Board Games

[Abe Sargent]

Rising Sun is my favorite current game. I like it lots. Everything about it is top shelf class and quality.

I would echo this review:

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

Not sure if I posted this here or not, but Sagrada is a neat little game. You are building stained glass windows for a church. There are three scoring cards that vary from game to game and are public. Every one has a secret scoring card that is based upon the value of a single color of dice on their board. Everyone picks a window that they are attempting to complete. The window is a 5x4 grid with restrictions on die value and color.

Each turn, the starting player rolls dice equal to 2x the number of players plus 2. They then do a Settler’s style draft of the dice. After you draft a die, you can opt to use a tool using favor tokens (given at start based upon the difficulty of your window) to manipulate your board. Restrictions on die placement is all dice must be adjacent, dice orthogonal adjacent cannot be the same value or color, plus any window restrictions.

The beauty of the game is it works for both gamers and non-gamers. For non-gamers, you are looking at completing out your board. For gamers, it is a cutthroat game of screwing over the competition by taking the dice they need when they come up. Depending upon your board, it can be difficult to just complete your window due to placement restrictions so proper planning is necessary.

My wife is a huge stained glass fan, so this interests me.

How "beautiful" is the game? Is it a building strategy game that happens to have stained glass as the thing you build? Or is the stained glass artwork really amazing and/or central to the appeal of the game?

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

Rising Sun is my favorite current game. I like it lots. Everything about it is top shelf class and quality.

The main (only?) gripe I hear about the game in reviews seems to be a potential faction imbalance issue. I hate hearing that, because:

• Most reviewers have far too few plays of the game to know whether or not this is truly an issue.
• See Quik's Dominion thread about Dominion - even after plenty of playthroughs it can be easy to incorrectly dismiss the game as one-dimensional because of the "obvious" dominant strategy.
• Does this actually matter? Few games will make it to production and distribution with a truly game-breaking imbalance; if one group/faction/strategy is slightly overpowered, does it make that much of a difference?

Anyhow, with all that being said what's your take on the faction balance in Rising Sun?

[Fidatelo]

Rising Sun looks so great. I don't really have room for a new game like that now, but maybe someday.

I picked up Battle for Rokugan awhile back and have played it a couple times now. It's a really fun area control game with just the right amount of strategy for my game group. It's not so deep that it is intimidating or takes too long for a new player to become competitive, but there is enough there to keep it interesting and to allow for various strategies (it seems... only two plays isn't really enough to actually know for sure). You get a lot of 'stuff' for a pretty competitive price, too, so it feels like good value to me.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

My wife is a huge stained glass fan, so this interests me.

How "beautiful" is the game? Is it a building strategy game that happens to have stained glass as the thing you build? Or is the stained glass artwork really amazing and/or central to the appeal of the game?

The images I've seen indicate that there is some (but not much) static art of stained glass, but that you "build" using translucent colored dice to represent your stained glass. Looks fairly clever, if not exactly "beautiful."

[NobodyHere]

So I was starting to build a collection of X-Wing Miniatures ships and then this drops:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/e...econd-edition/

So to make my old ships compatible with the new rules I would have to buy two conversion kits that cost $50 apiece.

Luckily I haven't spent too much yet (About $125). Maybe I'll try to find people who play Armada.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

So I was starting to build a collection of X-Wing Miniatures ships and then this drops:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/e...econd-edition/

So to make my old ships compatible with the new rules I would have to buy two conversion kits that cost $50 apiece.

Luckily I haven't spent too much yet (About $125). Maybe I'll try to find people who play Armada.

If you piece it out and have the millennium falcon, I will take it

[ColtCrazy]

I am reading about this as well. I have about $300 worth of ships. The thought of investing another $100 to keep playing is worrisome, especially since I play just solo or with one other friend.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by tarcone

If you piece it out and have the millennium falcon, I will take it

I'll have to think about it. I have the "Heroes of the Resistance" set which contains the Falcon and Poe Dameron's black X-Wing.

