Board Games!

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Interesting! My current top party games are Dixit (Apples to Apples with surreal art!) and Channel A (Pitch your wackily-named anime series!)

[Beacon of Chaos]

More of a 'party' type game than board game, but I got a chance to play "Telestrations". It's basically the old game of telephone with drawings. Very hilarious and freeform like Apples-to-Apples or Cards Against Humanity.

I play a version of this we call telephone pictionary on another board. With ponies. Here's the latest one. Good fun.

[TheEmerged]

So for my April gaming budget - and my May gaming budget - I purchased "Fortune and Glory". This might be described as "Indiana Jones: The Board Game - minus the Indiana Jones license".

Compoments are pretty cool, although it has the usual Flying Frog issue with having multiple stacks of cards - cracked up to 11. While it is your turn, it genuinely starts feeling like you're playing a pulp-era movie. That's a little bit of the problem, though - it's a bit on the "playing solitaire together" side of the curve. It is pretty thematic though.

The real problem? So help me, they reversed the function of Fortune and Glory in the rules. You buy things with Glory, and you win the game based on Fortune. It's consistent, so it can't be a typo. I think it tripped us up at least three times during our first playthrough.

One advantage, though, is that the cooperative game appears noticeably harder than the other FFP games I've played. Noticeably. As in we lost the first time we tried Co-op, even on easy.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Got both Takenoko and Suburbia for my birthday. I haven't had a chance to play them with others yet, but I gave the solo game of Suburia a go. It's a brilliant little game. Building your own little economic engine is fun, and you get plenty of options (though so far most of my games have come down to: stick blue tiles together, occasionally buy airports). Definitely getting the expansion when I can.

I'm loving the art for Takenoko. That and the cute little figures.

Tried to get Kemet as well, but it's so hard to find, I would have to import it from France, and I really wanted something I could play ASAP. Next time.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I have no idea how my friend got ahold of Kemet, but it's super-fun. Aggressive, neat combos, great fun.

I just played a game called Koi Pond (you can get it Print-On-Demand from DriveThru Cards), and it was sorta weird but really interesting. It's a game where you're trying to balance cards you play with the cards in your gradually-increasing hand, while also trying to get the majority in a color through your discarded cards. As another twist, your discards form a face-up pool of cards that you can draw from when the next round hits.

[erikun]

Got both Takenoko and Suburbia for my birthday. I haven't had a chance to play them with others yet, but I gave the solo game of Suburia a go. It's a brilliant little game. Building your own little economic engine is fun, and you get plenty of options (though so far most of my games have come down to: stick blue tiles together, occasionally buy airports). Definitely getting the expansion when I can.

I'm loving the art for Takenoko. That and the cute little figures.

Fun games. Just keep in mind that tiles in Suburia frequently refer to the number of other tiles in play, including owned by opponents, and will generally provide your benefits even after they've been played. If you have a tile that gives you +1 income for each restaurant in play, then not only do you get one income for each restaurant owned by every player right now, but you get +1 income every time a new restaurant is played. (The instruction sheet gives the details for each tile.)

[Beacon of Chaos]

Fun games. Just keep in mind that tiles in Suburia frequently refer to the number of other tiles in play, including owned by opponents, and will generally provide your benefits even after they've been played. If you have a tile that gives you +1 income for each restaurant in play, then not only do you get one income for each restaurant owned by every player right now, but you get +1 income every time a new restaurant is played. (The instruction sheet gives the details for each tile.)

Yeah, I know. Can be a little hard to keep track of in the late game, though I suspect playing with others will help.


Speaking of which, I went to a games night at the local game shop for the first time. Was a little awkward at first, but everyone was very friendly, and they expressed an interest in the games I brought, even if we didn't get to play them.

We played Last Night on Earth, a zombie apocalypse game. I was on the heroes side and the scenario was to burn down a zombie infested building by finding gas canisters and setting them up in the middle of the zombie spawning pit. The game had some great moments, such as the time that the zombie players played a card that makes one male and one female hero skip their turns due to being... intimate, only to have the High School Principal appear out of nowhere to tell them to knock it off, which was just as well, since the girl was a teen and the guy was about 40 (characters, not players ). Or my character, Kenny the bag boy, finding a Book of the Dead and duct-taping a set of jumper cables to it simply because he was running out of space.

Unfortunately, the heroes lost, as we spent too much time evading zombies and stockpiling items instead of actually completing the objectives, and so the game was lost with Kenny and Sam the diner chef bickering outside while the prom queen was inside the main building fighting off zombie hordes with a home-made flamethrower. Awesome game!

[TheEmerged]

We played Last Night on Earth, a zombie apocalypse game. I was on the heroes side and the scenario was to burn down a zombie infested building by finding gas canisters and setting them up in the middle of the zombie spawning pit. The game had some great moments, such as the time that the zombie players played a card that makes one male and one female hero skip their turns due to being... intimate, only to have the High School Principal appear out of nowhere to tell them to knock it off, which was just as well, since the girl was a teen and the guy was about 40 (characters, not players ). Or my character, Kenny the bag boy, finding a Book of the Dead and duct-taping a set of jumper cables to it simply because he was running out of space.

