Board Game Purchases

[Tayaya]

So the guys and I played Space Alert last night, and I have to say it's probably one of the better games I've played in the last 6-7 months.

We survived one of the two tutorial missions, and the one "simulated" mission with everything but the boarding actions in play. Everyone at the table had a fantastic time, and were all really pleased that we could belt out 3 games in less than 2 hours, including the time spent explaining the game to everyone. Definitely one I'd recommend to people looking for a good, challenging co-op game to play as a group.

EDIT: I need to stop trying to write lengthy impressions at work. I gutted most of this post, and will try to re-write them later

[Jackel]

Picked up Betrayal at the house on the Hill tonight, so I'm hoping to give that a try soon.

[Dualonymous]

Picked up zombies, I played it at pax and new it was fun. also had time to learn and play betrayal at house on the hill with jackel. I would recommend both.

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[Blue]

Put this up on Board Game Geek but can cross post it here if anyone is interested. Selling off my Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game set since I need to start paring down my collection and I know I'm going to end up buying the Star Wars one when it hits. Asking around $90 which includes shipping. Comes with the base set plus the entire Mirkwood cycle expansions plus Massing at Osgiliath. I don't have the boxes for the expansions any longer but I do have the rule booklets for each.

[KamaItachi]

Betrayal at House on the Hill sounds awesome. It's also reasonably affordable, which now puts it in mind for my next purchase.

[Camel]

Played an awesome little two-player game tonight called Drako. One person plays as a team of three dwarves while the other person plays as a dragon. The dwarves win by killing the dragon, while the dragon wins by killing the dwarves or surviving long enough to escape (when the dwarves run out of cards to play). Each side has different special abilities, such as using a net to hold the dragon down or burning the faces off of dwarves with fire breath. Games go by super quickly and it is a piece of cake to learn. Definitely a game I'm looking forward to playing more in the future!

Only problem is that it's not all that easy to get a hold of right now. I've never seen it in stores, and the only place I found it for sale online was cardhaus.com.

[Borthcollective]

Anyone played 51st State or New Era? My friend picked up 51st State after Christmas and we fell in love with the game. So much so that he went out and picked up New Era which is more of a stand alone than an expansion to 51st State.

It's a post apocalyptic card game where you are trying to establish a new country by building things, negotiating pacts, or plain old beating face. Look it up, it's great fun.

[PathMaster]

Wow Monopoly and Starcraft Risk, Me want!

[J Arcane]

I'd rather have WoW Risk.

[PathMaster]

A friend bought Twilight Imperium last week and we played it yesterday, Sunday.

Quality is excellent. Box uses thick cardboard and is very well built. Manual is full color and forty-three pages (A lot, I know). Pieces are molded and actually take work to pull out. Cardboard pieces are good, but tearing can happen when pulling them out and separating them.

Game takes a fair amount of setup the first time. And has a steep learning curve. But once the games starting going, it plays like a '4X' RTS. Something similar to Sins of a Solar Empire. The only thing really missing is the random encounters from Pirates, which frankly would actually make this board game move quicker. No idea how to fit that game mechanic into this yet.

We did not finish the game yet, but are approaching its end. We did not play a fully fleshed out version. No generals, no planet exploration dangers/bonuses. There was also only two of us, so no trading really. There is a lot of strategy involved, but still some luck, especially when combat arrives. I have bad 'luck' when d10s are involved, but I managed to fight off two attacks. One barely, the other handily.

A game where once you get the learning curve out of the way, makes for a great time.

[Iron Past]

Just got Defenders of the Realm in today, hope to go through single-player tomorrow. Unless something unexpected happens, I'll be ordering the prepainted figures from Eagle Games within the next couple of days, too. Looks like a lot of fun.

[Karak]

Originally Posted by PathMaster

A friend bought Twilight Imperium last week and we played it yesterday, Sunday.

Quality is excellent. Box uses thick cardboard and is very well built. Manual is full color and forty-three pages (A lot, I know). Pieces are molded and actually take work to pull out. Cardboard pieces are good, but tearing can happen when pulling them out and separating them.

