The Board Game Thread

[Gemini73]

A good read

https://flipboard.com/@flipboard/-the-u ... yorker.com

[Tragic Magic]

Pandemic Legacy S1 is £39.99 on Amazon today. I'm trying hard to save money but I really can't refuse at that price.

[Roonmastor]

Do it

[Tragic Magic]

OMFG Pandemic Legacy!!!

Just played January with my wife (we had 2 characters each) and it's already one of the best board games I've ever played. Even without the legacy additions it would have been our most tense game of Pandemic ever so with the card tearing, upgrades and everything else it had us both on the edge of our seats throughout.

And we won January! On the very last action of the very last turn!

We realised we had only 3 moves left and one epidemic still to be revealed. I thought it was a lost cause but we spent about 15 minutes trying to plan all of our final actions when we discovered we could actually share enough knowledge to find the final cure. Only thing was we knew the epidemic card could really strawberry float us up but luck was on our side and we managed to win.

Absolutely nuts game and it was such a sweet victory. I'm absolutely buzzing now. Hoping we can play February later this week.

Upgrades wise we went with a disease mutation and a starting research station.

[smurphy]

We had the exact same situation in the first month. Won it on the last possible turn before we failed.

Played Xcom tonight, it was much better than I was expecting and hard as nails. We lost the tutorial. For anyone who's played it: Is there a limit to the number of UFOs that can be on a continent? We got absolutely boned by the number that built up on some of them.

[FatDaz]

We had the exact same situation in the first month. Won it on the last possible turn before we failed.

Played Xcom tonight, it was much better than I was expecting and hard as nails. We lost the tutorial. For anyone who's played it: Is there a limit to the number of UFOs that can be on a continent? We got absolutely boned by the number that built up on some of them.

Love xcom but yes it's hard as nails. First time I played it I removed any unshot ufos as i moved up panic levels. This made it easier but is not how rules state it should go. Hence you can't afford to let them build up too much! The comms offficer has an ability that allows you to move UFO's either to another continent or into orbit. If somewhere looks bad I'd always rather have them in orbit. Easier
To fight them there as satellites don't cost to rebuy, they refresh after a turn. Interceptors cost precious money.

Researching good cards is vital! But at the same time research can often feel like a luxury you can't afford! Catch 22 situation.

Play a few more times and it becomes clearer what strategies work and don't. Although it should be played in real time we usually pause to allow whole team to join discussion. In harder difficulties you can't do this though!

Edit- to answer your question. No there is no limit to how many UFO's can build up. The AI is determined by invasion plan. Domination usually hammers one continent hard so it could be that was why

[Joer]

Anyone else pick up Gloomhaven from KS? Mine arrived the other day, all 9.9kg's of it.

[smurphy]

I generally don't do Kickstarter as a rule, but since that was a second printing and it had been confirmed to be awesome I was going to go for it, but didn't realise it had already finished.

Will probably go halfers with a mate if we find a good deal on it at retail. I still have no real clue what it is other than a semi-legacy dungeon crawler but I've heard nothing but good things.

[Tragic Magic]

Pandemic Legacy. We lost February by one action, one fricking action

I must've spent at least half an hour trying to find a way to do it but every option left us one action short. I'll be on the edge of my seat for our second attempt.

On the plus side, the yellow disease is now called Banana Pox. In January we called the red disease Glankitis.

It feels like there is so much more at stake in Legacy. It's so stressful

[Tragic Magic]

OMFG guys! Played 3 games of Dracula's Feast tonight, first time playing it, and I absolutely loved it. Best £10 I ever spent on a Kickstarter! Can't wait to play it again.

[Tragic Magic]

Failed our first attempt at March in Pandemic Legacy tonight. And as usual there was only one turn in it. All we needed was to survive one final infection stage and we'd have been able to win but the first card we drew resulted in a double outbreak which took us up to the max allowed.

God damn you Pandemic

[andretmzt]

I've bought season 1 for my family to have a go at. A few people have had season 2 on the go at the board game club I go to. Always wanted to give it a go but I haven't got a single group of friends who are that into board games...

[Tragic Magic]

My current collection

Arkham Horror LCG
Betrayal at Baldurs Gate
Carcassonne
Cards Against Humanity
Champions of Midgard
Codenames
Colt Express
Dark Souls
Dead Last
Dead of Winter
Dead of Winter The Long Night
Dracula's Feast
Eldritch Horror
Eldritch Horror Forsaken Lore
Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards
Fiasco
Flashpoint Fire Rescue
Fluxx
Fluxx Monty Python
Fluxx Zombies
Fury of Dracula
Gloom
Gloom Unfortunate Expeditions
Gloom Unhappy Homes
Lanterns
Love Letter Batman
Mansions of Madness
Memoir 44
Munchkin Adventure Time
Mysterium
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Pandemic
Pandemic On The Brink
Pandemic Legacy
Resistance
Resistance Hostile Intent
Risk
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective Jack the Ripper
Star Wars Rebellion
Ticket to Ride
The Walking Dead All Out War
Watson and Holmes
Zombie Dice
Zombies !!!

[andretmzt]

If you've got a decent sized group to play with, say 6 or more, I'd really recommend Secret Hitler. Really good social deduction game.

[FatDaz]

Spyfall is good fun in a group. Looking to try that with in laws on Xmas day

[Frank]

Had my first (basic) game of the X-Wing miniatures starter set the other day. I lost

Thinking about trying it with the stress counters and all the other extra bits tonight, but I’m not sure if it’ll go very well!

When you buy expansion ships, are there any guidelines to try and keep the games balanced, or can I just buy one of those ridiculous republic cruisers or something and play it against a single TIE fighter?

[FatDaz]

Had my first (basic) game of the X-Wing miniatures starter set the other day. I lost

Thinking about trying it with the stress counters and all the other extra bits tonight, but I’m not sure if it’ll go very well!

When you buy expansion ships, are there any guidelines to try and keep the games balanced, or can I just buy one of those ridiculous republic cruisers or something and play it against a single TIE fighter?

Points is the way it's Balanced. The standard rules are 100pts each comprised of ships + upgrades

[smurphy]

Coming up with cool synergistic lists within the 100pt limit is half the fun for me. Until your mate looks up OP cheese lists from the internet, pays whatever it takes to make them and rinses you.

There is a bit of power creep with the newer ships, though. They occasionally release 'patch' cards for older underpowered ships that give them some extra ability for no points cost. The T-65 X Wing is currently in need of something like that as the T-70 is just objectively better than it. But I'll never not play regular X Wings because they are so cool.

Did anyone else spot the Tallon Roll in The Last Jedi.

[Hexx]

Chum is planning to run and Imperial Assault campaign next year

[andretmzt]

I haven't used it in a while but X-Wing Squadron Builder is a decent app to look at when theory crafting builds. Can also see where each card comes from so you know what expansions to buy.

Some of the older ships can still be relevant but quite often you are relying on new cards to get there. I think the 2015 World Champion was using Rebel Y-Wings but with upgrades from Scum and Villainy Y-Wings to make it work. That build worked by constantly applying stress to opponents.

There's loads of videos of tournament games which can be good to pick up tips and builds. I haven't actually played in yonks so I have no idea what the current meta is like.