[Blend]

My most recent purchase was Small World - my friends and I are enjoying the HELL out of this one! SOOOO much fun!

[Morgoth]

We had a boardgame night yesterday, and returned to some of the classics. Or kind of classics. Carcassone Hunters and Gatherers is really fun. Lords of Waterdeep is always a blast too, especially with the expansion. I got absolutely crushed in Carcassone, came in fifty points behind nr. 4, but I still enjoyed it immensly.

[Morgoth]

Boardgame nights became quite interesting after we all came into jobs and money. Now there's a lot of massive kickstarter games and something new every month. Still, we do return to some games. Like last night we played Bloodborne and once again had a blast with it.

Bloodborne is a Viking/norse mythology themed game where players invade territories with viking warriors and the great monsters of the Norse sagas. We also draw cards that can be used to upgrade your clan, acquire monsters and so on. Battle is dice free, bloody and a lot of fun.

I won this time, for the first time, by designing my clan around my strengths. My clan gained a number of benefits every time I lost a battle, and I did that a lot. I threw my warriors into suicidal charges again and again and they died and died and died. Which gave me points and more warriors for free. Furthermore, I'd added a power which gave me points for every warrior returned to me from Valhalla after each round. I had a lot of warriors there.

I loved this strategy. Rather than feeling fear when someone planted a mountain giant at the centre of one of my territories. Instead I felt elation for all the benefits I'd reap from the slaughter of my army.



' image from google. Not from last night

This post has been edited by Morgoth: 09 September 2016 - 08:00 AM

[Cause]

Recently discovered Lords of Waterdeep. Great game. I came last out of 3 players by 3 points behind first place! I think I would have won but I forgot about one of my Plot quest bonuses, too late to change anything though

[JPK]

A good buddy and I have really got into a deck builder called Star Realms. It was made by a couple mtg hall-of-fame players and is just a blast to play. Also only $15(us) for the base deck or the newer colony wars expansion that can be combined with the base deck or be played as a base deck itself.

Gameplay itself is really straightforward. Each player starts with a base player deck of 10 cards that are either worth 1 damage or 1 trade. You use these to purchase cards from the center trade row that will go into your discard pile. When you would go to draw from your deck and you don't have enough cards to draw up to your full amount, you shuffle the discard back into the player deck so you have a shot at drawing the newer more powerful cards you just bought. Each player has a life total of fifty, so it's a race to kill the other player. To add to this, there are two types of cards you can buy into your deck- ships and bases. Ships have their ability trigger on the turn you play them and then go to discard while bases stay in play until they've been dealt leathal damage in one turn. On top of that there are two types of bases, regular ones and the outposts. Outposts are marked as such and have to be targeted with damage before the player or their other based can be targeted which creates so great strategy opportunities.

Best part is, they set up an app for the game that works really well, is free for the base (and cheap for the expansions). You can challenge another player to a game, and it will decide which player goes first. From there you can set it to 3 minute turn limits or 48 hour yen limits. We tend to play 48 hours. If also gives a potential player a chance to play it and learn the rules before really investing in a physical copy, even though I feel the physical game is the best way to play.

If this sounds like it's up your alley, grab the app and give it a shot. I'm always willing to play on there and my username is silvenquesti.

This post has been edited by JPK: 10 September 2016 - 04:33 PM

[Imperial Historian]

This is pretty much my experience with star realms.

https://www.penny-ar...stellar-domains

One of the best deck building games out there, Quick to learn but a surprising amount of depth.

[JPK]

IH, do you have the app? If so, send me a challenge!

[Gorefest]

Sounds a bit like Chtulu realms or even Dominion. I also like deck builders where on top of the deck building itself you also have additional goals, such as in Legendary or Ascension.

Been playing Splendor recently, a really nice game. Easy to learn, quick to play, but still quite a bit of strategy involved.

[Imperial Historian]

I do challenge sent!

Cthulu realms is based off star realms, I think star realms is the better version.

I'd say dominion has a bit more depth, but star realms is easier to pick up.

I've played splendour a few times, but never really got into it.

[Tapper]

Morgoth, on 09 September 2016 - 07:32 AM, said:

Boardgame nights became quite interesting after we all came into jobs and money. Now there's a lot of massive kickstarter games and something new every month. Still, we do return to some games. Like last night we played Bloodborne and once again had a blast with it.

Bloodborne is a Viking/norse mythology themed game where players invade territories with viking warriors and the great monsters of the Norse sagas. We also draw cards that can be used to upgrade your clan, acquire monsters and so on. Battle is dice free, bloody and a lot of fun.

I won this time, for the first time, by designing my clan around my strengths. My clan gained a number of benefits every time I lost a battle, and I did that a lot. I threw my warriors into suicidal charges again and again and they died and died and died. Which gave me points and more warriors for free. Furthermore, I'd added a power which gave me points for every warrior returned to me from Valhalla after each round. I had a lot of warriors there.

I loved this strategy. Rather than feeling fear when someone planted a mountain giant at the centre of one of my territories. Instead I felt elation for all the benefits I'd reap from the slaughter of my army.



