So, in regard to Captains of Industry that I got to play yesterday.
As I have been given permission to talk about it in a limited fashion, I will have to leave some things vague until I'm given more freedom to speak.
It was readily apparent not only because of the production value but the incomplete rules and tip sheets that the game is still in very early stages of prototyping. One thing we did have going for us was the fact that all players at the table were extremely seasoned board game players so we intuitively grasped much of what the rules were intending to do. If they play on a release later this year, they'll have to get into turbo to get it polished enough to ship.
The game play itself is very simple with the game consisting of three ages and each age consisting of some number of turns (variable). Each player takes one action on their turn and that's all. Your options include:
- Building a new production facility (and paying any costs associated with the new facility)
- Producing goods from one of your existing production facilities. There is an optional rule where you can pay money to induce workers into overtime and double your production.
- Advancing yourself up the tech tree.
- Repricing an existing set of goods you already have on the board and drawing a captain card. Captain cards are essentially end of game VP scoring.
The game is a completely capitalistic economy game. Now, the big differentiator here from other games I've seen is that you never hold your resources. If you produce something, you place it out into the market and set a price. If you want to build things, you go to the marketplace for it. If you buy other players resources they score victory points. If you buy your own, you don't get the VP. So, be less efficient with your own turns or exploit others positions in the markets and hand out VP points? Hrmmmm.
It's an interesting dynamic to say to yourself, "Self, I really need stone so I'll make stone" only to have it be gone by the time your next turn rolls around.
I'm also not digging the existing mechanisms in place to drive the end of the ages. It's one thing and it's under essentially no ones control. I did offer a few suggestions on how to address that.
The game also has a rule where you can pay a high cost to get resources from the bank but you have to be in the market to use this rule. The first player in each age has no resources available (the market clears between the ages) so their options are..... produce or build a free facility. It's like a snowball rolling down a hill. The beginning is slow but once it's humming it's fine.
Overall, the game has a lot of potential. If you're a fan of economy based games with a very high degree of player interactions, Captains of Industry is your jam.
I've had the chance to plat Terra Mystica. It's very good indeed. The only negative take away I took from the game was that if you don't do what your civilization does and take it to 11? You've lost.
Power Grid: First Sparks - This is easily a simplified version of Power Grid with less of its complexity. I was able to determine the winner three turns ahead of the game ending and me and Pence went full on out to see if we could slow him down (the answer was no). Nice game to introduce the concept of Power Grid to lighter board gamer people, but a pass on owning.
Pence on his first game of Power Grid (Brazil Map) actually held his own against the top players. I had lady luck kick me in the balls and by turn two I know I was in for last place, however was able to go from dead last to almost making 5th to salvage a horrible start.
I got to play First Sparks and Power Grid for the first time, both six-player games. First Sparks gave me some false expectations for the first two rounds of Power Grid, since I was expecting my position on the map to matter more like the hunting grounds from First Sparks, and I was also expecting the auctions to proceed in turn order, but I did alright for no rules explanation. Shame we fell short of making it Friedemann Friese Friday, since we ran out of time for Copycat. Or we could have attempted a Power Grid flush with Factory Manager.
Saturday I taught Mage Knight to some new players, then finished with Puzzle Strike and Sentinels of the Multiverse. None of those are new games for me, but they're all games I enjoy a lot.
First Sparks gave me some false expectations for the first two rounds of Power Grid, since I was expecting my position on the map to matter more like the hunting grounds from First Sparks, and I was also expecting the auctions to proceed in turn order, but I did alright for no rules explanation.
It does however the severity of it varies on the map and what territory is eliminated. For a first game you did well.
An image of my new game. I have a P&P version available if anyone is interested. I am currently using a Stratego board for added durability for the play test version. I found that the pieces for the walls probably should be printed on standard paper instead of card stock to aid in folding, but the cards should either be printed on card stock, then sleeved, or reinforced with standard playing cards in the sleeves if printed on regular paper.
Played the new game Terra Mystica tonight. Great Euro game but there are so many things that are going on, and that you have to keep track of, that it really only clicked for me about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through the game. Now that I understand how all the different parts work together, I really want to try it again.
Played the new game Terra Mystica tonight. Great Euro game but there are so many things that are going on, and that you have to keep track of, that it really only clicked for me about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through the game. Now that I understand how all the different parts work together, I really want to try it again.
I had the same experience. I was playing with 2 experienced players and got smeared.
Played the new game Terra Mystica tonight. Great Euro game but there are so many things that are going on, and that you have to keep track of, that it really only clicked for me about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through the game. Now that I understand how all the different parts work together, I really want to try it again.
