What's playing at your table?

[Gretyl]

By then, another gate would've opened up.

Two exceptions:

• He could've had a single-gate surge. He'd have to spend his movement phase evading/fighting the monsters, but he wouldn't lose the explored token until he left the gate's location.
• With The King In Yellow's expansion Mythos additions, you can draw a Mythos card that just adds two to the doom track and moves all monsters on the board.

[Cody]

The first time I played I think I accidentally beat it on the first turn, but I wasn't sure if I was playing right (in hindsight I wasn't because I didn't move the first monster and I wouldn't have been able to get to the gate after killing it, but it could have still worked out if another investigator had killed the monster first). What happened was I went to the first gate, killed the monster, got sucked in, then caught an encounter that immediately sent me back to Arkham with an explored token. Then I used the unique item I randomly drew at the start (I want to say elder sigil?) to close the gate. Would this have ended the game in a win? I just ignored it and kept playing anyway since it was my first time and I didn't know what I was doing.

You can also win by closing the last gate on the board and having a number of unspent gate trophies >= the # of investigators. Since Cody had at least two citizens running around, no, he hadn't won yet.

Either way, Cody couldn't have won: Arkham Encounter comes before Other World Encounter, which means that even though he was back with an explored token, he wouldn't get to close the gate until the Arkham Encounter on the next turn. By then, another gate would've opened up.

So you have to wait until the next encounter phase to seal it? How is it possible to seal the last gate then? Can a gate be sealed without exploring it first?

[Tom the Cat]

• On the first round? Nope. /edit: Ah, I see what you're saying. Possible, but vurry unlikely.
• I can't comment on expansions, and since he didn't mention any, I think it's safe to assume we're just talking about Plain Jane AH.

[Cody]

I see what he's saying. That'd be a second round win if the first gate surged at the end of the first turn and there wasn't a limit to the number of gates you have to seal to win.

[Tom the Cat]

So you have to wait until the next encounter phase to seal it? How is it possible to seal the last gate then? Can a gate be sealed without exploring it first?

Pretty much not possible unless you fulfill one of the two conditions Gretyl outlined or are playing with 2+ players coordinating and sealing gates simultaneously while also getting very lucky (like drawing those 'get out of Other World free' cards).

You're generally supposed to only win if you a) seal 6 gates or b) defeat the Old One. Winning via closing all gates is incredibly difficult if not impossible without a few lucky draws (like, say, one or two early gate surges).

[Gretyl]

I see what he's saying. That'd be a second round win if the first gate surged at the end of the first turn and there wasn't a limit to the number of gates you have to seal to win.

I'm not talking about you winning, I'm talking about whither all the gates can be closed right-offa the bat.

[Gretyl]

Winning via closing all gates is incredibly difficult if not impossible without a few lucky draws (like, say, one or two early gate surges).

This is likelier than you may think, especially if you seal the highly unstable locations* with Elder Signs & clue tokens in the midgame.

* starting south and going counterclockwise: Woods, Black Cave, Independence Square & Unvisited Isle

[Gretyl]

True tales outta school: I've played the Scientist my last two AH games and keep having to resist the urge to camp out in the Woods and use her flux dampener as an informal gate seal.

[Talenos]

So I played my first game of Zombies!!! last night. It was fun. Never played but feel I should since I like zombies so much. I can't tell if skill means you're more likely to win though.

I suggested Arkham, but someone said that was too hardcore and took 4-6 hours to play a game.

[Gretyl]

At least it ain't 18xx!

[Gretyl]

I'm wary of that to this day. Games range from 6h to 18+ (!!!) hours.

[Reagraham Lincool]

I'm wary of that to this day. Games range from 6h to 18+ (!!!) hours.

Reminds me of the good-old wh40k days.

[daoist]

Played Agricola for the first time. I need to play it again a few times to see if I like it or not. There was an awful lot to soak in.

Played it a few more times. I like it. Though I do want to read through the instructions myself once or twice because I don't feel like I could teach anyone the game right now.

A few nit picks:

1. I 200% understand why companies produce aftermarket bits for this game. There's a lot of disks and shit to keep track of. If I got agricola I'm sure I'd pimp it out with appropriate bits.

2. It's sort of anticlimactic for the game to end and then everyone spends a few minutes tallying up the score. I don't know of any better mechanism.

All in all, I like to think of it as a sort of non-game game. Sorta like the sims. It's an apt comparison, I suppose. Even when I lose at agricola I don't feel too bad because it just doesn't feel like there's much competition. I really do like the game as a sort of social fun type thing. And in that spirit mods to make it more accessible (i.e. game pieces that look like what they're supposed to be) would help greatly.

