Board Game General /bgg/ - MOAR CARDS edition

This exceeds my recommended daily intake of sarcasm.

I'm still amazed people buy licensed games.

Are miniatures really THIS popular? They've never been an influencing factor in whether I buy a game or not, and usually they just bump up the price so I don't want or can't buy it.

>Eric M. Lang™

kek

Oh go away.

What's a cool solo card game?Also, what would you like to see in it?

The giant board is kind of a turn off. Is it good tho?

two player aspect kind of kills it but then I guess I could play one player...

Really lately I'm the guy in the group who buys new games but I've bought some real shit and I hate having it in my collection, so I'm trying to be careful and only get good shit from now on.

I know. I can't get over SoA being licensed even though it's supposed to be good.

I'm not sure how good it is solo, but I just picked up Pathogenesis. It's a deckbuilder about trying to kill some guy with diseases while his immune system tries to stop you long enough for him to become immune. There's a cooperative mode where you try to kill his various systems off, and competitive modes where everyone's trying to do as much damage as possible while making sure to kill him before he becomes immune.

It's obviously written by an aspie, though, because the manual is laid out terribly. All kinds of little rules presented in almost random spots. Still a good game, just understand you're going to play it wrong the first time.

I'm a sucker for them. There's just something about immersing yourself in a familiar universe.

And they're not as bad as they used to be, people here loved Sons of Anarchy, Spartacus. I have heard plenty of good things about that new godfather game.
As for me, I'm a big fan of Legendary Encounters : Alien.

isn't this the third or so miniatures game that CMON has shat out in the past year? do they understand market saturation at all?

>Eric M. Lang™
perfect

I own the original and expacs, it's a pretty comfy Risk replacement in my eyes. being able to make an alt-WW2 (as far as territory conquering is concerned) scenario is quite amusing for the Axis team. it's card-driven so you'll need to do a few plays to memorise each of the nation's decks, but it plays somewhat smoothly and the expacs allow you to discard cards from your hand to search for basic action cards from your deck if you end up with a dud hand, which is really neat as the deck sizes are effectively doubled when you add both expacs. unfortunately, the second expac forces a scripted beginning for the Axis team as they have to take down Western Europe and/or China ASAP or they'll never win

one major downside that I need to note is that it only plays well with 2 or 6. other player counts are incredibly flaky and the suggested team compositions in the rulebook for other player counts is really bad

I'm keen on picking up 1914, but I've never played it as no retailers sell any of the QG games in 'Straya

>third or so miniatures game that CMON has shat out in the past year
That would be a terribly slow year for them; already for next year they've got the GoT one planned, a pair of new Zombicide, and Rising Sun. This year we've got (or will by year end) like 6 AQ boxes, Dark Age, Gang Rush, Bot Battles, Godfather, Masmorra, a shitload of Massive Darkness, more Rum & Bones, and World of Smog.

But hey, they're branching out to non-minis games, they made all of 5 this year? (assuming of course you count 3-4 Xenoshyft ks expansions as 1) Ethnos is really nice though, and Sherlook is a cool game for families.

I was talking about miniature wargames in particular, not just "muh minis"

Gotcha; then 3-4 sounds about right. They are in theory trying to branch out though, with FFG coming under the Asmodee abomination they seem to be trying to take their place as maker of all things themed half euro and ameritrashy.

What can anybody recommend for five players, probably about 2-3 hours long. There's a mix of people new to the hobby and experienced players.

>2-3 hours long
>5 people
>new to hobby
This has bad idea written all over it........ you should find 3 more and play TI3 on a large map

The game time isn't set in stone it's just a rough estimate of how long people would pay attention for. I'm leaning towards BSG as we've all played it besides one person and we all enjoy it. I just hoped somebody had a better suggestion.

>incredibly vague requirements apart from player count
Cosmic Encounter? Chicago Express? Flash Point: Fire Rescue? Letters From Whitechapel?

Vast: the Crystal Caverns. Give the experienced players to read the rules for their characters beforehand and explain the rules to the newbies just before the game.

I should add that since the game is asymmetric, you can give the most straightforward characters (knight, thief) to the newbies, the Dragon and goblins to the more experienced one's and the Cave to someone who understands the rules well and won't just accidentally throw the game to the thief like I did first time I played against him.

Maybe Pathfinder Adventure Card Game? It's very simple and imo there aren't any good hooks but some people like it.

