What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

Sagrilarus wrote: You should try out An Infamous Traffic instead. Simpler game on a similar theme, plenty of entanglements.

And only $13 if you print and play!

www.wargamevault.com/product/198057/An-Infamous-Traffic

I have been playing Star Realms with my son before he leaves us for college. He is destroying me. Every game goes like this:

1. I buy some explorers to get some money into my deck
2. I save up for a huge, powerful card
3. He unleashes a 20 point attack and kills me
4. Rinse and repeat

Pericles was every bit as awesome as I hoped it would be. We played a two turn game and my Spartan ally won. He jumped out to a high honor in the first turn, mounting a huge battle and securing a captive. I closed the gap by consulting the Oracle and performing some raids.

The Athenians didn't manage their strategos quite as well as my raids really opened them up. In the second round I was a little more selfish in the debate phase, but couldn't quite swing things in my favor.

Wonderful and really dig it. I do kind of hate the movement rules though as they feel unnecessarily complicated for little payoff and add quite a bit of time to the game explaining and re-explaining the connections.

Then we finally played Curio. This replayable escape room game certainly has merit and it does accomplish it's goals, but it's definitely not for me. The puzzles here are fine, but they're more like tasks as someone gives you inputs or tells you to use your components in a certain way and you follow their lead. It's not a game about eureka moments, but more about communication and taking your time not to slip up.

Couple that with no narrative at all and you're solving sort of boring puzzles lacking any bit of spicy context. The best part of the game is the sandtimer in the middle of the table that needs to be flipped every 30 seconds by two people coordinating or you lose the game.

Custom Heroes was dull.

Visitor of Blackwood Grove is an upcoming Target exclusive (I think it delivered to some Kickstarter backers from a previous campaign as well) that's basically a mass market Zendo wrapped in a neat E.T. theme.

Someone makes up a rule that applies to some cards from a pool (random objects on the cards) and doesn't apply to others. People take turns testing the rules and trying to figure it out.

The most interesting part is the asymmetrical teams, as the Visitor/Alien is on the side of the kid, and they're competing against the agents who win individually.

It's neat for what it is but the way you prove the rule and win is by flipping four cards from the top of the deck and then deciding which ones would pass and which would fail - if you're right you win otherwise the game keeps going. All of our wins came from people who didn't actually know the rule, but guessed correctly on the cards that were revealed. In this regard, it's punishing to complex rules that allow very few cards as it's then easy to guess "none of these would pass" and just win.

cranberries wrote:

Sagrilarus wrote: You should try out An Infamous Traffic instead. Simpler game on a similar theme, plenty of entanglements.

And only $13 if you print and play!

www.wargamevault.com/product/198057/An-Infamous-Traffic

I have been playing Star Realms with my son before he leaves us for college. He is destroying me. Every game goes like this:

1. I buy some explorers to get some money into my deck
2. I save up for a huge, powerful card
3. He unleashes a 20 point attack and kills me
4. Rinse and repeat

Team Blob has been what I normally move towards in my online. I have been wrecked by chained machine cult attacks. So disheartening.

If you play online, I am thejake1973 on there.

Pericles is the Churchill spinoff, right? Much more attractive to me thematically.

Gary Sax wrote: Pericles is the Churchill spinoff, right? Much more attractive to me thematically.

Yes, it's substantially different from what I can tell (never played Churchill), but that game was the genesis for this idea.

This week’s Games Summer Camp report:

Villainous x3
Fantasy Realms x8
Machi Koro BLBC x2
Colt Express x2
Shaky Manor x5
Azul x1
Kingdomino with Age of Giants x4
CYOA House of Danger x1 (chapter 3 & 4)
Vegas x2
Quest for El Dorado x1
King of Tokyo x1
40k Kill Team x2
Renegade x3
Roll for the Galaxy x2

Notes:

Fantasy Realms should be hateful bullshit but it isn’t. It is basically a game made out of that moment in CCG drafting when you decide to keep a card hoping that you will get a card later that it plays off. Don’t sweat the math too much- just eyeball it. Use the app to score it. 10 minutes a game, my daughter really likes this one- I didn’t think she would get it but she’s pretty bright.

I know Machi Koro is reviled in some quarters. It was $13 on clearance at Target. We’ve enjoyed it. It’s simple fun and the kids like the sense of building a city and the jackpot moments. It’s just not a “gamers game”.

Renegade was solo time for me, I think it’s a little advanced for them. It’s pretty awesome. I don’t know if I would even want to play it multiplayer though.

Roll for the Galaxy was a total bust for the kids. Too many symbols and unclear meanings. I think the game is good though.

House of Danger is awful. The story is stupid beyond belief (I don’t like “cheesy”), the choices are dumb, the “game” is paltry. There are far, far better storytelling game option available. My son likes it, I’ve been trying to get him to just finish it solo but he likes for me to read the cards. It is NOT a multiplayer game in any way, shape or form despite this idea that you can pass the cards around to read. It’s a one player game.

Villainous is GOTY as of right now.

Last night with Uba and Al:

Bunny Kingdom - I love this game, and i think they enjoyed it. I refuse to math as much as possible while I game, so that might help. Finishing up my review.

