What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

Dr. Mabuse wrote:

Friday was dead by Day 3

What the shit?! The Europeans survived longer than the lone native? That's some Naked Prey bullshit right there.

Played Pandemic today. Won. Still a great game, all these years later.

I don't know if I'm just getting jaded or if new releases really are getting very pedestrian or at least just feel a lot like a "Me too!" design.

Today was supposed to be the Attack Wing tournanment that I run, but we yet again didn't have the bodies. I hope I can limp along through the next two to finish up The Collective Arc, but I'm thinking it has run its course. Oh well, I'll at least have a source to buy me OP kits still guaranteeing me ships without the hassle of running the events.

In Attack Wing's place we played Legendary Encounters. It felt like every other deck-builder which means it felt like I was just drawing a few cards, flopping them down, adding numbers, asking what another person can add (being co-op) and then applying those numbers the best way possible. I feel more decisions and more options in the Quarriors/Dicemasters system meaning those are still my go-to versions for deck-building games.

We also played Heroes Wanted which was a Kickstarter product and feels that way. You get a combo of two powers to create your overall super hero which was pretty neat, then you get a "Quirk", so my guy was supposed to preface every card I played by saying "Hashtag"...like "Hashtag Punch". My other option to chose from at the beginning was that my hero spoke with a funny accent. We then moved around a board fighting "enemies" that were static and distributed evenly. Being law abiding superheroes (ignoring the vigilantly justice) you could only cross in a crosswalk. Another thing you could do was pick up the litter that the main villain dropped and put it into a trashcan - Seriously, you can't jaywalk and you do litter patrol. The pairing of two powers to create your hero, though not original, was the most interesting part otherwise very forgettable.

Next we proceeded into Age of War. Without beating around the bush, the game is Elder Sign Light and as I understand it a retheming of Battleship Express. I like dice games, I like Elder Sign so I bought it for $13 MSRP. And the game was what I expected which was some entertaining dice rolling and more accessible and portable than Elder Sign.

I then joined the other group to play Bang: The Dice Game, who was playing a lot of Coup (so I was glad to miss that) while the above was happening. This was the first time I was playing with 7 and then 8 and it was great. With smaller groups it is pretty easy to figure out who is who, but at 7 and 8 the first few rounds it is tough to figure out who is on who's side. Still one of the better dice games out there and I'd play that over the card game every time.

Stupid forum ate my post, so you get the summary version.

Ad Astra - often billed as Settlers meets Puerto Rico in space

Great core of exploration and empire development!
Cool scoring and turn order system
Push your luck, blind action selection system is okay
No player interaction worth mentioning. Completely nerfed trading system.
Wonky alien powers (playtested?)
Sits in uncomfortable space between gamers game but above a family game
Too long for what it is
Would happily play it but probably wouldn't seek it out.

This weekend I got some good gamage in.

Impulse - Man, this is an odd one. It seems like 4x but it doesn't really feel like 4x to me, as it's not about long-term strategy. The tipping point seems like it can happen very quickly. Also, since fleet combat is all-or-nothing and large fleets have a definite advantage, the momentum is mostly forward. We only played with two and didn't even get into Plans. I think it probably plays better with at least three. Looking forward to another play.

Valley of the Kings - I got Star Realms at Gen Con and ordered this shortly afterwards. It's been getting all the play that SR hasn't. I've now tried it with 2 and 3 and both were great. It's a solid fast deckbuilder with a lot of conflict and interaction that deserves more attention.

Sushi Go! - always a fun time.

Sid Meier's Civ - with all the expansions, I think. I was Russia and had a rough go of it in the first half. However, my fortune turned around and soon I was rolling. I beat everyone to Sailing and could camp out in the water where no one could get me before darting in and stealing tech. I didn't win, but would have on the next turn.

Dungeon Raiders - a friend pulled this out and I was reallllly skeptical. Turns out, though, it's a fun little take-that and push-your-luck game with some serious strategy involved. The artwork is questionable, though it grows on you. A nice surprise.

Let's not think of Friday as dead, Doc, let's think of him as realizing these Europeans are ignorant motherfuckers and he's better off on his own than trying to build that fucking Shovel our their behalf for three months in a row. I assume his three little health points represent the limits of his patience rather than his lifespan.

I was inspired to play Space Hulk last night with my wife. I learned that I'm not much good at tactical games without having a couple of tries to see what works. We did the tenth scenario, "Defenders." I lost very badly, and had a wonderful time doing it.

Went to a recent game day and played a bunch of stuff.

Splendor - There were only four of us and one guy had never played games before...so it was decided to give this a go. It's harmless and a decent little distraction. About halfway through after looking at all the cards n shit, I jokingly ask the game's owner, what the hell the theme of the game is. He goes, "I think we're magicians". I responded with, "I think we're jewelers of sorts". He read a quick silly blurb confirming we were indeed jewelers. That was my favorite part of the game...figuring out the pasted on stupid theme of this game. The game itself is fine, but there are plenty of other card games I'd rather play. Don't get the fuss over this one.

New Haven - I've never heard of this game before. Maybe I have, I don't know, with a name like "New Haven" it doesn't exactly stand out. The game itself is a Euro where there is zero player interaction and you take turns laying a tile on a board trying to gather resources. You get resources by placing a single tile and connecting as many like resources in a cluster as you can. Then with said resources you build circle building tokens on a bingo style board trying to complete rows/columns. It's a weird game, that is simple to explain. For those that are into spatial puzzles this would probably be a hoot. For me I found it to be a tedious slog. I almost won by barely trying.

For Sale - This game is great. I love how quick it is and how easy it is to explain. It just makes sense. I really need to pick up a copy of this one.

Heroes Wanted - The guy that owns this was super excited to play this. I've been jonesing for a good superhero game so I sat down ready to be wowed by this game I'd never heard of. You can pretty much copy and paste VonTush's text here. This game is a BORING half-baked Euro that I hope to never play again. The only exciting part is creating your super hero. Once the game starts it is so procedural and dry...ugh. There is a reason this was kickstarted. No publisher in their right mind would try this game and think it was worth publishing.

Small World - Thank god we played this. Something actually great. I must have been pissed at all the crummy Euros that I played cause I was kicking ass in this game. Just brutal and ruthless. I came away with the win in the most satisfying game of the day.

Fun day overall...I don't care if the games suck. It was nice seeing some old faces that I haven't seen in months.

Egg Shen wrote: Heroes Wanted - The guy that owns this was super excited to play this. I've been jonesing for a good superhero game so I sat down ready to be wowed by this game I'd never heard of. You can pretty much copy and paste VonTush's text here. This game is a BORING half-baked Euro that I hope to never play again. The only exciting part is creating your super hero. Once the game starts it is so procedural and dry...ugh. There is a reason this was kickstarted. No publisher in their right mind would try this game and think it was worth publishing.

With Space Hulk in the news and then after playing this, I thought why can't a designer just make a solid super hero game with an Action Point mechanic? Why has that mechanic largely disappeared to be replaced with hand management or some other stupid system to make you feel there's more going on. As a super-hero I just want to go around bashing up criminals and putting them in jail with my super-powers. Is that too much to ask?

I haven't seen a good superhero game yet. Probably a good topic unto itself.

Capes & Cowls is really good -- but I doubt many have seen it.