Wow, I also played this for the first time last night with my group. 4-player game, 1 guy who had played multiple time, 1 brand new guy who is mediocre at games, 1 brand new guy who is an extremely smart hardcore euro player, and me. Terra Mystica clicked w/ me instantly and I squeaked out a 2 point win (100-98) against the experienced guy.
Just looking at the game, it seems a lot like Small World, but the connections are mostly superficial. Yeah, you have to pick from one of 14 different races/factions that have their own power and stats, and yeah, you want to control the most territory on a large world map broken into areas of varying terrain types. The big break from Small World is that Terra Mystica's factions stick with you for the whole game, and the area control is all driven by a hardcore euro resource management game. Interaction with other players is all through area denial, not direct combat, so your pieces never leave the board. Building close to other players can hurt them by blocking them in, but it also gives your opponent some free magic tokens (which drive nice abilities).
There's a lot going on there, so I'll stop trying to summarize and just say that everyone should seek this one out. The Essen 2012 crop is starting to look really good between this and T'Zolkin. The only downside to Terra Mystica is you pretty much can't get a copy now, and won't be able to for month.
Playing a lot of classics, lately. Have to introduce them to a close friend, who just moved close enough that we can play them on a regular basis. Dude kicks ass at Ticket to Ride. 124 pts in routes in our last game. He also beat me at Settlers last night. I've been playing both of these games since I was 6. He started last week. What is this I don't even.
Hey, he beat the third player, who was even newber. Lapped him in Ticket to Ride, actually. And I wasn't playing to my fullest in that particular game of Settlers. I was trying out the dev card strategy, which is one I've only started playing in the last week. They are real games, they're just baby's first real games. I don't want to scare him off with Agricola out of the gate.
Interaction with other players is all through area denial, not direct combat, so your pieces never leave the board. Building close to other players can hurt them by blocking them in
Why does this description pique the interest of the Go player in me?
Dungeon lords - A tower defense style game where you go and build a dungeon where various adventures come in and get killed. Although the game seems short there are a lot of fiddly bits to go and control.
The goal is to NOT get your dungeon raided but the means to do it in is simply not fun to control, there isn't enough time to gather the resources to achieve the goal that is killing your adventurers.
Also it has that Mario Party style achievement system where you get rewarded if you hit certain goals which could give the illusion of the catch up mechanism for people who are focused on one thing.
Not my type of game but reminds me of King Tort controlling the minions.
Forbidden Island - Take everything I dislike about Pandemic and make it into a shorter game, therefore better than Pandemic.
Eh, I think everyone had the wrong mindset playing Dungeon lords which is why I ended up winning. Better to be very Evil, attract the big villain and defeat him for the points. I managed to do it even with over half my dungeon raided and having a ton of Mario Party Achievements. The game is a lot of different rules and the point is to deal with issues with very small amounts of resources available. I do like that when you pick your three orders for a round that the 2nd and 3rd choice can't be used in the following round. I kinda want to see what happens when you play the "normal" game not the beginner game.
Yea, Forbidden Island: Everything I hate about Pandemic without a bio terrorist to make it interesting.
The Deck building DC game is pretty fun, just has a really terrible name.
Thins I learned from yesterday: fanciness and cute ability combos are no match for pure firepower and quantity of shots in X-Wing. My asshole is still hurting. Went 1-3.
NYCers: I'm going to be hitting up the NerdNYC board game night this Friday since I'm going to be leaving the city for a few months soon. Can I expect anyone else to go?
NYCers: I'm going to be hitting up the NerdNYC board game night this Friday since I'm going to be leaving the city for a few months soon. Can I expect anyone else to go?
NYCers: I'm going to be hitting up the NerdNYC board game night this Friday since I'm going to be leaving the city for a few months soon. Can I expect anyone else to go?
There's a good chance I'll be there. I'll be in the city for WalkaboutNYC all afternoon, so I could easily stop by for some gaming on my way home. All depends on what the weekend shapes up to be, though. May need that time at home.
I've spent the past hour and a half taking pictures of Lupin the third the board game for the Anime Boston Panel, dumping photos now so can get more B roll.
This past weekend I played The Resistance for the first time. It's really, really good fun. Waaay better than Mafia/Werewolf as all players stay in and contribute all the way through to the end. It was a nine person game, I was a spy. The other two spies were discovered almost immediately, so it was down to me to bluff my way through. As we voted down a mission for the third time in a row, I realized it would be impossible for me to make it so I was on the mission to make it fail.... everyone was arguing far too logically, including me. And I had to be somewhere. I voted for a mission to go ahead and, of course, the spies lost.
Comments
http://www.sjgames.com/general/stakeholders/
http://www.sjgames.com/ill/archive/April_02_2013/New_Releases_For_June
Slated for release in June.
As I have been given permission to talk about it in a limited fashion, I will have to leave some things vague until I'm given more freedom to speak.