[daoist]

Played the Battlestar Galactica board game for the first time last night. Very good game. I drew the Cylon loyalty card right off the bat and it was a lot of fun trying to secretly fuck with the human players.

Munchkin Quest (the board game version) sucks. Every few weeks we try to play it at our board game nights. The game takes forever and each players' turn can take anywhere up to 15-20 minutes, giving the rest of the players ample time to fall the fuck asleep. Unless you're right next to each other you can't help/hinder combat, so there's not even that level of interactivity. Seriously, way to drain all the fun out.

Aw, shit. I was going to go out and blindly buy this game too. I was thinking, "How could this possibly be bad?"

On a related note, has anyone used the "Dungeon" set of Munchkin expansion cards? I was wondering if they were any fun.

Personally I don't like them. They make the game too swingy and take way too long as shit starts adding up.

But that's a complaint I have about munchkin in general. If they released an expansion of almost nothing but small to mid-sized monsters I think that'd fix a lot of it. As far as I know Tas has all the expansions and there's so many non-monster cards in the deck now that we can go several rounds before anyone has anything to fight. It makes the game drag on way too long.

[daoist]

Daoist and I have been doing a lot of games at our place recently, but we keep on coming back to Munchkin and Betrayal at House on the Hill. Munchkin's a blast, especially if you can snag the expansions, and Betrayal is just a really fun game. It's out of print, though, which just sucks. Also heard from a lot of people that the Battlestar Galactica board game's a really good one - some elements of Werewolf, along with the action, since at least one player is a Cylon, attempting to sabotage the rest.

Hmm. My wife and I were given Betrayal at House on the Hill as a gift a few years ago and haven't played it. We opened it when friends were over, spent about five minutes looking at the rules/setup and gave up.

Still not super hopped up on the game? huh huh huh? I'll take it! eh? eh?

[daoist]

I pretty much quit at Tempest. Got into (Unglued?...is that it?) when it was released. Nothing since then.

ditto. I played from Revised until around here, then quit and haven't looked back. Anyone want a bunch of cards that are sitting in my dresser in my mom's house and are probably just slowly rotting?

Sure do!

[Little Bobby Tables]

I've played a few rounds of Condottiere now. I'm not sure I have a good grasp on the strategy, and it makes you hate everybody that you play with by the end, but it's still a pretty fun card game.

[Gretyl]

Anyone here have experience with Duel of Ages? Tom Vasel pimps it on his Dice Tower top 100 list every year, but I'm still intrigued.

EDIT: Anything you'd add or correct to this review? http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/2461825#2461825

[daoist]

We should have some sort of gathering wherein we play games.

[Dragmire]

We should have some sort of gathering wherein we play games.

that's a good idea. why didn't anyone think of this before?

i think a weekend would be best, so beer and liquor can be involved.

[Tas]

Just picked up Stone Age today, since we've had lots of people asking for it. Looks pretty fun, and the starting player marker (a standee of a tribesman in a chair) may be one of my favorite game pieces ever. Also, I like that it comes with a leather dice cup, even if it smells like ass.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Just picked up Stone Age today, since we've had lots of people asking for it. Looks pretty fun, and the starting player marker (a standee of a tribesman in a chair) may be one of my favorite game pieces ever. Also, I like that it comes with a leather dice cup, even if it smells like ass.

We call it the pretty pretty princess in our group for the added comedy factor.

Also, almost all the scoring happens at the end game. Mind those cards.

[daoist]

I dislike it when games are decided by after-game scoring. It's always an anticlimax. That said, some of my favorite games are that way. Just wish there were a better system.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Played the board game version of Starcraft last night. I expected it to take forever and be boring. It was long-ish for my preferences (4 hours with rule explanation with 6 players), but it was a pretty interesting game. They did a good job of snipping out the boring shit from the computer game (resource gathering and building are pretty streamlined) and scaling it down to a board game scale (e.g. there's only 3 of most units, but all the units from the game are represented). Combat's a little oversimplified for my tastes (put down cards, flip them over, smaller-number units go boom) but it was a fun experience overall. I would definitely play again.

[Tas]

Dominion: Seaside should be arriving this Thursday at Mayhem. So you know.

[Gretyl]

A PDF of Seaside's rules (with a complete cardset on page 3!) can be found here: http://www.riograndegames.com/uploads/G ... eRules.pdf

[daoist]

Awesome. I like a lot of the interactions.

