What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

bfkiller wrote:

Josh Look, talking about the changes to FoD2 in FoD3, wrote: ... there were always these random things you had zero control over and were just so much bullshit. Removing those elements, not to mention the dice entirely, could have easily pushed this edition into bone dry Letters From Whitechapel territory...

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up there. Bone dry? No game makes me and my friends sweat with anxiety more than playing Letters From Whitechapel as Jack. It doesn't create as many narrative moments in a game as Fury of Dracula does, but LfW nails the tension of the cat-and-mouse chase sooooo much better.

Two games enter. One game leaves.

It's dry.

I don't think we need a Trashdome over this, LfW will lose that argument in these parts.

I don't doubt for a second that Fury of Dracula would win a TrashDome here; I'm just surprised you think it's dry. My heart rate goes off the charts when the investigators start talking about my possible route, not realizing yet that they have me dead to rights.

I don't get nearly as nervous when trying to hide my route as Dracula because a lucky turn can always save me.

I took part in a 6-player game of Fief: France 1429 that took 7 or 8 hours. What a stinker. Here's a few reasons why I'd much rather play Dune or A Game of Thrones or Dominant Species or...

• It is way too luck-dependent (especially the sometimes devastating negative event cards that show up in random locations) to the point that luck can have a stronger effect on the game than good play.
• There is no game clock, so a game can go on indefinitely.
• The niggling rules are full of esoteric terminology, making the game more difficult to learn than it should be.
• The detailed parts of the game never became internalized or natural to any of us so we were constantly referencing the rulebook and reference sheets throughout the game.
• Elections, which are frequent, are super awkward because of a weird system of voting.
• Apart from shared victory, formal alliances don't really have any benefit.

It felt very half-baked, which is weird considering a) it's design that's gone through a few iterations, and b) it was published by Academy Games.

I like em both. While Fury of Bela Legosi is clearly the better game, I still get quite a bit of enjoyment out of Whitechapel. The game is very simple to play, and I find myself pulled into the thrill of the chase each time. Then again, I'm a sucker for games with hidden movement. If both were set up side by side at tables, I'm hunting down Drac. If I got stuck at the Whitechapel table I'm still going to have a great time.

Letters is 100% about the chase and trying to deduce where Jack's hideout is. Sometimes I'm in the mood for that. Just using the ol' noggin and trying to figure out where that sick son of a bitch is sneaky off to each night. When I want the meatier experience I turn to FoD.

So I've been playing a lot of solo retail Mistfall lately. tl;dr: a great puzzle card combo combat game with some problems I am willing to overlook.

I didn't find it that hard to learn after a thorough read of the rulebook and a comb through the FAQ and forums at BGG. That said, there are still areas that are not super clear that I make a ruling on and move on. As others have said, once the basic gameplay flow is understood it really is pretty simple.

Also simple was the "normal mode". I was slaughtering enemies with abandon, purchasing tons of upgrades, destroying final bosses. I switched to "hard mode" for the last quest and ran out of time while fighting the final boss. Plus, throughout I felt much more up against it trying to complete encounters without getting seriously hurt. Overall the hard mode challenge feels right.

The gameplay is very puzzley - how can I solve this encounter in as few rounds as possible? But there is some nice variety in enemies and encounters that are evocative without hitting you over the head with flavour text....although personally I would prefer a bit more flavour text. Fortunately some is found in the quest guide.

I like the way upgrades work, each character has its own play feel and fun card combos. I don't like how the two mages feel similar, although it may be I haven't really grokked how to play the mages yet and therefore don't really get the differences. And the priest is completely broken at worst and not very interesting at best, so I have excluded her from play until she's fixed. That still leaves several characters to mess with, however. I am slightly concerned there will be a "best path" for upgrades, but I am encouraged by the fact that purchasing the most expensive upgrade as soon as possible is often a mistake, and all of the cards seem useful situationally. As I play two characters at once there are a number of combinations possible and different upgrades will hopefully be useful with different partners.