It was readily apparent not only because of the production value but the incomplete rules and tip sheets that the game is still in very early stages of prototyping. One thing we did have going for us was the fact that all players at the table were extremely seasoned board game players so we intuitively grasped much of what the rules were intending to do. If they play on a release later this year, they'll have to get into turbo to get it polished enough to ship.
The game play itself is very simple with the game consisting of three ages and each age consisting of some number of turns (variable). Each player takes one action on their turn and that's all. Your options include:
- Building a new production facility (and paying any costs associated with the new facility)
- Producing goods from one of your existing production facilities. There is an optional rule where you can pay money to induce workers into overtime and double your production.
- Advancing yourself up the tech tree.
- Repricing an existing set of goods you already have on the board and drawing a captain card. Captain cards are essentially end of game VP scoring.
The game is a completely capitalistic economy game. Now, the big differentiator here from other games I've seen is that you never hold your resources. If you produce something, you place it out into the market and set a price. If you want to build things, you go to the marketplace for it. If you buy other players resources they score victory points. If you buy your own, you don't get the VP. So, be less efficient with your own turns or exploit others positions in the markets and hand out VP points? Hrmmmm.
It's an interesting dynamic to say to yourself, "Self, I really need stone so I'll make stone" only to have it be gone by the time your next turn rolls around.
I'm also not digging the existing mechanisms in place to drive the end of the ages. It's one thing and it's under essentially no ones control. I did offer a few suggestions on how to address that.
The game also has a rule where you can pay a high cost to get resources from the bank but you have to be in the market to use this rule. The first player in each age has no resources available (the market clears between the ages) so their options are..... produce or build a free facility. It's like a snowball rolling down a hill. The beginning is slow but once it's humming it's fine.
Overall, the game has a lot of potential. If you're a fan of economy based games with a very high degree of player interactions, Captains of Industry is your jam.
http://meeplex.com/post/49586122567/terra-mystica-smallworld-on-steroids
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/120677/terra-mystica
Power Grid: First Sparks - This is easily a simplified version of Power Grid with less of its complexity. I was able to determine the winner three turns ahead of the game ending and me and Pence went full on out to see if we could slow him down (the answer was no). Nice game to introduce the concept of Power Grid to lighter board gamer people, but a pass on owning.
Pence on his first game of Power Grid (Brazil Map) actually held his own against the top players. I had lady luck kick me in the balls and by turn two I know I was in for last place, however was able to go from dead last to almost making 5th to salvage a horrible start.
Need to finish making Anime Boston panel now...
Saturday I taught Mage Knight to some new players, then finished with Puzzle Strike and Sentinels of the Multiverse. None of those are new games for me, but they're all games I enjoy a lot.
I am currently using a Stratego board for added durability for the play test version. I found that the pieces for the walls probably should be printed on standard paper instead of card stock to aid in folding, but the cards should either be printed on card stock, then sleeved, or reinforced with standard playing cards in the sleeves if printed on regular paper.
Just looking at the game, it seems a lot like Small World, but the connections are mostly superficial. Yeah, you have to pick from one of 14 different races/factions that have their own power and stats, and yeah, you want to control the most territory on a large world map broken into areas of varying terrain types. The big break from Small World is that Terra Mystica's factions stick with you for the whole game, and the area control is all driven by a hardcore euro resource management game. Interaction with other players is all through area denial, not direct combat, so your pieces never leave the board. Building close to other players can hurt them by blocking them in, but it also gives your opponent some free magic tokens (which drive nice abilities).
There's a lot going on there, so I'll stop trying to summarize and just say that everyone should seek this one out. The Essen 2012 crop is starting to look really good between this and T'Zolkin. The only downside to Terra Mystica is you pretty much can't get a copy now, and won't be able to for month.
Science damn it, I'm old. >_<. But seriously. What does it say about these games that that sort of thing is possible.
Play Puerto Rico for 10 years and then play a newb. I can assure you that wouldn't happen with a real game.
Dungeon lords - A tower defense style game where you go and build a dungeon where various adventures come in and get killed. Although the game seems short there are a lot of fiddly bits to go and control.
The goal is to NOT get your dungeon raided but the means to do it in is simply not fun to control, there isn't enough time to gather the resources to achieve the goal that is killing your adventurers.
Also it has that Mario Party style achievement system where you get rewarded if you hit certain goals which could give the illusion of the catch up mechanism for people who are focused on one thing.
Not my type of game but reminds me of King Tort controlling the minions.
Forbidden Island - Take everything I dislike about Pandemic and make it into a shorter game, therefore better than Pandemic.
Yea, Forbidden Island: Everything I hate about Pandemic without a bio terrorist to make it interesting.
The Deck building DC game is pretty fun, just has a really terrible name.