http://www.coolstuffinc.com/ has some awesome prices on board games but I need to spend $100 to get free shipping. But, there have been a lot of games I've been willing to get. So will probably pick up Carcassonne, Summoner Wars, Dominion: Intrige, and Eminent Domain. All those will come to $105. Which is $17 under amazon and some ridiculous number under MSRP.
http://www.coolstuffinc.com/ has some awesome prices on board games but I need to spend $100 to get free shipping. But, there have been a lot of games I've been willing to get. So will probably pick up Carcassonne, Summoner Wars, Dominion: Intrige, and Eminent Domain. All those will come to $105. Which is $17 under amazon and some ridiculous number under MSRP.
Check out Sci-Fi City. Their stock can be a bit spotty (they don't carry Summoner Wars, for instance) and the site isn't great to browse, but I've found their prices to be really competitive. I've done one big order through them and I had no problems.
My little trade-fest is going rather well, although this last one wasn't even proposed by me. Mayfair had sent me this pack of two expansion board for Steam, which I don't even have the base game for (nor have I ever played it). The thing sat on my trade list for a year and I thought it would never move, but someone just asked me to trade it for Core Worlds, a promising-looking deckbuilding game from Stronghold Games.
http://www.coolstuffinc.com/ has some awesome prices on board games but I need to spend $100 to get free shipping. But, there have been a lot of games I've been willing to get. So will probably pick up Carcassonne, Summoner Wars, Dominion: Intrige, and Eminent Domain. All those will come to $105. Which is $17 under amazon and some ridiculous number under MSRP.
Check out Sci-Fi City. Their stock can be a bit spotty (they don't carry Summoner Wars, for instance) and the site isn't great to browse, but I've found their prices to be really competitive. I've done one big order through them and I had no problems.
My little trade-fest is going rather well, although this last one wasn't even proposed by me. Mayfair had sent me this pack of two expansion board for Steam, which I don't even have the base game for (nor have I ever played it). The thing sat on my trade list for a year and I thought it would never move, but someone just asked me to trade it for Core Worlds, a promising-looking deckbuilding game from Stronghold Games.
Core Worlds is a great game. It's the first game that I would really call a Deckbuilding 2.0 game (depending on whether or not you really consider Eminent Domain to be a deckbuilding game). Great mechanics, gorgeous artwork, and a lot of fun. My gaming group has pretty much abandoned Eminent Domain in favor of Core Worlds. Personally, I like it more than Race for the Galaxy as well, but those games are different enough both are still enjoyable.
I have a nice list of people whose opinions I value b/c they tend to line up with my tastes, but for the life of me, everyone seems to be split on Race for the Galaxy and Eminent Domain.
I have a nice list of people whose opinions I value b/c they tend to line up with my tastes, but for the life of me, everyone seems to be split on Race for the Galaxy and Eminent Domain.
Race for the Galaxy is fun, but the symbology is a hurdle. It can also get a bit random. Eminent Domain is ok, but not as good as Race for the Galaxy. Still, I wouldn't mind playing more Eminent Domain because I haven't played it to death yet.
Race for the Galaxy's main problem is that it has very little interaction between players. Basically it's a multiplayer solitaire race to finish (i.e. very much in line with it's name).
Race for the Galaxy's main problem is that it has very little interaction between players. Basically it's a multiplayer solitaire race to finish (i.e. very much in line with it's name).
Not entirely true. An important aspect of the game is the ability to read people, to follow their strategy, and choosing your action based on what you assume the other players will choose. There is also the lesser strategy that is similar to 7 Wonders where you decide when to burn cards that other players might need. If I know a shuffle is coming up and I have excess cards, I'll hold onto a card I know another player needs in order to prevent them from getting it.
Made a trip to Dragons Lair last night. I always thought the place was primarily a comic book shop with lean on CCG and miniature wargames. But there was a surprising large section of Euro board games. More so than another shop I regularly go to. My cousin had been at the shop earlier that day and 7 wonders had got recommended to him. He went back home and did some research online. Read the reviews on Boardgame geek and we listened to some of the Geeknight episode on it. He was sold on the game and we went back that night to buy it. I also picked up the tower expansion for Carcassonne.
