The Board Game Thread

Alfonzo Bonzo

Alfonzo Bonzo

I've played both and race is by far the superior game. It offers a lot more depth and complexity (and expansions).

Just bought Equinox and Harbour. Equinox is a cool little two player game and Haven't got Harbour to the table yet.

Went to the UK Games Expo a couple of weeks back. Games of the show for me were Red7 and The Little Prince Build me a planet. :)
 
Diakonov

Diakonov

Received Keyflower about a week ago, shipped straight from Germany. I've played three games so far and it's wonderful. The aesthetic is simple and elegant and the gameplay flows very nicely. For being pleasant in so many ways, it's surprising how intensely competitive it is. Definitely my new favorite.
 
MCMcEmcee

MCMcEmcee

just looked up Keyflower and now I'm very interested in trying it out, thanks for potentially killing my wallet

also is San Juan the card game proxy for Puerto Rico?
 
Eric Chan

Eric Chan

Hyalopterous Lemure
Staff member
Yeah, it's the quick & dirty card-only version. After about a dozen games of San Juan, though, I'm starting to feel it doesn't have the depth nor balance of its predecessor. There's a couple of strategies that are just plain traps, and are nearly impossible to win with; this leaves only a very small handful of actually viable paths to go down, which limits its replay value.
 
FlowerSunRain

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
I kicked off a Descent 2e campaign today (base game campaign). Does anyone else play? I played a lot of Descent 1e, but not much in 2e.

In case you care, here's the situation:


Heroes won first blood, no surprise. They got 100 from the searches. They chose Fat Goblin to do next.

The party is:

Sir Valadir as a Champion. Bought Iron Battle Axe. Saved XP for Inspiring Charge.
Widow Tarha as a Conjurer. Took Many Friends.
Andira Runehand as an Alchemist. Took Concoction.
Avrel Worldwalker as a Bounty Hunter. Took Longshot (but doesn't matter, she can change her skills every fight).
They have 25 gold.

I'm overlord. My agent is Sir Alric Farrow and I have 2 threat.
I took No Rest for the Wicked

Thoughts: This party has two main problems. First, they have no one with 4 strength or 4 spot. They do have Avrel who gets a reroll, but its only once per turn, so forcing strength checks is key. I'll be using Spiders a lot. Second, they very little access to search/mobility. None of the characters are slow, but they don't have any movement heroic and are in classes not known for mobility. Race quests are going to be tough for them.

The new Sir Valadir is nuts, free stamina potion that gives a boosted attack? And Iron Battle Axe after the intro? That's going to be a big problem.

The damage output on the team is nuts, which is why I shied away from Dark Fortitude even though its a natural fit for Avric. Punisher isn't a deck I love, but I think its the right one for this situation. I'm just saving my threat here only getting two kinda sucked.

I'm taking Merriods in Encounter one and Bane Spiders in Encounter two. Or I could take Bandits in Encounter one instead and Trolls in Encounter 2, Sir Valadir's 1 spot makes him a good target for bash. Or Bandits and Bane Spiders and just try to waste as many actions as possible getting knock downs from poison. But definitely some combination of these monsters. Probably.
 
B

blacksmithy

The gameplay (of barbarossa), as it turns out, is pretty decent. It feels a lot like Dominion, but your deck stays lean because of the deploy mechanic, and you fight Russians for VP instead of buying VP. So far i've found ~3 viable strategies that can be hybridized/tweaked to taste without falling apart, but there's still a few cards i'm not sure how to use.
As far as the theme/art go, my personal feeling is that it reaches a level of absurdity where you just throw down a beer and have a laugh about it. But i'm an American Idiot (tm) so ymmv.
Re: Descent, i played with my cousin a couple times and loved it, but it's really hard to keep a campaign going with our group. Overlording sounds kinda like cube architecture, in a way, FSR. Good luck!
 
