Hm, the only boardgame I own that released last year is Axis and Allies and Zombies, so I guess that wins by default. Even though I got it for Christmas and haven’t had a chance to actually play it yet.
It’s no Rinella at all, although I believe he does have a very similarly named game :)
It’s a pretty good solo experience (you have to play as the Germans), I played it co-op vs the AI a couple of times. The AI is very basic and not particularly realistic but it does bring about a fun game. Unless you draw a particular card that changes up the victory condition from reasonable to absolutely impossible. Played it once vs a human opponent but the Russian side has limited options and may get bored. Russian setup is somewhat random so this is not a game for those seeking a high level of historical accuracy but the games I have played did bring about a very pleasing level of feeling “real” enough to justify the topic they have used as the basis for the game.
Oh that’s the Vento Nuovo one! Rinella’s is Verdun in the Volga. So the block game is good Stalingrad. Hmm.
Dang, bummed it’s not working for you. I like it in much the same way as La Granja. Very few actions per game, each with huge significance. Getting two gyrodines spinning just a turn early to double up on the huge spinning bonus on a specific turn is just so dang satisfying for me. I like that a subtle shift in tactics has a huge effect. I love how important turn order is. When everyone knows the most important tech of the game is dropping next turn and we’re all fighting over drafting low numbers a turn early to set up for it, and then going “how the hell am I going to use this?” Much like the dice in La Granja, they make what seems like an impossible goal possible. Also, first time I broke 200 points I felt like a million bucks.
I’m super glad to see you’re enjoying Lords of Hellas. I want to play it more but can’t tell if it’s for me yet. That rule book is kind of awful and I’ve played two games with at least one significant rule wrong. Pretty sure I’ve got it figured out now and am keen to find the cool in it.
This game looks cool, but I can’t quite get a grasp on what it is. Is it more like a pick-up and deliver game? Or a 4x? Or a storytelling game? I mostly want to get it for the art.
A bit of all those :) I would say it leans more towards pick up and deliver with elements of 4x. There’s not a lot of exploration, the board is known at the start of the game. Combat is non lethal, the losers units remain in play (this is a good thing in a game that seems to get to the end quite quickly). Not really sure what to compare it to otherwise, it’s very different to anything else I’ve played recently. And yes, the art is rather special.
I’ll keep playing Pulsar.
Empires of the Void II
This does look cool, but I’m at the point that unless something is a amazing I won’t buy it. That said I do want to try it.
Hellas rules aren’t great. Nemsis is much better. There is a great youtube video of the rules for Hellas. I highly recommend. I’ve only played 4 player games, but each game has ended with a different win condition and in surprising ways. I’m looking forward to the expansions as I think they will help the game. Just curious what rule were you playing wrong?
In the first game, every round of a hunt combat we were drawing +Strength combat cards. The rules say to repeat the hunting sequence, but don’t specify where the “hunting sequence” begins anywhere. This made hunting monsters super easy, and felt clearly wrong, but not until it had tanked the game.
In the second game (and maybe the first also?) we had the winner of combat losing a hoplite rather than the loser. The rules state “The loser of the Battle kills an additional Hoplite…” which sounds like a benefit, but it’s meant that they kill one of their own. This disincentivized combat enough that we rarely interacted. I don’t think we’ve yet played by the correct rules and were a little scarred by those plays. I’m excited to hear it’s fun when played correctly, though.
I don’t have much to add except that I definitely want to play “The White Tribe” now.
I feel like Rob in High Fidelity but with Wargames.
“It’s good.”
“I know.”
-Tom
“You’re wearing a Cosby sweater. A COSBY SWEATAHH!!”
Sorry, that’s all I got.
Get it. Play it. Love it.
This is not a 2018 release, but the game I had most fun playing this year was Clank! in Space
Everdell
Spirits of the Forest
Charterstone
Gloomhaven
Deadwood 1876
Keyforge
Older games we played the most
Roll for the galaxy
Champions of Midgard
6 Nimmt
Dice forge
Space Base
Hard to believe, but Gloomhaven was a 2017 game! Of course, I got my copy with the second Kickstarter (2018) just like almost everybody else.
Aw geez I totally forgot about Gloomhaven and should’ve put it on my list. It only shipped to the first kickstarter in 2017. In 2018 it shipped the second one and to retail, which seems like a more proper release anyways. I’m calling silliness on 2017 Gloomhaven.
Hey, I’ve been playing it since February 2017, and it’s the same game that got reprinted, with a few minor tweaks… :p
X-Wing Second Edition - took a good game, cleaned up a few of its rough edges, added some QoL stuff, and did a decent job of making most ships viable again (the latter now with potential for further improvement through points rebalances).
Keyforge - an interesting CCG-like experience without the overhead of deck building, net-decking, or meta-chasing.
Heck yeah. I’ve been enjoying it a lot. And despite some things being annoying, particularly the main scum mainstays being a bit too… aggressively costed, I am having a blast.
Strikers and Interceptors all day long for me. I’ve even gotten into the tournament scene with 2.0, and have been quite happy there as well. There’s no hard counters like in 1.0, and even rough matchups (see: Whisper, Echo, Soontir against the unholy alliance of Palob and his friends) feel like I can win.