The 7 wonders match we had was mostly just a learn how to play match. On the first age we forgot to play the military conflict phase. And there was a lot of what is this symbol for moments. But overall I had fun playing it. I did really well on the Carcassonne Tower match. My cousin for most of the match kept taking his wife's meeples every chance he got. I took the strategy of completing small roads and castles thereby avoiding my meeples getting taking prisoner. I snatching up the bigger castles from my cousin and his wife.
Mmmmm more Small World is coming! I can never get enough of this board game. Big new expansion is focused around new maps to play on. It's a box of hexes that each have 3 territories printed on them, so you pick a few and assemble your own Small World map, Catan-style. From the press release it looks like there will be scenarios you can set up and play using these new map tiles, or you can just go random and make your own.
Well they need to hurry up. I'm sad that the one iOS/Android game at PAX, Word Fighter, is still having issues and delays on being released. They finally updated recently, but I'm not holding my breath.
I'll definitely be checking out the iOS games at the Expo Hall this year.
No. The company definitely has big-time plans for digital gaming, they just won't ever say what.
I am still waiting for someone to completely abandon the limitations of cardboard yet stay true to the ideals of german style board games. To go into that great middle ground between five player Caylus / Puerto Rico and turn based strategy games on the PC.
Power Grid is a good example of a game with mechanics that could scale very well to large numbers of players, simultaneous action games like 7 Wonders even more so.
32 Player RoboRally on a single 12x12 grid!!!
And that's only using existing games. There are lots and lots of game mechanics that are not used in current board games, not because they are bad mechanics, but because they are cumbersome / impossible to implement physically.
And that's only using existing games. There are lots and lots of game mechanics that are not used in current board games, not because they are bad mechanics, but because they are cumbersome / impossible to implement physically.
It takes deep discipline to step beyond the physical constraints and not give in to inelegant complexity. The biggest strength of board games is the hard limit on the constructs presented to players, requiring increasing elegance as complexity increases lest the physical aspects become unmanageable. The cube abstractions in Eclipse are a thing of beauty.
I agree with you, but worry that few game designers are up to the challenge of giving up the constraints that guide them to elegance without giving in to the lure of arbitrary complexity.
And that's only using existing games. There are lots and lots of game mechanics that are not used in current board games, not because they are bad mechanics, but because they are cumbersome / impossible to implement physically.
It takes deep discipline to step beyond the physical constraints and not give in to inelegant complexity. The biggest strength of board games is the hard limit on the constructs presented to players, requiring increasing elegance as complexity increases lest the physical aspects become unmanageable. The cube abstractions in Eclipse are a thing of beauty.
I agree with you, but worry that few game designers are up to the challenge of giving up the constraints that guide them to elegance without giving in to the lure of arbitrary complexity.
I've been saying (and daydreaming about) "electronic strategy games" for a while now. Never really took into account the lack of design boundaries, though, and I do find that very intriguing. I'm amazed more people aren't pursuing this now, but I also predict tabletop role playing games to explore this route first, since mechanics are not absolutely vital to an excellent RPG experience. Although, then the problem becomes maintaining immersion while allowing people to tinker on their cell phones/computers.
Also, I totally misread RoboRally as Ricochet Robots, and thought "Wait, this can totally be done at a convention with a projector and some rule modifications..."
Just got decimated in a game of Eclipse. One early strategic misstep and the rest of the game was spent doing minor harrasment incursions with no real chance at anything other than survival. 5 players (one first timer) 4.5 hours, points 13, 20, 32, 44, 46.
Also Great Hall Games and Dragons Lair have game rooms that board gamers can use. Great Hall Games game room is free to use as far as I know I'm not sure if you have to put any money down to use Dragons Lair game room.
I played a few games of it so far, I'm enjoying it. They seem to have done a good job setting up multiple paths to victory that frequently result in very close scores.
You Austin, TX gamers should follow Fireside Games and Steve Jackson Games employees on Twitter. Both of those companies are headquartered in your town, and I know I've seen them talk about local game groups, cons, and playtest groups before.
Also, if you drive up to Dallas, you can go to BGG.con: http://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/BGG_CON_2012. Pre-reg starts Monday and sells out VERY fast. They cap it at like 1,500 to keep it a small-feel open gaming event. It runs in November, so they also have people who bring over all of the big Essen releases that won't show up here until the summer.