Unfortunately, the heroes lost, as we spent too much time evading zombies and stockpiling items instead of actually completing the objectives, and so the game was lost with Kenny and Sam the diner chef bickering outside while the prom queen was inside the main building fighting off zombie hordes with a home-made flamethrower. Awesome game!

Ah, "This Could Be Our Last Night On Earth". Yeah, we usually have to take that card out of the deck when we play - there are kids at the table with their parents either watching or playing as well.

Also, the prom queen was alone? I believe the meme is You're-Doing-It-Wrong The implication from the cards is that she ends up a casualty, but between her fight-avoidance power and her buffing power, she's actually one of the most dangerous human heroes (IMO second only to the priest, especially if he gets paired with the nurse).

[Beacon of Chaos]

Also, the prom queen was alone? I believe the meme is You're-Doing-It-Wrong The implication from the cards is that she ends up a casualty, but between her fight-avoidance power and her buffing power, she's actually one of the most dangerous human heroes (IMO second only to the priest, especially if he gets paired with the nurse).

Due to circumstances, she was the only one with gasoline and a lighter and everyone was stuck in other places around the map. We did pretty badly that game XD.

[Balain]

Played Dead Panic last weekend. It was pretty cool. Kind of like castle panic, but there is more differences between them then similarities.

[Kerrin]

So for my April gaming budget - and my May gaming budget - I purchased "Fortune and Glory". This might be described as "Indiana Jones: The Board Game - minus the Indiana Jones license".

Oooo, I've been eyeing this game for some time. Looks like a fun time. Can't wait to get a chance to try it sometime before deciding whether to buy.

[Fri]

Last night on earth is actually my personal favourite board game of all time. Maybe because it's one of the first board game I've ever played, I really love every part of that game. Too bad that the owner in our group sold it.

[Cristo Meyers]

Finally got around to putting our new copy of Scotland Yard through its paces. Plays reasonably well with only 2 people, actually. That was somewhat surprising, a lot of multi-player games break down when there's only a couple of players.

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite games. It just feels so well-balanced and challenging without also taking hours to play. We finished both games in the space of an hour.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Played tons more BattleCON yesterday. Really love Aria's playstyle. Drones everywhere! She has three different robots that she deploys on the board (they don't move unless she uses some of her stuff that moves the robots around), and each of them has a negative effect on the opponent if they're standing on or next to the robot. It's very fun to catch the opponent in multiple drones at once.

And I even pulled off her finisher in one match: she hits an opponent, throws them, and then if another droid is within range, they hit the opponent, throw them, and repeat for every drone on the board. With the right setup, you can ping-pong your opponent around the board and deal some nasty damage. I won with it.

[DigoDragon]

I play a version of this we call telephone pictionary on another board. With ponies. Here's the latest one. Good fun.

Looks fun! Curious to know how it plays. :3

[Beacon of Chaos]

Looks fun! Curious to know how it plays. :3

It's Chinese Whispers with art. Basically, player 1 PMs a one line description of something to player 2 who then draws it. Player 2 then PMs the drawing to player 3, who then writes a line, and then PMs it to player 4 etc. There's a GM who gets a copy of everything, and once everyone's had a turn, the GM posts the final results and we all have a good laugh.


Went to the games club again on Monday. Played another zombie apocalypse game (seems to be a popular theme) whose name I can't remember, but was described to me as the board game version of Left 4 Dead. Everyone starts off in a cabin surrounded by zombies and has to work together to find radio parts, which are dropped by survivors. Onces the radio is built, you call for help, and you all have to get to the escape van before you get eaten. It was good fun. The MVP was the guy playing Father Michael, who became an unstoppable killing machine by dual-wielding a fire axe and a chainsaw, drawing the attention of all the zombies while giving his extra actions to the other players.


After that, I got roped into playing Werewolf. And then Resistance. Ugh. Boring.

I used to play both games on GitP. Werewolf was fun, but I soon grew bored of it. I couldn't stand Resistance from the beginning. But I figured that maybe it would be different playing it in person. It wasn't. I think maybe these are games to play with friends, not strangers. The people who knew each other definitely seemed to be having more fun.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Huh. Why'd you find Resistance to be boring, if I may ask?

(Maybe it's just me; I've had a lot of tense moments with it. Including the hilarious one where I was sitting next to the other spy, and we both went on a mission twice in a row...and neither of us failed the mission, because we didn't want to both fail it.)

[Knaight]

Huh. Why'd you find Resistance to be boring, if I may ask?

I can't say I've ever found it that interesting. There's the occasional moment wherein two spies are on a mission and there's the question of whether either should sabotage it, and the occasional tense decision, but most of the time it just doesn't seem that interesting, particularly when playing as a non-spy. I quite like Coup though.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Huh. Why'd you find Resistance to be boring, if I may ask?

