It was the Dice Tower channel on YouTube (which I usually can't stand, but Caverns seemed worth it). Joel Eddy from DriveThruReviews was also chatting with me and said he loved it on first play.
It was the Dice Tower channel on YouTube (which I usually can't stand, but Caverns seemed worth it).
I am going to be on a Dice Tower Podcast coming up, many mentions of Game Theory will ensue.
Speaking of anyone here willing to provide me with arguments on why DC Deckbuilder is "Better" than Marvel Legacy.
It is only "better" in that it is easier for people new to the deck building genre to play. Legendary is more complex and might be harder for people to grasp. Also, it sets up much more quickly than Legendary.
The DC deck builder is DC themed Ascension with the boss mechanic of the Penny Arcade deck builder (buying a high costing "boss" card) thrown into it. (same company, Cryptozoic). It sets up faster, but in my opinion, the hero abilities can get in the way and slow things down. Legendary has many more options for the possibility of different set ups with different heroes and villains. The setup is longer though, similar to Thunderstone. There is still a "buy the boss" mechanic, and sometimes it is difficult to get the hero sets to mesh well (think of playing with all Dominion cards, and using around 2 cards from each set with more of the unique mechanics... It works, but can be harder to set up combos. I own both, with the xpac for Legendary (kinda upset about no DC expansion yet), and I enjoy both.
The long and short of it; DC is faster to set up and slightly faster to play, and Legendary takes longer and is more deep. Legendary gives more of the feel of the comic books with the combos as well.
There is a DC expansion. I remember seeing it was playable at Gen Con but don't know any other details. I had also heard that one of the knocks on DC deckbuilding was it let you do some things that thematically just did not make any sense.
Well, yeah, thematically, Batman wouldn't have heat vision, and Superman doesn't need a bat mobile. The Hero Cards are one of the things that take some of the fun out of the game, especially when you play Batman (+1 currency when you play an equipment) and the cards that show up end up light on equipment cards. I actually abandoned the outside the deck characters in the deck building game I have been designing due to balance.
I will have to look into the expansion though. Edit** I looked at Amazon and they only have the base game. Cryptozoic's website has it listed for Q4 2013... so soonish?
I will have to look into the expansion though. Edit** I looked at Amazon and they only have the base game. Cryptozoic's website has it listed for Q4 2013... so soonish?
I actually had a chance to play the expansion today with one of the Cryptozoic boys at the big monthly game day.
In terms of release date, it's not going to be out before Christmas, he said.
The game play? More of the same. Not a single new mechanic added. Just more cards.
More than a year between releases seems like a bit much for a deck builder, especially with a hot property like DC. Not adding new mechanics kind of seems like a waste...
The expansions for Legendary seem like a joke. The theme us awesome (Aliens) but it's not compatible with the Marvel deck. Same system, not compatible. Sounds like a lazy re-skin. The press copy alluded to them just changing a bunch of nouns that wouldn't match each other if you mixed the sets.
Thanks for all the information I am going to be recording this tonight and will throw these points when we talk about the titles. Now for the quick rundown:
Cache - A Halo style sci-fi game in which we are killing our opponents (and their clones) until we scored 3 points. The game went rather long but things came out nicely.
Monster City Developers - You are part of the zoning board for a city and just so happen to be a monster that can destroy things that you do not like. The game is fast and the drafting mechanic of keeping cards to score them or using cards to destroy things turns out really well.
Pillaf - A custom deck of cards that is 3 suited with rock, paper, scissors. Played a few games with it including a texas hold em' style poker game in which there are no split pots. Its a solid deck that has a bunch of potential
Glen More - Pence requested it and it was a tight game, thankfully my play money proxies did their job nicely.
Hansa Teutonica - Another game that Pence enjoyed and went quickly once everyone understood what they can do on their turn. Cube pushing is still the best way I can describe this.
Homesteaders - With sun-faded box and all this auction game combined with Puerto rico building was a nice enjoyment that had us separated by a single point although the box management could use some work.
