Haven't played any of these, but I've given Splendor at least a passing glance on the shelf. Concept, Concordia, and Rokoko have all been released in the US, and Istanbul is coming in a month.
I know nothing about Splendor but based on all the talk about it for what feels like a year now, I knew it was a lock for SdJ and prob would eventually wind up on my shelf.
Concept, I see a lot of love/hate for, based on it have extremely loose structure (less than, say, Dixit) and may people viewing it as a casual social activity rather than a game.
I just picked up Caverna last week - they fixed this in the new printing. If you buy the Spare Part Storage, and you already have the Trader, you must build over it, and vice versa. Probably the least destructive way to close the infinite loop. As it was, you could assemble four pieces for an infinite VP combo, which would likely get blocked but still would have warped the game with its presence.
Played a bunch of games this weekend, but mostly all casual and lightweight strategy. Only game that was new to me was Epic Death, which is not a game I can recommend wholeheartedly, but does manage to improve the Munchkin formula by leaps and bounds. As someone interested in game design, I'd say it's worth checking out, but only if the opportunity presents itself.
Played several games of Battleline as well, reminding me just how much I love that damn game. Sorely overlooked on "best 2-player games" lists.
Among the people I know, Knizia's most popular game is Lost Cities. Ingenious has a quality that could be described as supremely Knizia-like. I've personally had a hankering to play Dream Factory again recently...
Rym: we'll have to play T&E sometime. I have played it exactly 0 times.
Got to play Caverna and Nations tonight, both 2-player. Caverna is legit and I suspect it will benefit greatly from repeated playthroughs. It only has two random elements, and scoring is much more open than in Agricola. The impact of Family Growth (here: Wish for Children) is greatly reduced, especially if you arm your dwarves, which lets you compress multiple actions into a single placement with some clever play. The 2p game has one fewer round than normal, and resources were pretty tight until the last three, when they started to pile up after we both eased off of makin' babies.
Nations is surprisingly light as a 2p. More random and much shorter than Through the Ages, which is a game we've both played dozens of times online and in person... it actually has a bit of the same brainfeel as St. Petersberg in the moment to moment tactical decisions. There was a lot less agonizing over decisions than there was in Caverna, and a lot more shit-talking the merits of specific wonders and leaders.
Re: Knizia - Play Battle Line! One of the best 2p games I own, by far.
I've played most of his better games but have missed Modern Art and Through the Desert. I can confirm Rym's picks. And Lost Cities is also a nice intro game. Some people hate it because you shift into "cutting your losses" mode on turn 2 and just hang on with hopes to have the highest score. It's a good game but that rubs some people the wrong way. My wife and I have enjoyed many games of Lost Cities.
His lecture was funny but he mostly talked about closing off the ability to make strictly optimal decisions else the game would just play itself.
When asked if game design was an art or science he said it was definitely an art because if it was a science you would be hoping for repeatable results from the processes and that's not a desirable property for games as they need to create variable states.
Particularly interesting is that 3M worked with Sackson and developed much of the randomness out of the game, greatly simplifying the calculations required.
The original submitted version started every player with a random hand of stocks and a purchase limit of 1 stock per turn. A Product Merchandiser at 3M suggested removing both entirely.
Somehow, through a gauntlet of suggested changes from Sackson and 3M employees, all the chrome got canned and simplicity won out - except now you can buy 3 stocks in a turn instead of 1. There are also apparently still a couple hundred copies of the game with the original undeveloped rules out there.
Sometimes it's fun to step back, look at a RftG tableau, and try to figure out "what happened here". Like that time Joe Imperium formed a bank, got a whole bunch of pre-technology societies (New Survivalists, Pre-Sentient Race, Primitive Rebel World) to bank with him, civilization flourished, they discovered an alien burial site, and then...
I enjoy that also. I also like Eminent Domain and 7 Wonders for simialar reasons. I'm relatively lukewarm on RftG but it does pack a lot of character into its cards.
Are there any other games you can think of that are semi-random narrative friendly?
I enjoy that also. I also like Eminent Domain and 7 Wonders for simialar reasons. I'm relatively lukewarm on RftG but it does pack a lot of character into its cards.
Are there any other games you can think of that are semi-random narrative friendly?
