What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

Michael Barnes wrote: I usually call Cosmic Encounter the best game ever made, but Acquire is right up there with it.

I'll give Acquire the nod between those two, largely because I think it is a far more dependable experience. I've had great games of Cosmic Encounter and bad ones, because of what you like most about it -- the freewheeling nature of its rules. There's a bit of the Looney-Bin in Cosmic Encounter and that's where its spirit comes from.

Acquire is the epitome of Avalon Hill Bookshelf game, with the man in the suit on the cover and a glass of whiskey sitting next to the board. This is a game for William F. Buckley to play with his friends. It's super-tight. Regardless of your tile draws (the only luck-based part of the game) you have ways to make things work. You have ways to dig out of the hole. A more cerebral game.

I'll declare Acquire the Yin to Cosmic's Yang.

S.

I just wish there was a copy that wasn't expensive that has the nicer bits. 120$ for a copy of Acquire is ridiculous, especially when it's not that old.

Gotta be honest, I think the current version is the prettiest and most usable of the lot. It doesn't have the little pockets for the tiles to drop into but the interface is super clean, the colors are excellent and easily discerned, the contrast on the player aids and rules is sharp, the materials are easy to handle. You can play this in a dark room. Don't pass up on Acquire for the price, you can get it for $15 and at that price it is likely the best value in gaming available. I bought mine at Barnes & Noble on sale day for $5.

I like that they renamed one of the hotels to Sackson as well. That was a seriously cool decision.

S.

I got the most recent Avalon Hill one about 8 years ago too and don't mind some of the cardboard pieces. It's perfectly functional. I should probably get it out again.

Finally played El Grande. I've been nagging this guy at one of my game groups to bring it out, and he finally did. It was a mid-90s german copy that we had paste-ups for, so the game took a bit longer than normal, but it ruled. I had the lead early because people just kind of left me alone, but somewhere in the 2nd third of the game the third place guy took a move that helped him about as much as the second place guy, which helped push the second place guy (and owner of the game) into first. I really like the turn order mechanic and card/action drafting, the decision on whether or not to put the guys in the Castillo, etc. Someone walked by and said, "this looks like every other game these guys play each week." (Referring to the other guys, I normally steer clear of the Euro table). "Yeah, but this one's from 1996 so it did it first." The best part was when he was putting the game away and came across some extra bags. They were the English versions of the cards that he got in a trade years ago. "So that's why the paste up rules explanations were under the insert." Ha! So we decided that we'd have to play again soon with the English cards.

Then I played Captains of Industry which I thought was pretty cool. It's definitely a Euro but I think the mechanics for the market are very clever and interactive. It's kind of like a reverse Power Grid where the supply of resources is variable and controlled by the players, and the faceless board instead eats up the resources at the end of the era and uses them to go make toothpaste or whatever. I got fairly lucky in that no one competed with me to create stone, which gave me a ton of money, but it turns out money wasn't going to be as tight as I expected it to be. The two guys who were offering dirt cheap steel the whole game were low on money though.

Over the weekend I got my butt kicked in X-Wing again. I had Slave I (Kath Scarlet with a Heavy Laser Cannon to roll 4 dice all the time), a Kihraxz fighter, and two PS1 Z-95s vs. a Defender, the brand new Tie Advanced Prototype, and two FO fighters. I got her down to just her Defender against my wounded Z-95s and Kath with 3 hull left. I had to turn Kath around to avoid flying off the board (a common problem when I use the auxiliary firing arc so much), and that gave her a window to take out the two Z-95s and then do that white 4 move K-turn to help finish me off. She was down to just 2 hull left. Close but fun! I tried some of the new cards that make missiles easier to use, but my Kihraxz fighter blew up before it got a chance to do it. If it weren't for the price X-wing would probably be just about the perfect game to me. I love how the movement phase works, both the simultaneous selection and trying to maneuver stuff around. Maybe I should look into Wings of War instead? I'm not particularly wedded to the Star Wars setting, although I guess a lot of the people I might play it with are.

Yeah, don't pass on Acquire because BGG didn't approve of the most recent edition. It's fine. It's not really that bad, it's just cheaply made. But it's also cheaply sold, so there's that. I like the old fashioned "old dude with whiskey" editions, but I would probably choose the most recent version over it just because it's more functional. Of course, I just looked over at my 2000 AH copy and grinned at it...

