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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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17 Jul 2014 15:29 #182442 by RobertB
scrumpyjack wtore

Has anyone played the new Ogre: Pocket Edition yet? Seen it popping up recently, wondering whether it's worth three bucks.


It's a steal at $3. Unless you don't like hex-based wargames, you'll get your money's worth.
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17 Jul 2014 21:49 #182462 by SuperflyPete

charlest wrote:

SuperflyTNT wrote: I've been playing Rogue Agent of late. Got a review copy a while back and shelved it while I worked on the transition to the new site. Played several games now and I really don't see how people can give it even a mediocre review. I think they wanted Blade Runner and got something that had the same feel, but in a truncated manner. Same thing happened with Android, but I think it was closer, while not being as good a "game" because of the burdensome rules.

The Android/Human version of the game is definitely the way to go. I really like it, but I have to admit, the rules left me scratching my head at first. It's a game you have to play through once to really understand...just reading the rules isn't enough. Opinion's not formed fully at this point and I want to use the new module before I really form it.


Are the people you playing it with letting their inner assholes out? It's best when everyone is trying to dick each other over, setup bombs to go off on their informants, stealing Criminals, funneling assassins through to block off pathways, etc. It can be downright nasty with the right people.


Most of my friends dont have inner assholes, they have full body assholes, Yes, Total fuckery on every turn, generally. I think you misread or I was unclear: i really like it and dont understand how people can say it's less than very good. It just suffers from Ausloos Syndrome: the inability to write and organize thoughts coherently to outsiders. And this isn't nearly as bad as Panic Station's rules that people gnashed teeth about - they're clear, mostly, but it took 4-5 re-reads to get mynhead around some things. The biggest bitch I have about them is that not a single place in the rules are the sunglasses icons identified,,,they are only alluded to in reference to icons on the Agent upgrade track. It's such a simple oversight but I can't believe no editors caught it.

Overall, really fun and very open as far as how to interpret the theme. Ausloos' greatest achievements and failures stem from the same seed: imprecision. He leaves shit up to you on how to interpret the theme and finer rules points, and some people need handholding, which is pathetic and sad in a hobby where imagination is a reuquirement.

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18 Jul 2014 08:45 #182475 by charlest
You're right, completely misread it (not sure why). My bad.

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18 Jul 2014 09:02 - 18 Jul 2014 09:03 #182476 by san il defanso
Last night was my second game of Jolly Roger's Kremlin reprint. We played five players, using the new "modern game."

We did something wrong according to the rules, where we set up the board before selecting influence. That means that someone was able to place influence on the Party Chief right away. He waved in the first round, but then he got too sick to wave for the next one. He was eventually sent to the ranks of the people, 84 and very ill. The next guy was in there for about two years, but never could wave successfully. He did shift my guy into the Defense Minister position.

One of the new cards in the modern game is a coup, where the Defense Minister can roll an 18-20 to make himself the Party Chief or be sent to the people. I played it and rolled a 19, making my guy the new Party Chief. I waved for two straight turns, but then an investigation placed on me led to a trial, and he was sent to Siberia.

The faction who waved in the first turn also managed to wave in the ninth one. Their guy was completely healthy, around 70 in age, and looked like he would make the third wave for his faction and win it for that player. But in the final health phase in turn 10, he rolled a one and actually died right there. The jockeying that ensued meant that a player who had never waved got his guy into the Party Chief position, and had at least two more members of the Politburo in his pocket.

If no one wins after 10 turns, the Modern game uses an end-game scoring instead of the extra tiebreaker round. You get points for having waved previously, for currently controlling the Party Chief, and for controlling other voting members. It turns out that the guy who had just gotten his guy in at the end was set up pretty well and he ended up winning easily.

It was a great game. The Modern rules actually aren't all that different from the original, though they do use real Soviet politicians. That's kind of fun, though I do missing seeing Comrade Pistov among their ranks. It's still definitely Kremlin though, no mistaking that at all. There is a cool thing where you can send a guy into exile if he is about to be purged or put on trial. He is still essentially in Siberia, but he gets all his health back and doesn't lose any influence. I like the end game scoring too, at least more than the old tiebreaker round, which I felt invalidated most of what came before it.

The Jolly Roger reprint has some issues, mostly with the squirrely rules and some graphic bungles. But I'm glad that it's back in print, even if I suspect a lot of modern gamers won't know what to make of it.
Last edit: 18 Jul 2014 09:03 by san il defanso.

