What sort of Board Games do you Play (2 Viewers)

[Sam Posten]

So... what did you order? "Era: Medieval Age" and "Parks" look interesting.

Sorry for potato quality
Games by Sam Posten III, on Flickr

Also:
https://www.indianapolismonthly.com/best-of-indy/best-games-of-gen-con-2019#.XVFvATm4R1k.twitter

@DaveF what didnt you like about Everdell.

I suggest playing without legendaries and Rugworts first time you play

 

[DaveF]

Why are you photographing your monitor?

cmd-shift-5

Or

Windows->Snipping Tool

 

[DaveF]

@DaveF what didnt you like about Everdell.

I suggest playing without legendaries and Rugworts first time you play

It violated my most basic rule for Eurogaming: don't leave players with nothing to do. My game ended 20 minutes before everyone else's. So I sat, bored, waiting for the rest of the gamers to finish. First game, and I played the wrong strategy, and so I didn't have enough "engine" in the late game, causing the game to end prematurely for me. This is *terrible* game design to me. Even if I'm doomed to lose, a game should not allow me to be bereft of actions or process while everyone continues on. This is a generalization of disliking player elimination in modern games. We're there to have a shared experience: kicking me out early ruins it.

I see why people like Everdell. It does new things with play order and "turns". But I can't overlook such a fundamental design choice, and I have no interest in trying it again.

 

[Sam Posten]

Why are you photographing your monitor?

cmd-shift-5

Or

Windows->Snipping Tool

Of course I know this. This was sent as a text message a week ago, not from my PC

 

[Sam Posten]

But I can't overlook such a fundamental design choice, and I have no interest in trying it again.

I respect that, but feel that it's a mistake to blow it off because of that. I'd rather be done and on to something else if I'm going to lose, rather than be forced to play another 45 minutes with a losing strategy. Now you know for next play through you cannot rush, you absolutely must take care to make very deliberate decisions in first season. The longer you take the longer you lock up the very limited choices that others have, and vice versa. No other game makes you this deliberate in how you plan out.

The price for this is often a sub-optimal first play. That's incentive right there to try it again.

 

[DaveF]

I respect that, but feel that it's a mistake to blow it off because of that. I'd rather be done and on to something else if I'm going to lose, rather than be forced to play another 45 minutes with a losing strategy. Now you know for next play through you cannot rush, you absolutely must take care to make very deliberate decisions in first season. The longer you take the longer you lock up the svery limited choices that others have, and vice versa. No other game makes you this deliberate in how you plan out.

The price for this is often a sub-optimal first play. That's incentive right there to try it again.

There is nothing else to be onto. It’s four of us playing a game. I’m dead in the water, twiddling my thumbs for 20 min, waiting for the game to end so I can maybe get to another game before the night is done.

I understand what the game is trying to do. But there are many better and fun games for me to play than to revisit one with a design ethos counter to what I’m looking for in boardgaming.

 

[BobO'Link]

I absolutely hate player elimination in games. Even if I'm losing I'd rather be doing something in the game than sitting around waiting for everyone else to finish so we could play again or play something else.

I was already on the fence about Everdell simply because of the gimmicky tree piece and board shape. I watched a play through with the designer using a early version of the board. That board was squarish and had no tree. I thought it was much cleaner and better designed than the final circular board with the tree gimmick. I can safely say I doubt I'd even punch the tree parts out, much less put it together.

One review commented that the card text is rather small - something that can really slow down game play as everyone is constantly picking up cards to see what they say.

At this point I'd really want to see a copy in person and play a game or two before purchasing one for my collection.

 

[DaveF]

One review commented that the card text is rather small - something that can really slow down game play as everyone is constantly picking up cards to see what they say.

I found the cards hard to read and parse at first. They have a lot of information, relatively small text, and complex artwork behind it all. For me it was more difficult than usual to grasp the cost and effects of the cards because of the visual complexity.

I was also frustrated with its representation of the phase of the game you're in: you're in the phase of the game that your tokens aren't in. Akin to the cards, it was visually confusing. You start off in Winter, which is a state not at all represented by the game board or worker placement. You then enter Spring, which is indicated by gaining the worker in the Spring location. And now you know that you are in Spring because you are, literally, not in Spring. I understand what the game designer had in mind, but I found it visually confounding.