[tarcone]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

I'll have to think about it. I have the "Heroes of the Resistance" set which contains the Falcon and Poe Dameron's black X-Wing.

Awesome. Those are good looking ships

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by ColtCrazy

I am reading about this as well. I have about $300 worth of ships. The thought of investing another $100 to keep playing is worrisome, especially since I play just solo or with one other friend.

If you're just playing solo, what's to stop you from continuing to play as-is? I guess new ships won't conform, but it's not as if what you have is completely useless.

Edit: I don't mean to sound harsh at all; I think it's ludicrous that they are changing the rules for a collectible game of this nature such that old versions are incompatible.

[NobodyHere]

I get FFG's position behind the whole thing. They believe the original design has become unwieldy in since the release of 50+ ships. It has been hard to balance and keep ships from becoming irrelevant. So far they've tried this with duct tape worthy design modifications. I mean even the X-Wing ship is not even used much in the current meta of the game that bears it's name.

When X-Wing 2.0 releases I might jump in further as it seems like a good "starting" point.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

My wife is a huge stained glass fan, so this interests me.

How "beautiful" is the game? Is it a building strategy game that happens to have stained glass as the thing you build? Or is the stained glass artwork really amazing and/or central to the appeal of the game?

Sorry, haven't checked the thread, closer to the first. You certainly could try to make it prettier as well on your own, but that would be a personal challenge, not on the game.

[albionmoonlight]

Played Thurn and Taxis yesterday. Very fun (though I got my ass kicked :-))

It is a route building game, but it has a couple of mechanics that make it different than normal route building games.

First, once you complete a route, you discard all of your cards, and your next route is completely unrelated to your past ones. So you may start the game building on the left half of the board, but once that's done, you don't build off of it or anything. It isn't like you start with a powerbase somewhere and build from there.

Also, there are rewards for building long routes, but there are a lot of other goals that you need to consider. So the game requires a bit more strategy than just "build as long as you can."

If you are looking for a Euro with not-overly-complex rules and game play under two hours, this is a pretty good option.

Edit--the guy who owned the game said that the expansions were not as good and he does not recommend them over the base game.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Played Thurn and Taxis yesterday. Very fun (though I got my ass kicked :-))

It is a route building game, but it has a couple of mechanics that make it different than normal route building games.

First, once you complete a route, you discard all of your cards, and your next route is completely unrelated to your past ones. So you may start the game building on the left half of the board, but once that's done, you don't build off of it or anything. It isn't like you start with a powerbase somewhere and build from there.

Also, there are rewards for building long routes, but there are a lot of other goals that you need to consider. So the game requires a bit more strategy than just "build as long as you can."

If you are looking for a Euro with not-overly-complex rules and game play under two hours, this is a pretty good option.

Edit--the guy who owned the game said that the expansions were not as good and he does not recommend them over the base game.

I have never played any of the expansions, but the base game is very good. My old game group would play this in about an hour.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by Warhammer

I have never played any of the expansions, but the base game is very good. My old game group would play this in about an hour.

3 of the 4 of us were new, and we finished in about 90 minutes. I think with 4 people who all knew the game, 60 minutes is about right.

[Coffee Warlord]

Paradox is working on a bunch of board games, for...Crusader Kings, Europa Universalis, Hearts of Iron, and...Cities Skylines.

[tarcone]

Went to Geekway to the West.

Great con. Relaxed. 300 players. Some vendors. Outstanding library and play and win. Great venue.

If you ever get a chance, I recommend this one.

[MIJB#19]

Big (annual) family reunion 2 weeks ago. I can't remember having played that many games or time spent playing games in the 4 1/2 days there. Three Catan sessions on three different days (all with 5 or 6 players), a long Codenames session with 9, three 'trees' of Klaverjassen, several Pickomino plays, and finally Rockband Manager got to the table. It didn't bother me that we didn't get a chance to play Risk Legacy again, which we did last year. Coincidentally, I ended up looking around in 4 different board game stores in Utrecht, all within less than 3 minutes walking from each other, quite unique, I think.

