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18 Jan 2015 17:04 - 18 Jan 2015 17:09 #195383 by Gary Sax
Setup is definitely long but I prefer it to the upkeep of filling up the tracks every turn in Agricola, which it has very little of. I've never played the 2 player Agricola separate game, so it's kind of hard to say.

The game is samey, but like I said, it's pretty different from Agricola or Le Havre in that it's full on puzzle mode without much blocking. Agricola and Le Havre had several gamey things (good mechanics, actually)---resource piles getting neglected if they aren't picked, much more directed scoring. This is just a huge, forgiving, relatively directionless play space in a way that is pretty different than the early games. There's no bonus (besides with animals) for any sort of balance in the scoring. We played again today and I decided to go all out weaving, I pretty much dismantled all of my fields and crops and bought a bunch of wagons and kept going to town. I scored pretty big. I could be wrong re: scoring being directionless, I'm sure some BGG has found some sort of obvious high scoring path...

Supposedly it's like Ora et Labora and also Caverna, but again, I haven't played those and this one is meant to play with one or two so it's more involved.
Last edit: 18 Jan 2015 17:09 by Gary Sax.
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19 Jan 2015 09:56 #195431 by lj1983
@library game night:

played Glory to Rome for the first time in years. I love that game, but it definetely takes a couple rounds for new players to get. One player said he felt like he was beat with a stick for a half hour after playing.

Adventure time munchkin - yup. though it is annoying how some cards refer to IRL conditions (night time outside, drink on the table) while others have wording that could refer to IRL conditions, but do not.

superfight - yup.

weekend - X-wing - buddy came over to help move my mother in law out of her apartment. afterwards pizza and x-wing, had to try out the new play mats.

he had a 4 Tie Interceptor list (soontier, Kir Kanos + 2 mooks) and I had a Wes/Wedge/Biggs 3 xwing list. after so many games of playing hypermobile phantoms or run run run Dash Rendars, it was nice to get back to basics with xwings and interceptors.


Great finish to the game - plinked damage on all 4 squints before Biggs died. Wes was quick to follow, but managed to take an avenger pilot out before exploding. Wedge makes a long loop around to get back in the fight and manages to take all three (damaged)interceptors out in 3 consecutive turns.

Excited for Scum & Villainy, as i think it will shift things away from Turrets...still gotta plan for those phantoms though.

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19 Jan 2015 10:19 - 19 Jan 2015 10:23 #195432 by Egg Shen
Played a two player game of Greed over the weekend. I'm still digging this one. With two players each turn is agonizing because there are so many cards you want to draft. You begin thinking 2-3 moves ahead and hoping that the cards you want make it back. When they don't come back you have to rethink your tactics on the fly. The game has a very small footprint, can be set up and played in around 20 mins and provides some fun. So far I'm pleased with this game.

Tried my first game of Flash Point: Fire Rescue. I'm not the biggest fan of co-op games, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Well after sitting through some guy drone on (FROM THE FUCKING RULEBOOK) we were off. The game is very simple and seems to be derivative of much better co-ops. It sort of take the Pandemic thing in terms of how fires spread. Basically if a fire pops up where there already is a fire shit goes to hell quickly. The problem is you can never plan for this...as fire is determined by rolling two dice for coordinates. I guess it makes sense that a fire would unpredictable, but realism doesn't always make for a fun game. I dunno, I really didn't enjoy this game and was glad when it was over. I'd rather play Pandemic or Defenders of the Realm.

Had a five player game of Libertalia. I've always loved role selection games like Citadels or Mission: Red Planet and this game feels like the ultimate role selection game. I loved it. You are constantly trying to out think your opponents and it almost always hilariously backfires on you. The game is mean and quick. I like it quite a bit.

Played a three player game of Smash Up. Got crushed by an Innsmouth/Miskatonic deck. This game is meant to be silly and dumb, but I really like looking for the great synergies between decks. Some people get really clever with their card play and the game doesn't overstay it's welcome. Good times.