I foresee difficulty changing the playing habits of the "just put the cards right into your discard pile" crowd.

[walk around and drink]

Daoist and I have been doing a lot of games at our place recently, but we keep on coming back to Munchkin and Betrayal at House on the Hill. Munchkin's a blast, especially if you can snag the expansions, and Betrayal is just a really fun game. It's out of print, though, which just sucks. Also heard from a lot of people that the Battlestar Galactica board game's a really good one - some elements of Werewolf, along with the action, since at least one player is a Cylon, attempting to sabotage the rest.

Hmm. My wife and I were given Betrayal at House on the Hill as a gift a few years ago and haven't played it. We opened it when friends were over, spent about five minutes looking at the rules/setup and gave up.

Still not super hopped up on the game? huh huh huh? I'll take it! eh? eh?

sold it to someone in germany for $150. sorry.

[daoist]

thats a fair play.

i've been thinking of a strategy to pirate it.

[Reagraham Lincool]

Played some 4-player Zombies!!! last night. Fuck, that game takes too long. It's just a constant stream of Mario Kart fuckery.

[daoist]

Holy crap seaside is great!

If you've just got dominion and need to choose between intrigue and seaside for your next one, go for seaside, seriously. If seaside were a full game (it doesn't come with the standard treasure or victory cards like dom and int do) I'd say make it your first Dominion purchase. Yes, really.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Played some 4-player Zombies!!! last night. Fuck, that game takes too long. It's just a constant stream of Mario Kart fuckery.

That was my reaction too. We just threw our hands up and quit after a while because we were fucking each other over so much that no one was ever going to win.

Also, I can't wait to try Seaside. The cards look pretty interesting.

[Little Bobby Tables]

I picked up Seaside tonight. We played one game with the first preset from the rules. I think Pirate Ship is way too powerful for a 4 card.

[daoist]

We didn't like pirate ship. I'll have to play with it more to see.

I'm a big fan of explorer.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Someone in our game bought 3 or 4 pirate ships and proceeded to destroy most of our treasure. he then had a pirate ship with 8 on it. provinces ran out quickly, game over. too powerful.

I haven't played with explorer yet.

Embargo is great. My dick moves for the game were putting a couple on the Duchys, Provinces, and Copper.

[daoist]

I don't like embargo. It seems like it's too steep a price to pay. I do like the idea of embargoing victory point cards to make them a bad buy, though.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Embargo seemed to work well in that it rapidly clogged people's decks up with curses, making their turns less productive. That really seemed to be the bigger benefit.

[daoist]

Someone in our game bought 3 or 4 pirate ships and proceeded to destroy most of our treasure. he then had a pirate ship with 8 on it. provinces ran out quickly, game over. too powerful.

Were you playing pirate ship correctly? You only get a token if anyone trashed a treasure. Not one per treasure trashed. So it'd take 8 turns to get 8 coins. (at least)

[Little Bobby Tables]

Yep. It still worked out that way. Getting those out early means a high probability of finding a treasure.

[Little Bobby Tables]

Keeping in mind that with + actions and stuff, more than one pirate ship a turn cna be played.

[Gretyl]

Yep. It still worked out that way. Getting those out early means a high probability of finding a treasure.

So an attack card needs an appropriate defense, you say? HMM!

[Little Bobby Tables]

The set we were playing with had no reaction cards. We mostly ended up getting cards that gave us free stuff (e.g. smugglers) rather than money.

[Gretyl]

That's just a weak set of kingdom cards, not necessarily a weakness in Pirate Ship's design. Between the three sets, is it possible to play an all-attack layout now?

[daoist]

Yep! There's 13 attack cards. After Dom:Int there were 9, so almost there.

http://dominion.diehrstraits.com/list.html

[Gretyl]

So deyyigo. My plan is near fruition.

[Reagraham Lincool]

Second (test) gaming session DMing All Flesh Must Be Eaten. We're still getting the mechanics down, but the gameplay feels much smoother than last time. I'm having my players play themselves (represented as "Norms" in the game mechanics). It's a bit miss-heavy (most of my friends aren't gun-nuts) but I've added a little card mechanic so they can avoid getting fucked too badly. Over all my impression is that the mechanics are decent enough, but the poor editing (in a roleplaying book?!?) makes unraveling them much harder than it needs to be.

