Hellboy

n815e wrote: Thanks.

I am a fan of the comics and movies.

Looking at the $200 version, I am wondering if there is enough there to justify the cost.

charlest wrote: Yes, I really dig Hellboy. It's James Hewitt and Sophie Williams so it should be no surprise.

It's a dungeon crawler with fighting and plenty of frog minions to plow through (it follows the first Hellboy issue), but there's a neat investigative mechanism that the whole thing is framed around where you collect clues. Every scenario leads to a big fight with a boss (again, following the comics framework), and the clue tokens you've gained soften the thing.

Boss' are driven by an AI deck, and you're trying to track down as many of those clues as possible before the doom track fills. There's some branching story paths as each scenario is comprised of a small deck of cards with different triggers that have you flip and reveal new events, it's very well done although replayability is not very strong. I have replayed existing scenarios though and found them enjoyable.

The characters are fantastic. Each has their own set of varied asymmetrical abilities and equipment. Hellboy can throw people or punch them and send them flying, damaging other enemies they collide with. Liz Sherman has a meter where you you can try and control your pyro ability and maximize damage output, although she can leave inferno tokens around the map which can harm your own characters as well as the bad guys. Abe Sapien is a badass as well and can throw his harpoon or utilize it in melee.

It's a neat game, although sadly there's a ton of content in the deluxe Kickstarter version (which is $200! at Miniature Market). I have the retail edition and I'm trying to determine if I want to hang onto it long term.

I was under embargo until last Friday so couldn't say much about it. I'm hoping to get my full G&S review up soon, but that place has gone down the toilet since Teri Litorco left so I have no idea when that will happen.



Concerning Cthulhu Wars - yes, use the Cthulhu buff. We've played over 10 games with it (that errata has been available for awhile). It's a big help and that faction is nasty now, but not too overpowered.

It seems to have a ton of stuff, and while I really enjoy this game, I personally wouldn't pay $200 for it as I simply won't get the plays out of it with so much competition. Hard to speak for someone who may be a bigger fan of the IP though.

Looking forward to your review!

Has anyone here played the Hellboy board game yet? I had what ended up being a negative first experience with the game. I’m trying to figure out if I made a mistake with the rules or if other people have had similar experiences.

I missed the Kickstarter but when I saw Miniature Market had Kickstarter copies I ordered it because my wife and I love Silver Tower. We played through the Perils of the Job scenario and we really liked the mechanics of the game. The dice system is really cool and the characters seem pretty unique. Scenarios are divided into the two sections. During the first part players explore, fight minions, and investigate. Then something happens to trigger a boss showdown. We were having a lot of fun until we encountered the boss in this scenario.

It feels like there is a huge gap in difficulty between the two different parts of the scenario. We didn’t have a whole lot difficulty with the first part of the scenario but when the boss showed up it destroyed us. I don’t mind losing and think bosses probably should be more difficult in games like this. However it felt like there was little we could have done to win this scenario. We had few options immediately after the boss was on the board and we were dead within two or three turns. It didn’t seem like it was bad luck because some of the boss behavior cards were creating situations where there was little we could do to stay alive.

I’m just curious if anyone else has played the game and found there to be a big difference in difficulty between the first part of scenarios and boss battles. I’m not sure if I want to give it another chance if the bosses are all impossible to defeat.

I got weak and ordered it...

Of course, five minutes after Joel Eddy posted a review the expensive version went out of stock everywhere, but I got an ebay copy on the way.

GoTeamVenture wrote: Has anyone here played the Hellboy board game yet? I had what ended up being a negative first experience with the game. I’m trying to figure out if I made a mistake with the rules or if other people have had similar experiences.

I missed the Kickstarter but when I saw Miniature Market had Kickstarter copies I ordered it because my wife and I love Silver Tower. We played through the Perils of the Job scenario and we really liked the mechanics of the game. The dice system is really cool and the characters seem pretty unique. Scenarios are divided into the two sections. During the first part players explore, fight minions, and investigate. Then something happens to trigger a boss showdown. We were having a lot of fun until we encountered the boss in this scenario.

It feels like there is a huge gap in difficulty between the two different parts of the scenario. We didn’t have a whole lot difficulty with the first part of the scenario but when the boss showed up it destroyed us. I don’t mind losing and think bosses probably should be more difficult in games like this. However it felt like there was little we could have done to win this scenario. We had few options immediately after the boss was on the board and we were dead within two or three turns. It didn’t seem like it was bad luck because some of the boss behavior cards were creating situations where there was little we could do to stay alive.

I’m just curious if anyone else has played the game and found there to be a big difference in difficulty between the first part of scenarios and boss battles. I’m not sure if I want to give it another chance if the bosses are all impossible to defeat.

The second half is harder and I've failed on my first attempt at every scenario. I have won often enough when replaying a scenario and really preparing ahead of time for what's coming. Taking the right items and spending your beginning resources wisely is a part of that, also juggling your abilities and adapting to the situation is another part.

solo possibilities?

Absolutely. Most of my plays have been solo playing two characters.