Game takes a fair amount of setup the first time. And has a steep learning curve. But once the games starting going, it plays like a '4X' RTS. Something similar to Sins of a Solar Empire. The only thing really missing is the random encounters from Pirates, which frankly would actually make this board game move quicker. No idea how to fit that game mechanic into this yet.

We did not finish the game yet, but are approaching its end. We did not play a fully fleshed out version. No generals, no planet exploration dangers/bonuses. There was also only two of us, so no trading really. There is a lot of strategy involved, but still some luck, especially when combat arrives. I have bad 'luck' when d10s are involved, but I managed to fight off two attacks. One barely, the other handily.

A game where once you get the learning curve out of the way, makes for a great time.

My love for this game has at times flooded this website. But seriously. This game is everything...EVERYTHING I love about boardgames. It approaches Supremacy's current location as my #1 game of all time.

[PathMaster]

Yea it is a blast. We hope to finish it up this weekend. I also grabbed Puerto Rico, Catan, and Dominion, so maybe after a quick game of one of those, we will setup a new TI game. I just need to learn not to turtle. This game seems to reward those who strike first.

[Karak]

Originally Posted by PathMaster

Yea it is a blast. We hope to finish it up this weekend. I also grabbed Puerto Rico, Catan, and Dominion, so maybe after a quick game of one of those, we will setup a new TI game. I just need to learn not to turtle. This game seems to reward those who strike first.

I have only done a couple games with the expansion but from what I remember it moves some of the rewards around so that turtling isn't such a powerful first strategy.

I love to just go out and expand. Which usually costs me the game. Because I can't control myself and rarely take the time to set up a functional empire or think through my plans I just push forward.

Have you ever played Supremacy?

[PathMaster]

Heh, we messed up the rules for the first round and I ended up with like ten planets under my control. Made it so I had a ton of resources to build. I also needed to take the planet on the other side of the wormhole which was adjacent to my home. That made for some interesting game play.

I have not played Supremacy.

[Karak]

Originally Posted by PathMaster

Heh, we messed up the rules for the first round and I ended up with like ten planets under my control. Made it so I had a ton of resources to build. I also needed to take the planet on the other side of the wormhole which was adjacent to my home. That made for some interesting game play.

I have not played Supremacy.

Hahahaha. Messed up rules and TI is normal man. Its complex.

Well if they still have used copies I would suggest it. Its a bit dry compared to say TI, but some of the fan rules and such make it basically a very involved RISK style game. Its glorious. And the backstabbing and politics make current games look like a gangbang of love in comparison.

[PathMaster]

I could see where TI can turn people into pricks. Only two or three of us playing, so not much of a chance to back stab. We could see where, in a bigger game, you could screw people over a lot. In a fun way of course.

[Camel]

I remember seeing Karak talk about TI and having no clue what this giant, incredibly dorky-looking game was. Even after I started really getting into board gaming, I had no clue how people could sit down for the amount of time it would take to complete a game. Nowadays I find myself really, REALLY, wanting to play it.

Also, I'm definitely interested in another game that just came out that takes place in the same setting: Rex: Final Days of an Empire. It's based off of the old Dune board game, which I have never played but have heard people speak reverently of.

[PathMaster]

Switch up the game play with something else or at least spread it out over multiple sessions.

[Karak]

Originally Posted by Camel

I remember seeing Karak talk about TI and having no clue what this giant, incredibly dorky-looking game was. Even after I started really getting into board gaming, I had no clue how people could sit down for the amount of time it would take to complete a game. Nowadays I find myself really, REALLY, wanting to play it.

I just usually get people to play by basically saying that its 5-6 friends getting together, grabbing a ton of snacks, turning on some music that fits, and spending a saturday like a futuristic president or leader, trying to conquer, backstabbing, double dealing them triple dealing then going back and begging for help from those who betrayed. Its a game where so much is possible simply because with every doubledeal or step you take you may need to find someone to assist you that you betrayed so you quickly escalate your rewards for those that you may have betrayed before. You are on a see/saw of risk and reward. Its fucking epic.

Supremacy really got me into that style of gameplay. It was a bit more open(because it was a bit more basic), but it began my sunday gaming days where friends come over, we BBQ and make deals over a steak, break them over some cookies and icecream later, then try to talk everyone back into another deal while the beer is drank.

Its epic.