I get why people like it. It's attempts something very clever: asynchronous game phases. In every Euro, in every game, players proceed through a set number of actions in a round, and proceed through the rounds together, often for a set number of rounds. In Everdell, the number of actions each player gets in a round varies, and players advance into different major rounds at different rates. But this can lead to the aberrant state of someone ending their game well before everyone else does.

If that sounds intriguing to you, give it a go.

 

[BobO'Link]

That play design/mechanism is totally off putting. One of the reviews I watched didn't exactly put it that way but said something along the lines of "You can finish a season before everyone else and it's not clear if you go on or wait for everyone else to catch up. You go on." That this can cause one player to finish well in advance of everyone else wasn't mentioned or clear. That, more than the tree and board, turns me off this one.

It sounds odd but when I saw that tree on the table my first thought was "Wow... sure don't want to be putting that thing together every time we'd play." That, more than anything else at the time, turned me off of the game. I can put up with the odd shaped board but don't care for those either.

The odd board design is my one negative about the upcoming "Terror Below." Those usually get damaged more easily than a square/rectangle board, especially when they have bits sticking out like on "Terror Below." I "get" what the designers are going for but that kind of stuff just doesn't work for me. If an odd design improves game play then I'm all for it but it rarely does and is typically just window dressing. I also get the impression they cost more to produce while not typically being as well manufactured (most of the odd shaped boards don't have properly sealed edges like a square/rectangle have).

 

[Sam Posten]

You people are crazy, but whatever.

Trogdor!!!!!!!

Burninating the peasants.

Burninating the countryside!

 

[DaveF]

What game is that?

 

[Sam Posten]

Uh, Trogdor....

 

[BobO'Link]

I'm really getting tired of KS special "backer editions" that look amazing but the "regular" release cuts corners.

Here's what you get if you didn't back it on KS:

They're OK but nowhere as cool as the KS exclusive version.

If you feel you must reward backers (and that's not bad) then either make the game identical for everyone but give backers a discount, offer the KS extras as a add-on, or offer the KS version in a limited edition at a premium price. Essentially, I'm OK with KS backers getting something extra as long as that extra stuff can be purchased at retail or directly from the game makers by non-backers for an extra cost.

 

[Yee-Ming]

The problem with that is, with retailer discounts, it then becomes possible to acquire everything at roughly the same price as anyone who backed the game via KS, save that backers get the game earlier (and even then sometimes that gets botched up). That disincentivizes backing the KS since a "wait and see" position then literally costs nothing but time -- you don't have to take the risk the project fails and you lose your money, and also you don't have to pay up front. And if people don't back the KS then it's possible the project never gets off the ground at all.

My own view is that anything which can affect gameplay should be available to non-KS backers, e.g. more cards/scenarios/tiles whatever, so that anyone late to the party can still and should be able to play the exact same game as a KS-backer. And so improved tokens which do not affect gameplay are, to my mind, one fair way to reward KS-backers for their faith in the project -- the game still plays the same for a non-KS backer, just that they don't get the nicer shinier tokens.

 

[BobO'Link]

I picked up a few promo expansions for a few games.

This has promo stuff for 4 games (and was less than the Azul promo by itself): Azul, Rajas of the Ganges, Altiplano, and Quacks of Quedlinburg as well as Black Stories: Spiel 2018 Edition with 5 "Black Stories" based on the Spiel Fair at Essen. It was purchased mainly for the Azul promo which looks quite good. I recently picked up a copy of Altiplano so that promo is welcome and Rajas of the Ganges is on my short list of games I really want so having a promo in the wings is a plus.

Azul Factories Promo:

Altiplano Alpaca Rider promo:

Rajas of the Ganges "Snake" promo:

I also picked up the "Sunny Days" promo for Altiplano:

and the "Con" tiles for Suburbia (in spite of feeling they were overpriced at $5) - a game my son and I really like:

I'd also purchased the Suburbia, Inc. expansion a couple of weeks back so these will go nicely with all that.

 

[DaveF]

Always fun getting those little expansions and promo boosters.

 

[BobO'Link]

Absolutely! I'm a sucker for those things and frequently pick up any available when purchasing a new game.

