You can always put the cardboard bits in 21mm coin capsules for about half the price. I plan on doing that some time soon
Yeah I may do that.
You can always put the cardboard bits in 21mm coin capsules for about half the price. I plan on doing that some time soon
Have you played it solo?This game is legit. I meant to make a post about it in here as I have been talking about it in the Discord for a couple weeks. Plan for your first games to be really long, though lol
Awkward Guests has finally made it to QM Logistics in the U.S.! I'm just glad nothing could possible delay shipping any further in Florida.
(I jest, be safe and please don't risk your life to ship a board game)
Played my first game of 7th Continent tonight. It's pretty cool, but I do have some stuff I want to research on the game, because I do have some questions regarding our next step.
For clarification: are you on the second mission of the first campaign or did you start the second campaign that's available? My feeling is that the game is mostly built around the exploration missions with the combat ones peppered in. That could change depending on the campaign, I believe. I don't mind the combat sections as much because I have a long history with playing grid based light skirmish games (like Heroclix), but they are weaker than the exploration missions in my opinion. That being said, once your decks get a little better, it's more fun.Played the second journey in Lord of the rings journeys in middle earth.
I didn't enjoy it as much as the first, I feel the battle map looks a bit generic overall and it lacks the excitement of searching and unveiling the points of interests. Overall felt like too much of an onslaught of enemies.
Can anyone give an indication of what the split between battle map & terrain map is through the campaign?
For clarification: are you on the second mission of the first campaign or did you start the second campaign that's available? My feeling is that the game is mostly built around the exploration missions with the combat ones peppered in. That could change depending on the campaign, I believe. I don't mind the combat sections as much because I have a long history with playing grid based light skirmish games (like Heroclix), but they are weaker than the exploration missions in my opinion. That being said, once your decks get a little better, it's more fun.
In terms of actually finishing the curse? Or in terms of "I'm not sure if I played that right"? The most bizarre part of 7th continent is the item stacking/combining thing. My bow and arrow mixed with a slab of meat mixed with a rope having 5 uses is still a bizarre thing to see.
Probably need more info, but if you stopped / saved the game, you only put the terrain tile down that the characters were on when you saved, and put new exploration cards for any surrounding cards. It's like a soft reset for exploration.
Thoughts on Mage Knight Ultimate Edition? I'm probably grabbing it today.
Same. I love Troyes, but for some reason Black Angel doesn't look like I would need to get it and stick with Troyes instead.
I freaking love when a game comes with all the stuff to be organized.
Never played or owned the expansions so I can't comment on how they improve or change the core experience, but I played the crap out of the game when it was new. I really like the core concept of the game and I like how the cards work, BUT (and these are some pretty big "buts" for me), I never really had fun playing with other people. The game just takes too long for what amounts to fighting tokens that you flip over. It feels like a sandbox game, but you don't really have a lot of options for what to do since so many things are essentially "level-gated." I also hate the castles. The characters feel really cool and different, though ones that have a movement advantage out of the gate feel really powerful. I also really like the leveling up system. If you like card/hand puzzles and don't mind a lot of down-time, the game is worth a look. I just think there are other games out there that have similar feels that are more engaging for multiple players (Gloomhaven being the main one for me).Thoughts on Mage Knight Ultimate Edition? I'm probably grabbing it today.
Thoughts on Mage Knight Ultimate Edition? I'm probably grabbing it today.
Played Wingspan tonight. Still really love that game . So damn pretty
Probably need more info, but if you stopped / saved the game, you only put the terrain tile down that the characters were on when you saved, and put new exploration cards for any surrounding cards. It's like a soft reset for exploration.
Yeah, did the save. I'll figure it out.
Played a lot of other games over the the last three days. Played The Mind a bunch of times. Carpe Diem, another play of Quacks of Quedlinberg, Noctiluca, Fury of Dracula (which I haven't played in a long time, and it was the first time I won with Dracula). Played a bit of Wish You Were Here to kill time, Imperial Settlers, and Castles of mad King Ludwig (another game I haven't played in a long time).
will say though that it's a game I wouldn't play with just anyone. A game that should've ended in an hour 1/2 to two hours ended up lasting 3 hours from people being distracted with phones and such. And while I say 5 people can allow more things to happen with the right cards in play, that also drags the time considerably, even if the design lends itself well in minimizing down time if the players are focused and using that down time to plan their next action.
Yesterday I completed my first campaign of This War of Mine. I bought this recently and began playing a solo campaign a few days ago.
And honestly, why didn't I picked this up sooner?! What an incredible game! I always liked challenging, highly thematic experiences (one of my favorite board games of all time is Eldritch Horror), and this game absolutely delivers on that front.
Actually, it might be the most thematic game in my collection. Your (unspecified) country erupted in civil war. You're now trapped in the city and must try to survive. This is definitely not a game for the faint of heart, the designers wanted to represent the real, harsh reality of what it was to live in the middle of a war. They succeeded. It means you'll see plenty of horrific and heartbreaking situations along the way. The goal of the campaign is to survive for a set number of days by any means necessary.