Ha, those English cards for El Grande...I remember having to buy those separately. And the game itself had this big, B&W inkjet sticker- "Imported by Rio Grande Games" on it, where they had taken the shrink off to put it on and then wrapped it again.

Paste ups, that is something you just don't really have to do anymore...my original copy of Wallenstein had all these sticker-sheet printed labels all over it....gosh, remember having to flip through printouts of the rules and card translations? You kids don't know how good you got it these days.

Finally playing Baseball Highlights tonight.

On a recommendation I picked up The Gallerist. It's a pretty dry-ish medium-weight economic Euro by the guy who made Kanban and CO2 (dry-ish heavier Euros), but I like it. Something about this weight of Euro, where there is a pretty decent theme connection (art galleries buying/selling/promoting art and artists), appeals to me. Played it twice now with 2p and 3p and I'm looking forward to trying the solo version as well.

I don't know if you're a baseball fan at all, Barnes, but even though it's pretty abstracted, Baseball Highlights definitely feels a lot like the game to me, moreso than others like Bottom of the 9th, where it's more of the typical choose a style of pitch, choose an area to swing, and compare. There is some real thought to be put into which cards to play and when, and how to effectively ramp up your team over the course of a series. I love it.

Really it doesn't matter which version of Acquire you get. As long as I don't have to play it with you.

Mad Dog wrote: Really it doesn't matter which version of Acquire you get. As long as I don't have to play it with you.

How does Tuesday sound? 6:30ish?

Acquire is one of those games that I respect much more than I enjoy. I agree with Sagrilarus, the new and pretty version is the way to go.

I got a $12 1964 copy of Acquire, and that's probably my favorite edition. The picture on the back looks like someone broke into Don Draper's office to play.

Yesterday I went to a friend's house to play some minis games. We started with a game of X-Wing. I am eternally grateful that I resisted the desire to get into X-Wing back in 2012, because I really do love that game, and I don't need that extra pressure in my life. Ours was a 100-pt. battle. I had Han Solo, Poe Dameron, and Johnny Mc-A-Wing on my side. My friend had a Scum and Villainy build, and I had the jump on him from early on. I generally had a really good stretch of piloting, including one time when I threaded the Falcon between two of his ships to make it through the other side, and some nice dancing through the asteroids on the part of my A-Wing. I also rolled REALLY well when I had to, and I eventually won our game.

We followed it up with Warhammer: Diskwars, which was equally and differently awesome. We each picked two of the pre-built regiments in the back of the rulebook. His army was entirely Chaos, and mine was part Elf and part Human. He got the early drop on me by pinning Karl Franz (or whatever my human leader was named), but Teklis kept casting Shield of Siphery (again, I forget the exact name), which prevented some damage, and allowed that engagement to continue long enough for me to defeat the Chaos leader pinning Karl. On the other side, I kept using my steam tank to pin Kairos Fateweaver and take shots at the Bloodthirster. Those shots were mostly unsuccessful, but I did have one really good hit at short range, which kept him moving his away from the tank. Neither of us has played enough to get a feel for how to play well, but we had a great time. I was able to get three of my units to overlap his deployment zones, since that was my mission.

It was really interesting to see two different FFG minis games in action, and to realize that both are really excellent. X-Wing is definitely more accessible at the surface level, but the huge amount of content and ways to build squads makes it the more imposing and deeper game. On the other hand, Diskwars has more keywords to learn up front, making it just a little tougher to get on the front end. But its atmosphere is much more laid-back and "whatever," which fits me better. Like I said, I'm glad I didn't get into X-Wing because I don't need that treadmill in my life, and I have friends who are deep into it anyway. As for Diskwars, my game was good enough that it probably saved it from the trade pile. I definitely need to get the two expansions to have the other armies. I know people want more content, but the small amount it already has is much more manageable, and I like that it's not some enormous game that requires me to coddle it so the minis don't get damaged. It's a really good fit for my lifestyle, and is really fun too.

So yeah, FFG really deserves kudos for both games. I know I've griped about the transition to serial products from FFG, but they have proved that they can really pull off good designs in that realm with titles like these.

