Any Board Gamers Up in This Piece?

[BoomMF 1,398]

Been catching up on some games. We have a family game night and the kids have been getting into Wingspan, King of New York, Mice & Mystics, RWBY Combat Ready, Dungeon!, and D&D, among others.

 

I picked up some games for the wife and I, like Scythe and all expansions, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective (she's big on the Forensic Files TV show, so this was an easy sell), Star Wars X-Wing, and Dungeon of the Mad Mage Board Game.

 

In all of this I've discovered that I really dig painting the minis that come with these games. It started with the little sides from Mice & Mystics and now I have a dedicated painting corner in her craft room to paint up all kinds of stuff, like the Scythe figures, with my new found powers. (I attached a pic of the first batch.)

 

Any other board game nerds out there? What are you into? Help me discover new ways to feed the beast.

[workswithseed 2,088]

My friend has the top 10 board games, but I have a few. 

https://m.imgur.com/gallery/hQU2zzF

For some reason it wont let me insert image, but Clank is a great little board game.

[txhorns 2,409]

Our favorite games and two card games:

Settlers of Catan

Ticket to Ride

Pandemic

Puerto Rico

Carcassonne

Monopoly Deal

Play Nine

[BoomMF 1,398]

I might have missed my calling, y'all.

[workswithseed 2,088]

I've been wanting to play Scythe, it can't be harder than play Arkahm Horror.

You should do the Warhammer40k figures.

[BoomMF 1,398]

The minis have been deployed!

This game is gorgeous, though.

[atomheartbevo 89,623]

A lot of the public libraries in Austin have decent board game selections now, but the Central Library has a really large collection - good if you want to check out any games in person before picking them up.  Maybe not as big as Dragon's Lair, but they are there and free, and not as crowded.

[TexArcher 37,761]

On 9/10/2019 at 6:11 PM, atomheartbevo said:

A lot of the public libraries in Austin have decent board game selections now, but the Central Library has a really large collection - good if you want to check out any games in person before picking them up.  Maybe not as big as Dragon's Lair, but they are there and free, and not as crowded.

Thanks for the tip.

I played a LOT of Axis and Allies in college.  I've been thinking about getting a newer turn-based strategy game.  I'd like to find something fairly deep that doesn't take 10 hours and would be easy to find others to play with.

Any thoughts on Terra Mystica, Castles of Burgundy, or others?

[BoomMF 1,398]

The daughter and older son have been into my collection of choose your own adventure books (Star Challenge, Time Machine, et al.) so I made the mistake of introducing them to 7th Continent. They love the bejeezus out of the game, but listen here, fam, we are 9 hours into the first "starter" curse and there is no end in sight.

I'm starting to rethink my life.

The kids hope the game will never end and I'm starting to think that it won't.

The box of tissues is there to soak up my tears.

[BoomMF 1,398]

How'd that image get flipped? Zzzz

 

 

[RDCanecutter 26,378]

Aw, hey y'all. I sort of figured out how to play Avalon Hill's 1914 when I was 12. Then I got into more playable AH games, which is everything not named 1914.

Edited November 23, 2019 by RDCanecutter

[BoomMF 1,398]

Painted all its minis and have been playing the new hotness, Vindication. Fantastic mid-weight Euro with a rich theme and production value up the yingyang.

[TexArcher 37,761]

On 9/26/2019 at 8:40 PM, TexArcher said:

Thanks for the tip.

I played a LOT of Axis and Allies in college.  I've been thinking about getting a newer turn-based strategy game.  I'd like to find something fairly deep that doesn't take 10 hours and would be easy to find others to play with.

Any thoughts on Terra Mystica, Castles of Burgundy, or others?

Okay, so over the last few months I've gotten pretty hooked on Euros.

So far I've got:

Agricola

Terraforming Mars

Castles of Burgundy

Scythe

Puerto Rico

I'm going to add a card game (Innovation or Race For the Galaxy) and a heavy war game, then I'm probably set for a while.

BoomMF...  Are you in Austin by any chance?

Anybody else interested in a meetup?  Happy to teach mine or learn others...

Edited December 30, 2019 by TexArcher

[troph 24,781]

My mom loves board games and I’ll admit ticket to ride is a great game to play with kids 10 and older. We had a blast playing it over the Christmas break on vacation with her.

[Marfa Low Crown 2,546]

We've enjoyed a number of board / tile games over the last couple of years...