That said, there's clearly a ceiling here where you'll have seen everything to see. More quests, encounters, abilities, and enemies would be nice but really there's a lot of content here already, and that I keep setting up another game is pretty unusual for me. I'm pleased I got this game and look forward to more.

bfkiller wrote: I don't doubt for a second that Fury of Dracula would win a TrashDome here; I'm just surprised you think it's dry. My heart rate goes off the charts when the investigators start talking about my possible route, not realizing yet that they have me dead to rights.

I don't get nearly as nervous when trying to hide my route as Dracula because a lucky turn can always save me.

It's by no means a bad game, but like Egg said, it's a much more cerebral experience. Play as Jack is fairly nerve racking, especially on that two-murder night. That aside, I still find it to be a little bit TOO focused on it being a hidden movement deduction game, and the investigators side is dull. That comes across as dry to me, especially with FoD being an option for this style of game. The risk/reward nature of the event deck, the traps Dracula sets for the hunters...I'm usually a "less is more" guy, but this is rare case where the "more" complements the what the game is really about rather than needlessly distracting from the heart of the experience (*cough* BSG *cough*).

Played my second session of Pandemic: Legacy last night, starting April after winning the first 3 games last session. We had a major stuff up as we didn't spot that the rules of the session were supposed to change mid-game and played to the end, then had to undo all the stickers placed so we could replay. However the replay was worth it, as the game changed significantly and we had our first loss due to a touch of bad luck (2 epidemics in two turns caused 5 outbreaks taking us from being a couple of turns from winning to a loss on outbreaks). While I hated leaving it on a loss, one player was sick so couldn't handle an extended session.

I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about it, which is the sign of a good game. The game just took its first significant turn, which was unexpected yet predictable (equivalent to finding out someone is a traitor in a co-op, where it is an obvious extension, but how the rules handle it will be interesting). In the middle of the night I was wondering how on earth we were going to win any further games, somehow ignoring the fact that if two cards were drawn in reverse order we probably would have won comfortably.

If anyone is on the fence about this game, it is worth getting. The only concern that the game still has is the Alpha Dog problem. It now comes with much more theme and character and the puzzle-like nature is sliding more and more into the background. So far I have to say that this is by far the best campaign experience I have had with a boardgame.

Shellhead wrote: Maybe I will compromise by using my 2nd edition minis and box cover.

I was thinking the same thing about the box cover...

My wife and I just finished April ourselves in Pandemic Legacy. I've nursed just a little letdown with the game because the narrative does have an on-rails feel. First of all, any of the big twists in the story are presented no matter what, and always at the right time. Secondly the game just keeps trucking along if you lose a lot, so there's a minor feeling that consequences are pretty light.

But I'm going to chalk those up as the cost of doing business for this kind of game, because it's proving to be one of the best experiences I've had in this hobby. It's a little like experiencing a TV show, where you leave each month with a big cliffhanger going into the next one. The twists are legitimately exciting, because you have to deal with them right away. Part of me thought that it was going to just parse out expansion content through the whole thing, but April proved me wrong.

I assume this is the case with Risk Legacy as well, but the legacy concept really makes the game feel like its "yours." It's true, it's basically a campaign game. But the physicality of writing on the board, permanently changing things, that's hard to understate. I do think Pandemic Legacy is more flexible than Risk Legacy, which required a full complement with every game I believe.

Really enjoying it. I haven't yet played a session where I didn't wish we could play more.

charlest wrote: We then had a short game of Nature of the Beast, a CCG-like game with no collectible aspect where players take up armies of animals joining together to fight each other. Very cool and unique. This company is going out of business and currently clearancing off all of their sets for a ridiculous price. I'd already have ordered if I didn't have too many games and not enough 2 player time.