Closed out the weekend with Origin. This highly overlooked game is about the expansion of mankind from Africa. It's actually just an Abstract but it is an absolutely gorgeous looking game. It's a family level euro game with a decent amount of interaction. I like how the card play works and a game only takes about an hour. Very fun design. This game came and went without making much noise. I'm a sucker for a caveman/evolution/early mankind theme and the components for this game are just incredible. It seems like there is a lot of trickery and clever play beneath the surface waiting to be discovered. I'm hoping to play this one again soon.
Last edit: 19 Jan 2015 10:23 by Egg Shen. Reason: Spelling

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19 Jan 2015 10:29 #195433 by charlest

Egg Shen wrote: Tried my first game of Flash Point: Fire Rescue. I'm not the biggest fan of co-op games, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Well after sitting through some guy drone on (FROM THE FUCKING RULEBOOK) we were off. The game is very simple and seems to be derivative of much better co-ops. It sort of take the Pandemic thing in terms of how fires spread. Basically if a fire pops up where there already is a fire shit goes to hell quickly. The problem is you can never plan for this...as fire is determined by rolling two dice for coordinates. I guess it makes sense that a fire would unpredictable, but realism doesn't always make for a fun game. I dunno, I really didn't enjoy this game and was glad when it was over. I'd rather play Pandemic or Defenders of the Realm.


That inherent chaos and unpredictability is why I enjoy Flash Point. It's all about triage and mitigating overall risk. You're dealing with problem areas in a general sense and you can't specifically plan out each player's turn in advance, which really limits the coop quarterbacking. Love it when things explode and go to hell.
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19 Jan 2015 10:50 - 19 Jan 2015 10:51 #195436 by bfkiller
Dominant Species - I've played my first two games of this recently. Great, great game. But what a mind melter, especially when playing with 6 players. Eventually you just have to say "fuck it: this" on your turn or else you'll be sitting there for an hour trying to work out the potential ramifications of an action (especially some of those cards) and still not be able to determine if you're about to do something tremendously clever or tremendously stupid.

Egg Shen wrote: Well after sitting through some guy drone on (FROM THE FUCKING RULEBOOK) we were off.

Heh. A buddy of mine does the same thing. And he takes on an intonation like he's reading a Hardy Boys book to a bunch of 4th graders. The dude does no homework before trying to teach. I always try to maneuver us into not playing any games he's recently picked up or ones that haven't been played in years. Too painful to sit through the explanation.
Last edit: 19 Jan 2015 10:51 by bfkiller.

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19 Jan 2015 10:55 #195437 by Egg Shen
Fair enough point. I can totally see how it could be enjoyable. I just wasn't feeling it. Plus the fact that guy teaching the game was reading from the rules for 10 mins straight made me want to break something lol.

If I'm going to play a disaster simulator, shit done gone to hell type co-op I'm going to play Red November instead. That game is just a whole lot of fun. For whatever reason when playing you're constantly laughing at the terrible shit that keeps happening.

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19 Jan 2015 11:17 #195440 by charlest

Egg Shen wrote: Fair enough point. I can totally see how it could be enjoyable. I just wasn't feeling it. Plus the fact that guy teaching the game was reading from the rules for 10 mins straight made me want to break something lol.

If I'm going to play a disaster simulator, shit done gone to hell type co-op I'm going to play Red November instead. That game is just a whole lot of fun. For whatever reason when playing you're constantly laughing at the terrible shit that keeps happening.


Not to keep disagreeing with you, but I found Red November to be pretty bad. It felt like a neutered kids version of Space Alert that gutted all of the interesting stuff out. Maybe I should play it again sometime.

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19 Jan 2015 11:19 #195441 by Legomancer
Had a really decent game day yesterday.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig - I was seriously not expecting much from this, as I think Suburbia is a miserable drag and it looked much the same. Turns it, I enjoyed it a bunch. The uniquely named rooms and weird shapes add a narrative level that isn't there in Suburbia and went a long way towards connecting me to what was going on. (For a while my castle had a Study, an Observatory, a Greenhouse...and a Panic Room. I'm a scholar, not a fighter.) Having to set room prices is a neat challenge, and gone are Suburbia's dumb buildings that affect other players' scores. Contrary to what some people think, I don't enjoy disliking games, so it was nice to be surprised by this one.

Can't Stop - Way back when it was still out of print, I made my own copy of this. I changed it to use the rarely-employed "Ancient Egypt" theme. I'd completely forgotten about this until I was looking through my game shelf and found it, so I toted it along. I still love this classic game.



Pandemic: The Cure - I'm still enjoying this a lot, possibly even more than the original in many ways. Still 1 for 11 on winning it, though.

Rails of New England - My second play of this, and I did pretty well, but the winner did much much better and steamrolled the rest of us. This game looks a lot more complicated on the surface than it actually is, and is pretty straightforward despite some "event chrome". It goes on long, however, so it doesn't hit the table very often.

Cockroach Poker - Taught it to two new people and we had a blast. Big dumb fun, with one of the most amazing runs of card play I've ever seen. They immediately asked to play again. This is way more fun than Coup, which is on the trade stack.

