Board Games General /bgg/

My God the new Arkham Horror is great. Shame about needing 2 cores for full deckbuilding, though.

How was Kenjin and Mare Nostrum?

Finally got to play Secret Hitler this week, I've been waiting almost a year to get a hold of it. I was cautiously pessimistic in that I thought I'd be the odd man out liking it with the possibility of passing policies being dull but everyone who played it loved it. Highly recommend to anyone, I think it's leagues better than Resistance

Is there enough room in the box for the cards to fit with sleeves?

Yes

I just made my own set, there's been a couple of iterations.

After the first one I didn't even bother with the ja-nein cards, just did thumbs up or down simultaneously. It occasionally is an issue if someone is slow and ends up being a tie-breaker.

I agree it's a Resistence killer, haven't played my set since PnPing Hitler. And I never even cared for the other social deduction games (Werewolf and co) that much in the first place.

Any notable soon-to-be OOP's other than Fury of Dracula, Forbidden Stars, and Spulk Dangel?

Chaos in the old world is the other big one.

Both are really good. Kenjin is a fun, tight, quick little mindgame in a box, probably my go-to filler for four players in the coming year.

Mare nostrum is the best low/medium conflict dudes-on-a-map I've played. Not as political as Rex/Dune or as vicious as Kemet, but incredibly elegant with fantastic expression of player agency. Subtle but very strong asymmetry, excellent trade that feeds back into asymmetric evaluation of the worth of different territories, and with a surprisingly quick playtime once everyone's up to speed. Biggest gripe is the potential for out of the blue endgame if people aren't paying close attention.

>Chaos in the old world is the other big one.
Got it, but the box is fucked and literally the one item they won't send me for free, or at all.

>What have you played recently?
Spyfall, Love Letter Premium, Treasure Hunter and 7 Wonders. Drafting games have been a big hit.

>What are your favorite 2016 releases?
Love Letter Premium is my highest rated so far out of ~3 that I've played. It's the go-to filler/cooldown game. Adrenaline and Oceanos will probably be up there once we get a chance to play them. I was looking forward to Secret Hitler, but the CAH designer and alternate fascist leader promo are slight turn-offs.

>Roughly how many different games and how many times did you play this year?
I managed to play around 30 different ones since April. Most have been played only a couple times since I constantly have new ones to try. ONUW has probably been played as many times as the rest combined.

Good, I hate it when they won't fit. Thanks user.

What do you mean by it being asymmetric?

Did shadowrun crossfire go OOP? It's going for ridiculous prices everywhere except my FLGS. How good is it?

The starting Hero powers from the leaders and board positions incline each side towards a certain strategy but every strategy is still viable for each side.

No idea, but a FLGS just opened up near me called LFG. I don't know if they're clever or ignorant.

Anyone play Clockwork Wars? Is it worth a grab for $80?

What do you guys think of pic related?
I'm going to be playing tomorrow and the last time I played (A 3-player game, I was Lannisters) I got absolutely wrecked.
Hoping to be in a 4-player game this time, but I'm unsure of how to approach my options this time.
I realize now that failing to muster units as often as I needed put me at a huge disadvantage, I also think I may not have been playing the naval game well enough.
Any strategies or tips?

How much for the world's first invisible game.
You one of them Wall Street yuppies?

Kek

Are you playing Game of Thrones?

Fuck.
Yes.

Nare Nostrum vs Terra Mystica.
Who wins?

Not a bad game, per se, but too long for its depth and a little too predictable. Rex/Dune do everything it does but better and faster in my book. AGoT is probably a little more resilient to playing with fewer than the ideal max players, but not by a ton.

Nostrum absolutely, but I'm a bad person to ask for that one, TM is way too dry and low-conflict for my plebian ameritrash warmonger heart.

TM is a great engine builder as far as I can tell, but I wouldn't buy it in a hundred years. Probably.

I can get forbidden stars on amazin for about $75. Is it worth it?

Well, I think I see... 3 good games?

This year has not been a great one for boardgames.

