What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

Colonies is not great, no. I remember when we played it, I just had this sensation of lazyness of not caring or not wanting to engage with the module. And another player just ignored it because it didn't seem to make the game more fun or really impact on what you do. It's really an extra addition that the game doesn't need.

To be honest, you can say that of most expansions of TM. I think both the map and Prelude enhance the game and quite significantly if played together but Venus is a "more stuff" thing and Colonies is just distracting.

10 hours is so beyond the pale that I think you are authorized to do what your friends recommended. I think you're better off doing what you did and not playing with them again or setting future expectations if you do, but I think you're within your rights at that point.

One theme upon moving to the Philippines has been that I am suddenly getting all of the types of gaming I couldn't fit into my life in the states. I've commented elsewhere that I have a regular D&D group for the first time, one that meets weekly. The other thing is that I have a semi-regular opponent for two-player games, and I have played more two-player than multiplayer titles since arriving here.

Last night we opened with Omen: Reign of War. I have the second edition, the one that came in the bigger box and with multiples of each card. But the expansions included in the trade that got me the game provided a way to play the newer Olympus edition, where there are now Spirits, Heroes, and just one of each card. I converted my set to this mode and it has become my preferred way to play. The biggest advantage is that you see a greater variety of the different cards, and a better sense of what makes each card unique. We used heroes and City Rewards much more extensively in this game, and it was very rewarding. I ended up winning 17-16.

This particular friend is a fan of Sid Meier's Civilization, so I thought he might enjoy Innovation. I set up a round of the base game, and it went about as expected. The first-timer grappled with the rules a bit, and I ended up winning decisively. I was able to get Agriculture out early, and that always helps the early game. The game ended around Age 7, which is pretty standard for the two-player game.

He enjoyed it enough to request a second game, but this time we added in the Echoes of the Past expansion, my personal favorite. This game was absolutely bananas. He played a much stronger game, and was able to get out much more powerful cards than I could. But my cards were able to get me points, and so while he kept gaining the special achievements, I kept achieving in the regular way. We were tied at five achievements apiece going into the 10th Age, and it was not looking good for me. So I did what any desperate Civilization player does: I nuked the game. In Innovation this means that the other player draws a Level 10 card, and if it's red, all boards, score piles, and hands are removed from the game. (Otherwise I got to pick a top card of his to remove.) Well, he drew a red card, and we got nuked back to the stone age. Because the cards were removed from the game we teched up again pretty quickly, but it did make the game a lot longer. I came close to upsetting him, but this time he beat me by a single achievement after we both recovered from nuclear apocalypse.

I don't think I could say this with much authority, but I think that Innovation might be the best civilization table game of the 21st Century. Its focus on ideas and technology over as what is really important in history is something that is both insightful, and really, well, innovative. Other civ games wink at this idea, but Innovation really embraces it. Ideas are dangerous, and we can never know the full consequences of new technology until we've seen it play out. There are some other side effects of the chaotic gameplay that make the game even more compelling. For one thing, it shows that "successful" civilizations often get there through getting lucky with the right thing at the right time. It shows that progress is not guaranteed, as you can be very successful for a long time and then suddenly be crippled by something else. Because of the ability of smaller boards to still make an impact on the game, it shows that highly advanced technology, while certainly an advantage, is no guarantee of dominance. For that matter, by abstracting away the achievements, it shows that success can be defined a lot of different ways.

Whether this amounts to a game you actually enjoy is up to you. I like chaotic games anyway, and Innovation has always been that. I actually like it either with more people or at least the first expansion, because otherwise you rarely see cards from levels 8-10. Those cards are the wildest, and I think a lot of people who say they prefer the two-player game or the unexpanded version don't actually much care for what makes the game so interesting in the first place. I have only the first two expansions, but I see that in the wake of the Deluxe edition there have been two more that have been added. Figures in the Sand didn't do much for me, though I never did get to really play it with an experienced group. It felt like it pulled the game away from its focus on ideas, and a little more toward "great man" history, which is less interesting to me. Has anyone played the other two expansions? They are cheap on Amazon right now, but I doubt they will remain that way. Are they compatible with earlier versions of the game?

Great post.

I think you IDed what makes Innovation great thematically. First, there's no linear victory in actual history. You don't get 2 cities, then 3, then 4 till you "win." History is a crazy fucking list of wild, wild swings due to ideas and chance. Europe is a shitty backwater where first China and also the middle east are wildly superior in material and technological terms until perhaps the 17th century or later. Pax Renaissance does a great job with this theme too. Second is game winning tempo: once you get a good combo after early game, you will probably win. I *think* what the designer is trying to suggest here is once you surmount the tech curve, it all rolls downhill. In our history, I think it's trying to model industrialization, colonialism, etc and how quickly that all went down in the long view.

Gary Sax wrote: Played a game of roll for the galaxy. I'm not sure there's anything I'd change about the game, it's an almost perfect light game for me.

My issue with Roll...is it feels front loaded with rules/actions. If you've played Race, it's not an issue. But a cold run saying it's a light game, especially with casuals, gets the eye glaze of death from the players.

Played Auztralia, lots to love about it but to steal from another post about his games, it's very Martin Wallacey. 4 player teaching game took 3 hours. Hope to play a two player tonight. If we can get the play time down to the stated 30 to 120 minutes, it's a keeper.

Gary Sax wrote: 10 hours is so beyond the pale that I think you are authorized to do what your friends recommended. I think you're better off doing what you did and not playing with them again or setting future expectations if you do, but I think you're within your rights at that point.