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19 Jan 2015 11:31 #195445 by Bull Nakano
Got two games of c&c ancients and one of battlelore 1st ed played yesterday.

I love ancients. The battles are so fast and furious. I nearly got a shutout in the first scenario from Romans/barbarians but ended up winning 6-1. The second game I got an early massacre of 4 points in one turn but I wasn't able to turn it into a win, losing 6-5. The only thing I have a problem with with this game is the spreadsheet format if troop stats. Looking at it overloads my brain.

For battlelore it was our first game, we went straight to the first scenario with magic. It didn't take us long to figure out the differences. In a lot of ways I like the simplicity if the troops in this game, but it just feels soft. Not having the leaders hurts. In ancients you can usually maneuver yourself into a. 50/50 hit ratio, in battlelore you're just often 2/6 regardless of your strategy. The change for battling back also added to the softer feel, as you had to have support to battle back, and you could attack in a way to disrupt your opponent from doing so. It might have just been the scenario but it was hard to do anything significant on a single turn, unlike ancients. It was much more about attrition and trading back and forth. In the end I lost 6-5 again, with a fireball nuking a single archer I had camped in the woods.

Does anyone else have experience with both of these games? Is bl just softer ?

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19 Jan 2015 11:39 #195446 by Egg Shen

charlest wrote:

Egg Shen wrote: Fair enough point. I can totally see how it could be enjoyable. I just wasn't feeling it. Plus the fact that guy teaching the game was reading from the rules for 10 mins straight made me want to break something lol.

If I'm going to play a disaster simulator, shit done gone to hell type co-op I'm going to play Red November instead. That game is just a whole lot of fun. For whatever reason when playing you're constantly laughing at the terrible shit that keeps happening.


Not to keep disagreeing with you, but I found Red November to be pretty bad. It felt like a neutered kids version of Space Alert that gutted all of the interesting stuff out. Maybe I should play it again sometime.


Hehehehehe...no worries. Different strokes and all. From my understanding not too many people cared for Red November. It's basically just running around trying to beat the clock while passing a bunch of skill checks. The timing aspect that was ripped off from Thebes is a mechanic that should be copied more often. I like how managing time and how player turn order needs to be discussed carefully. Also the game is brutal...sometimes you just aren't going to win despite playing well. Something about it really clicks for me though.

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19 Jan 2015 11:46 - 19 Jan 2015 11:55 #195449 by JEM
Blood Bowl Team Manager came out of the bag this weekend, and we played a four player, four round game. It took a bit over two hours even so, and again the player who got that "fans for downed players" card won the game. That's a tough card to deal with especially when another team is spree-ing goblins to a tournament (ie cheap hits.) I still enjoy the game, but more and more as a 2-3 player game. For the crowd we had I'd rather have played the DC Deck Building Game - Forever Evil as all of us knew that system, but one of the players had her son with her and hoped to play one of those later. It turns out he wasn't interested and wanted to play Sentinels of the Multiverse anyway, but that's how it goes sometimes.

Paperback was next. We had a new player come to the group who only really played Scrabble and other more traditional card games. This one was pretty straightforward and went over pretty well with the group. It's a likable game, but I don't know if I'll keep it. I see it being a good fit for "non-gamers" but I'd rather play something else (except Dominion, which bores me.)

I recently got the Tigris & Euphrates app, so I was happy to get into a four player game of the real thing. We apparently got some major rule wrong around external conflicts, but played through anyway. I like the game, though I am hopeless at it. I'm looking forward to playing it again.

A couple of friends were enthusing about playing the new Jolly Roger printing of Kremlin. I knew this was an old 1980s game, and had a hunch that they might struggle with the rules, so I asked to join them as we were almost done with T&E. Sure enough, the rules were a headache, with some crucial information apparently missing. We eventually figured out how the influence worked (really, rule book, just tell us "Take your sheet full of politicians, and write the numbers 1-10 against 10 of them to assign influence.") Well, maybe the rules said that somewhere, but I was squinting at an edited PDF on my phone while another player scoured the book.

We did eventually figure out how to play the game and got into playing it, and much fun was had (we were still playing it wrong, but it was moving at least.) We called it after five rounds because it was getting late, but I think it'll work a lot better next time when we all know how to play properly.

More Firefly at home, and losing again with those runs out to the Blue Sun.

