What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

SuperflyTNT wrote: Cash N' Guns:
Never played it before. What a great time. Anyone who doesn't own this and has a larger group should own this. I'm buying it when my bank account recovers.

Be aware that they are releasing a second edition that might as well be a different game. New art by John Kovilic (Munchkin), no Bang Bang Bang cards, no coward tokens, loot drafting, special powers that aid in loot drafting, and some godfather role that lets you change someone's choice. Sounds terrible if you ask me.

Disgustipater wrote:

SuperflyTNT wrote: Cash N' Guns:
Never played it before. What a great time. Anyone who doesn't own this and has a larger group should own this. I'm buying it when my bank account recovers.

Be aware that they are releasing a second edition that might as well be a different game. New art by John Kovilic (Munchkin), no Bang Bang Bang cards, no coward tokens, loot drafting, special powers that aid in loot drafting, and some godfather role that lets you change someone's choice. Sounds terrible if you ask me.

...why does that sound terrible? Certainly no Bang Bang Bang cards sounds like a good idea, as does including bullets in the loot. The special powers also look more interesting in the new edition. I'm guessing Pete played the new edition, actually.

Probably because I've played it a lot and like the Bang Bang Bang cards and coward tokens. "I liked the way it was before!"

I didn't realize the new version was already out.

I haven't played the old edition(s) but the new version looks pretty cool to me. I have it tied up in a preorder bucket at Miniature Market. Maybe I'll be able to tell you all about it in 2015.

Getting ready to play Elfball for the first time. Simple rules, but lots of tables. I guess it was done by one of the guys who did the Blood Bowl rules but couldn't make the changes he wanted to make and have it still be Blood Bowl, so he created a new game with Impact Miniatures and gave it a terrible name and packaged it in a pizza box.

Great 4-player game of War of the Ring with some good friends. First time doing multiplayer and I really liked it. We played open hands since two players were new. Looking forward to trying it again with closed hands.

I kept reading great things about A Study in Emerald and was able to make a trade for it last week. Played two games tonight with 3 friends. We were all a bit underwhelmed for the first few turns... seemed kind of dry, with a little deckbuilding and area control, but not much conflict, and some confusion about what we were really doing and why... but then, whoo boy, it really grew more intense and interesting as it went on, with a good amount of screwage and conflict. We were eager to play again right after, and the second game was even better with all of us knowing more of what we were doing.

If you're not familiar with the game, it's a Martin Wallace adaptation of a Neil Gaiman short story involving some combination of Sherlock Holmes and the Lovecraft mythos. It's a Euro, in essence, with the deck-building card play and managing your cubes to gain influence over cards and cities on the board, but it's also fascinating and unique and puts the deck-building into a very fun framework. There are secret factions, double agents, assassinations, and some cool maneuvering and moving of your agents around the board to seize opportunities. And ultimately, that's what I like the most about it, that it rewards good timing and taking advantage of opportunities, and needing to be very aware of what your opponents are up to. Reminds me of Kemet in that sense, where you need to squeeze every advantage out of your circumstances and know what everyone else is capable of.

There are two factions in the game and everyone is dealt a secret loyalty card to begin with, but there are 3 cards of each faction and nothing is skewed depending on the number of players, so for a four player game it could be 2 vs. 2 or 3 vs. 1. Whichever faction has the player with the lowest score at the end is automatically eliminated, and a single player wins from the remaining faction. So for a 3 vs. 1 game, the single player alone in their faction just has to not come in last place, and they would win. But it's balanced by the other 3 being against them. Both of our games ended up being 2 vs. 2, and we happened to switch factions exactly for each game. The two sides are somewhat asymmetrical, too, requiring some different approaches. It's not hard to figure out who's who before too long... the game doesn't seem to be about that so much, like BSG or similar games... but it's more about figuring out how to eke out a win once you do know everyone's faction.

Can't wait to play this more, as there seems to be a lot of depth and strategies to explore and experience. Big thumbs up so far, and possible GOTY for me, at this point.

I have to say, it's gotten to the point where John Kovalic art on a game is a huge red flag.

Study sounds awesome, but too much going on for any group I'm local too. Like Archipelago. But then that's on my shelves as well...

Gary Sax wrote: Study sounds awesome, but too much going on for any group I'm local too. Like Archipelago. But then that's on my shelves as well...

I'd say it's much easier to grasp than Archipelago. It's like Dominion but you have to fight to get certain cards, and move some agents around to do stuff. There is some chrome and special rules with things, but it feels pretty straightforward once you get going. What becomes difficult is the head space of when and why to do certain things.

I have to admit that the description of how the teams work in that game have left me intrigued.