I had Heat for a few weeks, played against the AI and really didn’t like it. Yes, AI has their own movement rules based on where they are on the board. Not much variation. Sold it but it might have been fun against my kid but she had no desire to play.
Its a great game with other people - the more the better. Definitely the game that caught my attention the most in the past 6 months! Now if only I could find a copy of it in the US :)
You’re welcome!
Also, the expansion for Star Wars: Rebellion is good and you should get it.
Ha, nice try! My friend with whom I play already owns it. We’re both pretty skeptical about anything that adds more playtime, and especially anything that shifts the focus from the strategic level to the tactical level. I think I’m pretty safe from being lured into buying the Rebellion add-on. In fact, I’m pretty safe from ever using it!
But Star Wars: Outer Rim? My attempt to hold out against the Outer Rim add-on has officially failed. :(
I’ve played it solo and it is fine… but it is a racing game and that is where it shines. The AI is nice at low player counts to clog up the track, but you typically want other players
Old news I know, but can I just say how much I’m enjoying playing Pandemic Legacy S1 with my 13 y/o daughter?
I originally picked it up on special back in 2017 and took it on a multi-family vacation where four of us adults managed to plow through ~5 gameplay months during the week we were away. Everyone enjoyed it but we were never able to schedule further plays and so it sat quietly on my shelf for the next few years.
About a month back my daughter and I were looking to add something new into our regular weekly gaming sessions, which are typically dominated by the likes of Marvel United, Nidavellir, Mindbug, and Calico. Figuring we might as well get some play out of it, I dragged PL off the shelf and explained the basic gameplay loop. She picked it up immediately and was further enamoured when we finished the game by ripping up a card and opening a new box of content!
I know this sort of game is prone to quarterbacking but I’ve made a conscious effort to allow her to suggest our plan of attack, only pointing out alternatives to choose from if she missed something obvious. To her credit she’s now routinely pointing out gameplay mistakes I’m making, so I think we close to equal partners in this endeavour!
We’ve now churned through about five games and almost all of them have been nailbiters. The game does such a great job of presenting moments where we both push back our chairs, throw our hands in the air, and exclaim “We’re done! We can’t possibly win!” only to mull things over for the next five minutes and discover an action that could be saved somewhere, resulting in the narrowest of victories and plenty of high-fiving.
I’m sure we’re making a lot of sub-optimal moves (our monthly funding reached 8 at one point!) but if it produces great father-daughter moments like this I don’t care.
Has anyone played the Company of Heroes boardgame? The PM for the 2nd edition is out now and I really, really want to buy a lot of the stuff but I’m mostly a solo gamer and even though the designer said he reworked the solo mode and one dude says it plays great on TTS, I really am somewhat hesitant. I don’t do TTS so I cant try it.
It’s tough as I still have Aeon Trespass and Frosthaven unplayed but I love wargames more than anything and if the new solo mode is as good as it sounds, this could be my long term game.
I haven’t really played solo mode, partly because I’ve been waiting for 2e, so can’t comment on that. I really like the multiplayer game even in its 1e form, though some of the changes for 2e are definitely needed.
I’m not a wargamer, however, so if you’re coming from that perspective take my opinion with a heavy grain of salt.
Also, the check is in the mail and they won’t come in your mouth.
@Petey, no. Just no. Sorry to be so vulgar, but it sounds like you need someone to wave you off. Just look at their credits here and here. Two guys who’ve never made a game (okay, one of them made one game), working with a licensing deal instead of a publisher, having to “rework” something that should have been caught in testing. Just, no.
Save your money, Petey, get Aeon Trespass or Frostpunk to the table, and I promise you’ll forget all about a Company of Heroes boardgame that was never made for solitaire play. If you’re still tempted down the line, I’ll bet dollars to donuts you’ll be able to find dirt-cheap copies once everyone has moved on to the next Kickstarter boondoggle.
Phew. I needed some voice of reason to talk me down. Will wait and see how that all plays out.
Wait wait wait — @tomchick is Frostpunk worth looking into?! These days, I avoid anything that looks like an IP cash-in. Although I did enjoy Sniper Elite.
Caught up on a few solitaires this week. Both Heading Forward and Endurance are recent Hollandspiele favorites. Witchcraft! is the follow-up to Resist!, and it improves on the endgame significantly. Not to mention that Albert Monteys artwork! Also, the second season’s Final Girl baddies and locations are improvements on the first. The shaky tiebreaker rules continue to go unresolved, sadly.
To be perfectly honest, it wasn’t until I was typing the word that I realized Petey wasn’t talking about Frosthaven*.
I haven’t played either Frost game and have no interest in them. However, one of my boardgaming friends keeps threatening to show me his copy of Frostpunk, insisting it’s good. I suspect he’s desperate to justify his purchase. Because when he describes it, I can’t help but think, “Yeah, I can get a used copy of This War of Mine for about a quarter of the price…”
* I also thought he meant Aeon’s End when he mentioned Aeon Trespass. I’m tragically out of touch with BGG’s Hotness. What’s the word for the opposite of FOMO? Because that’s what I have.
Yeah, but This War of Mine doesn’t have a big coal tower in the middle of the board, and I am fairly sure you can’t bring back child labor in it.
Whew! I was afraid I’d have to invest in a hunk of plastic. A hunk of plastic that isn’t Return to Dark Tower, that is. It just looks so very… very… very bad.
I played it with a friend who kickstarted it. Was pretty impressed with it as a two player game, but I don’t imagine it would be as fun as a solo game. Lot of better light solo wargames out there.
Swings quite a ways from CoH, but Undaunted Normandy/North Africa with Reinforcements has an exceptional solo mode
Memoir 44 has decent homegrown one as well
For what it’s worth everyone I have talked to that has played it loves it. I haven’t gotten my copy to table yet - solo is just not a high priority for me and I can’t leave a big long game set up because I have two regular sessions with other players every week.
Aeons Trespass reprint just went live.
I had resisted the urge to get involved, but the new, smaller version they are selling seems like a good entrypoint to the series at like $115 rather than the $300+ for the core boxes.
I wish I had that smaller version to get used to the system…the main game is so large and I just dont have time to figure it out. But, it says 5/2025 for delivery so cant wait that long.
I’m trying so hard to withstand the onslaught. Guards of Atlantis 2 and now Aeons Trespass. I think I talked myself out of anymore Middara but I still have 2 weeks to break. The two year wait is actually good for me. I’ve got plenty to get through before I get this to the table.