Edit to add stuff:
Egg, it's interesting how different groups work. My wife and I find Flash Point to be pretty easy to deal with. 1) Drag out hazmats, 2) put out fires, 3) rescue goldfish, repeat 2-3. Libertalia the last time I played with six took over two hours, it was wretchedly painful because we had three "AP" players, one of whom needed answers to questions like, "Why does my graveyard go after the week, do they dig up the graves?" every ten minutes. I really like the game, but pick your group for sure.

On Smash-Up I've read that the Cthulhu decks are OP if played vs the other decks. If someone had grabbed two of them in a non-Cthulhu only game then that might be part of it. The last time I played, someone had dinosaur/zombie combo, and literally played the same three cards over and over to win the game. Total bilge.
Last edit: 19 Jan 2015 11:55 by JEM.

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19 Jan 2015 12:11 #195453 by Egg Shen

JEM wrote: Egg, it's interesting how different groups work. My wife and I find Flash Point to be pretty easy to deal with. 1) Drag out hazmats, 2) put out fires, 3) rescue goldfish, repeat 2-3. Libertalia the last time I played with six took over two hours, it was wretchedly painful because we had three "AP" players, one of whom needed answers to questions like, "Why does my graveyard go after the week, do they dig up the graves?" every ten minutes. I really like the game, but pick your group for sure.

On Smash-Up I've read that the Cthulhu decks are OP if played vs the other decks. If someone had grabbed two of them in a non-Cthulhu only game then that might be part of it. The last time I played, someone had dinosaur/zombie combo, and literally played the same three cards over and over to win the game. Total bilge.


Ugh...that game of Libertalia sounds brutal. I can see how the game can cause AP because you're struggling which card makes the most sense at any given time...but thankfully that didn't happen too much in our 5 player game. The stuff about the graveyard...sheesh. That's what it would be like playing with my 4 year old niece who questions everything in the world!

I've heard the Chthulu decks don't mesh well with other decks outside that expansion...due to the reliance of madness cards. So maybe that is a way to make them a bit less powerful. In Smash Up you sometimes find a combo that is silly good. I'm cool with it as long as the game doesn't drag on past an hour.

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19 Jan 2015 13:34 #195476 by Joebot

Egg Shen wrote: Tried my first game of Flash Point: Fire Rescue. I'm not the biggest fan of co-op games, but I figured I'd give it a shot. Well after sitting through some guy drone on (FROM THE FUCKING RULEBOOK) we were off. ...

Played a three player game of Smash Up.


Weird, I also played Flash Point and Smash Up this weekend at my brother's house. You're not secretly my brother, are you??

I like Flash Point quite a bit, moreso than Pandemic. It's fun and chaotic, but mostly I think the rules just intuitively make sense. Stuff works the way you think it should. It also lends itself to some hilarious moments. We were playing a three-story building, and found a dog in the basement. For whatever reason, we left the dog there to tend to some other issues. Several rounds go by, and the dog's just sitting there patiently, waiting to be rescued. Eventually we roll that space, and it starts smoking. No big deal. Just a smoky dog. My brother (NOT an animal person) finally decides to go downstairs again to rescue this dog. He's two steps away ... and he rolls that space again. The dog bursts into flames right in front of his eyes. Poor puppy.

So, my brother extinguishes the fire and moves on about his day. On the next player's turn, we roll that space again, so now it's smoking again. At that point, we figured there was some kind of portal to hell on that space, and that the charred corpse of the dog would be bursting forth as some sort of fiery hell-hound. Nobody ever went back down in the basement after that because fuck that. I'm not paid to deal with hell-hounds.
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19 Jan 2015 13:43 #195478 by RobertB
Played Firefly with the coworkers again. This time we took out the expansion, to see what the 4-player base game played like. The conclusion of two of my coworkers was that it played like shit. The combination of a relatively long playing time, coupled with the ability to get hosed pretty good with the pull of a card, didn't set well with them. "The next time you want to play that game, don't include me." And he was the winner!

My take was that you really have to squeeze as much time out of the game as you can. Since a lot of the time is spent in solo activities that aren't going to affect the other players much, make sure that you are all multitasking when you can. Your neighbor moves while you shop, sell, or select new missions. As for getting hosed by random fate, it's there. Suffer through it or play something else, I guess. I'll play it again.
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19 Jan 2015 14:28 #195485 by JEM
The base game (if you mean the race to $12,000) shouldn't take more than 2.5 hours for four people. The card screwage can be mitigated pretty strongly if you're familiar with the game, but that does make it difficult for someone who is new to it if nobody explains how to reaver-proof your ship etc. The Breakin' Atmo card expansion helps a lot with adding useful things to the decks.

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