' image from google. Not from last night

Blood Rage is pretty awesome. The one danger to fun is two players camping - whether in Yggdrasil through strength or in other provinces just by occupying every single village. Apart from initial placement costs, it doesn't cost Rage and can be game breaking.

[Morgoth]

Well, if you spend so much of your army total just staying in one province you wont manage much throughout the game. And you can't really camp in Yggdrasil. If you try to raid there every other player can send their armies in after all.

This post has been edited by Morgoth: 11 September 2016 - 09:04 PM

[D'rek]

Sounds like Morgoth's inner viking berserker is breaking out

I tried playing Twilight Imperium. I lost horribly and it took like a million hours but it was a lot of fun!

[Tapper]

Morgoth, on 11 September 2016 - 09:03 PM, said:

Well, if you spend so much of your army total just staying in one province you wont manage much throughout the game. And you can't really camp in Yggdrasil. If you try to raid there every other player can send their armies in after all.

I beg to differ, especially for the 3 unit provs. If they have good spoils (+rage, +unit cap), that's an unopposed stat gain (we don't really use ships early on - too immobile for what they cost), there's always 2 quests for them (and sure, someone else can draft those, but if they do, it is usually a dead card).
Besides, there is always the threat of moving that army. Having multiple units survive one turn to the other is immense, and combined with (for example) leader upgrades or certain monsters, it can be quite strong. Yggdrasil can be camped - win the first battle with enough guys, then first action on the next turn, raid it again: the Elf Warrior is an early recruit and a huge help there, even if someone else recruits the Werewolf.
On a first round raid, few players will be willing to move in what scattered forces they have, at least, in our 3 player games.

[Siergiej]

Played Blood Rage once and had a lot of fun. Especially that the score flipped at the very end, it was tense through the whole game. Twilight Imperium was too much for me. When after 6 hours it looked like we're halfway through I decided that I'd rather watch the paint dry.

My go-to set for party games is Secret Hitler + Exploding Kittens. Dixit too, if there's fewer people. Nerdier gatherings usually involve Arkham Horror/Eldritch Horror: I'm more into cooperative than competitive games

[Morgoth]

Tapper, on 12 September 2016 - 05:41 AM, said:

Morgoth, on 11 September 2016 - 09:03 PM, said:

Well, if you spend so much of your army total just staying in one province you wont manage much throughout the game. And you can't really camp in Yggdrasil. If you try to raid there every other player can send their armies in after all.

I beg to differ, especially for the 3 unit provs. If they have good spoils (+rage, +unit cap), that's an unopposed stat gain (we don't really use ships early on - too immobile for what they cost), there's always 2 quests for them (and sure, someone else can draft those, but if they do, it is usually a dead card).
Besides, there is always the threat of moving that army. Having multiple units survive one turn to the other is immense, and combined with (for example) leader upgrades or certain monsters, it can be quite strong. Yggdrasil can be camped - win the first battle with enough guys, then first action on the next turn, raid it again: the Elf Warrior is an early recruit and a huge help there, even if someone else recruits the Werewolf.
On a first round raid, few players will be willing to move in what scattered forces they have, at least, in our 3 player games.

Sure, it is an unopposed gain. But it is just that. A gain. It's a benefit, but not a particularly huge one. And what do you do, do you just leave them there? Do you spend actions moving them to and from that spot? Now, if you win a big pile up in Ygdrassil, you can start the following turn pillaging again, and that certainly is an advantage. One you got from winning a massive pile up, which obviously is a big risk. Normally though there will be armies around that the other players didn't use, and suddenly there's a new battle card that ruins everything for you and with that the army is gone. But even two consecutive raids of Yggdrasil isn't game deciding. Last time we played I won without ever managing to raid a single province.

Yesterday we were three people at my place playing the new edition of Through the Ages, and that was a lot of fun! I've tried it once before, but that time it all felt a little overwhelming. This time though, I felt I understood enough of the basics to try to make plans. The newest edition of this game is pretty and easy to learn I think. It takes a while though, even with just three people.

[Traveller]

I want to get something my 6 yr old could get into. I used to play a few really nice board games with some friends who had a 'nerd night' every week, but I used to leave quite drunk and can't remember what they were called.

Would something like Escape: Curse of the Temple be a good start? I like the 10 minute gameplay aspect - if it goes down well I might try them with Small World.

[amphibian]

I liked Escape. I didn't like Exploding Kittens that much.

There's also this assemble a magic plane and escape from a desert with a tornado in the middle of it game. I didn't like that.

[Maark Abbott]

Secret Hitler is pretty great.

[Salt-Man Z]

amphibian, on 23 September 2016 - 10:25 PM, said:

There's also this assemble a magic plane and escape from a desert with a tornado in the middle of it game. I didn't like that.

That's Forbidden Desert, by the designer of Pandemic, which it shares a lot in common with, but kind of veers off in its own direction. I think it's fun.

Speaking of which, we've been playing a lot of Pandemic Legacy this year (a little over halfway through our second attempt) and it's been a blast.

I've also been enjoying Dead of Winter a lot.

[Traveller]

Wow it's actually not that easy to get hold of Escape.