The Board Game Thread

Fed up talking videogames? Why?

Do you play board games?

Hells yeah! I'm a board game geek!
53
46%
I don't but would like to get into them...
36
32%
You mean, like Snakes & Ladders? :shifty:
20
18%
No way! They're for nerds!
5
4%
 
Total votes: 114
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smurphy
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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by smurphy » Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:39 am

Got absolutely pummelled on scenario 2 of Arkham Horror tonight. I was in a situation with basically no escape after drawing the -4 token three times in a row, but 'thankfully' we pulled 4 doom during the next phase - prematurely ending the game and saving me from certain death.

I don't know if we're maybe playing it wrong, or maybe we just have gooseberry fool decks. Or maybe we're gooseberry fool. Will definitely be switching to the easiest difficulty next playthrough.

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Tafdolphin » Thu Mar 23, 2017 8:00 am

smurphy wrote:Got absolutely pummelled on scenario 2 of Arkham Horror tonight. I was in a situation with basically no escape after drawing the -4 token three times in a row, but 'thankfully' we pulled 4 doom during the next phase - prematurely ending the game and saving me from certain death.

I don't know if we're maybe playing it wrong, or maybe we just have gooseberry fool decks. Or maybe we're gooseberry fool. Will definitely be switching to the easiest difficulty next playthrough.


You're not gooseberry fool, Midnight Masks is strawberry floating hard. On our first go we found zero cultists and hit midnight within about 3 rounds. Stick with it, it gets better the more you "get" the core mechanics.

In related news, I also got thumped but in Imperial Assault. We've only had 2 missions where the aim for both sides was to kill each other, and I've lost both of them really badly. The Rebels are stupidly powerful now: Darth Vader himself has a health of 16. The wookie character can do an average of 8 damage per attack, and can attack twice in a row. It was...frustrating. Still, onwards and upwards...

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by jiggles » Wed Mar 29, 2017 7:37 pm

The glue has dried and I've finally got my Arkham Horror storage solution sorted*

Closed box with sweet etched title.
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Top tray for tokens and rules.
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Cards!
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* There are SO many encounter sets I've already run out of sections. I've had to group all the treachery-only sets in the one section and with future expansions I'm going to have to start grouping the rest and maybe stick an index to the inside of the lid.

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Hexx » Thu Mar 30, 2017 10:06 am

smurphy wrote:Got absolutely pummelled on scenario 2 of Arkham Horror tonight. I was in a situation with basically no escape after drawing the -4 token three times in a row, but 'thankfully' we pulled 4 doom during the next phase - prematurely ending the game and saving me from certain death.

I don't know if we're maybe playing it wrong, or maybe we just have gooseberry fool decks. Or maybe we're gooseberry fool. Will definitely be switching to the easiest difficulty next playthrough.


WTF are -4s even doing in play in Masochist?

I play on Easy (Solo) and it's still really really hard. :dread:

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Hexx » Thu Mar 30, 2017 10:41 am

SW: Armada

New player opponent. What if they're mean? What if they don't have previous partner's laissez faire attitude to nudges and measuring? What if they point out I've been playing it wrong for months?

Imp: VSD, Gladiator x 2, Tie Fighter x2 and TIE Interceptor x1
Rebel: Assault Frigate, MC30, Transport Flotilla, Luke, A-Wing, B-Wingx2

Image

Get to pick the objective, and get an instant advantage as none of his fighters have Bomber, whereas 3 of mine do.

Quickly ends up that the 2 Glads are going to engage the AF/Flotilla, and the VSD has turned to take on the MC30.

AF pumping out Squadron Activations - all of his squadrons end up engaged with my A-Wing leaving my bombers free to attack his ships unmolested.

He rushed his Glads to get into range, but only got 1 shot before lined up. Used my later activation to to get all 3 fighters to attack a Glad side on - Luke can shoot through shields! - followed up by volley from the AF. His shields collapse and he takes some hull damage

Get to attack first next round and follow up the barrage above taking him down to a sliver of health...then...stupidly...have to ram his ship (because neither of us can drive) destroying it.