Quirkle
Hive
Settlers of Catan 
Seikatsu 
Tak
..a couple more I can't think of of the top of my head

Azul, however, has taken the cake and the other games are gathering dust. Azul just about has it all - endless replayability, strategy, a bit of random luck, fuckerating other players..
I mean I've just been blown away by what a great game it is. 

 

 

 

[troph 24,781]

I looked at azul even watched a video on it, how does the lack of a story line (counter with ticket to ride) impact the social interaction? Seems highly cerebral without a solid background context.

[Marfa Low Crown 2,546]

The background iirc is you’re a Portuguese tile layer building a wall under the employ of the king. This is  immaterial to the game however & the context is unimportant. 

Social interaction tends to revolve around bitching about the tiles & other players - “Ah! You asshole!” Is often heard during Azul gaming sessions ☺️
 

I wouldn’t say it’s too cerebral, anyone who has played qwirkle will find Azul to be a quick learn. The game calls for adaptive strategy each round as things you’re trying to do often will change based upon what other players are doing or what tiles come down. Anyways...can’t say enough about Azul  give it a try sometime 👍

[TexArcher 37,761]

Yes, the backstory of Azul is pasted on.  It's really an abstract game of matching patterns and completing sets.  Easy to learn and easy to play, but to play it well you have to plan multiple moves ahead and be aware of what your opponents are trying to do.

I generally don't enjoy lighter games, but Azul is one of two exceptions (Carcassonne is the other, and I like Azul more).

[txhorns 2,409]

We've been playing a lot of Pandemic and Pandemic Rapid Response lately.

[BoomMF 1,398]

 

 

 

 

 

 

BoomMF...  Are you in Austin by any chance? Anybody else interested in a meetup?  Happy to teach mine or learn others...  

 

I'm outside of Elgin, so pretty much. And, yes, I'd be down for a board gaming action meetup. For sure.

 

In other news, this was my gaming haul this Christmas. Still going through it, but looking forward to finally seeing what all the fuss is with Gloomhaven!

 

I got Nemesis early so I painted it up and brought it over to the in-laws for the holiday. They think Monopoly is the height of board gaming technology, so needless to say their minds were blown. We stayed up until 4:00am playing!

 

Back home, we played the game I was anticipating the most, Edge of Darkness. It's a blast. Very unique card crafting system with a bit of depth to the gameplay.

 

Side note, I refuse to bring a game to the table until the minis are painted, but that takes an age to do right. So going forward I think I'll speed paint the nameless armies, but continue to do up the named characters and whatnot. Yolo, fam.

 

Next up, Cthulhu: Death May Die.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EDIT: Fucking Tapa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TexArcher 37,761]

2 hours ago, BoomMF said:

I'm outside of Elgin, so pretty much. And, yes, I'd be down for a board gaming action meetup. For sure.

Awesome!  I'm booked through the weekend, but I'll send you a PM after that.  Maybe another weekend we could meet up at Emerald Cafe or another such place.  

[Marfa Low Crown 2,546]

A little follow up on the Azul family of games...

|

Acquired Azul Summer Pavilion recently and we've played three games so far. That's not  enough sessions to do more than scratch the surface and allow for just a brief overview because this game is a 500lb gorilla compared to regular Azul. Whew... where to begin? 

Like the original, Summer Pavilion has a back story and it too means nothing in the game. If you've played regular Azul you'll see some similarities but there's a whole other order of mental olympics that this game requires over its little brother. You're still collecting and organizing tiles but the inclusion of wild card tiles combined with much, much, deeper scoring opportunities opens up an entire new level of thinking and strategy. The wild card tiles change by round, which requires deeper planning and strategy, and there's a bonus board of tiles you can draw from after successfully surrounding pillars, statues, and windows on your board.... and that also adds to the complexity. 

They've 'fixed' a thing or two in this one. In the original game drawing first from the discard pile, thus allowing you to go first the next round, is a very powerful...sometimes too powerful advantage. In Summer Pavilion it'll cost you a lot more points to do it and the game also starts you off at 5 points instead of 0 which is more fair. They provide a place to put spent tiles ( the Big Ben looking tower) whereas regular Azul made you provide a bag or a bowl or some place to put a growing pile of spent tiles. The game also ends in 6 rounds whereas regular Azul has no defined ending by number of rounds... although I don't think we've played any regular Azul games beyond 5-6 rounds either. In this one, though, 6 rounds doesn't feel like enough time so there's a bit of a crunch as you near the end. 

