Covering a bit of the week before PAX, because I missed it before.
Collection Played in 2016: 83%. 30 games to go. Trade Pile: BANG! The Dice Game, Tally Ho! Games added: Palaces of Carrara, Domus Domini, Wolf & Hound, Elk Fest, Familiar's Trouble, Fields of Arle
Tail Feathers(new to me) - This has a cute theme, although it's a kind of game I don't particularly enjoy (tabletop miniature skirmish). The campaign rules could drive more play.
Palaces of Carrara(new to me) - Game one from the Miniature Market import order. Somehow in the past year we ended up with five Kramer and/or Kiesling games without even trying (6 Nimmt!, Vikings, Linko!, Coal Baron, and Palaces of Carrara)
Domus Domini(new to me) - Game two from the Miniature Market import order. Less sure about this one, I'll have to play again. The interaction is Power Grid-like (sandbag yourself for better position next turn). Will have to play again.
Hawaii - Somehow we haven't played this since Anthony moved in this year. Can't think of any other game that does action selection like this, and uniqueness counts for a lot when there are plenty of equally-enjoyable games.
Star Realms - I practically play this on autopilot, but it's like comfort food. A grilled cheese card game. I also find the giant stack of cheap, thin cards oddly enjoyable to shuffle.
Fight for Olympus(new to me) - Inoffensive 2p. It's Roma but... less annoying. Less personality, too.
Abyss(new to me) - Good, except for the surprisingly slow early game. It could have been a group fit of Analysis Paralysis causing this, however.
Thurn and Taxis - It's been a while since I've been completely destroyed by an experienced player in a game I thought I understood. I love knowing there's more to learn about a game...
Fresh Fish - It's been a long time since I've played, and I've somehow gotten better at reading the board and making decisions in the meantime. I placed an exactly-correct bid three times, and ended with a score of 5.
Aladdin's Dragons - I've never seen so many people unable to purchase tiles in round 1. Crazy things can happen once people get magic cards, but this was a series of cascading unassisted mistakes.
XCOM - As Anthony pointed out, this is my favorite Eric Lang game. Which has little to do with my love of XCOM, and more to do with my disinterest in CCGs that aren't Netrunner.
Le Havre - Anyone who says you shouldn't start a game of Le Havre, teaching three new players at midnight hasn't been to Matt's extra life event. This went over surprisingly well, although it meant driving home at 3AM.
KLASK(new to me) - Fine dexterity game, although I wasn't in a hurry to take the thing home when Matt tried to give it away. (Corollary: I did end up with a free copy of Elk Fest, which we played, enjoyed, and immediately put in the trade pile)
Junk Art(new to me) - A 2p game with Anthony to learn the game. As good an excuse to play with blocks as you have ever seen.
Fields of Arle(new to me) - Another game with Anthony on Tuesday, which passes my "Race for the Galaxy" test. When I first played Race for the Galaxy, I didn't know what to think. Then I thought about it for a few weeks, read about it, played it more, and enjoyed it more with each subsequent play. Now if I am lost and a little confused the first time I play a game, I'm always excited to see if I'm still thinking about it the next day.
On one hand, part of the joy of Eclipse is playing it so rarely, in person, as a big event.
On the other hand, if we play it online we:
1. Actually get good 2. Play it more often 3. Learn the rules completely
Overwatch means I've been hanging out with people on a regular basis playing games, and the Civ V games have been successful. I think this game will be the same, so I'm in.
Looks like the BGG thread has some info. He still doesn't have tech show before you pick races. I'll still buy it and play. Honestly have not played the base game in a while, as my group prefers a lot of the expansions.
Ok, since Rym is handling the Civ, I will handle the Eclipse.
The nice thing about Eclipse is that its slightly shorter than the tabletop version (no setup/teardown time) so you can play a complete game in an evening, as opposed to Civ.
No clue. Been a while since I played the IOS version, what did they screw up?
The single biggest screw up in the original release was the bankruptcy rules paid you for planets even after you picked up the hexes which resulted in the optimal strategy being to expand to your maximum than bankrupt out and collect all the profits from it.
It looks like at least one other bug is still there that you don't do player setup/turn order/selection properly. Usually you see the tech board then draft races in the opposite of turn order. Since you know what techs are out you know which races should be prioritized. This has even bigger impact as you get into expansion content, but it could even matter in the base game depending on how many improved hulls pop up or the extra disk if you were hydran or any other race that could make that happen early.
Someone else pointed out on reddit that one of the more subtle nuances of the influence action was missed by the designers of the app version. Not a huge deal, as the influence action is already one of the least used actions, but you can't move an influence disk from one tile on the board to another tile on the board which is considered a legal move in the board game. It's not a huge deal 90% of the time, but there were occasionally reasons to do this (one being abusing the white planet resource shuffling which was pretty rarely a good idea itself).