The VSD curbstomped my Mc30 before it could do anything. It has to spend all it's shields though to power up it's attacks - and now the VSD turns towards the mess encounter on the other side of the map...

The other Glad flies past, exchanging fire with the AF but neither landing any real blows just draining shields, as Luke takes potshots, gained a couple of Crits (and lovely Face up Damage cards for points) through Shields. Glad continues to run off with Luke chasing it.

TIE Fighters have finally overcome the A-Wings escaping the lock down and have now tied up the B-Wings...then continue to blast each other for the match

The unshieled AF (set up as a carrier not a shooter) is now approaching the VSD...which although unshielded has lots of repair points banked up...but he drives it through a debris field. And it's going slow enough it's there for 2 turns - he has to spend all his repairs just to stay as damaged as he is, and the debris obstructs his longer range shots.

AF gets the VSD in two arcs including it's powerful broadside - fires both scoring 5 damage - not enough to kill a VSD but a crit in each attack gets 2 more objective tokens - and flies past before he can really do much in return.

Game over as round 6 ends

In terms of "combat" score he won about 110 points to 105 based on ships destroyed. But due to my Crit Heavy game I have 90 objective points to his 15.

Love this game.

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Tafdolphin » Fri Mar 31, 2017 8:42 am

Hexx wrote:
smurphy wrote:Got absolutely pummelled on scenario 2 of Arkham Horror tonight. I was in a situation with basically no escape after drawing the -4 token three times in a row, but 'thankfully' we pulled 4 doom during the next phase - prematurely ending the game and saving me from certain death.

I don't know if we're maybe playing it wrong, or maybe we just have gooseberry fool decks. Or maybe we're gooseberry fool. Will definitely be switching to the easiest difficulty next playthrough.


WTF are -4s even doing in play in Masochist?

I play on Easy (Solo) and it's still really really hard. :dread:


Yeah, I play on normal and the -4 makes a lot of appearances!

Also, smurphy, you know you don't have to wait until the agenda deck finished to conclude Midnight Masks? There's a "retire" option on one of the locations, I forget which, that means you can high tail it out of there. In almost all scenarios, letting the agenda deck complete itself leads to the worst possibly ending. Even dying, meaning you take a mental or physical trauma, is usually better.

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by smurphy » Fri Mar 31, 2017 6:12 pm

Yeah, the doom forced us to turn over the second Agenda card and go to resolution 2, which wasn't all that bad. Needless to say I didn't look at the other resolutions due to spoilers, but we got out of it (relatively) unscathed.

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Hexx » Mon Apr 03, 2017 3:35 pm

Twilight Imperium

Think I hated this. Had a lovely time playing due to people - but didn't get one with the game.

The set up was a bit odd - and very RNG. There might have been ways to counter it, but 3 of the players seemed to end up with all the best planets near them.

The we spent hours building up small fleets in our areas. Theere didn't seem to be anything to really encourage small skirmishes.

The objectives were all military focus and all "Defeat X HP and win a battle" or similar - but that last bit made it much less likely for people to start a fight they weren't sure to win (and everyone had decent units) and also withotu committing enough to keep their own areas safe. Rebellion's versions of "destroy x HP of units in a fight you initiate" is much better for keeping game flowing with small skirmishes.

So we all slowly built up large fleets - without seemingly any alternative routes to victory or points. Despite being a trade focused race that couldn't help me outstrip others military advantages - but one one wanted to risk their larger fleets and they had to win the conflict.

Fighters and Planet Defense systems seem ridiculously OP (in different ways) to the point of being near game breaking.

Diplomacy also didn't seem to have many particularly fun cards come up - and the split of planets/votes made some players pointless. (e.g. it was IIRC 4,5,7,14,11 - unfortunately for us the 14/11 players nearly always thought along the same lines so votes were dull)

All in all a rather boring "build up" for a few hours - with anyone having as slight military advantage pulling ahead, which we didn't find away to counter.

Then eventually it came up to a stomping. It was always going to happen - it's just who gambled first. In the end one player went for it when they'd build enough to be sure enough of victory to risk units.