From those games played, the only one that I hadn't played before was Rockband Manager. It had been high on my 'want to play' list, but turned out to be a bit so-so with the 5 of us, all new to the game. It took quite some time to explain the rules (compared to most games I bring to the table, I prefer games easy to learn, hard to master).

Unrelated, I picked up Flamme Rouge this week.

[Dantooine98]

I like playing Exploding Kittens, it's very easy to learn with simple rules and a lot of fun playing with family and friends.

[AnalBumCover]

After having this game sitting on my shelf for about a year, I learned and played Race for the Galaxy (with solo rules from The Gathering Storm expansion). My God, this game is awesome. The biggest barrier, of course, was learning the many icons that come with the game. But as everyone on the internet say, once you get familiar with them, playing the game goes much smoother.

I'm a convert. I've been playing 1 or 2 sessions nightly for the past week. It's so easy to get a new game started and ready to go. And oh, my record against the robot is currently 1-10 or so...

[weegeebored]

You might already be aware of it but there's an AI version of RFTG if you want to practice. I have only played the base game but some of the expansions are included as well. Link

[AnalBumCover]

I've heard about it, but haven't checked it out. Thanks for the link.

[NobodyHere]

Dang,

I accidentally ordered white sleeves instead of clear sleeves

[tarcone]

Played Sonar, which is the smaller version of Captain Sonar. It plays 2-4. What a fun game. Easier to get tot he table. Easier to play. It is turn based, which isnt a bad thing.

Im going to buy two games and play the game with 4 players. 3 v.1 or 2 v. 2 or a royal rumble.

[Vince, Pt. II]

So I now have 11 of the 12 total games of the Charterstone campaign under my belt. I will try to put up another detailed review soon; the reader's digest version:

• Really, really enjoyed the campaign a ton. While it didn't have quite the impact that Risk: Legacy did to me from a paradigm shift standpoint, I think it is excellently implemented and is a fantastic group experience.
• We kept the same 5-player group for all 11 games and never once used the Automatic, so I unfortunately still can't speak to a solo-variant.
• Once the game gets fleshed out (I'd say by game 5-ish), the strategic depth of the game becomes more apparent. This is still a far cry from a grand strategy game, but I think it has more depth than I gave it credit for in my initial impressions.
• The mechanic I was most wary of in my initial review changes game-by-game, and you don't know the impact it will have until after it is decided. I'm still not sure if I love or hate that, though I know that it will be deal-breakingly frustrating for a not-insignificant amount of gaming groups.
• There were multiple times throughout the campaign when I said "that is an awesome mechanic" or "that's a brilliant concept."
• There is a story that is told from game to game within the campaign...but unfortunately it isn't very engaging. While you make decisions throughout the campaign and they each have a clear-cut short-term result, you have very little (typically none, if I'm being honest) in the way of information to determine how much or little impact they will have later on. While the uncertainty adds a little intrigue to the decision-making process, the payout is delayed to the point that you've forgotten the choice by the time the impact is felt, and it didn't really connect well with our group. I feel like there was a missed opportunity there.

I'll see about adding more detail later.

[Shkspr]

Your legacy game experience reminds me: there's a legacy edition of one of my favorite games coming this November: Betrayal at the House on the Hill. Apparently a 13 chapter story will be told spanning hundreds of years, with 50 new haunts - I'm assuming that the haunts not used in the campaign can still be used with the personalized set at the end of the campaign.

[Vince, Pt. II]

I should go back and play more Betrayal. My group and I completely overdosed on it our first weekend, playing about 8 games in a row. We tired of it, and I've never really gone back.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

Unrelated, I picked up Flamme Rouge this week.

Bought it together with the expansion. Solo played this game pretty much all weekend. This quickly jumped into my top5 games all-time. Hooked I am.