Fearsome Floors - I did not win epicly as I did the last time but still a nice filler.
Innovation - We played based where I got crushed and with the first expansion in which I lost by a slight margin. All in all a decent night cap.
The expansions for Legendary seem like a joke. The theme us awesome (Aliens) but it's not compatible with the Marvel deck. Same system, not compatible. Sounds like a lazy re-skin. The press copy alluded to them just changing a bunch of nouns that wouldn't match each other if you mixed the sets.
I haven't taken a look at the FF4 expansion yet, as it is on its way, but the Dark City expansion looks to be compatible with the base set for Legendary. It mainly has the flaw that Thunderstone has (or had, I haven't played since they revamped it) which is not having characters that mesh well with each other. In Legendary, its the heroes and their powers. In Thunderstone, it was getting the heroes to match the monsters in the dungeon deck.
I started playing both Neuroshima Hex and Innovation a month ago because of the podcast, and have already logged a dozen plays of each (Hex against the AI, Innovation against human opponents, mostly as a 2-player). Hansa Teutonica, Glen More, and Homesteaders also all have the potential for greatness. Netrunner is, and remains, great.
I can't remember the last new game I played and said "meh". So many good, short games.
Roma is a deceptively fun two-player card game designed by Stefan Feld. Superficially, it's similar to Battle Line - Roman theme, two opposing lineups of cards - but that's all they have in common. On your turn, you roll three dice and use them to perform actions, like Castles of Burgundy. You win by either generating crazy amounts of points via forums and patrician clientele, or marching a war machine over to your opponent's tableau and destroying it. There's also a bit of depth to the cardplay that isn't immediately apparent; for example, certain cards let you tutor from the discard pile or the deck, but there's no way to get a card out of someone's hand, so you can fairly easily deny your opponent specific cards by holding onto them.
The first two games were very short as my opponent and I took turns getting wrecked by cards we didn't know about, and it wasn't until the third game that it started to click.
Pixel Lincoln - I have constructed two level decks with the help of a new player to be convention ready to teach (and to not build them every single time).
Small World Underground - In order for me to have a chance of winning I need to get into 4th place to attack the guy at first place. The other people at the table were very dumb.
Ora Et Labora - A shared victory at 190 but nice to play after not doing so after a long period of time
Innovation - Pence foiled my victory by giving our mutual opponent three clocks, making him the victor -_-
Catan America - A 2nd place entry in which our mutual opponent gobbled all the resources that I needed.
Roma - First game 5 minutes, I lost. Second game 55 Minutes, I won.
I got together with a couple of friends on Saturday for some board gaming. We played:
Terra Mystica - Took a while to teach to the other new players, but after that, things seemed to go well. Even though I lost as the Alchemists by 4 points, I love this game. It's probably my Game of the Year, slightly beating out Suburbia.
Clash of Cultures - Again, took a while to explain and teach, but since everyone had played Civilization on the PC, they all understood most of the general concepts pretty quickly. This is my favorite 4x game currently on the market, although to be honest, I've never played Advance Civilizations. CoC is a better Civ game than the new Sid Meir's Civ board game, and even though it doesn't have the theme of Eclipse, I consider it a better game because there's less down time for the other player, you're not dealing with the randomness o f the tech trees, and the game just flows better.
Monolith - A fun little dice worker placement game with no theme but a surprisingly large amount of options. This game has tons of replayability, and at 30 minutes or so, is a quick, yet deep game you can play while waiting for other players or to end your evening.
Overall, I had a great time, even though I didn't get a chance to break out Core Worlds. Oh well, there's always next time...
I really need to play Terra Mystica again. It impressed me a ton when I first played it, but I want that second crack at it to make sure certain decisions aren't too obvious and such. Hearing others compare it to Suburbia (which is the last game I played that knocked the socks off of me) at least confirms I'm not crazy for loving Terra Mystica after 1 play.