Anyways that's about it on the technicals for now. The games take longer, the silences between players are longer (probably because we're all still learning), and at least on the surface as a new player you have enough to worry about that interfering with other players is a secondary concern. I'm sure that a better understanding of the game as time goes on will open a lot more things up. 1-2 games of Summer Pavilion is enough to make your brain ask for a break whereas we'll regularly session 3-5 games of Azul. 
 

Edited January 14, 2020 by Marfa Low Crown

[BrazilHorn 6,586]

Not quite a board game per se but with Roll20 as a virtual tabletop and using miniatures and battle maps in person, I’ve been playing the crap out of D&D. 
 

 

[BoomMF 1,398]

Team Fantasy Grounds. Let's rumble!


Got to meet up with@TexArcher today for some Scythe. I was reminded how much I like this game. Good people, good food, and a tie for the win, so not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon. We need to do it again.

[TexArcher 37,761]

Hell yeah, that was a good time!

[MillerEP 30,447]

I’m so jealous. I have games with the plastic still on because my girlfriend is lame.

[BoomMF 1,398]

Next up, the super heavy On Mars. I have a bottle of Advil at arm's reach, so here we go.

[BrazilHorn 6,586]

For any of you in the Austin area (and this may have been mentioned up thread). There is a cool place off of Lamar (Airport cross street roughly) called "Vigilante Pub"

Tons of gaming tables, a couple of private rooms. Pretty good food and bar. It's a good place to go. Private room rents for $100 for like 5 hours (and is hidden behind a bookcase so has cool feel).

Good place to play.

[BrazilHorn 6,586]

On 11/23/2019 at 9:24 AM, BoomMF said:

The daughter and older son have been into my collection of choose your own adventure books (Star Challenge, Time Machine, et al.) so I made the mistake of introducing them to 7th Continent. They love the bejeezus out of the game, but listen here, fam, we are 9 hours into the first "starter" curse and there is no end in sight.

I'm starting to rethink my life.

The kids hope the game will never end and I'm starting to think that it won't.

The box of tissues is there to soak up my tears.

I just got this. Think I am about a year away from my youngest being able to hang. Also need a place to be able to store it as my wife (no pics) won't be thrilled at letting the game sit out for a year of play.

[BoomMF 1,398]

You just got 7th Continent?!? Very nice. Congrats.

(It took us about 11 hours to complete the Voracious Goddess.  I've heard it's the longest though. The kids have been clamoring to start the next one, so we'll probably do that in a week or so.)

[Hagbard Celine 10,848]

Many a freshman spring night was spent in the castillian setting up and playing the first 3 turns of A3R.  Getting the 2:1 on Paris in the Spring of '40 is essential for the nazi player.   Rolling a 5 or 6 (A-elim) busts the deal, killing any chance of Sea Lion in '40.

If anyone knows the rules for the descendant game (2003's A World at War) and could DM with professional efficiency and deal with asshole players i can round up the crew.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_World_at_War

[BoomMF 1,398]

That game looks epic. Never played a long form war game like that.

 

In other news, met up with a friend at Dragon's Lair for a game of Nemesis. The game is pretty hot and rare right now and a few of the employees and many customers would stop and watch us play it. The crew at the next table were playing Photosynthesis, but would pause the game and watch us for bit before continuing. Cant blame them, the game looks cool on the table.

 

 

 

 

 

[workswithseed 2,088]

On 1/31/2020 at 8:07 AM, BrazilHorn said:

Not quite a board game per se but with Roll20 as a virtual tabletop and using miniatures and battle maps in person, I’ve been playing the crap out of D&D. 
 

 

Hell yes. I wish my group could played at least twice a week, but our group is always busy.

[BoomMF 1,398]

Finally ready to start Gloomhaven. Time to see what all the fuss is about.

[mulletpelini 5,210]

If you could get pics of cosplay girls playing along with you, I'd be in.

[MillerEP 30,447]

Any leads on a good spot in the round rock area?

[BoomMF 1,398]

Almost finished with King Arthur from Tainted Grail, yet another game I have yet to get to the table.

[BoomMF 1,398]

The family really digs Cthulhu: Death May Die, so for the quarantine I picked up the raddest episode for the game, R'lyeh Rising, which consists of a MASSIVE Cthulhu figure that also serves as the game board. I painted it up and we went through the episode tonight. If you're familiar with the base game you know how hard it is, but this episode, CMON terms it an "epic episode," was the hardest yet. I died in the 3rd round, and by the end, our party of 5 was dwindled down to 2, delivering the kill shot on their last legs.

Epic indeed.

