What sort of Board Games do you Play (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Learned Sentinels of the Multiverse tonight. I kicked asssss as the Wraith. We took down Omicron or whatever our villain was.

Learned Queen Domino. WAY more complicated than King. Neat but I prefer King.

Batman is live:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806316071/batmantm-gotham-city-chronicles

 

[BobO'Link]

^I've been waffling between Kingdomino and Queendomino for a couple of months. I like the look of the relative simplicity of King, but the added options of Queen are pulling on me as well. Part of me wants to just get both but that somehow feels unnecessary as we'll mostly be playing with 2-4 players so really don't need the extra tiles. At that point it's down to "Will we play with the extra bits of Queen enough to make it the better purchase?" Of course, that's assuming you can play Queen just like King by leaving out the tile modification purchase strip (I need to just dl the instructions and see).

I keep hoping Queen will drop in price enough that it'll be a no-brainer. So far... no such luck. Right now the price difference is ~$10 which is not too much unless we wind up not playing with the extra bits. I hate buying game expansions that just collect dust. I did that with Carcassonne (I have almost all of the expansions - just missing the "big" ones like Wheel of Fortune) where most are still unopened and we only play with the first two on occasion.

**EDIT**
I looked at the rules for both King and Queen. The Queen version has an additional terrain type that's not in the King version making it impossible to play with "King only" rules. Bummer...

That means I'm now leaning more heavily towards King just to see if we like it enough to spring for a more complicated version.

 

[DaveF]

I bought Kingdomino sight unseen, based on reviews. It quickly fell into the “forgotten” shelf in my games closet. Doesn’t really do much for us.

Sagrada has been a good blind buy. Neat puzzle game for two to four. Pretty fast.

 

[DaveF]

I forget what I've talked about since Christmas, but if I haven't mentioned it: Colt Express is a hoot. It's pretty lightweight and plays up to six. It's kind of a "programming" game along with trying to guess / intuit what your opponents will do since your actions will be affected by their choices and vice versa.

If you need a game that plays 2 to 6, is silly and not especially deep, but has some tactical decisions, I really enjoy this game.

https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/158899/colt-express

 

[Sam Posten]

New plays for me this week:
Race for the galaxy: OK, not nearly as fun as Roll for the galaxy to me
Mysterium: HATED it.
Dixit: Had a mysterium feel, it was ok tho!
Taikenodo: Hmmmm, ok I guess
7 Wonders: Dug it a LOT
Between Two Cities GREAT. May buy a copy
Love Letter Special Edition: It really bogs down compared to the original. We had some analysis paralysis players tho, so maybe another few plays to get a good sense.

I also got my 2nd printing copy of Azul from Miniatures Market. They are shipping round the country now!

 

[DaveF]

Dixit is a favorite: we’ve got all the expansions. It’s great because it’s simple, has no involved strategy or eurogaming intricacy, but is more fun than most lightweight games. And it plays 12 with the Odyssey rules. Big group, not sure what to do? Dixit.

7 Wonders is now probably our most played game the past six years. Plays 8 almost as fast as it plays 4. It’s got some gaming substance but is never a two hour slog. Get the Cities and Leaders expansions without hesitation.

Good to hear Azul is available. It was $80 when I checked Amazon last month. May need to buy a copy.

 

[BobO'Link]

RE: "Love Letter Special Edition" - I've been eyeballing that one as we pretty much enjoyed "Letters to Santa." It looked a bit overblown for us so, with your comment, I feel safe dropping it out of my wish list.

My granddaughters really enjoyed "Letters to Santa" and my grandson found it "OK" but didn't want to play a 2nd time. My oldest granddaughter and I played a half-dozen or so 2 player games and really enjoyed it. I think it works just as well that way, at least for us, and is a very quick play. It's certainly more cut-throat in 2 player mode. When we opened the box the oldest granddaughter said "Wow, Pa! That's a lot of cardboard!" And it is... the box is large enough to easily hold 4 copies of the game! But it's a very nice box with an insert for the cards, bag of red squares (which absolutely fit the "present" scenario), and rules sheet. It was less expensive than the blister pack "Love Letter" with the storage bag.