Thanks for the heads up. For about $40 you can get all 6 factions and some bonus cards for deck building. They threw some extra stuff in my order also, so I ended up with almost 500 cards for that price. The game is pretty solid, and I like that there are 6 factions I can just pick up and play without doing the deck building thing, while still having deck building as an option.

Things I've been doing poorly in our games so far:
- Positioning and moving my critters.
- Well-timed use of Event Cards.
- Getting items into play.
- Picking my battles

Things that are important to win:
- All of the above

So I haven't won a game yet, but it's a really cool game and every time I've been thinking about how I could play better. There are ways in the rulebook to play with 4 players if you have enough factions, but the game looks like it was designed for two.

Played 12 Realms with my wife and daughter. Wife hated it, daughter loved it, I kind of thought it was middling.

Some bitches:
- It's hardly co-operative. You could all take your turns at the same time and it wouldn't matter much.
- The end-game SUCKSSUCKSSUCKS.
---> You have to get 3 "artefacts" to be able to fight the boss. Boss doesn't appear unless you have 16+ on your doom track. So, AS A HERO OF THE REALM, you have to sit back and watch shit burn, instead of fighting to save the kingdom, so that the doom track gets high enough to have the baddie appear. And even then, bad cards can tip you over the edge and force a loss if you're not VERY careful
>>>> TOTAL. FUCKING. HORSE. SHIT.
:>.:>:>:>:> SHIT DESIGN.
::>>:>>::>>::>> KICKSTARTER HAS PRODUCED ANOTHER HALF-BAKED DESIGN.

Verbiage at the table:
"What the fuck? I need more Talents!"
"Why do I need to sit back and wait for the boss? That's stupid."
"Fuck this game."
"Seriously, this game wasn't even playtested!"
"How is this co-op?"

"I love the art!"
"The miniatures look amazing! They're so big!" (NOTE: She had never seen Cthulhu Wars, and 28mm is what she's used to.)
"This is TOTALLY not worth 60$. Maybe 40. There's not enough plastic. There's hardly anything in the box!"
"Why is it called 12 Realms when there's only 4 in the box?"
"Look, Dad! I have almost nothing on my doom trac...huh? That's bad? I have to NOT kill things so the main bad guy comes? That's just dumb. Why can't I go to his castle or something?"

I too have kept trucking with Pandemic Legacy. My opinion of it is going up as the game continues. We just hit April and the game has started to veer away from traditional pandemic thematically and in a more ameritrash direction which is interesting.

Also played a learning game of Pax Pamir. Interesting, its a good example of a follow up game in that its about 50% the same and 50% different. The core idea is similar, built a tableu negotate shifting victory conditions however its quite a bit less take that, has a completely different victory point system, has a map with units on it and a completely different economic system. It feels both the same and very different. Not sure how it compares against its predecessor yet. Fewer cards, and player character cards with no name or special abilities are slight downsides. On the up the visual design is far clearer, and game as a whole feels cleaner and it might be a bit shorter.

Codenames is pretty neat too, though doesn't quite live up to the hype generated by some parts of the cult of Chivatil. Only played with 3 players but its a simple word guessing game with a good push your luck element. Give a vague clue in the hope that your team mate gets more answers or give a more obvious one for a single answer. Its pretty cool but i'm not sure its a revelation.

I love word games, so I liked Codewords more than I probably should've.

DukeofChutney wrote: Also played a learning game of Pax Pamir. Interesting, its a good example of a follow up game in that its about 50% the same and 50% different. The core idea is similar, built a tableu negotate shifting victory conditions however its quite a bit less take that, has a completely different victory point system, has a map with units on it and a completely different economic system. It feels both the same and very different. Not sure how it compares against its predecessor yet. Fewer cards, and player character cards with no name or special abilities are slight downsides. On the up the visual design is far clearer, and game as a whole feels cleaner and it might be a bit shorter.

As much as I enjoy Pax Porfiriana, I've been on the fence with Pax Pamir. I've been waiting to hear play reports, such as yours, before I buy it. Thanks.