[TheUofTexas 13]

Terraforming Mars is on sale on Amazon right now. You can "clip" an extra $10 off the price
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GSYA4K2

Really fun strategy game that can kill a lot of time. Each game will typically require you to alter your strategy depending on whichever card you choose at the start.

[BoomMF 1,398]

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

We've been doing a lot of family game nights and recently received Everdell with all 3 expansions. After adding a new expansion every play, after the fourth play here we are with everything added and it's massive.

One silver lining to all this is we all get to sit down and play games together. It's been fun. I'm going to miss this.

[Longhornmaniac8 255]

On 9/26/2019 at 8:40 PM, TexArcher said:

Thanks for the tip.

I played a LOT of Axis and Allies in college.  I've been thinking about getting a newer turn-based strategy game.  I'd like to find something fairly deep that doesn't take 10 hours and would be easy to find others to play with.

Any thoughts on Terra Mystica, Castles of Burgundy, or others?

Have you played Twilight Struggle? It's another 2-player turn-based strategy game. Lots of fun, deep, with multiple layers of strategy, and lots of really interesting history to be learned. There is also a version on Steam.

It's my favorite 2-player game.

[TexArcher 37,761]

4 hours ago, Longhornmaniac8 said:

Have you played Twilight Struggle? It's another 2-player turn-based strategy game. Lots of fun, deep, with multiple layers of strategy, and lots of really interesting history to be learned. There is also a version on Steam.

It's my favorite 2-player game.

Yep -- since my original post that you quoted I've gone down the rabbit hole of these games.  Twilight Struggle has found a place in my top 5.  Hell, it's probably 1 or 2.

We could play on Steam sometime...

Edited April 9, 2020 by TexArcher

[Longhornmaniac8 255]

12 hours ago, TexArcher said:

Yep -- since my original post that you quoted I've gone down the rabbit hole of these games.  Twilight Struggle has found a place in my top 5.  Hell, it's probably 1 or 2.

We could play on Steam sometime...

I'm down!

[workswithseed 2,088]

On 3/18/2020 at 1:16 AM, BoomMF said:

The family really digs Cthulhu: Death May Die, so for the quarantine I picked up the raddest episode for the game, R'lyeh Rising, which consists of a MASSIVE Cthulhu figure that also serves as the game board. I painted it up and we went through the episode tonight. If you're familiar with the base game you know how hard it is, but this episode, CMON terms it an "epic episode," was the hardest yet. I died in the 3rd round, and by the end, our party of 5 was dwindled down to 2, delivering the kill shot on their last legs.

Epic indeed.

Dear God, you need to start painting your wife tits, cause you have a God damn speciality.

[Marfa Low Crown 2,546]

SIAP -

A little follow up on the Azul family of games. Regular Azul as well as the Summer Pavilion and Sintra variants can be played on Steam. 
They do require the purchase of the Tabletop Simulator ($20) but this allows you to play a great many other games found in the "workshop".
I have never liked Steam.. I think it's a clunky, disorganized, fucking mess written by lazy programmers. As a user with little / no experience using
the platform I did not find Azul easy to get up and going but it can be done. If there's interest I can post a brief install tutorial. Naturally
if anyone wants to play let me know. 🤘 
 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Marfa Low Crown

[BoomMF 1,398]

Was able to get a few more games off the shelf of shame, Tainted Grail and Too Many Bones.

 

Both live up to the hype.

 

Tainted Grail is very similar to 7th Continent's exploration mechanic and the story/narrative is second to none - you play a "B team" of tragic heroes attempting to save the world after King Arthur, and his A team, have gone missing.

 

Too Many Bones is the more accessible. Throwing a literal handful of dice will never get old. It's surprising how robust an RPG can be with such a simple playfield. Component quality is off the charts.

 

 

 

 

[workswithseed 2,088]

Gloomhaven, and right now they're coming out with a new one that's being funded on Kickstarter.

[troph 24,781]

Some of these fantasy games look intense.

 

We played Catan with the kids and my mom their grandmother tonight after buying it back in March. We haven’t laughed that much in a long time. The robber feature and the trading is a riot. Great game for preteens. Surly teens need not apply.

[workswithseed 2,088]

On 12/29/2019 at 8:37 PM, TexArcher said:

Okay, so over the last few months I've gotten pretty hooked on Euros.

So far I've got:

Agricola

Terraforming Mars

 

 

I seem to suck at Euro games, but I have fun play both of these games. Agricula always kicks my ass, TM not as much.

[gsoda3 3,245]

we've been playing latice with our kids (9 and under).  pretty fun.