[Dantooine98]

this is a good game in summer camp

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

I should go back and play more Betrayal. My group and I completely overdosed on it our first weekend, playing about 8 games in a row. We tired of it, and I've never really gone back.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Just got word from the publisher that Scythe the digital edition, will soon be available on Steam. So add it to your wishlist

Scythe is now available on Steam for $20.

[Galaril]

Looking for some opinions on a pair of popular older over land fantasy adventure games and which folks might recommend : Talisman 4th revised and rune bound 3rd edition. I get they both are fairly long but not overly complicated fantasy games. Looking for something to play with one or two kids that is not overly complicated and is fun.

[Thomkal]

Talisman was probably the first "adult" game I owned (and still have it). Taught it to teen-aged nephews too. It can be a tough game for younger kids to enjoy because it can take so long sometimes and they might not have enough patience to finish it before their attention drifts elsewhere. You might try to shorten it for them by doing things like only playing the outer level, kill a certain # of creatures,etc. There is also a digital version available that kids might find more palatable/fun.


I have not played Runebound sadly.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

Talisman was probably the first "adult" game I owned (and still have it). Taught it to teen-aged nephews too. It can be a tough game for younger kids to enjoy because it can take so long sometimes and they might not have enough patience to finish it before their attention drifts elsewhere. You might try to shorten it for them by doing things like only playing the outer level, kill a certain # of creatures,etc. There is also a digital version available that kids might find more palatable/fun.


I have not played Runebound sadly.

Thanks for the info. Any estimate if your playtime with 2 to 3 players?

[cubboyroy1826]

Just finished the first scenario in TIME Stories. I have to say this cooperative deckspoloration game was a blast for the kids (25, 18,17,15) and I. The basis being you are part of a group in the future that has discovered time travel. You travel in time to prevent temporal faults. Very clever game that we binge played today and ordered the next scenario for.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Played an interesting new game this evening called "The Mind." It's a cooperative game with a deck of cards numbered 1 to 100. For the first round, everyone is dealt one card. In any order they would like, players play cards to the middle of the table with the goal of playing all cards in ascending order. If anyone ever plays a card out of order (that is, lower than the last played card), the team loses one of their four lives and play continues with the out of order card being the current card. The only exception to this is the "throwing star" - the team starts with one, and at any time a player can raise their hand, indicating they want to use it. If all other players agree and raise their hands as well, everyone discards their lowest numbered card. Once everyone is out of cards, if the team has any lives left the round is over and you proceed to the next round - whereupon each player gets two cards (round three is three cards, etc). After successfully beating certain rounds you earn additional lives (I think 2 and 5) and other rounds earn you additional throwing stars (1 and 6, I believe). If you make it through 8 rounds, you win.

The catch is that you cannot communicate while you play the game.

It was fascinating to play; while you could easily make up some method of non-verbal communication to cheese it, playing naturally was a hell of a lot of fun. The moments when everyone is staring at one another for 30 seconds after a 24 was thrown before anyone even moves toward playing another card are tense; can it really be possible that my 52 is the next lowest card at the table?!!?

After wiping out in round 5 the first time, our group of 5 players was able to make it to the eighth round on our last life with no throwing stars available. We managed to make it all the way through the 40 dealt cards in proper order to take down the win, and it was a damned satisfying feeling!

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Thanks for the info. Any estimate if your playtime with 2 to 3 players?

It really depends on luck. It takes time to build a character up enough to get to the Crown of Command at the center. And the leader becomes a target where he/she might be forced to start a new character and build up again. Can be frustrating for younger players. More than an hour I'd say in a normal game. And longer the more players you have.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Played an interesting new game this evening called "The Mind."

Great summary. Love the concept. Buying it today.

[AnalBumCover]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Played an interesting new game this evening called "The Mind."

Have you played "Hanabi"? Sounds like this scratches the same itch.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Great summary. Love the concept. Buying it today.

Glad you thought so! Looked it up after the fact a little and the game seems to be incredibly polarizing. Our group loved it, obviously.

Originally Posted by AnalBumCover

Have you played "Hanabi"? Sounds like this scratches the same itch.

