Having a chat with publisher about idea for reprint of Fast Food Franchise. It's been looked at, but deemed antiquated and terrible for a modern audience.
Having a chat with publisher about idea for reprint of Fast Food Franchise. It's been looked at, but deemed antiquated and terrible for a modern audience.
Been playing all sorts of fun new stuff with Pence and co.
A Feast for Odin - I'm not sure how much bigger Uwe Rosenberg's big box games can get, but this is definitely my favorite of the bunch. The sheer amount of options doesn't feels far more liberating than overwhelming.
Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition - I never played the first edition of this game, but I'm pretty enamored with this one. It's a fun, spookily-themed romp and the app integration is wonderful.
T.I.M.E. Stories - I've been interested in this one ever since it came out, but held out on picking it up until I had some FLGS credit with which to buy it. This one feels more like an RPG-lite PC adventure game you play with your group of friends, and I'm pretty stoked for our next session.
4 Gods - Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 5, 4 Gods! A real-time tile placement game where people accidentally placed too many illegal tiles. I had fun, but the babysitting from passerby watching us play made me pretty anxious. Perhaps the players could be incentivized to play at a more careful pace if we really stick to the penalty rules.
Patchistory - One of the strangest civilization games I've ever played. A bit similar to Through the Ages with regards to how action points are handled, but the way players build out their civilizations on a HISTORY QUILT is pretty intriguing and fun.
America - Friedemann Friese's third trivia game, and one that's far more breezy and fun than other games of its ilk that I've played.
Covert - A neat dice-placement game where players move their teams of spies around a map and collect intel to complete missions for major pointage. It's quite puzzle-y and I enjoy it quite a bit, but I see it being a little difficult to bring to the table frequently.
Having a chat with publisher about idea for reprint of Fast Food Franchise. It's been looked at, but deemed antiquated and terrible for a modern audience.
The modern audience isn't prepared to roll, let alone move.
Been playing all sorts of fun new stuff with Pence and co.
So far, I've played two Essen games (not counting Terraforming Mars, since I've had it for a month). I'm on the fence about 4 Gods, but I'm definitely keeping A Feast For Odin. Look at how Uwe Rosenberg this game is:
I just picked up SeaFall and I'm trying to put together a dedicated group to play that.
My Pandemic Legacy group looked at several SeaFall reviews, none of which made it sound very good. We're passing on it.
While we were halfway through PL, though, one player bought Risk Legacy. We all hate Risk, but the Legacy aspect was so engaging that we're going play it next anyway. BGG says best with 5 players, so we might need to recruit more players.
It's been over a month since I posted about games. Instead of running down everything I played for the past week, how about all the new-to-me games from the last month?
A Feast for Odin is my favorite new Essen release... among those that I've been able to play. First Class: Unterwegs im Orient Express is also highly enjoyable, borrowing most of the scoring mechanisms of Russian Railroads and the action economy of Grand Austria Hotel, which are both favorites.
Runners-up are Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition, T.I.M.E Stories, Colony, Targi, and Gads Hill 1874. Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition and T.I.M.E Stories are both incredibly polished RPG-hybrids. I enjoy Mansions of Madness much more than the 1st Edition. Colony is Bezier's reworking of Age of Craft, but it is different enough that they don't replace one another in my collection. I prefer Age of Craft with four players, but Colony plays well with two. My rating is uncharacteristically higher than the BGG average, which is also true of Bezier's 2015 game Favor of the Pharaoh. Targi is a nice two-player game. Gads Hill 1874 is absolutely unique, the closest thing I've played might be the cardplay in Tobago.
Oceanos started strong but further plays have been inconsistent. Gauner raus! is a deduction game that works for two players, but it has caused several different people to spend too-long deep in thought with four players... I still need to play with three.
Co-workers introduced me to a game I had heretofore avoided (BANG!) My one play did nothing to change my mind; I'd rather play the dice game, or better yet, Shadow Hunters.
My preorder of 1846 finally arrived last night. Here's Anthony and me at the beginning of phase III (we agreed to play to this point and stop, to get the game under our fingers):
Yeah, you can't convince me to play a game that has a rules binder. 1846 is pretty straightforward.
I think Battletech has beat out Advancd Squad Leader for rules:
In other news, shipnaked sucks at fulfillment. Don't honestly know when I'll be getting Tesla vs Edison at this point. I know they're at a warehouse in NH, but that's about it.
Says the person who thinks Yokohama is straightforward.
