What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

I played Advanced Civilization this weekend for the first time. What a game!

I usually get bored in any game that's two hours or more. I love card games like Summoner Wars, Magic, Race for the Galaxy, 7 Wonders, Dominion, Red 7, etc. I often tell people that Avalon is my favorite game. There are a few solid longer games that I can stomach. I like Power Grid and didn't hate Brew Crafters, but our 7-player game of Civ kept me engaged for 10-11 hours. The trading mechanic (complete with the big F-you Calamities) is excellent, and the whole question of whether to cash it all in now for something that might help you or hold out another turn for something bigger is an interesting one. I knew I was out of the running a few turns before the end but it was one heck of a ride. With the shorter card games, I like that I can learn from my mistakes by playing repeatedly, but I learned Adv Civ during the game. Everything made sense too- the rulebook is long, but I didn't walk away from it with many questions and the scoring comes organically from doing the things you want to do in the game.

I was 6 or 7 when I first played Sid Meier's Civ on the computer, but I'm glad I went back and played this historic game. Prices on it are kind of nuts though, and even though I think it'll be worth playing in another 35 years, I have no idea who I'd wrangle into wasting their Saturday playing a board game in 2050. Luckily the owner makes this a yearly occurrence, so I should get more chances to play it. I used to think BGGers were silly when they talked about grail games or setting aside an entire day for one play of one game, but now I get it.

Gary Sax wrote: Non-perishables are very rare. The dam and like a few other event cards (including one of the opener cards from the wrecked ship). I always use the cook and my wife the explorer... you have to change the way you assign the cook as a worker because of his shitty (morale depleting) life bar. He can't go hunting and should be gathering if that is something that is at all necessary (not dangerous and he's good at it). Camp shit. The rough one is the building action, which is the most dangerous and he will be doing just like everyone does...

My wife and I played Robinson Crusoe again tonight. What a game! Now knocking on becoming one of my tens (along with Arkham Horror and Clash of Cultures). We even played Castaways again this time, because my wife was annoyed we lost on Friday 3 player. Came down to the final turn to light the fire and we had JUST enough wood to leave the island.

I love the way that the game has these inventions that are sometimes available which alter the whole way you think in a particular game. In this game, we won because we managed to get the cellar (all food non-perishable! Combined with the Cook's power it means you have tons of health) and the furnace (cancels out a snow!). Completely changed our approach, which was predicated now on getting those two key inventions.

Good advice for the Cook. We definitely have to change up our style with that character.

We finally got the cellar tonight as well. Man, it helps so much. That, plus the shortcut and snare going and another thing was giving extra wood. Never been so resource rich. But that last damn hide, that's all we needed to escape. No problem, we've got one pistol shot and a knife. Then a night predator made us waste the ammo for the next day hunt so it was game over. Killed chasing down a goat.

We were light on people this weekend due to Gamefest going on. I think a bunch of people who I know don't go to it stayed away, maybe thinking the crowd wouldn't be there this week. Still, we had about 12-15.

First was Splendor which was a good, cut-throat game this time. I lost by a bunch and the other two tied for first, but I felt good about my strategy. A new guy showed up, and we played a couple of rounds of Tsuro, which is what I'd call a "nice little game," it doesn't take too long and you get some choices to make, possibly an hilarious move if the tiles are right.

I got to play Zeppelin Attack as the four player game. I think it's a really interesting take on deck building, but I also think that it's one of those games like Valley of the Kings, where the strategy isn't immediately obvious and so I don't know that the others enjoyed it so much. I much prefer it to Star Realms right now.

Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers was another good game. If it were still in print, I'd say this is the best stand-alone Carcassonne game. It worked well with five players, and I'd probably not turn down a game.

Two of the group (a couple) really wanted to play Eclipse again, so we did that with a four player game. I got screwed like last time, penned in by ancients on my first explores with no way to gain resources. We were also playing with a kitchen-sink of promos and expansions, which do nothing to help the game. We had rockets, which are cheap, basically nuclear missiles that you can use once if you get them. I had to use mine to clear out the ancients and get my engine started. Two of the other players made an alliance (with some new rules that let them fly around each other's systems) and the other was Planta, sealed off in the corner. When I got to the point of tackling another ancient with actual ships, the alliance guys swooped in and nuked all my ships with their own cheese rockets. I think Eclipse is possibly a load of bullshit.

Eclipse - You should consider discarding a tile instead of keeping it. I know discarding seems like you wasted an action but it's an often overlooked strategy.