Played a vs 5 normal ai game. It mostly works. I was a little bit confused with the interface, like I couldn't tell who had passed already which was kinda important to some of my decisions. It's probably in there, but I'm not sure what signifies it. Also all the ais wanted to go missle boats and monoliths it seemed like, so I just went faster missile boats and took their monoliths.
I'm curious, Steam claims that it is cross-platform, does that also include the iOS version? Rather doubt it, but if I don't have to buy it again, that'd be ideal. I'd play it a lot more with others if it was since I just don't spend that much time on PC compared to other screens.
EDIT: According to official website they are using GameSparks, so yes, PCs can play with mobile. Huzzah!
One online game is going normal but in another one after I finished my turn it treated it like two of us had "left" and the guy who was playing planta (and had a 6 point lead after the first action cause territory) won? I'm confused what's up with that.
I'm completely confident I'll have played every game I own by the end of the year, maybe even by Thanksgiving. The only game that might be challenging is Shadow Hunters - finding a large enough group of adults interested in spending 30 minutes on Shadow Hunters has proven surprisingly difficult this year. I'm also still waiting on some preorders and imports arriving around Essen in October; 1846, Indonesia, Power Grid: The Card Game, and Helmut Ohley's Russian Railroads (-ish) card game.
Collection Played in 2016: 87%. 22 games to go. Trade Pile: 504. Games added: Terraforming Mars
Puerto Rico - A few people at the store don't enjoy 5p Puerto Rico, but it never bothered me. For one, people actually build the construction hut.
Junk Art - A big collection of block-stacking mini-games. I've made it my goal to create the least-stable, most-hubris structure every game. It even worked once.
Familiar's Trouble(new to me) - Another card game from the designer of Wolf & Hound, which is actually amazing. "Cooperative trick-taking game" sounds like such a mutant idea, but it works incredibly well.
Take the "A" Chord(new to me) - As far as trick taking games I have played, this may be the one that feels the least like a trick-taking game, while still unquestionably being a trick-taking game. Consider me intrigued, and a bit baffled.
Terraforming Mars(new to me) - I did not find Terraforming Mars to run overly long, as some others have; about 90 minutes to play six rounds before triggering the game end. We used the basic rules, and in the first play I enjoyed the process of creating card synergies and claiming areas of the board.
Santiago(new to me) - This one has been sitting around unplayed for nearly two years, and I wish I had played it sooner. There's a tiny bit of overlap with Fresh Fish (auctions, blocking), but I get the same feeling from Santiago. The board also looks really nice at the end of the game.
Power Grid: the First Sparks - I have now seen a player eliminate themselves at the second Power Plant auction by going broke with an income of 0 dollars. The fact that this can happen only increases my opinion of this game... give me another year and I might actually prefer this to Power Grid.
Codex: Card-Time Strategy - I tried to suggest we split into two 1v1 games, but we settled on a multiplayer free-for-all, which felt like a (slower) version of Commander Magic (slowness mostly due to no one being familiar with any of the cards, multiplied across four players). The game itself is actually quite good, and it is full of clever design ideas that incorporate Dominion (which I love) and Mage Wars (which I only played once and have no desire to return to), but it really whetted my appetite for...
Magic: the Gathering - Commander. Anthony and I have been playing 2p for the past few days, and I'd love to play more 3-4 player Commander games... as long as they're not with the normal M:tG crowd at the store. I've heard Commander compared to Cosmic Encounter, which rings incredibly true (for me). I love playing multiplayer Commander for exactly the same reasons that I love Cosmic Encounter. I really do miss being able to call it "EDH," though.
Have you ever played the old star format of magic? 5 players sit in a star with uni-color decks. You win if the two players opposite you are eliminated.
I haven't played Magic in many years, but I had an idea for a Tag Team variation that I never got to try out.
The idea is that you have teams of two people, but the game is played one-on-one, where each team has one 'active' player and one 'inactive' player. Each player has their own library, graveyard, hand, and life total, but everything in the play area is shared (Creatures, Artifacts, Enchantments, Mana, Etc.). The inactive player or his library, graveyard, hand, or life total cannot be affected in any way. You play as a normal 1v1 game of Magic, but at the beginning of your turn, you can choose to 'tag' your partner in - where the active and inactive player switch places, and the new active player has access to the team's playing field. So you may wait 3 turns to tag in for the first time, so you come in without ever having played a card from your own deck, but you already have up to 3 mana and maybe some creatures available to you. The strategy of when to most optimally tag your partner, and building a pair of decks that work well in conjunction with each other would be interesting (do you use same colors so that you can come in with a lot of options, or do you use different colors for varying combos?).
I don't know if things have changed enough since 4th-5th Edition that would make this not viable, and I haven't playtested it so I'm sure there are problems that would break the game, but trying this is really the only reason I'd go back to play Magic again.