It was a complete dick move, but the only move he could make (to try and beat his personal objective). He stomped his neighbor in pretty much 2 moves. There was little the neighbor could do now to carry on playing (both to score points or in terms of game moves due to loss of planets/unites). Very disheartening for him - he actually left a round or two later because he was completely out of the game.

He'd have stay to do defense roles in a game he couldn't progress or contribute to (even in a shitty king-maker way) as people raked over his corpse for points.

I got stomped trying to get points because i just couldn't win fights (overlapping planetary guns are beast) - so got firmly stuck middle of the pack. I could have push myself from 3rd to 2nd by passing a law - but it would also have made one person the winner over another so didn't bother. Hate "king maker" plays.

2 on 4 VP, 1 on 3 VP, 1 on 2 VP and 1 on 1 VP. We were never in danger of getting close to 10 :D

Generally the game petered out at the end. We just decided to stop. Of the 4 left 2 couldn't really win, and 2 could with lots of faffing (and support from the first two).

Rather disappointing all in all - definitely surpassed by other games (I spent the entire game wishing I was playing Rebellion instead). Enjoyed it because of the people, chat and bit of jokey RP

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Hexx » Mon Apr 10, 2017 10:50 am

Arkham LCG Miskatonic Museum

Was a little disappointed by this (first "pack" I've done solo - did Carnival of Terror at games night and it seemed much more meaty)

The Hunting Horror mechanic seemed interesting (the main new feature of the expac), but due to solo play and limited encounter draw it barely got involved in the game at all which might affect my experience.
But after the great 2 (and interesting mechaniced) scenarios in TDL pack, was disappointing.

It doesn't help that Ashcan Pete is a beast (using the basic suggested deck with 1 or 2 upgrades)

You better believe I kept the thing at the end...

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Hexx » Tue Apr 11, 2017 1:05 pm

Went a bonkers due to reprints of Arkahm LCG sets and ordered everything I needed over the weekend to have everything currently released...

There's a new Mythos pack out on Thursday

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Tafdolphin » Tue Apr 11, 2017 1:12 pm

Hexx wrote:Arkham LCG Miskatonic Museum

Was a little disappointed by this (first "pack" I've done solo - did Carnival of Terror at games night and it seemed much more meaty)

The Hunting Horror mechanic seemed interesting (the main new feature of the expac), but due to solo play and limited encounter draw it barely got involved in the game at all which might affect my experience.
But after the great 2 (and interesting mechaniced) scenarios in TDL pack, was disappointing.

It doesn't help that Ashcan Pete is a beast (using the basic suggested deck with 1 or 2 upgrades)

You better believe I kept the thing at the end...


Yeah, I thought this was one of the lesser packs. Compared to Rougarou or The House Always Wins it was just, I dunno, average? We haven't done Carnevale yet and obviously still have Essex County Express to do, but I'm hoping the remaining 'main' expansion scenarios are a little more inventive.

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Hexx » Tue Apr 11, 2017 1:17 pm

Tafdolphin wrote:
Hexx wrote:Arkham LCG Miskatonic Museum

Was a little disappointed by this (first "pack" I've done solo - did Carnival of Terror at games night and it seemed much more meaty)

The Hunting Horror mechanic seemed interesting (the main new feature of the expac), but due to solo play and limited encounter draw it barely got involved in the game at all which might affect my experience.
But after the great 2 (and interesting mechaniced) scenarios in TDL pack, was disappointing.

It doesn't help that Ashcan Pete is a beast (using the basic suggested deck with 1 or 2 upgrades)

You better believe I kept the thing at the end...


Yeah, I thought this was one of the lesser packs. Compared to Rougarou or The House Always Wins it was just, I dunno, average? We haven't done Carnevale yet and obviously still have Essex County Express to do, but I'm hoping the remaining 'main' expansion scenarios are a little more inventive.


I think it relies on the HH being in play a lot and affected by a decent number of cards.

Chap from my group said express was good, but hard.

Tbh thuogh the pack had 2 choices (early on and late on) and trying to keep your chap alive (and not get the tablet token in the bag) also matters.