Thunderstone, maybe? It's deckbuilding and the board is really only to set up the purchase decks and the dungeon

If it's anything like the Pathfinder card game on android... yarg. It's so dry.

That looks good, I'll add it to the long list but I kind of blew my load on

>Clank!
>One Deck Dungeon
>Castle Dice

Earlier today.

>It's so dry.
The only time I ever got to play the card version it felt more like the game played itself than that it gave me the chance to make any decisions.

It's a just fine! As a final step before sealing, I'd highly recommend considering putting on a 'wash'.

I don't know how much you know about miniature painting. There's many techniques that can amplify the look of your model including things like edge highlighting, drybrushing, layering and such. One of the most effective methods of making your models 'pop' is using a 'wash'.

A wash (also sometimes called an 'ink' but not to be confused with actual pen ink) is a special formulation of paint that is super thin and will settle in nooks and crannies while leaving high spots relatively untouched. What this does is gives your models 'depth' by darkening recesses while leaving high spots brighter.

If you wanted to put a wash on that model, what I would recommend doing is putting on a nice layer all over. The higher spots will look like you just brushed water on it while the recesses will have what looks like way too much but don't worry, washes are like 90% water/solvent and it'll dry thin. And once you've got the model coated, take a dry, unused brush to 'soak' up some of the wash from places you don't want as much of it (such as the eyes and red recesses on his abdomen).

Pic attached is the difference between a painted model without a wash (left) and the same model with a brown wash (right)

>mfw primer/base is always in white before I lay the actual color so a wash pops more and lets me get away with 1 color rather than multiple highlight layers
Everything needs at the very least coat of Agrax, or Vallejo brown wash.

Thanks for the encouragement guys! And I was considering putting a wash on it, I just couldn't decide if I wanted to go through with it but you've convinced me. Unfortunately I don't live near a gamestore so all I've got is paint to use for my wash. I've seen videos that show you how to water down paint thin enough to work as a wash so I'll do that tomorrow. Would you recommend a black or dark brown wash?

Dark brown. It's more visually interesting and more realistic looking to the eye. You could do an initial 'black wash' - but only in the deepest recesses, and then do a more general brown wash over most or all of the mini once the black one is completely dry.

Let's be real here. Unless you do something really wrong in a couple steps of the painting process, a painting mini will generally look better than an unpainted mono-tone plastic. Remember that most of the time the mini isn't going to be stuck in someone's face, or stretched across a 20+ inch computer screen at high resolution. Most of the time, the mini is going to be sitting in the middle of the table on the board and being complimented by the aesthetic of the game and other minis. Even if a miniature doesn't look good in a photo, it is usually an improvement in real life.

I generally do a black wash for metal, but that's a brassy color so brown might pop a bit more.

Exactly. It's why I always tell people to stay off of the competition grognard parts of the web with their painting, because then you are going to always be your own harshest critic. Minis are game pieces, they're going to be played with at arms length more or less.

Of course there's also the thin your paints horror stories, but that rarely happens if you get even a tiny bit of advice these days. Maybe the one good thing youtube has brought us, DIY videos that help you avoid massive pitfalls

Have you played ascension? Because if you liked ascension you'll like clank. It's one of my groups top 5 and probably our number one 4 player game.

>Tfw you like unpainted minis and think painted ones look kind of weird

>Are miniatures really THIS popular?
They aren't, of course, but "they" are shilling really hard to make them popular. It's an easy way for "them" to make money without effort.

I really don't like ascension (love dominion, though) but clank looks interesting. Is the only similarity that there's 2 currencies? Or does it have a similar random market where one player just has to get the lucky draw and buy the best card in the game before anyone has a chance

Someone will find this exciting. I don't blame them if they do. Game of thrones is neat, this looks like an interesting take on a miniatures game. I'm not about to get into a game that is going to survive by releasing waves and waves of content until the first year is up and you're $500 deep, but nothing about this offends me.

I recently bought Death Angel and I love the card and art quality. Didn't play it yet but I'm pretty sure I bought the last english copy avaible in my country on-line stores (that was the only I found now its out of stock).

I see the tyranids expansion for about 6 bucks should I go for it blindly?

>I see the tyranids expansion for about 6 bucks should I go for it blindly?
Yes, if only because it's about to be far, far more, even used.

Is Scythe worth 60bucks or are there better similar games? mainly for 3 player games

Terra Mystica is what Scythe wants to be when it grows up.