One of the games I recently traded for was Stone Age. My wife and I game with a few couples who enjoy a nerdy board game, but are not "full blown boardgamers." For instance, they've played and enjoyed Ticket to Ride, Zooloretto, etc, but they've never played a true worker placement game.
Stone Age is supposed to be the easily-digestible intro to that type of game, and it worked! They had a good time. Will play through it a few times over the next few months before I launch operation Agricola.
Played Ad Astra for the first time at last night's game night. I thought it was a really cool space-themed Euro. It's pretty standard "collect resources, spend them to build things that reward on a sliding scale of extra abilities/pure victory points" but the way actions play out is very Robo Rally-ish, and that hits a sweet spot for me.
Every action in the game is card driven, and players have to plan out 3 card's worth of actions at once. You also get to piggyback some off of other player's cards, so in a 5 player game, you resolve 15 cards worth of actions before you have a chance to plot out your strategy again.
The other twist is that the resource generating spots are mysteries, and you have to fly your ships around to different solar systems, where you'll get to peek at all the planets and pick which one you want to land/build on.
Did you ever want to meet up sometime to play some Board Games, Josh?
I would be down for that. I'm free on the weekends. I'm thinking we could either set up a game at either Dragonslair or Great Hall games. Let me know what you think.
Comments
My little trade-fest is going rather well, although this last one wasn't even proposed by me. Mayfair had sent me this pack of two expansion board for Steam, which I don't even have the base game for (nor have I ever played it). The thing sat on my trade list for a year and I thought it would never move, but someone just asked me to trade it for Core Worlds, a promising-looking deckbuilding game from Stronghold Games.
The 7 wonders match we had was mostly just a learn how to play match. On the first age we forgot to play the military conflict phase. And there was a lot of what is this symbol for moments. But overall I had fun playing it. I did really well on the Carcassonne Tower match. My cousin for most of the match kept taking his wife's meeples every chance he got. I took the strategy of completing small roads and castles thereby avoiding my meeples getting taking prisoner. I snatching up the bigger castles from my cousin and his wife.
I'll definitely be checking out the iOS games at the Expo Hall this year.
Power Grid is a good example of a game with mechanics that could scale very well to large numbers of players, simultaneous action games like 7 Wonders even more so.
32 Player RoboRally on a single 12x12 grid!!!
And that's only using existing games. There are lots and lots of game mechanics that are not used in current board games, not because they are bad mechanics, but because they are cumbersome / impossible to implement physically.
I agree with you, but worry that few game designers are up to the challenge of giving up the constraints that guide them to elegance without giving in to the lure of arbitrary complexity.
Also, I totally misread RoboRally as Ricochet Robots, and thought "Wait, this can totally be done at a convention with a projector and some rule modifications..."
You live in Austin? I was pretty sure nobody on this forum lived in Texas let alone Austin.
http://www.meetup.com/Central-Texas-Boardgames/
http://www.meetup.com/Boards-and-Brews/
and there was even a board game convention last year and it looks like there will be another this year.
http://boardgamebash.com/
Also Great Hall Games and Dragons Lair have game rooms that board gamers can use. Great Hall Games game room is free to use as far as I know I'm not sure if you have to put any money down to use Dragons Lair game room.
http://www.greathallgames.com/
http://dlair.net/
I played a few games of it so far, I'm enjoying it. They seem to have done a good job setting up multiple paths to victory that frequently result in very close scores.
Also, if you drive up to Dallas, you can go to BGG.con: http://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/BGG_CON_2012. Pre-reg starts Monday and sells out VERY fast. They cap it at like 1,500 to keep it a small-feel open gaming event. It runs in November, so they also have people who bring over all of the big Essen releases that won't show up here until the summer.
Stone Age is supposed to be the easily-digestible intro to that type of game, and it worked! They had a good time. Will play through it a few times over the next few months before I launch operation Agricola.
Every action in the game is card driven, and players have to plan out 3 card's worth of actions at once. You also get to piggyback some off of other player's cards, so in a 5 player game, you resolve 15 cards worth of actions before you have a chance to plot out your strategy again.
The other twist is that the resource generating spots are mysteries, and you have to fly your ships around to different solar systems, where you'll get to peek at all the planets and pick which one you want to land/build on.