1846 is philosophically closer to Food Chain Magnate (detailed but intuitive rules, difficult look-ahead) than Yokohama (simple rules with exceptions, vague heuristics). I suspect 1846 contains fewer "oh shit" moments than Food Chain Magnate. The rules for train obsolescence are lenient compared to, say, 1830.
In the end, it's still a train game, and you can still go bankrupt. But you'd have to fuck up pretty badly.
I'm not sure if this is up someone here's alley or not. The Megaman Theme is being dropped into a game that's already got a lot of development into it.
I'm not sure if this is up someone here's alley or not. The Megaman Theme is being dropped into a game that's already got a lot of development into it.
How the fuck did that game actually get a MegaMan license? Capcom must really be done with it. We should make a real Mega Man game if they are licensing it so freely.
The graphic design of the Pixel Tactics series looks like utter shit, but I can assure you, it is a fun game.
Also: Jasco's name is still on there. They got the Mega Man board game license last year and put out a steamer. So it sounds like they are just sub-licensing to Level 99 Games.
The most fascinating part about 2006-era Geeknights episodes is hearing Rym describe crayon rails games as a super-hardcore board game experience.
"Railroad Tycoon isn't a capital-t Train Game... not the kind of hardcore game you play with crayons on a wet-erase board." I was legitimately expecting something involving stocks. If you don't know: the crayon rails games are lightweight (albeit lengthy) pick-up and deliver games with simple mechanisms. Although I can't fault anyone for thinking otherwise, because the boards are spartan and potentially intimidating.
Aside: On a long and winding Google journey today, I learned that Francis Tresham's 1829 board game inspired Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon PC game. The Railroad Tycoon name was later licensed to Eagle Games to publish a board game... based on Martin Wallace's Age of Steam. I love knowing that two games called Railroad Tycoon were inspired by unrelated economic train game designs.
Aside: On a long and winding Google journey today, I learned that Francis Tresham's 1829 board game inspired Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon PC game. The Railroad Tycoon name was later licensed to Eagle Games to publish a board game... based on Martin Wallace's Age of Steam. I love knowing that two games called Railroad Tycoon were inspired by unrelated economic train game designs.
Saw your post on board game geek. I was afraid that was the case, "Can't reuse Hex edges", is a pretty good rule of thumb.
Saw your post on board game geek. I was afraid that was the case, "Can't reuse Hex edges", is a pretty good rule of thumb.
Yeah - whenever I teach the game, that's the shorthand I'm going to use... but since a new player is drinking from the firehose, I don't think I'll lead with it.
Finally got to break out my 50th anniversary copy of Nuclear War last night.
We played two three player games. The first game I was out before I received a single turn (secret cards did me in) and I won the second game.
Starting population (think life counter) is random according to the rules but many house rule non-random starting population. We kept it random.
The two turn delay on played cards activating is a good mechanic as it represents how super powers can not turn on a dime. Once the general goes nuclear war remains in effect until someone goes out, because, no one ever ends a war until someone else is eliminated. Due to the death strike allowed to KO'd players once the war goes hot EVERYONE can lose.
Strategy is pretty simple. Play propaganda cards (peaceful ways of elimination) until the war turns hot. All the while play a deterrent card or two face up to keep the other players from attacking you.
For example I had a Saturn missile and an anti-missle system card face up in one game. The Saturn can carry the largest warhead and the anti-missle can cancel any attack. I was effectively telegraphing that I could both stop an attack and cause serious counterattack damage to anyone who messed with me.
It is not a strategic game, it relies more on luck of the draw and bluffing. It scales well and if I had to compare it to a modern game I would say Bang!
Comments
A Feast for Odin - I'm not sure how much bigger Uwe Rosenberg's big box games can get, but this is definitely my favorite of the bunch. The sheer amount of options doesn't feels far more liberating than overwhelming.
Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition - I never played the first edition of this game, but I'm pretty enamored with this one. It's a fun, spookily-themed romp and the app integration is wonderful.
T.I.M.E. Stories - I've been interested in this one ever since it came out, but held out on picking it up until I had some FLGS credit with which to buy it. This one feels more like an RPG-lite PC adventure game you play with your group of friends, and I'm pretty stoked for our next session.
4 Gods - Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 5, 4 Gods! A real-time tile placement game where people accidentally placed too many illegal tiles. I had fun, but the babysitting from passerby watching us play made me pretty anxious. Perhaps the players could be incentivized to play at a more careful pace if we really stick to the penalty rules.
