What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

Grudunza wrote: Burgle Bros. (x3)

Impressions of this one? It has been getting good buzz in the solo community on BGG.

iguanaDitty wrote:

Grudunza wrote: Burgle Bros. (x3)

Impressions of this one? It has been getting good buzz in the solo community on BGG.

I talked about this one a bit back when it was on KS and I had played the PnP a few times. I love it. A very fun co-op heist theme. Some good decision-making, and a nice variety of situations to get into and (hopefully) out of. One thing I don't like are the Loot cards. They were a late addition to the KS and I don't think they were tested that well and can be very swingy and wonky, rule-wise. But they're easy enough to leave out, and the game is hard enough, regardless.

Grudunza wrote: Colt Express (x2)

That was probably my top new-to-me highlight of the con. Thx for running. Dave/Cheyenne.

I was involved in that Dune game mentioned above. First time playing Dune after two games of Rex. I didn't like Rex much at all; the theme wasn't there (I don't play TI) and the board was pretty ugly to boot. Our Dune game ran pretty long and we only got through 4 actual turns with the full 6 people after about 3 hours. But there were some non-gamers there and alot of time was spent talking about the books between some turns.

I loved the game. The directions were easy to explain, victory conditions are straightforward, battles are based on four factors and no dice. And the factions make so much more sense in the Dune universe. And the map is infinitely better than that of Rex. The difference between the factions and how they play and work in an alliance is great. I can't remember a first game I've played that I enjoyed as much as Dune - despite the length and need for a high player count. I'm not a huge fan of the Dune universe, but I've read the initial book maybe 2-3 times and have read a couple follow-ups but don't remember anything about them. The factions, alliance turns, battle system, the map, and the theme are all big positives for me. My only issue is the length of the game; most stuff that I really enjoy comes in around the 2 hour mark or so with 3-5 players. Dune definitely seems like a 3-5 hour game, even using the shortened game length of 10 turns. And having all 6 factions was great but I have a hard time fielding that many players willing to devote that length of time to a single game too - far easier to have 4-5 player games, I just hope Dune doesn't lose some of the flavor and alliance balancing in that situation. And out of the buying options out there the print n play boards and pieces look to be of greater quality than the original at this point, so I had to order one myself rather than stalk BGG auctions for a "cheap" used copy of $150.

^Thanks Scott_F... part of me is starting to feel like the quest to cut down on game length is pretty much incompatible with certain types of game dynamics. Negotiation and backstabbing games... I feel like they need to be at least a certain length to put the venom into them. Who wants to play a 30 minute intrigue game? It's just not going to be the same because the consequences aren't there. I mean, obviously they can be shorter than 5 hours or wahatever, but...

Played some Argent tonight with my spouse. Still the best worker placement in my collection.

The other thing that struck me as awesome about Dune was how quickly everyone could grasp the differences between the factions. It seems like half of my game collection of 40 odd games is composed of dudes on a map with different faction abilities, like Cthulhu Wars/Kemet/Chaos in the Old World/City of Remnants/Forbidden Stars. But the big problem playing those is to understand and remember the difference takes so much memorization and so many plays.

Then I played Dune. And the Emperor got filthy rich by directly collecting all treachery card payments. And the Fremen don't pay to ship troops and move faster. And the Atriedes kick ass in fights and know what the treachery cards are. And the Guild gets rich by directly collecting shipping payments and choose their own turn order. Obviously there is more to each faction than that one thing, but every faction really jumped out as unique in a handful of ways that come up every turn. Unlike almost all of the above games where you don't really know that Slaanesh is defensive until you play him and read all of his cards. Or you don't know how Black Goat plays or works because you don't memorize all the spellbooks for every faction. The differences in the Dune factions were all very significant and came up every turn.

Grudunza wrote:

iguanaDitty wrote:

Grudunza wrote: Burgle Bros. (x3)

Impressions of this one? It has been getting good buzz in the solo community on BGG.

I talked about this one a bit back when it was on KS and I had played the PnP a few times. I love it. A very fun co-op heist theme. Some good decision-making, and a nice variety of situations to get into and (hopefully) out of. One thing I don't like are the Loot cards. They were a late addition to the KS and I don't think they were tested that well and can be very swingy and wonky, rule-wise. But they're easy enough to leave out, and the game is hard enough, regardless.

I second this. The loot cards are trash, ditch 'em. It's a lot of fun, and is a great co-op. Probably solos very well.

Gary Sax wrote: ^Thanks Scott_F... part of me is starting to feel like the quest to cut down on game length is pretty much incompatible with certain types of game dynamics. Negotiation and backstabbing games... I feel like they need to be at least a certain length to put the venom into them. Who wants to play a 30 minute intrigue game? It's just not going to be the same because the consequences aren't there. I mean, obviously they can be shorter than 5 hours or wahatever, but...

My agreement with this sentiment is so intense it should be making your screens sweat. All this Dune talk has forced me to schedule game 4 with my playgroup, we'll see how the lay off has affected their ability/take on the game. Sister site in the making? www.fortressdune.com appears to be available.

Pandemic this evening with couple friends. Still just sort of happens for me. It's fine.