After we played "Catan Junior" I discovered my son, also a board gamer, had purchased a copy for their house. He has 3 kids - 5 (almost 6), 4, and 1 year old. He sent photos of him and the 2 boys playing. I was told they had a real good time and the youngest won the game. That made me happy as they're supposed to be coming home in a few weeks and I was hoping to introduce them to this version. Since they've played it, I know for sure it'll hit the table at some point.

And... the girls and I played "Photosynthesis" over the weekend. The oldest came in and said "I want to play a game we haven't played before." After asking for "Batavia," which I'd have been absolutely OK with, I showed her the rest of the unopened games I've picked up over the past few months.

It's a rather large stack containing: "Photosynthesis," "Isle of Skye," "Alhambra," "Alhambra the Card Game" (got it first as it was cheap, ~$7, and to see if we might like it enough to get the board version. Then the board version went on sale for under $20 so I went ahead and got it anyway. I'd looked at the "Big Box" but the expansions didn't sound that intriguing so I passed on it for now), "Queen's Architect," "Amazonas," Abaddon," "Lagoon: Land of Druids," " Notre Dame," "Axis and Allies 1941" (mainly to play with my grandson), "Blood Rage" (also primarily for play with my grandson), "Lost Legends," "Liguria", "Ticket to Ride: Europe" (We have TTR, TTR:Rails & Sails, and a few map expansions), "Agricola," "Carcassonne: Discovery," and expansions for "Kingdom Builder," "Small World," and "Clank." (I think I've missed one there somewhere...)

After going over the basic gameplay and which might be better for her sister (the almost 7 year old) to play we settled on "Photosynthesis."

You plant trees. Start with a seed, grow it to a small tree, grow that one larger. You get "light points" to spend which are earned based on how large the tree is coupled with its ability to get sunlight (the yellow part circle in the image below - got it from boardgamegeek). If your tree is in the shadow of another tree you don't earn points. That photo shows it best. Tall trees cast a shadow over 3 circles, medium over 2, small over 1. If your tree is in the shadow of another, it earns no points *unless* it's taller than the tree in front of it. That sun circle moves around the board with each turn. Once it's traversed the board 3 times (8 turns per traversal) the game is over. You spend light points to purchase seeds and trees as well as place them on the board so you have to manage your earnings well. Since the sun moves around the board, a good position on one turn may earn little on another due to your tree(s) being in the shadow of another - your own or someone else's. It really stinks when you outsmart yourself and have a tree in the shadow of another you own.

You score end-game points by harvesting your larger tree. It gets a points disc (random and hidden) based on the number of leaves in the circle from which it was harvested. More leaves equals higher points. You only have 2 large trees so you're constantly growing and harvesting. Seeds can only be placed in reference to your trees. Everyone has a different variety of tree in a different color from the others making yours easy to spot on the board.

A first round placement with 4 players showing their individual game boards and some of the scoring discs.

Late in a 3 player game with seeds and larger trees on the board.

It plays fairly quickly (took us about an hour which included figuring things out as we played - it'll go much faster next time), has good quality components (the trees are thicker paperboard standees - but I'd rather have plastic) and the box is segmented in such a way as to store the trees without having to disassemble them.

We had a good time playing, even the 6 year old. I'm ready to play again with all 4 of us which may happen this week. They're out for Spring Break and I should get off a bit earlier for that same reason. That'll give us more than enough time for a longer game every day before their mom gets off work and arrives to pick them up.

 

[BobO'Link]

When looking at my Amazon game wish list I, too, discovered "Azul" is now available! I really want to get a copy of that one. It looks very interesting.

 

[BobO'Link]

I also got my 2nd printing copy of Azul from Miniatures Market. They are shipping round the country now!

WOW! I just looked up their site! It's only $34 shipped to my house from them! It's a shame I don't live a bit closer to SL (it's a ~8 hr round trip drive) - I'd just pick it up. I looked at the photos of their store. Man... I'd love to have that store close enough to visit!

THANKS!