I have heard OF Hanabi, but have never played it.

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by Thomkal

It really depends on luck. It takes time to build a character up enough to get to the Crown of Command at the center. And the leader becomes a target where he/she might be forced to start a new character and build up again. Can be frustrating for younger players. More than an hour I'd say in a normal game. And longer the more players you have.

I broke down and bought the main game and the reaper expansion that doubles the adventure deck. Will see how I like it. I might also consider the spin off games in the Warhammer 40k universe-Relic.

[Thomkal]

Originally Posted by Galaril

I broken Daniel wn and bought the main game and the reaper expansion that doubles the adventure deck. Will see how I like it. I might also consider the spin off games in the Warhammer 40k set Relic.

Great!

[BYU 14]

Not a NASCAR fan at all, but Red White and Blue Racin' from Plaay.com is one of the most fun sports boards games I have played.

The conclusion of a race I played today to give you an idea of game play.
Red White and Blue Racin' 2018 Pro Grip Power Tools 400 - Part 2 - YouTube

[AnalBumCover]

Putting this out there because I thought there'd be some interest in this type of board game. If this isn't allowed, I'll delete this post.

It's a football (soccer) management game called Club Stories. Apparently, the designer only puts out limited runs (just 100 copies in this coming second edition!) as he's doing this just for his own enjoyment.

You can find details about it here.

Looks like the second edition print will be released in the second half of July. You might be able to reserve your copy in advance by emailing the designer (on their contact page).

[Honolulu_Blue]

Has anyone here played "Champions of Midgard"?

My group loved "Lords of Waterdeep" and this sounds similar with a twist. Just wondering if it's worth picking up.

Also, I just got "Gloomhaven" and the "Big Trouble In Little China" board game and just pre-ordered "U-Boat" a co-op submarine sim.

I can't stop myself!

[PadresFan104]

Originally Posted by BYU 14

Not a NASCAR fan at all, but Red White and Blue Racin' from Plaay.com is one of the most fun sports boards games I have played.

The conclusion of a race I played today to give you an idea of game play.
Red White and Blue Racin' 2018 Pro Grip Power Tools 400 - Part 2 - YouTube

Great video, your "broadcasting" style really ramps up the excitement. Always great to see PLAAY games getting some attention.

[Galaril]

In case anyone missed this which is very possible as Gameworkshops only mentioned this on a mention on there website related to new Gen con releases. But a streamlined more accessible faster,playing Blood bowl game is coming: Blitz Bowl.

Here is a play thru of it:
Blitz Bowl - How To Play, by Watch It Play | Video | BoardGameGeek
$45 out on August 24.

https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/toys-...z-bowl-the-gam...

I pretty ordered it just now. They als have a few other new simplified games coming out including a Warhammer adventure quest game and a Lord of the rings race type game.
https://www.warhammer-community.com/...mepage-post-3/

[Thomkal]

Steam having a weekend sale on many of their digital board games

[Thomkal]

A digital version of Gloomhaven is coming from Asmodee in the first quarter of 2019:


Gloomhaven Teaser Trailer - YouTube

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by Galaril

In case anyone missed this which is very possible as Gameworkshops only mentioned this on a mention on there website related to new Gen con releases. But a streamlined more accessible faster,playing Blood bowl game is coming: Blitz Bowl.

Here is a play thru of it:
Blitz Bowl - How To Play, by Watch It Play | Video | BoardGameGeek
$45 out on August 24.

https://m.barnesandnoble.com/w/toys-...z-bowl-the-gam...

I pretty ordered it just now. They als have a few other new simplified games coming out including a Warhammer adventure quest game and a Lord of the rings race type game.
GenCon: Carnage on the Pitch - Warhammer Community

Sounds to me like a spin off, rather than Blood Bowl light. Not to say it's better or worse, just that it's not just about scoring touchdown to win a game.

(Unrelated, as I realize now, I feel similarly about Blood Bowl Team Manager, which isn't about scoring touchdowns at all.)