[Gretyl]

Seaside is awesome. I really dig the contrast between Fishing Village & Native Village & Islands. All of the Duration cards seem well-balanced, though the amount of Throne Room breakage seems unfortunate on the whole. Pearl Diver/Salvager seem like great related-but-independent ideas.

Anyone have tips for thwarting Pirate Ship kingmaking?

[Gretyl]

Second (test) gaming session DMing All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

Who publishes that? Anyone worth knowing?

[daoist]

Seaside is awesome. I really dig the contrast between Fishing Village & Native Village & Islands. All of the Duration cards seem well-balanced, though the amount of Throne Room breakage seems unfortunate on the whole. Pearl Diver/Salvager seem like great related-but-independent ideas.

Anyone have tips for thwarting Pirate Ship kingmaking?

How does one king-make with pirate ships?

Maybe a house rule where if you have pirate ship (or any of the other mega-asshole attack cards) you have to have one of the reaction cards in the supply? Also, lighthouse.

[Gretyl]

Well, if you've got a player dumb enough to be trying an undefended Moneylender/Coppersmith strat in the presence of Pirate Ships...

[daoist]

How does that help that player?

[Gretyl]

It doesn't, but there isn't a damn thing any other player can do to block it. Hence, king-making.

[daoist]

king-making is the process of making some other player win. Making yourself win is just...smart.

[Gretyl]

I think we're using ambiguous referents here. Say we have players P (for Pirate), MC (for Moneylender/Coppersmith) and U (for you). P bought a Pirate Ship sometime on turns 1/2/3, MC bought Moneylender or Coppersmith on turns 1/2/3. Assuming fixed strategies for players P & MC (that bias card selection toward complements to their first-, second-, third-turn purchases), what should U be doing to win faster than player P?

I'm most interested in U-strategies that aren't P, for the card layout of your choice that includes Pirate Ships AND (Moneylender OR Coppersmith).

[daoist]

I agree that pirate ship is very powerful. Not sure what you're getting at.

[Alice Ayers]

Holy crap seaside is great!

If you've just got dominion and need to choose between intrigue and seaside for your next one, go for seaside, seriously. If seaside were a full game (it doesn't come with the standard treasure or victory cards like dom and int do) I'd say make it your first Dominion purchase. Yes, really.

Yeah, I really love the third expansion, too, but have only played 2 rounds of it. Having an entire attack deck by now will be pretty awesome, but also next to impossible to complete by buying provinces. Also, F the smugglers card. I handed the win to someone else b/c they used their smugglers nearly in tandem with my duchy purchases.

[daoist]

I want to play board games tonight.

[Gretyl]

Tas broke out The Adventurers last night, which is a pretty good quick temple-raiding adventure... CURSE YOU WATERFAAAAAALL!!

[daoist]

Yeah I dug it heartily. A few things:

The minis are nicely detailed, but unpainted. I'd love to see some painted up lovingly in the style denoted by the artwork.

Also this game lends itself to expansion. I think it may have some decent replayability as-is, but can't wait for the inevitable expansions/sequels/episodes they'll release.

[daoist]

After you guys left we played Stone Age. Very awesome. Play is very similar to Agricola. Not sure which I like more. It's slightly less bitsy than agricola, but only slightly. I found the bits easier to keep track of since they were different shapes and colors. The victory conditions in Agricola are a bit more straight-forward so I'd have to give it the nod.

[Gretyl]

Are final scores for that game as predetermined as Agricola's? There's a nontrivial extent to which I consider the latter to be fancy-pants Candyland. Stacked hands are very strong winner predictors.

[daoist]

You might like Stone Age more, then. It's the main bone I pick with the scoring.

Part of it is buying culture cards and buildings. The culture cards are similar to the improvement cards in Agricola (mostly they give you multipliers during final scoring). The buildings give you points when you build them based on the materials that go into them.

In Agricola, it's easier to get a feel of game-state just glancing around the table. If someone's got a full farm with zillions of stone rooms and is full of cattle, he's probably winning.

In Stone age, it's a tossup. The endgame might as well be determined Mario-Party style; it's as if the points just fall out of the sky. The cards and their multipliers are inscrutable from across the table so you'd have to get up and walk around and examine each player's tableau to determine who's winning. I dislike that.

[Gretyl]

Oh, I don't like predetermination whether its visible or not.

[daoist]

What do you like better? The result being totally unrelated to how the players do in the game? I very much dislike that.

[Gretyl]

I like games where all players start on an equal footing and mid-game feedback is possible. Agricola violates the first condition and Stone Age violates (at least) the second. Do players receive private hands of culture cards or are they available to all players equally?