From the first moment I began playing, I got completely absorbed by the story. Exactly like if I was reading a good book. For example, I noted what happened on a specific night in the campaign. Here is exactly how it played out from the point of view of a character named Anton:
What exactly happened with Katia and Marko during scavenging is also another good story....
If it seems highly narrative, it's because it is. The game comes with a book containing more than 1900 small narrative entries that you randomly get with the help of a clever cross-referencing card system. While you'll from time to time come across some content you've seen before, this system very efficiently makes sure no game has the same story. Also, what impressed me the most is how seamlessly these small narrative pieces integrate with what's really happening on the board. The story flows very naturally in a way I've never seen before in a board game.
And the game is brutal. That said, while a few situations are certainly luck-based, I've never had the impression it was unfair, though. After a few hours of play, you begin to understanding the game world, and how to react in it. It is definitely unforgiving, though.
Something that surprised me is how long a regular campaign takes to play. This first campaign took me a good 5 to 6 hours to complete. Thankfully, there is a very clever "save system" in the game that let you stop the game, put it back in the box, and restart exactly where you were when you're ready to continue. And trust me, you'll want to use it. Because of its subject matter, the game can get very exhausting to play sometimes. It's good to take a break and put away the game after a few in-game days.
While playing I went a few times on BGG for rules questions, and I came across two very good threads. The first one is a review of the game by an actual survivor of the siege of Sarajevo. His testimony is fascinating. According to him, the game is very realistic:
Another thread that is very interesting was made by a guy that asked his twin 13-year-old daughters to play the game as an educational tool. According to him, they took a lot from the game and it provoked a lot of family discussion. His daughters kept a diary throughout the campaign, and he posted the unedited version of it in the thread:
Heya, I'd been keeping an eye out for this game to buy since I read your thoughts on it. I managed to find it for a good price today so I got it. I was looking for more thematic experiences and feel like this would do nicely. I watched The Dice Tower review and while Tom liked it, he said he just couldn't play it anymore, now I'm slightly worried it might almost be too traumatic. Hope it'll be ok though.
Do you think you will get the expansion - Tales from the Ruined City?
Also I agree with the guy in that BGG thread, I'd also consider using this as an educational tool, once my kids are a reasonable age.
Congrats! This is a very good game if you like heavy thematic stuff. And I would't define it as "traumatic", but it is definitely heavy. You will get into situations that will break your heart. If you find it to be too much, the game suggests removing the black card (blind and merciless fate) and/or red card (drastic scenes) from the Colors Deck (the deck you draw from to determine narratives events). But I very highly suggest you keep them in as these cards definitely provide tension to the game, and they greatly help in building impactful narratives. Let me know your thoughts once you have the chance to play a little.
And I did bought the Tales from the Ruined City expansion. I would say it's a good expansion, but it's far from being necessary. The highlights from it are Emira, the 13th character, and the scenarios, which are very good. The expansion even come with a sealed envelope for each of the five scenarios. If you win one you get to open its envelope, which gives you a few extra beneficial cards to permanently add to the game. I like to play scenarios once in a while because they are usually shorter than a regular game. And those in the expansion are very fun.
As for the rest, the Farmers, Sewers, and Desperate Measures modules are not bad, and I do see myself including them in a game once in a while, but I do prefer the game without them.
Oh, and if you want to set the mood while playing, I found that The Last of Us soundtrack is great for that purpose!
This one maybe? https://www.spielematerial.de/en/catalogsearch/result/?q=standDoes anyone know a retailer in Europe that sells stuff like accessories for board games etc. of all kinds?
Yeah, like that! Cheers mate.
Went all in on Gloomhaven awhile last month. Game, card sleeves, Broken Token organizer - which, as far as I'm concerned is essential to play the thing.
And, damn. It's pretty excellent. My group has played around 30 hours together now and there's still a lot (A LOT) left to go through.
The initiative order can sometimes disrupt whatever plan you had for that round, and you learn to roll with the punches in a sense, but there is a sense of your hard planning almost not really mattering.
Furthermore, sometimes the number of components can feel silly and the game takes a ton of management from round to round. Clearing/adding counters to monster stats, reshuffling action decks, moving element counters. It can feel overbearing.
Pretty amazing game, though. I think about playing it all the time which is a good sign.
Can anyone speak to the longevity of this thing? Does it hold up as you get deeper into the story? I'm wondering if my table will fizzle on it after running its 50th dungeon or so. Responses on this would be awesome.
What are your thoughts on Fury of Dracula? I've had the new edition sitting around for a while, but I've been holding off on bringing it to the table due to both saving it for some holiday thematic sessions and that the play time seems quite long to devote to one game on most nights.
Anyone else looking at Merchants Cove? I'm really tempted but am worried that the lack of commonality will hurt player interaction.