Have you ever played the old star format of magic? 5 players sit in a star with uni-color decks. You win if the two players opposite you are eliminated.
Never played Star, but I played some 2-Headed Giant and generic free-for-all games back before I played other tabletop games.
From the sounds of it, you could actually score a joint victory in Star by eliminating 2-3 people at once. :P
At some point very recently, the designers realized the potential in designing specifically for multiplayer, and now there are cards which create... very interesting interactions. Only downside being that Magic is still expensive relative to any other single game I own.
Played a few games this weekend. The new one was this game called Lifeboat. I sorta like this game, but it's tough to recommend based on the random nature of the game. There is A LOT of unpredictability in the game and it seems to be more about trying to accomplish your goals while fighting the random element. A lot of the actions in the game tend to put you at risk of losing which almost seems like its better to do nothing, but not progressing the game as fast as possible ends up fucking you over a lot too. Then your survival in general is based on trying work together and against the other players. There's this "love/hate" mechanic (also random) which largely dictates the rest of this behavior.
I should also mention some of the rules are pretty poorly written.
Funagain is running an Essen mule service - you place a preorder with them, and they will buy and ship the games from Essen. I have 9 games on preorder... games with smaller print runs. Not so I can get them faster, but so I have a chance of getting them at all. Now it's only a question of how many I end up enjoying enough to keep.
Funagain is running an Essen mule service - you place a preorder with them, and they will buy and ship the games from Essen. I have 9 games on preorder... games with smaller print runs. Not so I can get them faster, but so I have a chance of getting them at all. Now it's only a question of how many I end up enjoying enough to keep.
Comments
Collection Played in 2016: 83%. 30 games to go. Trade Pile: BANG! The Dice Game, Tally Ho! Games added: Palaces of Carrara, Domus Domini, Wolf & Hound, Elk Fest, Familiar's Trouble, Fields of Arle
Tail Feathers (new to me) - This has a cute theme, although it's a kind of game I don't particularly enjoy (tabletop miniature skirmish). The campaign rules could drive more play.
Palaces of Carrara (new to me) - Game one from the Miniature Market import order. Somehow in the past year we ended up with five Kramer and/or Kiesling games without even trying (6 Nimmt!, Vikings, Linko!, Coal Baron, and Palaces of Carrara)
Domus Domini (new to me) - Game two from the Miniature Market import order. Less sure about this one, I'll have to play again. The interaction is Power Grid-like (sandbag yourself for better position next turn). Will have to play again.
Hawaii - Somehow we haven't played this since Anthony moved in this year. Can't think of any other game that does action selection like this, and uniqueness counts for a lot when there are plenty of equally-enjoyable games.
Star Realms - I practically play this on autopilot, but it's like comfort food. A grilled cheese card game. I also find the giant stack of cheap, thin cards oddly enjoyable to shuffle.
Fight for Olympus (new to me) - Inoffensive 2p. It's Roma but... less annoying. Less personality, too.
Abyss (new to me) - Good, except for the surprisingly slow early game. It could have been a group fit of Analysis Paralysis causing this, however.
Thurn and Taxis - It's been a while since I've been completely destroyed by an experienced player in a game I thought I understood. I love knowing there's more to learn about a game...
Fresh Fish - It's been a long time since I've played, and I've somehow gotten better at reading the board and making decisions in the meantime. I placed an exactly-correct bid three times, and ended with a score of 5.
Aladdin's Dragons - I've never seen so many people unable to purchase tiles in round 1. Crazy things can happen once people get magic cards, but this was a series of cascading unassisted mistakes.
XCOM - As Anthony pointed out, this is my favorite Eric Lang game. Which has little to do with my love of XCOM, and more to do with my disinterest in CCGs that aren't Netrunner.
Le Havre - Anyone who says you shouldn't start a game of Le Havre, teaching three new players at midnight hasn't been to Matt's extra life event. This went over surprisingly well, although it meant driving home at 3AM.
KLASK (new to me) - Fine dexterity game, although I wasn't in a hurry to take the thing home when Matt tried to give it away. (Corollary: I did end up with a free copy of Elk Fest, which we played, enjoyed, and immediately put in the trade pile)
Junk Art (new to me) - A 2p game with Anthony to learn the game. As good an excuse to play with blocks as you have ever seen.
Fields of Arle (new to me) - Another game with Anthony on Tuesday, which passes my "Race for the Galaxy" test. When I first played Race for the Galaxy, I didn't know what to think. Then I thought about it for a few weeks, read about it, played it more, and enjoyed it more with each subsequent play. Now if I am lost and a little confused the first time I play a game, I'm always excited to see if I'm still thinking about it the next day.