 

[BobO'Link]

Here's a shot of the "Letters to Santa" box:

The instructions are a card size booklet which is very nicely done. You can see all the cardboard my grand daughter commented about. It has nice finger holes/slots to get the cards out and is elevated about 1/4" off the box bottom so you can easily get your fingers under the cards to lift them out. The baggie for the "presents" is included. The box itself is thick and has a linen texture applied. You can also see the finger notches in the top that make getting it off very easy. It's a very nice package.

 

[BobO'Link]

I also got my 2nd printing copy of Azul from Miniatures Market. They are shipping round the country now!

I gotta say "Thanks!" again, Sam. When I looked these guys up *yesterday* they had 20+ copies of Azul. I browsed the site to see if they had any other bargains to add to the order and spread out the very reasonable shipping a bit. They had "Black Fleet" on clearance for $17.99, a title I have on my wish list and think the kids will really like, so I dropped a copy in my cart (it's currently $29+ on Amazon). This afternoon I called my local comic shop (and general game supplier) to see if they could order a copy of Azul. It's not yet available from their supplier so a few minutes ago I did more browsing and noticed they were down to *2* copies of Azul! I immediately placed my order and checked their stock to see if it's "live" or updated based on when things are pulled to sell/ship. It's now OOS! Looks like I ordered just in the nick of time! The total for both games shipped was $51.97 - a bargain against the current Amazon prices!

 

[Yee-Ming]

Mysterium: HATED it.
Dixit: Had a mysterium feel, it was ok tho!

You might want to consider Deception: Murder in Hong Kong. Similar in mechanic to Mysterium, but the theme is basically CSI. One player is the Forensic Investigator, who must wordlessly guide most of the rest of the players into identifying the one amongst them who is the murderer, who in turn must stay hidden. I too disliked Mysterium, but quite enjoyed Deception. Deception has been quite successful, and an expansion adding more clue cards was recently released.

(Interestingly, in Hong Kong itself, the game is called "CS Files". Evidently the authorities there don't take kindly to references to murder in Hong Kong )

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm looking *real* hard at Scythe. Have any of you played this one?

It looks pretty good - but seems a bit longish (~ 2 hrs.) so I'm not sure how often it could hit the table.

 

[DaveF]

I’ve played twice. I have friends who play it a good bit the past two years. It’s a pretty crunchy “Eurogame” with a wargame theme. It isn’t fast or simple. But it’s not an all day affair; a solid evening.

 

[BobO'Link]

Azul came in today. Amazon could take some lessons from Miniature Market about how to properly package a game.

We didn't have a chance to play this evening, and likely will not for a few more days, but I'm itching to get in a game. When I told the kids the name the girls immediately said "Blue? Why's it called blue?" so I told them the theme of the game and showed them some images of game play. They thought it looked interesting.

Out of curiosity I've been checking MM's stock since I placed my order. It's come back in stock (20+ copies) and sold out again since I ordered a week ago.

 

[Sam Posten]

Its cool that you are so pumped for this Bob!

 

[Sam Posten]

We finally got Terraforming Mars to the table tonight. Was the only game I was able to play cause it went 2.5 hours. Definitely cool. Gonna look to play it with Venus expansion in the future,

 

[BobO'Link]

We played a couple of games of Azul this afternoon and enjoyed it. My grandson got annoyed at his sister for "ruining a run" he was working on (she, along with me, set him up for taking a -10 point grouping of tiles). He blamed her as she'd also caused him to miss several runs he was counting on. I'm sure I can get them to play again - he's just being a sore loser. Even the 7 year old enjoyed it - mostly - but she was a bit tired and I could tell wasn't getting into it like I think she could. The 11 year old wants to play the "create your own" side of the board. That'll be interesting.

 

[DaveF]

I played Terraforming Mars last month. It was a 3 hr, poor economy, high attack game. I’m told it’s not normally that long or brutal.

Not a bad game... but its Fun : Effort ratio was too low for me.

 

[DaveF]

Azul was a neato game. But I liked it more than my wife, and it's four player only, so I'm not sure I'll be buying it.

If you like Azul, I recommend Sagrada (which I think I mentioned previously). Colorful game, puzzle centric. Less cross-player interactions compared to Azul, I think.