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

[DaveF]

I do enjoy the visceral experience of a boardgame over the digital. But a good digital version is so much more convenient. And with a game like TTR, a favorite in recent years but fallen down the ranks against new favorites (and I never see it at the gaming groups anymore), I'll play it on my tablet even if it's not getting played at the dining table


We normally play games with a local group every other Saturday. But I've been traveling too much to get to the last couple meet ups. That's also kept us from playing with friends the past few weeks. But I'll get a little game playing over the holidays. And I look forward to new games for Christmas and good gaming early next year.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Ooh, I heard about the update but didn't realize that the expansions were on sale. I prefer the "real" game too, but in this case, that a whole lot less money and shelf space and a very nice digital implementation.


The iPad version of Elder Sign was on sale ($6.99 -> $0.99 IIRC) recently; not sure if it still is, but it finally convinced me to try it. Kind of complicated for a dice game, but also a cool implementation.

 

[DaveF]

A friend and I played our first game of Star Wars Armada. it's a miniatures game from Fantasy Flight Games. The X-Wing miniatures has been out for a few years, but this is brand new to me. Likewise for miniatures.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

So what did you think? I have a ton of X-Wing stuff but have yet to try Armada. That movement tool looks kinda funky (in a cool way).

The day we saw Force Awakens, my son and I had an EPIC game of X-Wing. Starting with 100 points a side, the last survivor was a single TIE Academy Pilot with one hull point remaining!

 

[DaveF]

First game, I liked it in an overwhelmed sort of way. I've never played miniatures, so it's wholly new to me. And I only played the most basic, introductory game. One core set split between us, playing the first-time rules. We can combine our two sets to double the size of the game. And then add expansions to grow it I think another 25%. And then there are the complete rules, with heroes and campaign goals. Whew. I'm just trying to get the basics at this point.

I wonder if I would have been happier with X-wing since by many accounts it's a simpler, faster, more tactical game. The big challenge, to me, is the command dial, used to secretly set the bonus for a ship in a turn (Concentrated Fire, Navigation, Repair, Maneuver Squadrons) is set three turns ahead of the Star Destroyer. That is, you have a stack of three for that ship. On a turn, you utilize the command dial you set three turns prior. That ship is big and powerful and it moves like a water buffalo and requires relatively long-term planning. In contrast, the Rebel ships are two-counters and one counter deep; one speedy ship you set and use the command dial the same turn.

The squadrons, I like the idea of them, but I don't yet understand how to use the Tie Fighters effectively. The X-Wings seem to wholly overpower them, which means I need learn how to use the Ties' better speed, numbers, and bonuses more effectively to even the fight.

So it's an interesting game. If you like X-Wing but want more a more strategic game, and a literally twice-the-size game, Armada is recommended.

 

[Stan]

I'm great at Monopoly, but I'm evil and it doesn't go over well with others.

I like to win and friends don't seem to care for that.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

In the spiritual predecessor to X-Wing and Armada, Wings of War, you plot your moves with cards instead of a dial, and all planes plot three moves at a time. Of course, those are WWI planes, not spaceships.

I've sunk way too much money into X-Wing to get started with Armada now. I'll try to play someone else's copy some time.

I like to win and friends don't seem to care for that.

IMO, winning is not important, but *trying to win* is crucial.

 

[Northgun]

Starwars X-Wing and Armada both look like really cool games. I've heavily considered giving them a try many times. The two biggest deterrents have been cost of getting lots of pieces and only being able to play 2 players. Theres usually 3 to 4 of us at a board game night.

Stan, I feel your pain with monopoly lol, I too am quite competitive in the game. My friends and family will normally not trade with me in an attempt to keep me from winning.

I cannot wait until I get a chance to play board games with my crew again, its been quite a wail. Early January was the last time I got to play a board game. On the bright side, we have been totally nerding it out and playing pokemon cards quite a bit. All of us have sunk quite a bit of time and a bit of money into building a few decks. It ended up being way more fun than expected. We actually modified the rules a tiny bit and play 3 to 5 people at a time. Works a lot better than expected.

As of lately, I started working on my board game I started designing a wail back. Made quite a bit of progress on it. Hopefully my motivation keeps up on it. Its so close to being ready for another round of play testing.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

X-Wing is a great multiplayer game. Just give each person a couple of ships and play in teams. I would guess that Armada can work as a team game as well, but my guess is that there tend to be fewer ships in a battle.

 

[DaveF]

I've played games of Armada, beginner rules. It's clever. I can see how, playing dual-sets, full rules, you could play this as Aaron suggests. You'd just need to rules for how to decide how teams interact and choose play order and select moves.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

For X-Wing you don't even need that much, since ships move in initiative order.

 

[Northgun]

Sounds like some good ideas, I'll have to see if I can get the crew to pick up some of the pieces

 

[DaveF]

Another option, though I generally trust Ars' boardgame reviews, so this wouldn't be a game I'd buy.

“As gaming guru and Ars copyeditor Aaron Zimmerman puts it, "Rebellion’s interesting metagame considerations begin to bloom when you know what cards are in both players’ decks, and that knowledge comes with time. In other words, Rebellion requires a lot of energy and commitment, and your gaming partner needs to share an enthusiasm for the game that can overcome its
occasionally patience-testing parts."”

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/...review-a-fully-operational-4-hour-board-game/

 

[Northgun]

Most the games I play with friends are 3+ hour games, its what were into. Even the board game I'm designing is this long. This could be a game to ponder getting. I'll have to research it a bit more though. We try to find games where the battle between two players doesn't get ridiculously long so the other players don't fall asleep lol

 

[Northgun]

Played at a local Pokemon card tournament with my normal crew. Amazingly enough we all placed in the top 5. Its also the first game tournament that I've ever attended and out right won. It was by no means a huge tournament, only 30 people there, but it was pretty cool

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Very nice!

A few different people I know have tried SW: Rebellion and they've all enjoyed it. I'm vaguely regretting not pre-ordering it before the price went up, but on the other hand, there's a good chance that anyone other than my son who I'd play it with has bought it anyway.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Very nice!

A few different people I know have tried SW: Rebellion and they've all enjoyed it. I'm vaguely regretting not pre-ordering it before the price went up, but on the other hand, there's a good chance that anyone other than my son who I'd play it with has bought it anyway.

I just received my order from Amazon with this… now to actually find the time to learn and play it…

Having said that, played Resistance earlier today for the first time. in a 5-player game it's hard going as a spy, but we managed to pull off the long con -- early on we both went on a mission which succeeded -- and on the decisive final mission we were both on it, with the resultant double-fail

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I broke down when my game retailer of choice had a 10% off everything sale a few weeks back. Now, as you say, to find the time. . .

BTW, I also recently picked up Three Kingdoms Redux, a game from Singapore. It looks awesome.

 

[Yee-Ming]

I broke down when my game retailer of choice had a 10% off everything sale a few weeks back. Now, as you say, to find the time. . .

BTW, I also recently picked up Three Kingdoms Redux, a game from Singapore. It looks awesome.

From Singapore??? We produce games???

Heh; offhand it sounds vaguely familiar, probably based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms computer game that was very popular here back in the 90s, simulating the "Three Kingdoms" period in Chinese history, which I think was sometime back in the 1100s. Or was it more like AD600? Damn can't remember my high school history...

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Actually, it's kind of a personal project of a husband-and-wife team:

http://starting-player.myshopify.com/

It's based on the Three Kingdoms period (much earlier than that! ), but is not based on the old Koei video games.