I enjoy that also. I also like Eminent Domain and 7 Wonders for simialar reasons. I'm relatively lukewarm on RftG but it does pack a lot of character into its cards.
Are there any other games you can think of that are semi-random narrative friendly?
Finally got around to playing a couple of my games that I bought a while back but didn't start playing. The Village is an interesting drafting/worker placement that uses time as currency. As the game progresses, your workers die and either go to the town records (for VP if you get enough of them in) or the anonymous graveyard (if their work record area is full). Each round, cubes are placed into a bag, then placed onto the board. There are 4 "plague" cubes that are in the bag as well. Plague cubes use up 2 time spots on your player board, progressing the game faster. You draft cubes that are used to build various things for travelling or the market place, and you can influence the church, the industrial area, the village council and even travel around. I've only played it in 2 player mode so far, but it was still really fun.
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game was pretty interesting as well. You get a character card that tells you what can go into your deck, then you build the deck. The remaining cards from the box are used to form a small deck of cards at various locations, based on the location cards. On your turn, you can give cards to players at the same location, move to a different location, and explore your location. Exploring reveals the top card of the deck at that location, which you must make a roll to either acquire it or defeat it. The overall objective of the card game is to expose the scenario's villain, while closing off his/her escape and finally defeating the villain. The game can be played in Scenario mode (one game) or adventure mode (multiple scenarios). At the end of a scenario, players gain a reward to their deck. I've played it twice and enjoyed both plays, though again, with only two players.
Finally, the Street Fighter deck building game. This is essentially the same as the DC deck builder which is an improvement (in my opinion) over the Penny Arcade deck builder and Ascension. Instead of each character having an ability, they have a counter attack if you can reveal your "ultimate" ability. The "Bosses" are stage cards which, when defeated, reveal a character card that automatically performs its counter attack. Counter attacks vary from giving players weaknesses (negative VP that can be played to trash) to placing cards from a player's discard pile or hand under their character (which they would have to re-buy). There is only one currency, and the VP is straight forward (each not starting card has a value). My first play through of the game was fun.
What he said. Village is great fun and more people should be playing it.
I forgot to mention, Village won the Kennerspiel des Jahres in 2012 (the same award as 7 Wonders, this award is a new category for the more complex games). Looking through previous Spiel des Jahres winners, I am realizing that I own quite a few (including all 3 Kennerspiel winners, the 2013 winner was Legends of Andor).
Wow I didn't even remember you guys doing an episode on that one. I wonder how the expansion (Village Inn) might change things up. I haven't given it much of a look, but I'll definitely play it when presented with the opportunity.
Today at work my team invited me to play games over lunch. We played a game call Kuhhandel which I hadn't heard of. It is a bidding game about completing sets and making bluffs. It was super fast to learn but had some strategic depth. Our game was 4 player which worked well. The box claims it works for 2-6 but I am skeptical that it is as good with a smaller number.
Just saw this new Caverna promo. The LARP Chamber gives one of your dwarves a level-1 weapon that cannot be upgraded. The Cosplay Room lets you count one of your dwarves as an animal of your choice during scoring.
The BGG thread makes it sound like you'll need to hit up a convention or buy it from the online store. It's a postcard expansion, so the actual material isn't nice thick cardboard. Personally, I wouldn't go out of my way for it.
Back in 2004, Reiner Knizia designed a non-collectable customizable card game called Blue Moon. Last month, Fantasy Flight reprinted the complete set in a single box, and I can feel it worming its way through my brain... the player interaction is similar to Battle Line or Lost Cities. You play some cards, I respond, it becomes a tug of war with a degree of subtle tactical maneuvering.
Keldon also has Blue Moon AI on his site. If someone put this on iOS or Android, it would replace Neuroshima Hex as the game to play when I need to take a number 2.
Comments
SdJ: Camel Up, Concept, Splendor
Kinderspiel: Flizz & Miez, Geister Geister Schatzsuchmeister!, Richard Ritterschlag
Kennerspiel: Concordia, Istanbul, Rokoko
Haven't played any of these, but I've given Splendor at least a passing glance on the shelf. Concept, Concordia, and Rokoko have all been released in the US, and Istanbul is coming in a month.
Concept, I see a lot of love/hate for, based on it have extremely loose structure (less than, say, Dixit) and may people viewing it as a casual social activity rather than a game.