I like it better than Rex as you have more control over your resources, or rather the control of resources is determined by player decisions (and is thus subject to negotiation and opportunistic betrayal) and not mostly random nor determined by whether your special abilities give you an easy economy.

It is a bit longer and more complex than it really needs to be though.

Which 3?

I've only got a couple plays in, but the highly asymmetric economies in Rex are part of its charm, and are a central part of the bargaining and politicking. Thrones resource flow isn't bad but I don't think it's as juicy.

Don't feed the shitposters.

For sure, but I think Rex is a bit less balanced. The Letnev player has to be on top of their game or they're gonna have a bad time.

>Cry Havoc
>Scythe
>Terraforming Mars
>Inis
>Mechs vs. Minions
>A Feast for Odin
>Star Wars: Rebellion
>Conan
>Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu
>The Others: 7 Sins
>Pandemic: Iberia
>Tyrants of the Underdark
>In the Name of Odin
>Hero Realms
>Carcassonne: Amazonas
>Star Wars: Destiny
>Santorini
>7 Wonders Duel: Pantheon
>Black Orchestra
>Bloodborne: TCG
>Warhammer Quest:Silver Tower
>Deathwatch: Overkill
>Secret Hitler
>Arkham Horror: LCG
>Imhotep
>Dead of Winter: Long Night
Decent year.

Only if you like 40k imho. I mean the game is ok, the price will rise and all, but do you really need to buy fucking boardgames as a form of investment?
If you and your group are into 40k just go for it though.

Obtained:
>Scythe
>Mechs vs. Minions
>Star Wars: Rebellion
>Millennium Blades
+Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition
I know Mansions is a second edition but it's so drastically different from first that it's basically a whole new game. You can play a converted over version of 2 of the old campaigns and they're the worst scenarios there and kinda just serve to highlight that before the app, all you kinda did was just fight monsters and search for loot.

Anyways, still need to get Mechs vs Minions and Millennium Blades to the table. Probably most impressed with Rebellion. I want to say the Star Wars trend is being overplayed and I'm sick of it but this game is such a fun and strangely unique war game.

We can't die yet

How is Mechs vs Minions?

He said he hasn't played it yet.

Just played through scenario two this morning, really digging it. Im thinking I'll end up grabbing another core set for sure at some point, probably when the first deluxe box expansion comes out. Otherwise though having a good time.

What's the difference between eldritch horror and arkham horror?

Used to be scale, Arkham thematically is smaller but took longer to play and had far too many expansions resulting in bloat. Eldritch thematically is the world, and is creeping up on the expansion count but still runs an hour shorter.

Is the gameplay any difference besides being faster? Or are they just the same games pretty much?

I read that as takes an hour OR shorter and was like yeah fucking right. I see now.

Eldritch is definitely shorter, and less "fiddly" and complicated overall. It keeps the same kinda core gameplay of Arkham but streamlines some of the clunky bits. The specifics of gameplay are pretty different though.

I'd say start with Eldritch, if you really like it and want more then pick up some expansions or go into Arkham. That's my opinion at least.

>hour OR shorter
Hell no, that's guy who bends time levels of crazy. besides the 30-60 min C'thulu itch is filled by Elder Sign.

They're close enough if you learn one you'll know how to play the other without much difficulty.

Barely a game. No decisions to be made and no chance to lose.

People hate it because
> Riot games
> LoL cashgrab
> Overproduced ameritrash garbage
> Action programming

I got my wave 1 copy, and I like it. It's a fun action programming co-op, simple and easy to teach/play. It is not a puzzly brain burner, not very deep and probably won't win any game design accolades, but it has the best production value in a boardgame ever, period. The attention to detail is amazing.

They improved on the Robo Rally style of action programming by making programmed actions persistent and upgradeable through a six-slot tableau, it's pretty clever. There's also a timer so the action selection and programming doesn't drag.