Lazer Ryderz - Hot damn did we love this. I’ve been finding that what ranks in the 6 range on BGG tends to be what I love most these days, and this game was no exception. It’s not smart, it’s not all that deep, but it’s fun as hell. The 80s look will put off cynical assholes who I have no interest in playing with, but I want to live in it. The new test for whether or not I want to game with someone.

will put off cynical assholes who I have no interest in playing with, but I want to live in it. The new test for whether or not I want to game with someone

I think this has become my MO with board games

I was unaware that there is a scoring app for Fantasy Realms. I didn't see it on Google Play.. is it only iOS?

It’s web based

jpraet.github.io/fantasy-realms/index.html

Michael Barnes wrote: ... my daughter really likes this one- I didn’t think she would get it but she’s pretty bright.
...

Give yourself a bit of credit for giving your kids access to boardgames at an early age as it does help their learning a lot more than video games. I had my young lad playing the 1980s GW kids boardgames when he was four, he could play a basic Carcassonne when around six and a year or two later was giving me the odd beating in Heroscape and LotR Hex minis games. Unfortunately he went down the video game route after that but it did kickstart his interest in programing, and he's just picked up a software development apprenticeship so I have to stop that particular moan now.

Well, she’s a little ahead of my 8 year old son, actually. But both of them kind of crossed a threshold this summer where they can play most family games without assistance. It’s a big deal for me because now they can actually PLAY and play to win. Oh, I’ll still crush them like bug at Azul...but they get the choices and consequences stuff really well.

River totally rules at Colt Express though, just ruthless. Last night he just plucked up both strongboxes like it was not a big deal.

Scarlett I think can play games up to 12+ without help at this point. She picked up Fantasy Realms on the second round and was playing with a closed hand. I actually think she likes games more than River does, which I did not expect. River still has that “why can’t I just do what I want” mentality sometimes, and I have totally busted him for cheating a couple of times...but Scarlett really likes playing with the rules and working out solutions.

Slowly working up to El Grande here...I think the subject matter is a little dull for them though.

I’m getting Tea Dragon Society this week because I think Scarlett will really like the subject and art- I love that it’s girly and feminine without falling into the usual tropes, and I wanted to get something that’s definitely more female in tone, not male or neutral.

I remember playing LotR Hex minis with my lad when he was seven or eight, I charged into his good team with my two trolls (dangerous together) and he turned them into walking (then stationary) pin-cushions - yep I said, he's got this gaming sussed.

Michael Barnes wrote: This week’s Games Summer Camp report:

Magic Realm x8

I'm calling child protective services.

Because it is great, here is Barnes' description of Magic Realm. This makes me want to go print it all out, read it, and never play it.

So you've read all the reviews, comments, and criticisms here about Magic Realm's complexity, its terrible rulebook, and overall opaque inaccessibility. You've heard the rumours and legends about folks trying to "get it" but failing, with their copies winding up sold, traded, ebayed, or even thrown away. You're nervous about the game-maybe even scared by it- yet obviously you're curious if you're reading this comment. I'll tell you this much- Magic Realm _is_ complex, it _is_ inaccessible...but it's also one of the greatest games ever published, a game that truly rewards the effort and patience it takes to learn the subtleties and intricacies of a system that is far and away the most complete and comprehensive "RPG on a board" created to date. The level of detail and atmosphere goes far beyond Talisman, Runebound, or any games in its class and as a result it emerges as a much more interesting, compelling, and fun game with some really amazing systems that while not necessarily intuitive are logical, realistic, and rich with strategic possibilities. The tactical, blow-by-blow combat system in particular is absolutely genius and much like Mr. Hamblen's Gunslinger each combat provides a rich, detailed narrative of the events that transpire. Rules for natives (with varying dispositions based on your character), different types of magic, treasures, exploring, quests, and pretty much anything else you want to do in a fantasy game are here so don't expect a dice-rolling contest with a map like World of Warcraft or a simplified pick-up-and-deliver game like Return of the Heroes (which I love, BTW). There's just really nothing else quite like it. The game can be extremely intimidating (even the setup is something of an ordeal the first couple of times) but I can't stress enough that the payoff is worth it as it offers an experience that modern games just simply can't match with their abstractions and simplifications- and that in a reasonable amount of time (definitely a single evening game). I highly recommend Realmspeak, a Java application that, if used in concert with Joel Yoder's "Magic Realm in Plain English" rules set and the more "classically" formatted 3rd edition riles, makes learning the game a hundred times easier than simply opening the rule book and reading straight through. There are reasons this game is still passionately loved by some and passionately hated by others and I believe that if you take the time to come to terms with the game's terribly presented yet beautiful rules (which were, IMHO, way ahead of its time)then you'll find it hard not to love it. Or, you can just throw your hands up in the air like many people do and be satisfied with Runebound. A real masterpiece that is likely as close to a piece of literature that a board game can get- epic, difficult, rich, polarizing, dense, and thoroughly engrossing.

I only want to play two games of Magic Realm between now and the day I die:

1. A learning game with a couple of experienced players to sherpa me through the combat rules.

2. A sixteen player game that takes place in a hotel conference room over the course of a single weekend.