TS vs 1960

Just played 1960 for the first time. Wow, that was the biggest gaming disappoinment I've ever had. No tension, no excitement. I was chomping at the bit when we went through the rules it sounded so good but when we started playing that evaporated. Pretty much all the game consists of is dumping cubes on the board based on the numbers on the cards. It was kind of like a two player game of Munchkin. You draw cards with numbers and some other stuff on and the person with the best draws wins. And this is BGG's 11th best game of all time. Bleurggh.

TS: Broken
1960: Boring

And I really wanted to like both, being a fan of the lighter CDGs and these particular themes. TS got a handful of plays before being retired; 1960 won't make it past the first (although it sure was pretty to look at).

I just got 1960 last week, finished sleeving the cards tonight. The game looks interesting to me. I like the fact that your opponent doesn't just get free effects when you play cards that favor him, he has to spend Momentum, which appears to be a very precious resource. So a fistful of your opponent's events wouldn't wreck you in this game, and you can even bait out the other guy before dropping something he REALLY would have liked to trigger (damn, Kennedy, you just missed out on "Lazy Shave".)

I am intrigued by the game system with the multi-purposed cards. That was one of my favorite parts about Star Wars CCG was the multiple roles that a single card could play. I'll do a review when I've gotten a few games tucked under my belt. I may yet end up disappointed, but if I do I'll have no trouble trading it away.

I like the fact that your opponent doesn't just get free effects when you play cards that favor him, he has to spend Momentum, which appears to be a very precious resource. So a fistful of your opponent's events wouldn't wreck you in this game, and you can even bait out the other guy before dropping something he REALLY would have liked to trigger (damn, Kennedy, you just missed out on "Lazy Shave".)

Yes absolutely it sounds great as you describe it. The problem is that control over the issues (which gives you momentum) is repetitive and kind of boring. If the issues track were redone the game would be much better.

I meant to update this and say we did play this twice now, and neither time did we get into "issues tug of war". Both of us seemed content to grab one or two of the issues, pocket the results, and not waste actions constantly jockeying for position. Neither of us were starved for Momentum markers, and they turned out to be less useful than I thought (lots of turns I had atrophy take more than I'd spent).

But the threat...you have to have 1 token at all times, just for the threat. There's a big difference between one and none.

I think I've finally come to the realization that the game sucks. I thought about breaking it out the other day for another go, but my stomach turned. That means it's time to let it go.

I think it's a decent game, but it's not "great". The problem is there isn't enough room for too much variance in the system. There are only a few things the cards can manipulate, so they all sort of feel "samey".

I'm probably going to do a mini-review of this and a couple of other games, so I'll save the rest of my thoughts for that. I'm not going to trade it but it didn't light me on fire or anything. I expect it to slide back down the ratings within the year.

Ken B. wrote:

I just got 1960 last week, finished sleeving the cards tonight. The game looks interesting to me. I like the fact that your opponent doesn't just get free effects when you play cards that favor him, he has to spend Momentum, which appears to be a very precious resource. So a fistful of your opponent's events wouldn't wreck you in this game, and you can even bait out the other guy before dropping something he REALLY would have liked to trigger (damn, Kennedy, you just missed out on "Lazy Shave".)

After you play it, you will realize that momentum is actually pretty pointless. There are few events worth triggering and even fewer worth preventing your opponent from triggering. Also, the fact that you only go through the deck once takes away a huge amount of the decision making from the play of an opponent's event.

Well, I guess I'm in the minority (here, anyway) of really liking 1960, although, admittedly, I haven't played TS and I suppose might consider 1960 weak sauce afterward. Or maybe it's just because I'm no damn good at it, being 0-3 so far (though my in-progress VASSAL game looks promising about midgame).