NerdSeattle does not have that same phonetic ring to it, but would udoubtedly be just as fun. Grab your city by the balls and start a group!
There is a fairly active game group in my county. The challenge for me is that I work a lot of nights so I miss about everything but weekend events and those only happen about once a month. Thank God I can play Dominion online!
NerdSeattle does not have that same phonetic ring to it, but would udoubtedly be just as fun. Grab your city by the balls and start a group!
There is a fairly active game group in my county. The challenge for me is that I work a lot of nights so I miss about everything but weekend events and those only happen about once a month. Thank God I can play Dominion online!
Well then you're not in bad shape. Even NerdNYC only meets once per month. (outside of quarterly all-day events).
Apparently in the short version of the game, we were supposed to start with a lot more resources from the beginning. Other than that, we did everything correctly. Still, that would have made a huge difference.
Apparently in the short version of the game, we were supposed to start with a lot more resources from the beginning. Other than that, we did everything correctly. Still, that would have made a huge difference.
I dd the same thing the first time when I played a short game. You end up spending half the game going "am I missing something? should it be this hard just to make it through the round?"
Apparently in the short version of the game, we were supposed to start with a lot more resources from the beginning. Other than that, we did everything correctly. Still, that would have made a huge difference.
I dd the same thing the first time when I played a short game. You end up spending half the game going "am I missing something? should it be this hard just to make it through the round?"
What are your guys thoughts on Martin Wallace games? I know he's got a reputation for making some pretty deep strategy eurogrames but I previously had no experience with the guy. Mayfair just sent me two of his games (Automobile and London), and I was able to get Automobile to the table twice in February.
Your goal is to build factories, produce cars, and sell them. Winner is the person with the most money after 4 turns. You start off each turn with an Agricola-like worker placement mechanic where you select which famous auto manufacturer you will play as. Each manufacturer has its pros and cons, usually a tradeoff between bending the rules and going first. From there, you go into several rounds of building/producing/selling that involve a 40-year chronology of car models. As players built more factories, they must progress along this chronological path.
The hook is that early model car factories can be built for cheap, but you'll get penalized if other players advance too far in the future. If you're leading the charge into the future, though, you may be sinking too much capital into factory building and not have enough left to maximize profit through the producing/selling. Very interesting balancing act that you have to perform, and I am dying to play it some more. I would recommend this game.
Yeah speaking of BGG, here's a replacement for my half-assed description of the game:
A 3-5 player game for the next UK Games Expo in May 2009 that bears a modern setting when compared to most of Wallace’s releases. Players are competing in the U.S. auto industry in the early 20th century, purchasing factories that turn out low-, medium- and high-valued vehicles, starting with the 1893 Duryea and moving up the time-line from there.
Each player knows a portion of the market demand each round and must make his purchasing and manufacturing decisions based on that. You can fund distributors across the country, but if you don’t supply them with vehicles to sell, they go bankrupt, taking your investment with them. Alternatively, you can drop the prices on your cars to try to scoop other players. Or even temporarily improve sales rates at the cost of research. Special action spaces are available along the lines of Age of Steam with the actions provided by Ford, Durant, Kettering, and others some what related to their actual business history.
As newer models make their way onto the market, they sell first compared with older models. What’s more, older factories give inefficiency cubes as time passes, encouraging you to keep pace with technology.
To get money, you need to build cars with your factories, but if you build more than there is demand you lose not only the money spend to make them, but you gain inefficiency cubes that hurt you for the rest of the game. Whoever manages their car factories the best over this 120-150 minute game will win.
From what I've heard, Age of Steam is pretty damn hardcore as far as train games are concerned. Never had a chance to play it, but I've been told that if you don't know what you're doing, you literally just get eliminated from the game. I actually respect a game that won't force you to sit there if you are blowing it, but it does make the learning curve steep.
I own Steam and have played it once or twice. I enjoy it and want to get it to the table more often, but it's a bit too dry for my main group, and a bit too deep for my other group. You just have to like trains :P
Got a package from AEG today. They sent Nightfall, a deckbulding game that most reviewers are liking, but I am skeptical on because of it's werewolves vs vampires theme, and Thunderstone: Dragpnspire which is the fourth Thunderstone game but is meant to be a standalone-playable expansion that serves as a reboot of the series. They're not saying it up front, but they've pretty much admitted the original Thunderstone blew abd people should play this instead. I am curious. May bring to PAX.
A friend has asked me to help judge a board game competition he is running. So I've been playing a number of abstract games with the theme of "stacking". Some of them are really good! Some are too much like chess, and don't have much to do with stacking.
However, it did remind me of one of my own board game creations, which involved stacking, and would have been a perfect entry for the competition. I should make it and play it again some time.
If you're looking at abstract stacking games, are you familiar with the Looney Labs pyramid system? They're a series of stackable colored pyramids that you can play some absurd number of different abstract games with. The pyramids are actually getting a re-packaging in June, so Looney Labs is unloading their current stock with some steep discounts (not sure how much is left, sale started last week). I've never actually played with them but they look like fun, and they sent me a copy of IceDice that I'll be reviewing in May, so more thoughts then.
The friend mentioned above works in a board game shop, which is also a game rental place, so I never actually have to buy or make or find anything. Board games come to me.