I always get a bit annoyed if I find a really interesting sounding promo is OOP or in some foreign magazine that'll cost almost as much as the base game to have shipped to the US. Then there are those that just feel stupidly expensive/overpriced - like $3-$5 (or more) for a *single* card for a card game that costs $15 for the base set or ~$6 for an expansion pack of 10-15 cards (looking at you Star Realms).

 

[BobO'Link]

A few weeks back my daughter and her kids (aka The Gaming Group) were at Target and spotted a closeout game section. So they looked and brought home:

"Sparkle Kitty" (the girls thought it looked cute)
"The Oregon Trail Game: Journey to Willamette Valley" They liked the box art and some random guy said "It's a pretty good game" - OK... I gave them the "How can you trust the word of someone you don't know and have never seen before on the goodness of a board game? That's just *too* selective a subject to make the purchase because "some guy" said "it's good."" You had your phone... why didn't you check boardgamegeek at the very least? Of course, I've been "that guy" at times but usually offer a "It's good" or "Don't" bother" recommendation by qualifying them (basically a quick "how it's played" or the mechanics) so...

Since it was a long weekend we took advantage of it and played a few games yesterday.

We started with a copy of "Llama's Unleashed" I got from the Vine program. It's from the same people who did "Unstable Unicorns" and I got it on the "strength" of that one coupled with the changes they'd done to make the Llama version. I very much prefer "Llama's Unleashed." The game play feels a bit more balanced and the 4 different animal types (Llama, Alpaca, Goat, Ram) plus cards targeting one or more of those groups makes things more interesting. You also get a "herd bonus" - a special ability, with each animal having a unique one, that can be used once every turn as long as you have 3 of the same type animal in your field. That causes you to pay more attention to the types of animals being played and puts emphasis on stopping those groupings. There is a specific "denial" card (a "Neigh" card in Unstable Unicorns) for each animal type. If you block a particular animal card from being played you get the card for your hand instead of it going to the discard pile. There are cards that let you pull from the recycle pile instead of drawing from the draw pile. And a few other unique things. It all makes for a stronger game. Still not one I'd select but I'd prefer this over Unicorns.

"The Oregon Trail Game: Journey to Willamette Valley" turned out to be better than the impression I'd gotten from the Dice Tower review I looked at when they brought it home. It has some little quirks and the instructions could be written better but it's not too bad. It's a tile laying/resource management game. 3 of us played this one and made it through with few issues. I'd wanted to play again, basically to get a good/better impression, but we ended just when dinner was ready so had to give up the table. I wouldn't call it a "great" game but it's enjoyable enough for occasional play.

After dinner we played "Sparkle Kitty." This one is a fairly basic card disposal type game where the goal is to get rid of a "stack" of 4 (or more depending on game circumstances) cards on the table in front of you. You lay down cards from your hand based on the color, type, or name of the cards (2 of them) on the table and call out the names of the two cards. It plays quickly - 10-15 minutes and isn't too bad. It also supports up to 8 so is a decent party type game. I'd much rather play this than something like Uno (I *hate* Uno). It also plays quickly enough that I'd play it in the short times we often have between school/work and dinner.

I'd wanted to get in a play of two of "Tiny Towns" but it just wasn't to be.

 

[DaveF]

I’ve played and Oregon Trail game. It was a coop card game. My recollection is that we weren’t very impressed. It’s never been played again.

This weekend we’re playing Terraforming Mars with friends. I’ve played once and it was a tedious slog. My wife has never played and I don’t think it’s the kind of game she enjoys. But, fingers crossed it’s good for both of us this time.

 

[BobO'Link]

I’ve played and Oregon Trail game. It was a coop card game. My recollection is that we weren’t very impressed. It’s never been played again.

This weekend we’re playing Terraforming Mars with friends. I’ve played once and it was a tedious slog. My wife has never played and I don’t think it’s the kind of game she enjoys. But, fingers crossed it’s good for both of us this time.

I've never played the card game. From what I've read and heard it's a train wreck and not at all like the board game. That's not to say the board game is stellar - it's not - but it's at least some fun.

I'll be interested in hearing what you think of Terraforming Mars. It's on my wish list but I keep putting it off for various reasons...