I picked up Agricola for iPad and played half a dozen games against the AI this week. Interface isn't perfect but it does a good job coping with the game, considering all the unique cards. It's also given me experience with player counts I don't see much (4+), which feel very different - baking doesn't seem like as much of a trap when you can get stone easily and animals are relatively scarce.
Between this and Ora et Labora, I guess I'm on an Uwe Rosenberg kick. Ora's still new to me, so I'm not sure I even care about Caverna, right now.
For a change of pace, the two upcoming things I heard about this week have Tom Lehmann's name on them:
I'm throwing some skepticism towards RttA: Iron Age.
1) Eagle/Gryphon Games is on the box as well, and I've not found them to be all that great with producing and polishing a game.
2) The whole KS-exclusive expansion thing always bothers me. Is this piece of the game good enough to be a part of the "real" game, or is it crap that is only worth giving to a few hundred people? I get the same way when I see a huge list of variants in a rulebook. Could you just not playtest enough to figure out what the best version of the game was?
3) It's definitely a step up in complexity from Bronze Age, but now it just seems ludicrous to apply that much structure to Yahtzee.
I did enjoy Bronze Age, so this is something I don't plan on Kickstarting, but will be happy to try playing once it is actually out.
Given that they published the scoresheet, this would probably be the easiest PnP in the world if you already have Bronze Age, and can sub in something for the new fate die. I'm sure a flood of reviews and opinions will come soon.
Oh, Race for the Galaxy is still getting expansions? Actually exciting!
Not only is it an expansion, it's technically a reboot.
Whaaaaa?!
Yeah - it expands the base game only. Not designed to combine with Gathering Storm / Rebel vs Imperium / Brink of War, for reasons Lehmann covers on BGG (it means he doesn't have to work around weird interactions with Improved Logistics, for one).
I just can't justify Kick starting anything of his after he sold 3 versions of Puzzle Strike in just over 2 years due to crazy balance issues. He also burned backers of the first edition by selling one with fancy wooden pieces, but offering no replacement of that type when he fixed the game (either time).
I just can't justify Kick starting anything of his after he sold 3 versions of Puzzle Strike in just over 2 years due to crazy balance issues. He also burned backers of the first edition by selling one with fancy wooden pieces, but offering no replacement of that type when he fixed the game (either time).
Yeah, I'm probably not going to kick it either. It's a deck of cards and a bunch of poker chips. Still, the game as described is interesting. It's one I'll have to play before I spend any money on it.
You have to spend quite a bit of money to even get the poker chips. The cheaper versions require you to provide your own.
If I am going in on poker chips I tend to use Bicycle composite chips, they are reliable as anything and give you the casino feel with the price not nearly as high. Every Rite Aid I have been to has them and can swoop in and bolster the amount every now and again.
Granted it has been a while since I played with chips since my college days so those are my two cents.
Comments
Speaking of anyone here willing to provide me with arguments on why DC Deckbuilder is "Better" than Marvel Legacy.
The long and short of it; DC is faster to set up and slightly faster to play, and Legendary takes longer and is more deep. Legendary gives more of the feel of the comic books with the combos as well.
I will have to look into the expansion though.
Edit** I looked at Amazon and they only have the base game. Cryptozoic's website has it listed for Q4 2013... so soonish?
In terms of release date, it's not going to be out before Christmas, he said.
The game play? More of the same. Not a single new mechanic added. Just more cards.
Cache - A Halo style sci-fi game in which we are killing our opponents (and their clones) until we scored 3 points. The game went rather long but things came out nicely.
Monster City Developers - You are part of the zoning board for a city and just so happen to be a monster that can destroy things that you do not like. The game is fast and the drafting mechanic of keeping cards to score them or using cards to destroy things turns out really well.
Pillaf - A custom deck of cards that is 3 suited with rock, paper, scissors. Played a few games with it including a texas hold em' style poker game in which there are no split pots. Its a solid deck that has a bunch of potential
Glen More - Pence requested it and it was a tight game, thankfully my play money proxies did their job nicely.