Patchistory - One of the strangest civilization games I've ever played. A bit similar to Through the Ages with regards to how action points are handled, but the way players build out their civilizations on a HISTORY QUILT is pretty intriguing and fun.
America - Friedemann Friese's third trivia game, and one that's far more breezy and fun than other games of its ilk that I've played.
Covert - A neat dice-placement game where players move their teams of spies around a map and collect intel to complete missions for major pointage. It's quite puzzle-y and I enjoy it quite a bit, but I see it being a little difficult to bring to the table frequently.
I just picked up SeaFall and I'm trying to put together a dedicated group to play that.
While we were halfway through PL, though, one player bought Risk Legacy. We all hate Risk, but the Legacy aspect was so engaging that we're going play it next anyway. BGG says best with 5 players, so we might need to recruit more players.
A Feast for Odin is my favorite new Essen release... among those that I've been able to play. First Class: Unterwegs im Orient Express is also highly enjoyable, borrowing most of the scoring mechanisms of Russian Railroads and the action economy of Grand Austria Hotel, which are both favorites.
Runners-up are Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition, T.I.M.E Stories, Colony, Targi, and Gads Hill 1874. Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition and T.I.M.E Stories are both incredibly polished RPG-hybrids. I enjoy Mansions of Madness much more than the 1st Edition. Colony is Bezier's reworking of Age of Craft, but it is different enough that they don't replace one another in my collection. I prefer Age of Craft with four players, but Colony plays well with two. My rating is uncharacteristically higher than the BGG average, which is also true of Bezier's 2015 game Favor of the Pharaoh. Targi is a nice two-player game. Gads Hill 1874 is absolutely unique, the closest thing I've played might be the cardplay in Tobago.
Oceanos started strong but further plays have been inconsistent. Gauner raus! is a deduction game that works for two players, but it has caused several different people to spend too-long deep in thought with four players... I still need to play with three.
Patchistory and Zombicide: Black Plague are OK. 4 Gods didn't quite work, but I'm going to give it another chance based on a misunderstood rule.
Co-workers introduced me to a game I had heretofore avoided (BANG!) My one play did nothing to change my mind; I'd rather play the dice game, or better yet, Shadow Hunters.
In other news, shipnaked sucks at fulfillment. Don't honestly know when I'll be getting Tesla vs Edison at this point. I know they're at a warehouse in NH, but that's about it.
Should we set up one game of it for MAGFest?.....
In the end, it's still a train game, and you can still go bankrupt. But you'd have to fuck up pretty badly.
I'm not sure if this is up someone here's alley or not. The Megaman Theme is being dropped into a game that's already got a lot of development into it.
Also: Jasco's name is still on there. They got the Mega Man board game license last year and put out a steamer. So it sounds like they are just sub-licensing to Level 99 Games.
"Railroad Tycoon isn't a capital-t Train Game... not the kind of hardcore game you play with crayons on a wet-erase board." I was legitimately expecting something involving stocks. If you don't know: the crayon rails games are lightweight (albeit lengthy) pick-up and deliver games with simple mechanisms. Although I can't fault anyone for thinking otherwise, because the boards are spartan and potentially intimidating.
Aside: On a long and winding Google journey today, I learned that Francis Tresham's 1829 board game inspired Sid Meier's Railroad Tycoon PC game. The Railroad Tycoon name was later licensed to Eagle Games to publish a board game... based on Martin Wallace's Age of Steam. I love knowing that two games called Railroad Tycoon were inspired by unrelated economic train game designs.
We played two three player games. The first game I was out before I received a single turn (secret cards did me in) and I won the second game.
Starting population (think life counter) is random according to the rules but many house rule non-random starting population. We kept it random.
The two turn delay on played cards activating is a good mechanic as it represents how super powers can not turn on a dime. Once the general goes nuclear war remains in effect until someone goes out, because, no one ever ends a war until someone else is eliminated. Due to the death strike allowed to KO'd players once the war goes hot EVERYONE can lose.
Strategy is pretty simple. Play propaganda cards (peaceful ways of elimination) until the war turns hot. All the while play a deterrent card or two face up to keep the other players from attacking you.
For example I had a Saturn missile and an anti-missle system card face up in one game. The Saturn can carry the largest warhead and the anti-missle can cancel any attack. I was effectively telegraphing that I could both stop an attack and cause serious counterattack damage to anyone who messed with me.
It is not a strategic game, it relies more on luck of the draw and bluffing. It scales well and if I had to compare it to a modern game I would say Bang!