Aoret

Aoret

Developer
Onderzeeboot said:
That is... reasonably smutty... Also, slutty Nazi girls invading Russia? Who the fuck came up with this game concept? I honestly wouldn't want to play this even if the gameplay was decent.
Click to expand...
I'd only want to play it because it's smutty. I have a serious distaste for games that require that much sorting and setup. (this is also why, for example, I prefer Ascension to Dominion even though the later expansions for the former are so much shittier than expansions for the latter)

I can't even be bothered to arrange my ULD any more. I just pass a big ass stack of cards around the table.
 
FlowerSunRain

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
In case Mr. Bonzo or anyone else cares about my Descent campaign

In encounter 1 of Fat Goblin I used bandits, which seem to be pretty much the best small monster by far. I almost felt bad scoring 3 knockdowns on 3 different heroes, taking it all as threat. Adding the extra from the rumor quest I played, I'm at 6 now and I'm looking to grab #7 in encounter 2. I captured 3 of the food, which will give Splig a fat health pool in encounter 2. The heroes got three searches (two stamina potions and a curse doll). They are really beaten up: two of them are tapped on stamina and three of them are below 4 health. I have six cards in hand (used two in the first encounter), but no dashes. I'm taking bane spiders in this encounter. I'm not going to burn my threat going for a win, but I'm willing to spend a couple if it looks like I can pull it out.
 
Alfonzo Bonzo

Alfonzo Bonzo

I've never played it, though I think it looks all sorts of fun!

We had a friend come to stay a few weeks back and just incessantly played race for the Galaxy, I forgot how good that one is. Also played some red7 (good), innovation (good and growing on me more) and port royal (like a lot). Oh and some little prince build me a planet which looks like a kids game but is actually relatively cutthroat and mean.
 
B

blacksmithy

We got Marrying Mr. Darcy over our anniversary weekend. My wife always plays Lizzie and always tries to marry Darcy... But she's really good at the game anyway somehow and beats me. Fun game though.
 
Diakonov

Diakonov

I've been considering Twilight Struggle because I need another good 2-player game (my friend refuses to play magic), and it has occupied the number 1 spot on boardgamegeek for some time now. Anyone have any experience with that one?
 
Aston

Aston

I've played it once and I enjoyed it. When we played it did take a long time, maybe 5 hours, but we were both playing for the first time so I think with experience you could get it down to 2-3 hours. Really want to play again.
 
Jonas

Jonas

Twilight struggle is very good, but if someone figures out a tactic that the other player manages to not spot, the game can be over very fast. Such a good game though, can't recommend it enough.
 
notATrueEnd

notATrueEnd

BattleCON is probably my favorite game besides Magic (maybe even including Magic).
It feels like there's always a strong amount of depth to your decision-making, and there's a wide selection of characters to choose from (and they all play quite differently).

The game rewards learning your character and knowing matchups, so AP becomes less of an issue the more you play, but that does mean you kind of need a dedicated playgroup (or at least one partner) to play against.
Also, the game tends to wear us out after a while, not because it's boring, but because of the intensity.

Since I didn't see a mention of it in this thread yet, I thought I would jump on my soapbox for a bit.

A note on the different editions of the game:
War, Devastation, and Fate (not out yet) are all stand-alone, featuring different characters, and they all integrate with each other.
War got a recent re-issue with balance changes and new, standardized art to match the newer editions.
 
FlowerSunRain

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
Damnit Splotter! I just dropped way too much money on their new game. As my game collection has grown I've grown way more cynical about picking up new titles, but Splotter's competitive strategy games are usually amazing, so I did it. As much as I love Indonesia, I never play it because its just too much "work". Hopefully this game is close the level of bookkeeping/playtime that The Great Zimbabwe is, that one pretty much has it down perfectly.

pic2649434.png
 
FlowerSunRain

FlowerSunRain

Contributor
God, the companies in the game are all references to old splotter games, that is so sweet. If the 5th company sells Siap Faji I will squeal like a pre-teen at a One Direction concert.
 
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