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Tafdolphin » Tue Apr 11, 2017 2:22 pm

Yeah, we got the tablet token. I can't remember how, it wasn't the bloke dying, but we did.

We actually found it the hardest scenario to get through, and scraped through by the skin of our teeth. Didn't help that I drew the Hex (lol) card that means you take 10 damage if you use up your entire deck, then kept chewing through cards like no-one's business. I was about a turn away from certain death.

EDIT: I remember, we kept the Necronomicon. That automatically adds a tablet token to the chaos bag.

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Hexx » Thu Apr 13, 2017 10:56 am

Finally won a BSG game last night.

My first (and first time being a Cylon!)

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Hexx » Fri Apr 14, 2017 4:27 pm

Arkham: Curse of Rougarou

Mechanically this was brilliant, but I gained no XP for campaign so 'net loss', plus I can't see how I can do 5 more campaign scenarios with the scars from here

I went for what I thought was the 'good' ending - working hard with the mechanics.

But now I'm chuffin cursed for the campaign. And that weakness is horrid for single player - very very easy for there to be nothing spawned.


Tempted to ignore it and just play on, that's how screwed I feel SP

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by jiggles » Fri Apr 14, 2017 4:47 pm

Curse of Rougarou and Carnevale of Horrors are standalone scenarios, not designed to be part of the campaign.

The Dunwich campaign packs are:

1. The Miskatonic Museum
2. The Essex County Express
3. Blood on the Altar
4. Undimensioned and Unseen
5. Where Doom Awaits
6. Lost In Time and Space

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Tafdolphin » Fri Apr 14, 2017 5:01 pm

Yeah, but if you've already spent XP earned during a campaign to play it as part of that campaign, any effects you suffer/gain from it should carry through

Hex, we did exactly the same thing and the curse came up extremely early on in the museum... where there's only one enemy. Who gets harder every time you kill him.

It is a strawberry floater of a curse to have

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Hexx » Fri Apr 14, 2017 5:48 pm

jiggles wrote:Curse of Rougarou and Carnevale of Horrors are standalone scenarios, not designed to be part of the campaign.

The Dunwich campaign packs are:

1. The Miskatonic Museum
2. The Essex County Express
3. Blood on the Altar
4. Undimensioned and Unseen
5. Where Doom Awaits
6. Lost In Time and Space


Yeah but you can add it and Carnival as 'side missions' to a campaign (1XP per investigator for Rou 3xp for Carnival) so use your campaign deck/investigator and leave with XP/assets earner to continue with in campaign

Genuinely tempted to 'cheat' and pretend I did it standalone as I just lost XP Nd gained negativity

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Hexx » Sat Apr 15, 2017 4:31 pm

Didn't cheat - blasted the next two (Essex County and Blood on the Alter) pretty easily. Very lucky RNG draws though (found what I needed in BotA in first two locations) and Ashcan Pete is amazing for them (his move/investigate combo is fantastic and let's you set a fair pace)

No way I was getting 7 clues off the Hidden Chamber with Silas there beating me and a Nightgaut Hunter closing in...

Killed Silas - although bits of him scurried away.

With more players might have been able to drag Silas away and keep him exhausted..

Only one person sacrificed - got an army of Allies now, so used xp to get an extra ally slot

A

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PostRe: The Board Game Thread
by Clarkman » Sun Apr 16, 2017 10:36 pm

Expanded the collection with 3 games over the Bank Holiday: 7 Wonders Duel, Cottage Garden and Love Letter.

7 Wonders Duel is as good as everyone says. Very fast paced, fun, with lots of depth and stuff to keep track of. Only played twice so far, but of the three possible ways to win, it seems like you would need the perfect storm to win by military or science.

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Cottage Garden is a game of complete information, but still very mentally demanding because of the amount of forward planning required. Eve as someone who doesn't do brilliantly with spatial reasoning, I really like the Tetris style elements to it.

Image


Love Letter is a quick bit of fun which takes less than 5 mins to learn. Better with more people and more fun when you buy into the narrative.

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