Hansa Teutonica - Another game that Pence enjoyed and went quickly once everyone understood what they can do on their turn. Cube pushing is still the best way I can describe this.
Homesteaders - With sun-faded box and all this auction game combined with Puerto rico building was a nice enjoyment that had us separated by a single point although the box management could use some work.
Fearsome Floors - I did not win epicly as I did the last time but still a nice filler.
Innovation - We played based where I got crushed and with the first expansion in which I lost by a slight margin. All in all a decent night cap.
I can't remember the last new game I played and said "meh". So many good, short games.
The first two games were very short as my opponent and I took turns getting wrecked by cards we didn't know about, and it wasn't until the third game that it started to click.
Pixel Lincoln - I have constructed two level decks with the help of a new player to be convention ready to teach (and to not build them every single time).
Small World Underground - In order for me to have a chance of winning I need to get into 4th place to attack the guy at first place. The other people at the table were very dumb.
Ora Et Labora - A shared victory at 190 but nice to play after not doing so after a long period of time
Innovation - Pence foiled my victory by giving our mutual opponent three clocks, making him the victor -_-
Catan America - A 2nd place entry in which our mutual opponent gobbled all the resources that I needed.
Roma - First game 5 minutes, I lost. Second game 55 Minutes, I won.
Terra Mystica - Took a while to teach to the other new players, but after that, things seemed to go well. Even though I lost as the Alchemists by 4 points, I love this game. It's probably my Game of the Year, slightly beating out Suburbia.
Clash of Cultures - Again, took a while to explain and teach, but since everyone had played Civilization on the PC, they all understood most of the general concepts pretty quickly. This is my favorite 4x game currently on the market, although to be honest, I've never played Advance Civilizations. CoC is a better Civ game than the new Sid Meir's Civ board game, and even though it doesn't have the theme of Eclipse, I consider it a better game because there's less down time for the other player, you're not dealing with the randomness o f the tech trees, and the game just flows better.
Monolith - A fun little dice worker placement game with no theme but a surprisingly large amount of options. This game has tons of replayability, and at 30 minutes or so, is a quick, yet deep game you can play while waiting for other players or to end your evening.
Overall, I had a great time, even though I didn't get a chance to break out Core Worlds. Oh well, there's always next time...
Between this and Ora et Labora, I guess I'm on an Uwe Rosenberg kick. Ora's still new to me, so I'm not sure I even care about Caverna, right now.
For a change of pace, the two upcoming things I heard about this week have Tom Lehmann's name on them:
1) Eagle/Gryphon Games is on the box as well, and I've not found them to be all that great with producing and polishing a game.
2) The whole KS-exclusive expansion thing always bothers me. Is this piece of the game good enough to be a part of the "real" game, or is it crap that is only worth giving to a few hundred people? I get the same way when I see a huge list of variants in a rulebook. Could you just not playtest enough to figure out what the best version of the game was?
3) It's definitely a step up in complexity from Bronze Age, but now it just seems ludicrous to apply that much structure to Yahtzee.
I did enjoy Bronze Age, so this is something I don't plan on Kickstarting, but will be happy to try playing once it is actually out.
Given that they published the scoresheet, this would probably be the easiest PnP in the world if you already have Bronze Age, and can sub in something for the new fate die. I'm sure a flood of reviews and opinions will come soon.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sirlin/pandante-reboot
I watched the video, and it's a pretty interesting poker remix.
Granted it has been a while since I played with chips since my college days so those are my two cents.
Tichu - Nice to know the climbing trick taking game still has leverage to those people who are not fond of it.
Love Letter - I can officially say that Cloak and Dagger is the superior version of this game.
Glory to Rome - My vault of items from the top of the deck is superior than all others
Power Grid - I came in second due to under estimating the opponent's cash at the end of the game -_-
Shadow Hunters - I came so close but that damn unknown ability kept avoiding my attack cards that I was giving it!