I don't know if you're a baseball fan at all, Barnes, but even though it's pretty abstracted, Baseball Highlights definitely feels a lot like the game to me, moreso than others like Bottom of the 9th, where it's more of the typical choose a style of pitch, choose an area to swing, and compare. There is some real thought to be put into which cards to play and when, and how to effectively ramp up your team over the course of a series. I love it.

My memories of baseball are:

- Getting rear-ended in my dad's VW by actual punks circa 1980 on the way back from a Braves game.
- Being at a Braves game on the 4th of July in the mid-80s where some doofus managed to kill himself by falling off the top of the stadium trying to see fireworks.
- Getting my chin just about torn off the first time I went up to bat in a Little League Game.
- Hitting one on-field home run...because the fielders couldn't find the ball in the grass. The coaches had to keep yelling to make me run.
- Losing last game of that Little League season 27-7.
- Reading Battletech manuals while my dad watched the 1989 World Series, when the earthquake hit.
- Seeing The Phantom of the Opera during the World Series that the Braves were in, and the Phantom came out at the end and did the Tomhawk Chop.
- Getting dragged out to Turner Field in the late 1990s by a friend and being bored so I got really drunk on $10 beers.

So no, not really much of a baseball fan. But the game is REALLY good. It might be a masterpiece of abstraction and compression. There are some awesome things going on in it- playing an action card that resolves on a player's turn if it is unanswered is a pretty brilliant way to depict pitching vs. batting, fielding vs. running. The rules are unusually squorrickly (new word there), I had to keep looking at the half-page process...and then the 10 page FAQ. Some things are NOT clear at all, and I still don't think I've played it exactly right. It's simple, but there are some very confusing things about it. But so far, it's a good one for sure.

Man, it's like bad mojo followed you around with that sport. I saw some fucked up stuff at Sabres hockey games growing up, like massive brawls in the stands and a goalie getting his jugular sliced (look up "Clint Malarchuk" on YouTube if you have a lust for blood), but also had enough great experiences most games, hanging out with my dad and feeling part of the tribal machinery of worshiping "Local Sports Team." So it was definitely a net gain.

The weird thing about Baseball Highlights for me was getting a handle on the timing. I play my card, but it's only maybe going to work for now, but I put my runners out there as potential runners, and then your card comes in, and then mine actually does something, and then yours, and so on, and then at the end I can maybe add in a card I set aside... It's really confusing at first. But once you get the flow of it, there is quite a lot of real baseball feel in there, trying to outguess the other person and finding little ways to scrape out another run.

Just Armada solo at my house when I should be working on a conference paper. Nothing to see here.

YIKES. That is exactly why I am terrified of ice skates.

But yeah, that timing is really awkward at first- play a card that may have an instant effect, then the opponent's card from the previous turn goes off and then you apply an "threatening" effect from your card. Well; it even says in the rules to take it slow and follow each step. But it's really counterintuitive until you get a sense that it is a threat/response mechanic.

But then there's other issues...like how there is a difference between what a runner does on a hit versus what a batter does on it. And that whole visitor's last card thing just freaks me out, I'm still not sure if I've ended a game correctly.

Lots of fine points aren't in the rules. I sorted out what a walk would do, but it's not really stated in the rules.

But it definitely has something special going on, it could get up to World Cup Game/BB:TM heights...those would be my favorite sports games.

Tonight I'm piling in all seven expansions. Woo ha.

Yeah the BH2045 rule book definitely leaves a bit to be desired - I often wonder if they omitted a page by accident, or if they are assuming everyone has a lot more familiarity with the rules of baseball than they do. Apart from the threatened hits and the way the action/reaction works if you are up on your baseball rules you can pretty much figure out what everything will do. I didn't even realize that the Walk description wasn't in the rule book until I was re-reading it before teaching a friend how to play.
I am interested to hear more thoughts on the newer expansion. I have only played (and I say only but it has to be over 30 games now) with the basic expansions that came with the deluxe version, as well as adding in the 4 new, unique, starter teams recently, but I am worried about keyword creep and adding in too much randomness with some of the new abilities. One of the reasons I enjoy it so much is how much preparing you can do with purchases and the on-deck knowing what could come around in your opponents deck, but I worry too many non 100% chance abilities could ruin that a bit. I know my gf already complains a lot about how many times I am successful on a visitor save compared to her...