The friend mentioned above works in a board game shop, which is also a game rental place, so I never actually have to buy or make or find anything. Board games come to me.
Sweet deal! I imagine this is how my local friends feel as well.
For fans of board games apps on their phones, it looks like Caylus is coming to the iOS sometime soon. I've been wanting to try this game for a while now.
Mark Frauenfelder was on BoingBoing the other day talking about how he hates board games, but he's finding he likes German ones--But will only buy them for iOS. Call me a board game hipster or whatever, but this pissed me off a bit, because I feel like a huge part of board gaming is the tactile experience of the board and pieces as well as the social aspect of getting together with people and gaming, especially for cafe games like Barbarossa and Bananagrams.
Edit: Joking aside, I agree with you. Board gaming for me is not just about just trying to figure out the strategy to win, but also the camaraderie among the other players and just having a good time. If I were to play a game on iOS it's because I'm bored and by myself.
Mark Frauenfelder was on BoingBoing the other day talking about how he hates board games, but he's finding he likes German ones--But will only buy them for iOS. Call me a board game hipster or whatever, but this pissed me off a bit, because I feel like a huge part of board gaming is the tactile experience of the board and pieces as well as the social aspect of getting together with people and gaming, especially for cafe games like Barbarossa and Bananagrams.
I'm beginning to like Mark less and less. I also really wonder how the other BoingBoing people feel about him. He posts plenty of normal cool BoingBoing stuff, but every once in awhile he posts something that's no good. If you see some nut job thing on the site, and it isn't being made fun of, you can bet that it was posted by Mark. I've never seen anything objectionable posted by any of the other folk.
Edit: Joking aside, I agree with you. Board gaming for me is not just about just trying to figure out the strategy to win, but also the camaraderie among the other players and just having a good time. If I were to play a game on iOS it's because I'm bored and by myself.
I don't think you need to qualify that as joking. I think the guy may seriously not have any friends.
I view the iOS as a way to demo a game out for $5 or less, and make a determination whether I should play the full-on board game when I have my friends over. I have a large group of people that meets at my house regularly for board games, but they all pretty much look to me to find out what's good and provide the games. It's a way to turn downtime into ensuring that my limited free time is spent wisely.
The only apps I've ever purchased for purposes other than finding out whether they were good or not is Carcasonne and Zooloretto. On days when I commute into NYC, I play on the train with my wife.
Mark Frauenfelder was on BoingBoing the other day talking about how he hates board games, but he's finding he likes German ones--But will only buy them for iOS. Call me a board game hipster or whatever, but this pissed me off a bit, because I feel like a huge part of board gaming is the tactile experience of the board and pieces as well as the social aspect of getting together with people and gaming, especially for cafe games like Barbarossa and Bananagrams.
While the iOS Carcassonne is really good, it is not the optimal way to play the game. I have a feeling that in his hatred of Board Games he just didn't bother to try the physical versions.
Why I love Twitter: I wanted to go to GAMA out in Vegas this year, but couldn't because it was right up against PAX East. I noticed that the DAY AFTER PAX, Cryptozoic announced a Penny Arcade deck building game, a Lookouts board game, and a Lookouts RPG. Who they hell is running that company? I tweeted to one of the guys from Steve Jackson who I knew was there, and he just walked over and asked them. They said their contract was not signed until the day of PAX. While I doubt they'd outright lie, they had big banners and such ready to go for their GAMA booth, but didn't have a spare one made for PAX? They had a big presence in the expo hall, and they would have been swarmed with a PA announcement. It doesn't give me a lot of faith in their ability as a company if they could miss such an obvious marketing opportunity.
Comments
Your goal is to build factories, produce cars, and sell them. Winner is the person with the most money after 4 turns. You start off each turn with an Agricola-like worker placement mechanic where you select which famous auto manufacturer you will play as. Each manufacturer has its pros and cons, usually a tradeoff between bending the rules and going first. From there, you go into several rounds of building/producing/selling that involve a 40-year chronology of car models. As players built more factories, they must progress along this chronological path.
The hook is that early model car factories can be built for cheap, but you'll get penalized if other players advance too far in the future. If you're leading the charge into the future, though, you may be sinking too much capital into factory building and not have enough left to maximize profit through the producing/selling. Very interesting balancing act that you have to perform, and I am dying to play it some more. I would recommend this game.
However, it did remind me of one of my own board game creations, which involved stacking, and would have been a perfect entry for the competition. I should make it and play it again some time.
Sounds like Mark doesn't have friends. :P
Edit: Joking aside, I agree with you. Board gaming for me is not just about just trying to figure out the strategy to win, but also the camaraderie among the other players and just having a good time. If I were to play a game on iOS it's because I'm bored and by myself.
I view the iOS as a way to demo a game out for $5 or less, and make a determination whether I should play the full-on board game when I have my friends over. I have a large group of people that meets at my house regularly for board games, but they all pretty much look to me to find out what's good and provide the games. It's a way to turn downtime into ensuring that my limited free time is spent wisely.
The only apps I've ever purchased for purposes other than finding out whether they were good or not is Carcasonne and Zooloretto. On days when I commute into NYC, I play on the train with my wife.