Do we have enough people committed to playing it, or should I just not buy it?
http://store.steampowered.com/app/522030/
On the other hand, if we play it online we:
1. Actually get good
2. Play it more often
3. Learn the rules completely
Overwatch means I've been hanging out with people on a regular basis playing games, and the Civ V games have been successful. I think this game will be the same, so I'm in.
It's just the base game so the max number of players is 6. Hopefully this means they'll get around to the expansions at some point.
This is a definite buy for me.
It looks like at least one other bug is still there that you don't do player setup/turn order/selection properly. Usually you see the tech board then draft races in the opposite of turn order. Since you know what techs are out you know which races should be prioritized. This has even bigger impact as you get into expansion content, but it could even matter in the base game depending on how many improved hulls pop up or the extra disk if you were hydran or any other race that could make that happen early.
Either way, http://steamcommunity.com/id/ShatteredLightbulb/ when you guys want to schedule a game.
EDIT: According to official website they are using GameSparks, so yes, PCs can play with mobile. Huzzah!
40th anniversary box art, same 1970s style components.
Collection Played in 2016: 87%. 22 games to go. Trade Pile: 504. Games added: Terraforming Mars
Puerto Rico - A few people at the store don't enjoy 5p Puerto Rico, but it never bothered me. For one, people actually build the construction hut.
Junk Art - A big collection of block-stacking mini-games. I've made it my goal to create the least-stable, most-hubris structure every game. It even worked once.
Familiar's Trouble (new to me) - Another card game from the designer of Wolf & Hound, which is actually amazing. "Cooperative trick-taking game" sounds like such a mutant idea, but it works incredibly well.
Take the "A" Chord (new to me) - As far as trick taking games I have played, this may be the one that feels the least like a trick-taking game, while still unquestionably being a trick-taking game. Consider me intrigued, and a bit baffled.
Terraforming Mars (new to me) - I did not find Terraforming Mars to run overly long, as some others have; about 90 minutes to play six rounds before triggering the game end. We used the basic rules, and in the first play I enjoyed the process of creating card synergies and claiming areas of the board.
Too Many Cinderellas - An historic first; we made the cat Cinderella!
Santiago (new to me) - This one has been sitting around unplayed for nearly two years, and I wish I had played it sooner. There's a tiny bit of overlap with Fresh Fish (auctions, blocking), but I get the same feeling from Santiago. The board also looks really nice at the end of the game.
Power Grid: the First Sparks - I have now seen a player eliminate themselves at the second Power Plant auction by going broke with an income of 0 dollars. The fact that this can happen only increases my opinion of this game... give me another year and I might actually prefer this to Power Grid.
Codex: Card-Time Strategy - I tried to suggest we split into two 1v1 games, but we settled on a multiplayer free-for-all, which felt like a (slower) version of Commander Magic (slowness mostly due to no one being familiar with any of the cards, multiplied across four players). The game itself is actually quite good, and it is full of clever design ideas that incorporate Dominion (which I love) and Mage Wars (which I only played once and have no desire to return to), but it really whetted my appetite for...
Magic: the Gathering - Commander. Anthony and I have been playing 2p for the past few days, and I'd love to play more 3-4 player Commander games... as long as they're not with the normal M:tG crowd at the store. I've heard Commander compared to Cosmic Encounter, which rings incredibly true (for me). I love playing multiplayer Commander for exactly the same reasons that I love Cosmic Encounter. I really do miss being able to call it "EDH," though.
The idea is that you have teams of two people, but the game is played one-on-one, where each team has one 'active' player and one 'inactive' player. Each player has their own library, graveyard, hand, and life total, but everything in the play area is shared (Creatures, Artifacts, Enchantments, Mana, Etc.). The inactive player or his library, graveyard, hand, or life total cannot be affected in any way. You play as a normal 1v1 game of Magic, but at the beginning of your turn, you can choose to 'tag' your partner in - where the active and inactive player switch places, and the new active player has access to the team's playing field. So you may wait 3 turns to tag in for the first time, so you come in without ever having played a card from your own deck, but you already have up to 3 mana and maybe some creatures available to you. The strategy of when to most optimally tag your partner, and building a pair of decks that work well in conjunction with each other would be interesting (do you use same colors so that you can come in with a lot of options, or do you use different colors for varying combos?).
I don't know if things have changed enough since 4th-5th Edition that would make this not viable, and I haven't playtested it so I'm sure there are problems that would break the game, but trying this is really the only reason I'd go back to play Magic again.
From the sounds of it, you could actually score a joint victory in Star by eliminating 2-3 people at once. :P
At some point very recently, the designers realized the potential in designing specifically for multiplayer, and now there are cards which create... very interesting interactions. Only downside being that Magic is still expensive relative to any other single game I own.
I should also mention some of the rules are pretty poorly written.
https://www.funagain.com/control/product?product_id=036971
We have Eclipse, so whyyyyyyy?