Played several games of Battleline as well, reminding me just how much I love that damn game. Sorely overlooked on "best 2-player games" lists.
What RK game should I go for?
Tigris and Euphrates
Those are his greatest works.
Rym: we'll have to play T&E sometime. I have played it exactly 0 times.
Got to play Caverna and Nations tonight, both 2-player. Caverna is legit and I suspect it will benefit greatly from repeated playthroughs. It only has two random elements, and scoring is much more open than in Agricola. The impact of Family Growth (here: Wish for Children) is greatly reduced, especially if you arm your dwarves, which lets you compress multiple actions into a single placement with some clever play. The 2p game has one fewer round than normal, and resources were pretty tight until the last three, when they started to pile up after we both eased off of makin' babies.
Nations is surprisingly light as a 2p. More random and much shorter than Through the Ages, which is a game we've both played dozens of times online and in person... it actually has a bit of the same brainfeel as St. Petersberg in the moment to moment tactical decisions. There was a lot less agonizing over decisions than there was in Caverna, and a lot more shit-talking the merits of specific wonders and leaders.
I've played most of his better games but have missed Modern Art and Through the Desert. I can confirm Rym's picks. And Lost Cities is also a nice intro game. Some people hate it because you shift into "cutting your losses" mode on turn 2 and just hang on with hopes to have the highest score. It's a good game but that rubs some people the wrong way. My wife and I have enjoyed many games of Lost Cities.
When asked if game design was an art or science he said it was definitely an art because if it was a science you would be hoping for repeatable results from the processes and that's not a desirable property for games as they need to create variable states.
Particularly interesting is that 3M worked with Sackson and developed much of the randomness out of the game, greatly simplifying the calculations required.
The original submitted version started every player with a random hand of stocks and a purchase limit of 1 stock per turn. A Product Merchandiser at 3M suggested removing both entirely.
Somehow, through a gauntlet of suggested changes from Sackson and 3M employees, all the chrome got canned and simplicity won out - except now you can buy 3 stocks in a turn instead of 1. There are also apparently still a couple hundred copies of the game with the original undeveloped rules out there.
Are there any other games you can think of that are semi-random narrative friendly?
That doesn't seem to be linking properly.
https://plus.google.com/111630039220799328744/posts/JezeR7Uu1r5
Thanks G+.
The Village is an interesting drafting/worker placement that uses time as currency. As the game progresses, your workers die and either go to the town records (for VP if you get enough of them in) or the anonymous graveyard (if their work record area is full). Each round, cubes are placed into a bag, then placed onto the board. There are 4 "plague" cubes that are in the bag as well. Plague cubes use up 2 time spots on your player board, progressing the game faster. You draft cubes that are used to build various things for travelling or the market place, and you can influence the church, the industrial area, the village council and even travel around. I've only played it in 2 player mode so far, but it was still really fun.
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game was pretty interesting as well. You get a character card that tells you what can go into your deck, then you build the deck. The remaining cards from the box are used to form a small deck of cards at various locations, based on the location cards. On your turn, you can give cards to players at the same location, move to a different location, and explore your location. Exploring reveals the top card of the deck at that location, which you must make a roll to either acquire it or defeat it. The overall objective of the card game is to expose the scenario's villain, while closing off his/her escape and finally defeating the villain. The game can be played in Scenario mode (one game) or adventure mode (multiple scenarios). At the end of a scenario, players gain a reward to their deck.
I've played it twice and enjoyed both plays, though again, with only two players.
Finally, the Street Fighter deck building game. This is essentially the same as the DC deck builder which is an improvement (in my opinion) over the Penny Arcade deck builder and Ascension. Instead of each character having an ability, they have a counter attack if you can reveal your "ultimate" ability. The "Bosses" are stage cards which, when defeated, reveal a character card that automatically performs its counter attack. Counter attacks vary from giving players weaknesses (negative VP that can be played to trash) to placing cards from a player's discard pile or hand under their character (which they would have to re-buy). There is only one currency, and the VP is straight forward (each not starting card has a value).
My first play through of the game was fun.
http://frontrowcrew.com/geeknights/20130820/innovation-and-village/
Keldon also has Blue Moon AI on his site. If someone put this on iOS or Android, it would replace Neuroshima Hex as the game to play when I need to take a number 2.