Any game is a load of bullshit when you throw in multiple promos and include lopsided expansion material with players that aren't ready for it. The Alliance expansion module isn't very good and is especially horrible with 5 players.

The only expansion module I'd really recommend is the starting ancient hexes that fill in the board as if you had 6 players.

JEM wrote: I got to play Zeppelin Attack as the four player game. I think it's a really interesting take on deck building, but I also think that it's one of those games like Valley of the Kings, where the strategy isn't immediately obvious and so I don't know that the others enjoyed it so much. I much prefer it to Star Realms right now.

I like Zeppelin Attack a lot. Only played it 2p so far, where it's fine.

I haven't played the new Star Realms stuff but that's a game that just burned itself out for me. Played a bunch of games on the iPad and then quit completely. I just don't think there's anything there in the base game.

I'm about there with you on Star Realms. I've been playing online, and vs the AI on my phone. It gets to the point where if I see on the first turn "whelp, you got the trade pod and the freighter on turn one, I guess I lose."

Charlest, you have a point about the discard but really, if your option is to throw away an action in a game where every action is crucial, then I don't know. I'll be fine, I just wanted to piss and moan a bit.

JEM wrote: Charlest, you have a point about the discard but really, if your option is to throw away an action in a game where every action is crucial, then I don't know. I'll be fine, I just wanted to piss and moan a bit.

No problem, there's a lot of Eclipse dissatisfaction around here and I'm not trying to change anyone's mind, but I'm a fan. We never discarded for the same reason, but after many plays started to realize getting boxed in or only possessing hexes with no Economy/Orange can really just put you at a huge disadvantage. Think of the multiple actions you lost having to build up to take those hexes.

And to be clear, I prefer having ancient hexes near me at the start as those hexes are excellent, you get VP for killing the ancients, and you get a discovery token which will really help out. One of those hexes can be worth around 6VP (2 for the hex, 2 for the battle, and 2 for the discovery token), which is 15-20% of some winning totals. However, getting completely surrounded by them is also a huge pain and I heavily recommend considering discarding the second ancient hex you draw.

A "fix" occurred to me (but good luck convincing anyone to use a houserule at a public gaming thing): draw 2, select 1.

That's a racial special ability and I don't think that's a fix that's needed. Of course, if it improves your (anyone's) experience then go ahead.

There's a solid degree of depth in the game about what resources you prioritize and how you setup your surrounding hexes.

Decision points occur around:
Where do you explore?
Do you keep the hex?
How do you position the wormholes?
Do you take the hex (if you can)?
Should you abandon the hex in the future?


Setting up your empire to allow flexibility in actions/strategy is a huge skill element of the game. Influencing discs off undesirable hexes once you've claimed a discovery token or just to grab an extra action is crucial to involved play. My group has been fine with occasionally discarding a hex and I know I've discarded in games I've won before. It is worth noting that I'm not advocating discarding often.

I've only been surrounded completely by ancients twice I think and the second time I discarded a hex to great success.

You can kill ancients on your second turn with your starting technologies if you build a dreadnaught and add hull (add hull to your fighter to). Then attack with your dreadnaught and fighter. This won't work against two ancients though.

What's worse than the above is exploring and finding no Economy. I will absolutely discard a hex if at least half of my hexes don't possess orange. I almost always take orange if I get any white options either (wildcard spaces). I can't remember the last time I played Eclipse without hitting the max Economy production by end game and I also can't remember the last game of Eclipse I didn't come in second or first (I come in second more often than first though).

I didn't know where else to put this, but it made me laugh my ass off. From BGG, on the Fields of Arle forum (Rosenberg worker placement).

"P.10 says "You can load your Vehicles with...Building Materials, i.e. Wood and Clay, to upgrade them (to Timber/Bricks)...etc".

I assumed that the loaded items had to come from your personal supply. (Otherwise, that it would be too easy to get all that "free stuff".)

Another player tried to load from the general supply and after looking through the rules, said that it didn't specify anywhere about the source.

(except the Loading station, which specifies that the peat going onto the vehicle comes from the general supply)

Does anyone know where in the rules it definitively clarifies this issue?
If not in the English version, maybe it specifies in the German version?"

So some motherfucker wanted to play a worker placement game where you can just take resources from the bank to convert them instead of their supply, appealing to the fact he could not find the rule that prohibited it. THIS IS THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL MECHANIC IN AN ENGINE TYPE GAME, AND EVERY RULE IS BUILT AROUND IT. I seriously might have slapped this person full in the face at the table. Or board flipped that shit.