There are way, way better games. Scythe is a mediocre offering wrapped in a pretty shell. Depending on what you want out of it, try Inis, Terra Mystica, or TI3.

Has anyone played both Labyrinth: War on Terror and Twilight Struggle?

I can't decide on which one to get.
>Lab has a single player option
>deals with recent events
>has a single stack of cards to draw from (randomisation)

>Twilight is 2 player only
>deals with the cold war which isn't too unfamiliar but I feel like the game would have more of an affect and understanding of what is going on if you actually lived through it
>cards are separated into early, mid and end so you kind of know what is coming up which can be a good thing and a bad thing
>seems like you have more options regarding the various races (space, arms etc)

Does anyone who has actually played these have a pros. cons breakdown for either of these? Which one is easier to learn/teach?

I'll also probably get something in the COIN series (Cuba Libre or the Columbian(?) one because I heard they are the easiest to learn)

A distant plain looks good too, and Fire in the Lake is apparently a nightmare.

Scythe is a great game, but I don't think it would work as well with just three players.

It's got the same market set up as ascension.

I don't know your preferences, but I like Scythe a lot. It has just the right amount of player interaction so it doesn't feel like solitaire but isn't all about combat the way games like Eclipse are, and the strategies are varied enough that there's a lot of replay ability.

Totally fine, you do you pal

Yes, the cheapest I can find the expansions is $25 each

i paid this much for the base game and only because it was original english.

Cuba Libre is real fun, and I heard the most accessible of the COIN series. The best description I read for is: " like a knife fight in phone booth".

Can't help you with the rest.

About Cuba Libre: some of the mechanics seem counter intuitive at first, like how the Profit move works for the syndicate. It takes a little while to wrap your head around its logic. But once you do it does make sense.

The best aspect of my game, in my opinion, is the action order mechanic. Solid stuff.

how many does it need to be good? is it gonna be solitare gaming if theres just 3 players so that no-one really wants to attack cause everyone is playing in their corners?

I would say 4 is a good starting number mainly because of how the starting positions are laid out. Each faction has a set starting location around the board. I've never played with fewer than four, but my concern isn't for solitary-ness, but more about being worried about one person being 'pinched' between two people who then have a lot of open territory.

I imagine it would work fine so long as you made sure people started equidistant instead of just randomly assigning factions.

Thanks. I hope my local store has it. I was thinking that for the COIN pick, any opinions on Labyrinth or Twilight Struggle?

If you have Steam, the PC version is of Twilight is on there for $14.99. What's good about that is you can play against AI or other people online.

Bump

>download Patchwork app while it's free on amazon store
>tutorial so I can learn to play
>AI beats my ass by 2x the score
I dunno if I should feel humbled or if it's like the X-Com tutorial where they made it ultra hard so you'd know you're likely to lose

I love Love Letter - it just works so well, and you only play one round for... what, 3 minutes tops?

Also, I'm going away on a family holiday Thu-Sun, and I'm taking Reverse Charades, Fishy Tactics and Iota. How'd I do?
The Mr Jack Pocket app kicks my ass whenever I play as Jack, even on Easy. No joke, I got found on Turn ONE.

I've been playing the 1st & goal app and while I've won more than I've lost, it's always brutal and never an easy win

Yeah I have to only play the season I've got going when I'm calm so I don't have to worry about tossing the phone against a wall. That fucking play die..........

>That fucking play die..........
It's fucking infuriating. I get more frustrated playing this game than most others but I love it so much

Love letter is a great ultralight filler.

The TS AI is fucking Deep Blue or some shit.

is there a bgg discord server? that could be fun... if there isn't already one but theres interest, i could make one. let me know what u anons think.

figured it could be just general discussion for the most part but also might be cool for those of us who play tts or any other table top games online.

We tried it before, wasn't enough activity to justify continued use. Some of us are on the generic Veeky Forums server, which has a board game channel.

What's wrong with low activity?
High volume chat channels are a fucking nightmare, impossible to keep track of, mostly full of noise instead of useful discussion.
The more relevant problem is that there would be no point to have both the general and the discord, since they would serve the same purpose. The general is easier to find for this community, so better that things stay like this.

that sounds cool, could you post a link?

It was low volume as in days between bursts of "activity," with activity being an exchange of about 10 comments.

Sagrada or Roll Player?

So I asked in last thread and got ... not a lot of responses, but what are peoples' thoughts on Argent: The Consortium? It's back on KS and I kind of want some advice/commentary to help me decide whether or not I should go for it.

