I was at a huge disadvantage because you really need to know the item cards to be any good at it.

Then came 3 rounds of Coup. Holy shit, how do I not own it? Well, I do now. Game is an outstanding pure bluffing game that lasts 5 minutes with 5 players. Really sneaky fun. 3 rounds played and I ended up getting the Assassin and Duke two times, and the Assassin and Captain another.

All in all, a very good night.

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04 Jul 2014 09:29 #181596 by wadenels
A couple games for the first time last night, both 2-player with my wife.

Star Realms: It's good. It doesn't do anything particularly novel for a deckbuilder, but what it does do it does extremely well. If feels like a space battle, much in the same way that Arctic Scavengers feels like a post-apocalyptic survivor game. I'm a bit over deckbuilders that are just a collection of mechanics with a twist, and Star Realms doesn't bother with any of that. I also appreciated that there's no restricted order of combat, purchasing, and playing cards on your turn. I've found that I don't like a rigid turn structure in deckbuilding games because those structures sometimes force me to think in a sequence that I don't find intuitive. Star Realms let me lay out my cards, attack if I want to, see what happens, then decide what to purchase. Or do it in reverse. Or do whatever else I can on my turn in the order I want to do it. Big thumbs up if you like streamlined deckbuilders.

Impulse: A space combat/mining/refining/trading game from the guy who did Glory to Rome and Uchronia. There's definitely some GtR/Uchronia DNA in this one. I like it, but it's going to take more plays before I'm any good at it. We mostly fumbled through the first half of the game but it got a lot more interesting towards the end. Anyone who gets a review copy of this game is going to have to put down a half-dozen plays to write anything really meaningful on it other than comparing it to the designer's other games. Unexplored space sectors are face-down cards, and when you explore a sector with a ship you pick up the card and play one from your hand face-up (which may be the one you picked up). So you can sort of tailor the map, which gives you a lot to think about. The player interaction is all threatening and combat with Cruisers, which patrol cards and get in fights and blow up Transports. Players use their Transports to activate cards on the map. There can be a lot of planning in how you move your Transports to string together actions in a meaningful way. The trading part of the game is overstated; you never trade with other players, instead Trading is just a way to get rid of cards for points. Like GtR each player has a play sheet with an area on the left for materials/minerals, and those minerals can both boost card effects and be refined for points. The right side of the play sheet has an area for your Plan. Normal game play is a string of 3 cards called the Impulse and you add a card to the bottom. You'll execute all four cards (if you can/want to) in sequence and then remove the oldest card. So when you put a big powerful card in the Impulse other players will get to use it too. Your Plan is a place to put cards that only you can use, but they're a one-time use and then discarded, which also gives you a lot to think about.
The basic actions, like GtR, are simple. Effective chaining of cards is difficult to do. The spatial aspect of it, with moving Transports and Cruisers in a meaningful way is tricky (at first). The direct combat and the map lend themselves to more of a threatening metagame than GtR. I imagine with more players (the map is the same size regardless of player count) the game is going to require you to make some alliances and such. I'd be afraid of being sandwiched between two combat-inclined players.
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04 Jul 2014 14:37 #181618 by Legomancer
Stoic, I am a huge New Era fan (I ditched 51st State after I saw that TNE was a complete re-do, and a better one in my opinion.) I have Ruins and it's good. It adds some nifty cards to the mix, including two more leaders and some new production locations that opponents can send multiple workers to. If you like TNE and Winter, definitely get Ruins.

I'm looking forward to Imperial Settlers at GenCon, which is the basic game engine from 51S/TNE adapted to some kind of non-Neuroshima colonization game.

I've only played The Convoy a couple times, and I liked it. I need to play it some more.
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05 Jul 2014 09:57 #181645 by Legomancer
Last night was Marrying Mr. Darcy, bitches!

It's a card game based on Pride and Prejudice and it's hilarious. You are all women trying to win your ideal husband by leveling up your characters and beating out your rivals. It's random as hell, but so cleverly written that it's a blast. (There's no board, but it's kind of Pride and Prejudice and Talisman).

I was Jane Bennett and it looked like I was going to run away with it. I was fat-packed with Beauty and Friendship and had some Wit and Reputation as well. Mr. Bingley, my ideal, was going to be mine for the taking! However, an event card had him go off to London and not return! Mother fucker! When the Proposal round came, I had almost zip for cunning, so all the sweet-ass beaus were all gone when it came to me and I was going to have to settle for Mr. Collins, but then the son of a bitch turned me down. I became an Old Maid, and the worst kind of Old Maid at that. I died bitter and alone (yet Beautiful and Friendly) and tied for last place with the guy who got force-hitched to Mr. Wickham.

This was the first of only a few games I've Kickstarted, and the first I've received so far. I backed it because it was ideal: amateur female designer doing an unusual but interesting theme, nice artwork, reasonable price. I'm glad I backed it; it's a lot of goofy fun.

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05 Jul 2014 14:06 #181652 by stormseeker75
I actually played games this weekend! 4 games of Hive with my buddy followed by 3 games of King of Tokyo with him and his wife. After that we played 3 games of Las Vegas.

I do a variant that I really like for King of Tokyo. Everyone gets dealt one Power card that's a keeper. Then they get the difference between 9 energy and whatever that card cost. It makes dice manipulation and random stuff happen far earlier in the game which makes it so much more fun.
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05 Jul 2014 14:23 #181653 by scrumpyjack
That sounds like a fantastic variant, I really want to break out some KoT now.

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