All the hate Riot gets may or may not be justified, so if you don't want to support Riot, then don't. Is it a LoL cashgrab? Maybe. They ARE pushing a product based on their immensely popular IP, but they're not making a lot of money off of MvM.
They cut all middlemen and took care of their own sales and distribution to help keep prices down. They really did go through a lot of hassle to keep all aspects of the production in-house, and a few older established game publishers could learn a couple of things from this venture.

Welp! Mare Nostrum and Mafia de Cuba arrived. If I'm lucky, I might get a couple more for Xmas. (Hoping for Quarter Master General...)

I keep looking at Star Wars Armada... but I've resisted so far.

CSI Sales Alert for anyone interested:
Name / Sale $ / Reg $
Dixit $22 ($40)
Pandemic Legacy $33 ($70)
Sekigahara $40 ($69)
Spendor $20 ($40)
The Others: 7 Sins Core $50 ($100)

Armada is really good, but expensive as golden monkey balls. I got a core, learned the rules, gave it a couple plays and when I saw the expac prices I decided I won't be spending any more cash on it. Getting one of each model that's come out would cost $540 burgerland pesos, plus transpacific shipping, plus kiwitax. I could buy a shitty car for that money.

Any of those you recommend?

7 Sins for half price is good even if you hate it and just re-sell it for $80 in a year.

Is definitely invest in it but all my current funds are going/have went to Xmas, Black Friday Gamblers Lantern Second Face, and two Sosa machines

What do you guys think of Sector 6 on Kikestarter? Seems like a weak game but anyone tried it?

Ok, so I am getting a board game for a family that has never played modern boardgames before.

Should I get them:
Dead of Winter
Or the Haunted House game (House on the Hill or whatever)

I have both, I just need to know which one to wrap for them.

It's probably a bad idea to get them a game if they've never played any modern game.

You need to have played games with them and know that they like modern games before you give them something like that.

Also Dead of Winter is way to complex for a first game, and Betrayal at the House on the Hill is way to polarizing to rely on for a first game.

You need to play games with them to figure out what they would like. Do like king of tokyo or ticket to ride first.

I know they want to try a modern style game, they've just never gotten around to playing one.

Go get them Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride Europe, Lords of Waterdeep, something along those lines.

I'd add 'Dixit' (especially Dixit for an intro to modern gaming), Hanabi, Saboteur 1 & 2, Splendor, Forbidden Island, Forbidden Desert.

Catan is a standby entry-level because it includes a ton of different basic mechanics: area control, network building, negotiation, and economy building. Based on what they like about Catan you know where to branch into for deeper games.

It also adds getting completely bent over by bullshit luck and/or shafted into the ground by your fellow players and is therefore about as welcome as Talisman as a first game.

So what does that mean to those of us who've never played talisman before?

catan

Count yourself lucky.

Does anyone else find the card design for Fury of Dracula to be really cool?

FFG par for the course. They've released very few ugly games.

I just liked the way they stylized them so much to fit the setting like the item cards having the back look like the front cover to a bible then the item side of the card looking like a bookmarked page on a book. I have forbidden stars and while the art work is good it just doesn't feel as much like the cards are part of the setting.

Amazon is selling space hulk death angel for $18 right now. Is it worth getting?

>They've released very few ugly games.
And Rex's game board just had to be one of those, FML.

Absolutely, especially since it will be OOP in less than a quarter year.

Agreed, they could have designed mind numbingly cool landscapes for Mecatol Rex, and they just HAD to go full Arkham Horror on it.

>What have you played recently?
Love Letter Premium Edition, Carcassonne, Valley of the Kings, Jaipur, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, Cosmic Encounter.....and Star Wars Monopoly (sigh). Guess which one Mom got me for Christmas.

>What are your favorite 2016 releases?
Scythe and Valley of the Kings: Last Rites. Didn't really play many others released this year.

>Roughly how many different games and how many times did you play this year?
Played approximately twice a week on average, and about 50-60 different games.

I feel like I'm the only person who doesn't prefer Secret Hitler. Maybe I just had a shit group but the game seems heavily skewed in favor of the fascists when I played and was extremely frustrating.

