Thanks for the write up! That Under Falling Skies set up is great.
Sounds like a great pick of games.
Our group tried Keyflower today and hated it. Nobody in the group remembered it that well, the rulebook is a study in bad translation, and Board Game Arena had a poor and confusing implementation with some wrong information (for example, telling us to “place a worker to activate this tile” on tiles that cannot be activated.) It was one of those bad gaming experience that caused the group to stop playing after 1 game instead of our customary Saturday 2-3 games.
Maybe it’s not the game b/c of our poor understanding but there are too many good games to waste time with that kind of crap IMO. I hated it.
As a counter-opinion, I think Keyflower is one of the best action placement games of the past decade, in a large part due to its innovation on the standard formula. That certainly comes with putting players outside their comfort zone for a few games, which will play very poorly if you have rules confusion and a bad online interface. I hope you have the opportunity to try it again without these problems at some point.
I really like Keyflower, too, but I had the advantage of a teacher who really knew the game well. It’s got some fundamentally weird abstractions, but if you accept those, it’s a top shelf Euro.
-Tom
I hate all three Key- games I’ve played. I don’t get the appeal of any of em
Getting into this hobby can be annoying. I read about a bunch of Deckbuilders to try (Dragonfire and expansions, Battle for Greyport, Renegade, etc). Most of them are ether out of print or impossible to get in Canada. They’re not that old too.
Plus with kickstarter in the mix, I get really confused when I see reviews for things that not in retail (Marvel United stuff). There’s no universal release list so lots of time you have to hunt for something that might suit your interest. I feel like I have taken Steam for granted for a long time lol.
Pretty good week. Still not sure what to think of Zurmat. The Monumental Edition for Clash of Cultures is significantly smoother than the original. Had a train evening, and the two picks were more complementary than expected.
Whoa. That’s a bit more than twice what I paid in the kickstarter and I am already feeling some remorse about that. I really need to stop looking at Steve Jackson’s kickstarters.
I just checked back to see when the Designer’s Edition Ogre Kickstarter was. Looks like delivery was supposed to be around Nov 2012. I’ve had that for nine years and can’t remember playing it. The idea is always much better than the reality.
Lol, I GOT it! Well ordered it, as soon as i get it, i need to schedule a game day :)
I felt it was essentially this oversized puzzle piece of Orge in GIANT boardgame form, id rather play the lackluster pc version.
Car Wars on the other hand, looks like a well engineered streamlined slightly eurostyle edition of the classic car wars. Im very interested in checking it out!
Sounds good! I can always be talked into warring with teh carz.
Dragonfire shouldn’t be that hard to find. Here in the US, I just loaded up on the base game and first few expansions without much difficulty. That said, I don’t necessarily recommend it. It’s better than the Shadowfire themed game before it, but the character development is painfully slow. As far as deckbuilders go, you can do a lot better.
As for Renegade, that’s a tough call. It’s a fantastic game, but it’s very very very out of print and priced accordingly everywhere. A reprint is supposedly on the way, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
@Hereafter, do you have any interest in historical theming? The Imperium games (Classic and Legends) are some of the most exciting developments I’ve seen in deckbuilding in a while:
And if you’re in it for solitaire play like me, I really like the solitaire bots David Turczi made for each individual nation’s deck. They do a great job of capturing the feel of how that nation/deck would work with a human player.
-Tom
Is there any difference between Legends and Classics or is it just theming? And do these play well with 4 or are they better solitaire?
I’ve got a board gaming weekend coming up and thinking about adding one of these. Planning on getting Dune Imperium, Brass, Root, and maybe Scythe on the table.
I think Legends is considered a bit more difficult to learn. It also has more errata. :)
Classics consists of more classical civilizations. Legends is a mix of classical and fantasy empires, including Atlanteans and Arthurians. The latter is more complex, although not by all that much.
Can confirm, though — both push deck-building in some very interesting directions. I’d link my review, but I have no idea whether that’s kosher around here.
Trans-Siberian Railroads is so neat! I’ve only played once, but really loved the negotiations over who we should feed to the government. I can’t think of another game with negotiations that feel quite like that. Really fun table talk, and intensely dramatic results. All in a ruleset we learned in like 10 minutes.
Thanks for the suggestions, I’m actually don’t mind any themes. I can pick up Classics but Legends doesn’t seem to available in any Canadian retailers I checked.
Re: Dragonfire. I know, I read it’s average and slow but it’s one of those thing I want to try regardless. It’s like the hitting on the crazy girl at a party. Probably (99%) she’s going to kill me, but what if she’s the one?
I will probably edge into solitaire play more often than not. Which brings me to, Hostage Negotiator. That’s another one I can’t seem to find.