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18 Jul 2014 09:28 #182477 by Legomancer
Both times I played Kremlin I was out of the running 45 minutes into the 3 hour game. I guess it was fun for everyone else, but I don't have any desire to touch it again.

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18 Jul 2014 10:43 #182481 by Scott_F
Played my second game of Twilight Struggle last night. I was the Soviets while the more experienced player was the US. The game ended after the last round and I lost pretty badly, not having scored almost any regions with domination. Great two player game, can't wait to play it again and hopefully not make the dumbass moves that I did before.

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18 Jul 2014 11:50 #182490 by hotseatgames
Last night was a 3 player game of Nexus Ops, which I lost due to getting ganged up on, but that's okay. I also rolled very poorly, but that's not unusual.

Then we had a 2 player run of my new cooperative design, and it could not have went more perfectly; we won on the absolute last turn of the game. This game will likely see print later this year, but more on that when I've got more to say.

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18 Jul 2014 15:07 #182516 by SuperflyPete

Scott_F wrote: Played my second game of Twilight Struggle last night. I was the Soviets while the more experienced player was the US. The game ended after the last round and I lost pretty badly, not having scored almost any regions with domination. Great two player game, can't wait to play it again and hopefully not make the dumbass moves that I did before.


I'm the one guy on the planet that can't stand those card-driven games. Man, do I despise Twilight Struggle.

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18 Jul 2014 15:12 #182519 by VonTush
Elaborate?
I haven't played many outside of TS...So just wondering.
Outside of TS I've just tinkered with Labyrinth.

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18 Jul 2014 15:16 #182520 by ThirstyMan

VonTush wrote: Elaborate?
I haven't played many outside of TS...So just wondering.
Outside of TS I've just tinkered with Labyrinth.


VT, you gotta try COIN games (not Labyrinth which is not strictly COIN). Andean Abyss, Cuba Libre, A Distant Plain. All great and the Vietnam one out this summer (Fire in the Sky).

They are great solo and brilliant multiplayer

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18 Jul 2014 15:33 - 18 Jul 2014 15:35 #182523 by VonTush
One you'd recommend over the other? Or is the system similar enough between games its just a matter of picking the setting/conflict I like best?

Seems like its a great series, they're Out of Stock all over!

EDIT: I should add I'd likely be doing solitaire first before I could drum up people with enough interest to play.
Last edit: 18 Jul 2014 15:35 by VonTush.

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18 Jul 2014 15:52 - 18 Jul 2014 16:49 #182526 by ThirstyMan
My personal favourite is Andean Abyss. They all have similar systems.

In Andean Abyss you play the Government when playing solo. In Cuba Libre you play either the Government or Castros band when playing solo and in A Distant Plain you play any faction solo (Taliban, Warlords, US Coalition or Government). The AI is really very good in all of them and takes control of the other three players.

They all have excellent playbooks where they go through a multiplayer game step by step and then a solo game step by step reducing the learning curve somewhat.

The other thing worth mentioning is that every faction has entirely different win conditions. This makes it super interesting IMHO
Last edit: 18 Jul 2014 16:49 by ThirstyMan.
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19 Jul 2014 18:48 #182569 by Grudunza
First time playing Game of Thrones (it was the 2nd edition). I loved it. A great system for conflict. I eked out a win (with the tie-breaker) as House Stark. It was a 4p game, and I can see how with 5 or 6 there would be more need for diplomacy. As it was, we all kind of did our own thing, and were always against each other. Still great, though.
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19 Jul 2014 21:19 - 19 Jul 2014 21:19 #182571 by Dr. Mabuse
I'm a huge fan of the Storm of Swords expansion that was available for the 1st edition game. It was designed specifically for 4 players, it included ally cards (some provided ongoing bonuses) leader tokens and taking hostages (even executing them).

No matter how you play it AGOT is still a great game.
Last edit: 19 Jul 2014 21:19 by Dr. Mabuse.

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20 Jul 2014 01:15 #182575 by hotseatgames
Played a 3 player game of Heroscape tonight. First time this has hit the table in ages. We did 500 point armies. I was the first out but the next guy wasn't far behind.

Then we did a 4 player round of Epic Spell Wars. It was fun but I was getting tired at that point. Too much alcohol this weekend.

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