It HEAVILY depends on the group. One group I played with had a person who voted no on every vote "because it's funny!" and refused to help out with the game really. At the same time another person just made constant stupid decisions. (Actually told the table they had a choice and picked a facist policy).

Both of these just ruined the game completely.

Get some people who actually care about playing though and it's amazing.

Are there any good vampire games besides Fury of Dracula and One Night Ultimate Vampire?

I should add there was also a time when one player only voted the same way as their friend. It kind of defeats the purpose of games when people do this.

This isn't only in reference to Secret Hitler, but it did happen multiple times in my games. This tends to be a wife/gf that doesn't really care about the game but is begrudgingly invited and/or roped in to play anyways.

Shadow Hunters is really fun.

While not SPECIFICALLY "Vampires", it does have vampires in it.

Not bad for Target to be quite desu

Also saw 7 Wonders Duels but it was at the end cap of the as seen on tv section for some reason

Bloodborne but it's not good just aggressively okay

Thanks user.

I'll check that out too.

I've always been surprised at how well stocked target is compared to other stores

Has anyone played Star Ways: Destiny? Is it worth getting into?

>You can play a converted over version of 2 of the old campaigns and they're the worst scenarios there and kinda just serve to highlight that before the app, all you kinda did was just fight monsters and search for loot.

Even the one in the graveyard? I've heard that about the one that came with the original's expansions, but I heard the original's base was okay.

This is important information, because I love MoM2e but the monster variety is slim. I'd like one of the other boxes, but I'm not going to shell out $50 for models unless there's a good scenerio too.

I feel a little bad trashing them so hard. They're fun in a simple way. It's just not what makes second edition great. Second edition campaigns often have a cool twist and lots of neat surprises. Cool "I did not see that coming" moments made possible by the app. I would say if you want one, Recurring Nightmares, the one with the graveyard campaign is better. The tiles it comes with work as alternative maps for at least 2 of the second edition campaigns and the Witch, Maniac, and Mi-Go add a good twist to the enemy variety as their use in other campaigns. Plus Dearly Departed is the better of the 2 I think. It's also pretty raw combat but the setting is appropriate for it.

Suppressed Memories has investigator options I like more and the goats and dark druid are good additions, but the tiles only ever get used for their own campaign it seems, and that campaign while having more variety of layouts it could have, is pretty lame. You start armed to the teeth and you just run through a gauntlet of monsters as the app tells you "Hurry, hurry! Go faster", then you fight the Dunwich Horror on an invisible turn limit and it ends.

>blind but purchasing model
Only if you hate having money in your bank account and want to support the EA of board games.

That's what I was thinking. Oh well

SUSD is absolutely correct about this game.
The Khitai should look like Fu Manchu, not dark elves.

heavily scalp prices are up right now

just wait for the next run.

How the fuck do you find groups or make them. I have a group now and we play once per week for half a year but I feel like playing more and they dont. So I figure I might aswell play with another group in addition to the first group but nobody seems to be into boardgames.
Last time there was a boardgame evening of a study association and I half feared it would be some kind of warhammer 40k next level shit, but it turned out to be some guys just passing time playing settlers of catan until it was late so they could go out drinking.

I also checked boardgamegeeks group finding pages but those are dead in my country

Finally got Fleet Captains played again after almost two years on the shelf.

The green look like a combination of Klingon / Romulan ships, but I don't recognize the purple ones at all. Are those from DS-9 perhaps?

And I hope you're happy that you forced (FORCED) me to buy Mafia de Cuba and Mare Nostrum with my latest CSI order. (Because I damn-skippy! sure am. :)

Merry Christmas Eve / Happy Holidays you filthy animals!

Try creating your own meetup group (from the site of the same name) for your area. Best bet would be to scout around and find someplace public (Pub or Restaurant with a lot of seating or perhaps a space in a Public Library) where you can have lots of folks who don't know each other initially comfortably meet up before posting your group announcement.