I just never felt invested in it. Nothing excited me, nothing interested me. The theme was tacked on and the gameplay was weak. Maybe it's because I was a good guy, and therefore the only actual descion I got to make was when it was my turn to choose a team, on the last round.

[DigoDragon]

It's Chinese Whispers with art. Basically, player 1 PMs a one line description of something to player 2 who then draws it. Player 2 then PMs the drawing to player 3, who then writes a line, and then PMs it to player 4 etc.

Ah, very similar to Telestrations, yes. In one match of the game, I was given the word "House Sitting". I drew a pony sitting on a house (with arrows pointing to the roof). Apparently ponies threw the game off completely because everyone after me was so focused on the pony that every word guess and drawing after was about horse stables and horses.

Another one was the word "Medication" which ended with me guessing "Breakfast of Champions" because the drawing I got handed looked like a bow of cereal and a bottle of whiskey.


Anyone ever play the old board game Fireball Island? That was a popular one among my siblings and cousins. We played that one often when we got together.

[Chen]

Anyone ever play the old board game Fireball Island? That was a popular one among my siblings and cousins. We played that one often when we got together.

I remember this from when I was quite young. Clearly not a very deep game but it was fun and had a pretty cool (albeit giant) board.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

I can't say I've ever found it that interesting. There's the occasional moment wherein two spies are on a mission and there's the question of whether either should sabotage it, and the occasional tense decision, but most of the time it just doesn't seem that interesting, particularly when playing as a non-spy. I quite like Coup though.

I just never felt invested in it. Nothing excited me, nothing interested me. The theme was tacked on and the gameplay was weak. Maybe it's because I was a good guy, and therefore the only actual descion I got to make was when it was my turn to choose a team, on the last round.

Yeah, I can see that. (And the game gets a lot more interesting for the Resistance when a mission's been failed.) I liked it because it compares quite favorably to Werewolf (more information to go on). Avalon beefs up the gameplay, although the theme feels even odder there.

Speaking of Coup, I'm gonna have to buy their new expansion when it comes out. It introduces factions; you can pay coins to flip your faction (or someone else's faction), and being on the same faction as someone else protects you from them.

[Fri]

I just never felt invested in it. Nothing excited me, nothing interested me. The theme was tacked on and the gameplay was weak. Maybe it's because I was a good guy, and therefore the only actual descion I got to make was when it was my turn to choose a team, on the last round.

Yeah, totally understand this. But my group love this game. The gameplay for us isn't in the choosing of people to go to the mission, if that's only the gameplay this game is really lackluster. The gameplay in our group is to convince people who are the spies and who are the resistance. We could end up with winding, convoluted reasons for this. Like, "You asked for drink when everyone are closing their eyes. *a couple of convoluted reasoning later* ergo, you are the spy.

[TheEmerged]

RE: Werewolf\Resistance. See, I just plain stink at this type of game and bluffing games in general. While I'm capable of bluffing, I have trouble in games where it's a large part of the mechanic.

That, and all three times I've played Werewolf I've drawn the werewolf. It's another of those examples of my boolean\bipolar luck.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Yeah, totally understand this. But my group love this game. The gameplay for us isn't in the choosing of people to go to the mission, if that's only the gameplay this game is really lackluster. The gameplay in our group is to convince people who are the spies and who are the resistance. We could end up with winding, convoluted reasons for this. Like, "You asked for drink when everyone are closing their eyes. *a couple of convoluted reasoning later* ergo, you are the spy.

Also, the approve/deny part of the voting is a very important bit of the gameplay. If the group isn't seeing some "deny" votes, something's probably going wrong. No mission should be unilaterally passing muster with the group.

[Beacon of Chaos]

Played Takenoko with a friend a couple of days ago. Not a bad little game at all. I dunno if it will become a regular game for us though; he really likes Carcassonne and that's all I can ever seem to get him to play. Maybe I'll have better luck with Suburbia.

I also found a different gaming club in my area. It's further away, but I'm hoping it will have more room. The one I go to currently is in a tiny shop and it's super cramped.

[banjo1985]

Played Rampage on Friday night, and loved it. So infantile, but a massive amount of fun. Not a game I'd play often, but all the little meeples and throwing playing pieces of trucks at my opponents made me grin. Pretty decent representation of the old video game, but, you know, not boring after two minutes.

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Oh--on Wednesday, I finally played Eldritch Horror all the way through. Entertaining game! We barely won! Lots of neat flavor. Only downside is that it's not as focused, thematically, because you're globe-trotting.

[jurgita]

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[Beacon of Chaos]

Finally got to play Suburbia against a human opponent last night. Went along to a club, taught a guy how to play... and promptly got beaten. XD Guess I taught him too well.

It seems in this game that you really don't want to increase your population too early. Doing so limits your income and reputation too much. Focusing hard on your income allows you to easily catch up later.

Also, having "fewest commercial areas" as your hidden goal sucks, since those areas are what get you money.