If other people felt about all boardgames the way I feel about Pandemic, I think I see why they would be totally baffled why anyone likes our hobby. Like, I recognize it's well designed, our games tend to go down to the wire, it is not a bad game I hate but... it just thuds into mediocrity for me.

Two more games of Pandemic Legacy and October was a freaking nightmare. Two horrible setups each session and one objective that we have unwittingly made extremely difficult if not nigh-impossible are killing us. I fear our P:L world is doomed, doomed I tell you.

I bought Argent: the Consortium and the expansion a couple weeks ago, and now it's the only board game I want to play. I love, love, love the way that game does screwage. There are usually ways to accomplish what you want even if you get hosed a couple times, but something about it feels personal enough that it still makes you want to take revenge.

It also might be a new watermark for variety in a eurogame. I mean, to me it feels like Cosmic Encounter levels of variation. And in spite of all that, it still feels like it holds together through it all. Really impressed with it so far, and I have already pestered Gary Sax to play a game on VASSAL when his next one finishes up.

Tomorrow I'm going to a friend's house. I think we're going to play X-Wing and Warhammer: Diskwars. Looking forward to it.

^It's real good, isn't it? We're still playing it in a bastardized low conflict version 2 player at my house. It's one of those games that's incredibly flexible to getting your own experience/type of game out of it. We take wounding out and though it advantages certain strategies, the game still just works.

We're in round 5 of F:AT's second VASSAL game, so I'll bring you in shortly when that is over if NotSure and JEM are still keen.

Felt like my neck was being firmly stepped on for the last couple of rounds but I see some stuff to do in the final leg! Will look forward to the next game for sure.

(card)board games played this week:
Zombicide - every time we play this game something is broken about it. Whether it was realizing that the Toxic City mission we were playing with Rue Morgue base set would be impossible due to not having the food items in the deck, to the second game on Saturday, where we were playing a mission that was supposed to be a knife-fight through two tiles of rooms, ended up a brawl in the street due to an Abomination spawn on the second turn altering the escape/win condition to being on the starting tile. Even so, we always enjoy playing it.

Thunder Alley another two plays. Friday we did the road course with four players. Two of us got pretty screwed in the first round but we worked together and by the third (final) round we pushed enough to get first and second (I lost out by three points I think). It's hard to convince people who start in the back of the pack that they have a shot at this game, and that cooperation is really needed to stay in it. Saturday we played on one of the super speedways with a full seven players. New players didn't fare so well (see previous comment) but still the game played really well. I ended in that situation where you have one already activated car pushed just to the finish line while everyone races past it. Good times.

Brew Crafters - I'm told this is like Agricola with beer. I kind of liked it, but it's one of those euros that smacks you down every few rounds to make you manage your budget. Feels like there are specific strategies (I couldn't get the mash tun/double production to work against the microbreweries cranking out beers every season, but I'm sure there's a way), and while there's variety in the specialist helpers, I don't see a huge amount of scope for creative play. I still much prefer La Granja for this kind of "turn 2X and 3Y into Z" euros.

Star Realms Colony Wars - I like this new set a lot, and definitely more than the other expansion stuff. It plays very much like the original set, easy to see some nice combos. Much easier to get bases out if they are available- I had eight of them out in the last game. Will probably mash it together with the old set and see about some team vs team games.

Between Two Cities - ended in a three player tie. Tedious double maths.

I played King of Tokyo with the fam last night. I hadn't played in like 3 years so I forgot that you need to roll triples to score. So, our first game lasted all of 5 turns LOL. They loved it when we played it right, but they're both suckers for dice games. It's a dumb game, but it's pretty fun.

We also got a play in of The Three Musketeers: The Queen's Pearl Necklace (or pendant or somethings). Got it from Messr. Theel a while back and only got one play since then. We played 3 player and I found that playing as the Overlord isn't as bad as Descent...not as many options to be evil.

It reminded me of a more open version of Ninja: Scorpion Clan, although I liked this game better. If they took this engine, tweaked it a bit for hidden movement or something, and skinned it with Agent 47, that would be bad ass.

In any event, it's a good game. Much more of a tween game than a hobby game, and the setup is really kind of a pain, but it's a good game. I could totally see a dad with 3 teen kids having a ball with it.

As it turns out, my wife decided to just haul ass with Athos toward the queen, hoping to bum rush me. The last turn, she had 1HP left, got jumped by Rochefort and 5 guards. My rolls were SHIT so she almost made it but the last round the 2 remaining guards both scored hits and she scored none.

Easter games!

The King's Abbey - Not a bad tableau builder, but very light on interaction. Feels a lot like Agricola except not as fussy and irritating.

Toledo - I had played this Martin Wallace game a while back and remembered nothing about it. That's because it's not particularly memorable.

Quantum - Finally got this played again. One player immediately got an incredibly overpowered upgrade and just mopped the floor with us. As a bonus, the upgrade was combat based so his victory also meant we were constantly getting our ships destroyed. No one really enjoyed it, even that player, it can't seem to get on the table, it's been on TWO ultimatum lists -- time for it to go.

My Dwarves Fly - It's got John Kovalic art, so that tells you exactly what you need to know about it, and it lives up to that. I don't mind light, goofy games, but this was just not great.