Why is Veeky Forums so shit at offering critique and feedback these days?

The quality of the site keeps dropping due to various factors, it's not just Veeky Forums

Wish I could help you out user, I don't back anything though, so I've got experience with the game. If you explain why it's appealing to you right now though, maybe we can go off that?

It would depend on what you're looking for feedback on but this isn't exactly the best place. There's also a LOT more traffic in /bgg/ the last year. Over the almost 6 years I've been posting here we've definitely got a lot more discussion as time went on, combined with exponentially more shitposting. Worse it tends to be the same 3 repeating chords
>you're autistic because
>euro vs ameritrash (aka WTF IS UP WITH DICE IN GAMES)
>KS question or non-stop shilling

Upside I don't have to stay up til 3am to bump a thread one last time knowing Minifig will be up in a couple hours to keep it alive while I sleep. /bgg/ used to die regularly well below bump limit.

I'm still new in the hobby so lots of times when someone asks for an opinion or critique I haven't played it so I don't have anything useful to give. If I have played the game then I try to give my input

what do you like out of what you have / have played?

most autistic post ITT so far

>The TS AI is fucking Deep Blue or some shit.

The AI isn't flawless, but it sure curb stomps me frequently.

Of the ones I've played I've really enjoyed:
>Onitama
>Hive Pocket
>Star Realms
>Carcassonne
>Diplomacy
>Space Hulk Death Angel
>Blokus
>Forbidden Island
>X-wing
>Jaipur
>Hanabi
>1st & Goal (app only)
>Splendor (app only)

I've really wanted to try out my copies of Kemet, Doom 2016, Pixel Tactics, Codenames, and Camel Up but none of my friends enjoy playing board games so it's hard to get a chance to try out my new games. I also really want to try out Mage Knight but I just haven't had a chance yet

>Blokus

Thanks I'll just walk around Newark with $100 bills hanging out my pockets- it's less stressful.

I enjoy the challenge. Having to spatially visualize and plan my moves is so exciting for me

Played a game of Sons of Anarchy today! Didn't finish, as the comic shop closed a bit early, but it's an amazing game and my friends can't wait to play again.
Lin Syndicate took an early lead, but an ill-advised attack on the One-Niners (who'd been surreptitiously stockpiling guns) followed by police-frame-up left them minus three prospects and two members on turn four and had the game gone longer it'd have been a close race.

Look into Cottage Garden/Patchwork/Barenpark if you enjoy looking multiple moves ahead. Hell the Patchwork app is free on the amazon store for kindle/android, and it's very much a Tetris/Blokus type feel.

I swear the reason this doesn't get any love is the theme, combined with the fact that almost since release it's been clearanced out everywhere at like $15. People just assume it's another shit licensed game; if you slapped some generic fantasy on it it'd be on game of the year lists everywhere.

Patchwork has been on my radar for a long time but I just haven't had a chance to grab it yet. Unfortunately I don't have an android or kindle or else I would jump on that free app

FINE. I bought it. Fuck.

>scrolling through GenCon releases
>Total Recall
>based on the 1990 movie
Hells yes I am all over this
>deduction/party by Overworld games
Fuck it just another rehash of Good Cop Bad Cop. Why hasn't someone listened to STEEV and made Die Hard/Spectre Ops?

I really want a Metal Gear/Specter Ops game

Metal Gear would be a decent tracking/evasion theme overlay, though it might lend itself more to a longer system like FoD or Whitechapel. Then again they really fucked up Last Friday by making it far too scripted, and if you did a Metal Gear licensed Konami might do the same thing

>using the OP I made all these years later

it takes me back

I think it'd be tough to do but I'm a huge MGS fanboy and so I'd throw money at anyone who made a game for it.

people who like board games stopped posting here

It was a really fun couple days that thread existed. Although I do wish I had a good 404: Minifig Not Found image to open threads with.

Yeah, and there are more decent to good licensed IP games coming out lately. I just assume any theme I love will be turned to shit. Everything Epic has the license for Big Trouble in Little China; from what I can tell they've made nothing and it's gonna be a shitty action point rip off of Pandemic/Flash Point

>I just assume any theme I love will be turned to shit
Same here buddy. I'd love to get a racing game like F-Zero but I know that would never happen. On that note, what are some good racing games where you're actually racing instead of betting on the racers?

I've heard good things about GMT's Thunder Alley and AEG's Automobiles and nothing but bad things about Formula D.

Awesome, thanks a bunch!