Ten hours, new players/expansions not withstanding, is fucking ridiculous and grounds for justified homicide.

Got to try Spirit Island! It's good! I'm generally not a co-op fan, so that's much higher praise than it sounds. The theme/setting integration is impeccably well done. I hated Sentinels of the Multiverse for being so transparently mathematical and I'm generally distrustful of coops that are largely navigating open information, but SI gives you so much to do and such varied options that I can't imagine most people would even be capable of controlling the table. It isn't a game I think I'd want to buy but I want to explore it more and my friend who owns it will gladly let me do so. The wave spirit in particular has my eye.

We chased SI with a few rounds of Kung Fu Zoo. Kung Fu Zoo is perfect. Gonna put it in my end of year writeup for sure, whatever that ends up consisting of. I love everything about this game. Protip: put the board on a lazy susan.

Lastly, received a review copy of Anthelion. I guess that'll be my first published piece here? It's Button Shy's new take on the Avignon system, iterated on by the original designer and Daniel Solis (who is a friend, but I've given his previous games critique before and he takes it well). The rules have been changed and it's set in space now. I need to play it more before my thoughts become coherent. The number of card combos and interactions is pretty impressive for a microgame but it leaves me wondering who this is actually for. A text-dense, triggered-effect-heavy, 2p only, mostly-luckless microgame? I'm perplexed by its very existence. Every time we play it I'm left equal parts intrigued and confused. Definitely intrigued though, so that's better than most.

Edit: not going to make a separate post for this, but that Terraforming Mars story is an absolute nightmare. Never trust someone who insists on including expansions with newbies. Ever. For anything.

If I was teaching Terraforming Mars to game newbies*, I'd follow the rulebook recommendations and rip out everything but the base game. It doesn't have a lot of crazy moving parts a'la Terra Mystica, but the newbies will have to read every card (as they should).

As for Colonies, I don't think I like it. It could be because all of the new cards play straight into my wife's playstyle, and she just puts a beatdown on me. The game is stretched a few turns, and the deck is thinned out with cards that don't increase Parameters.


*Played a game a few weeks ago with two new and new-to-the-game-club players. It wasn't 10 hours of torture, but it was a good bit slower. One player wanted a rundown of her four cards and what they did, for every Generation.

TEN HOURS .

For TERRAFORMING MARS. Literally terraforming Mars would take less time. That's insane. Glad they liked it though. They'll like it even more when it takes 90 fucking minutes.

Playing a lot of HARRY POTTER HOGWART'S BATTLE here. A perfectly serviceable deckbuilder. It gets waaaay easier with more players, so you can tune your experience a little with that in mind. The most mindblowing thing about it is that it is made by USAopoly. The company that makes like 1,000 MONOPOLY games that people buy for no fucking reason. "What's this? DENVEROPOLY? I used to live in Denver! Haha! Terrific!"

AZUL is also seeing play here, fits well into the pattern-making mindgames my wife and eldest enjoy.

jeb wrote:

For TERRAFORMING MARS. Literally terraforming Mars would take less time. That's insane. Glad they liked it though. They'll like it even more when it takes 90 fucking minutes.

I think Colonies slows it down enough that it's not doable in 90 minutes. I know the spousal unit and I can't do it in 90 minutes now - for us it went from about two hours to about three. She likes to play for card points, not TR, and those cards are all about more card points.

jeb wrote: TEN HOURS .

For TERRAFORMING MARS. Literally terraforming Mars would take less time. That's insane. Glad they liked it though. They'll like it even more when it takes 90 fucking minutes.

Playing a lot of HARRY POTTER HOGWART'S BATTLE here. A perfectly serviceable deckbuilder. It gets waaaay easier with more players, so you can tune your experience a little with that in mind. The most mindblowing thing about it is that it is made by USAopoly. The company that makes like 1,000 MONOPOLY games that people buy for no fucking reason. "What's this? DENVEROPOLY? I used to live in Denver! Haha! Terrific!"

And this is why I love Jeb.

Board game winter break continues:



Merchant of Venus is great! This is one of those funny games where my spouse doesn't play to win yet the idiosyncratic way she plays nevertheless can win---she tries to satisfy as many demand tokens on the board as possible and truck the most goods in a huge freighter.

I thought about selling my copy a few weeks ago but I played it with a friend and was like “no way, I’m keeping this”.

It's very pure in its pick up and deliverness. It only very, very slightly hybridizes with a investment/business sim.

san il defanso wrote: Has anyone played the other two expansions? They are cheap on Amazon right now, but I doubt they will remain that way. Are they compatible with earlier versions of the game?

I have the deluxe version with all four expansions.

Cities is the easiest one to introduce - most cards just have more icons and simple actions (rather than dogmas). The later epoch cities do have achievements in and of themselves (and it adds achievements for splaying.)

Artifacts is odd, possibly the most chaotic. When you draw an artifact it goes on display. You can use it as a once off action at the start of your turn (and discard it) or put it on your board as usual. They don't come out terribly often (I think you can draw one when you play a card that's the same era or lower than one already on your board) and they are quite wacky and situational. Three or four of them are achievements but you can lose them.

At Pax Aus two years ago we played all four expansions at the same time (and somehow it wound up on the local news!) I don't recommend it - it's too hard to keep track of all the triggers for drawing cards from the different expansions.

tldr: Cities is for beginners to Innovation, Artifacts is for experienced players who want more chaos.