Boardgaming 2021: minis are back, baby!

[AWS260]

@Shieldwolf

Finally, has anyone played Martin Wallace’s Anno 1800 board game? Finally available at Amazon and was looking at it.

In my two plays of Anno 1800, I found it just OK. It’s an impressively polished design that moves quickly, and it’s genuinely remarkable how the game makes a huge number of resources/buildings readable and manageable. But I found the cycle of “build factory to produce resources to build factory to produce resources to…” kind of dull. It’s also quite multiplayer-solitaire in the vein of many modern eurogames, with players working toward their own goals on their own boards. There’s a pinch of positive interaction when you use someone else’s factory.

That said, I know that it’s gotten some strong reviews and @Lorini likes it a lot. She has also pointed out that there are some advanced strategies that involve rushing the game-end condition, so it’s probably not as multiplayer-solitaire as I think.

[Shieldwolf]

That’s kind of my worry and that there might be a strong strategy that just is too strong that pushes people to one way to win.

[tylertoo]

@Spock, in the “What you played in September” thread, asked me about my boardgame of the month, City of Kings. Rather than derail that thread, I thought I’d reply here.

@Spock

What do you think of these criticisms?

@Spock

Vasel thought it lacked theme.

I’m not sure what he means by this. But I don’t play as many games as he does, so maybe that’s why. The theme, as I see it, is threats against a major city, and the characters venture out to confront those threats. My one criticism in terms of the theme is you really don’t get a sense of the city itself, only the lands beyond. Also, keep in mind that this is, at its core, a puzzler more than an RPG-ish crawler. The story is minimal.

@Spock

He points out that the main characters are very similar;

Each character has special skills that you acquire as you level up, and those skills are unique to each character. Otherwise, yes, they are similar in terms of their basic stats and abilities.

@Spock

that monsters get random traits unrelated to their monster-ness;

Yes, it is absolutely random, and I really love that. Every time a creature activates, you draw tiles from one of three bags (depending on difficulty of the monster) to get its abilities. (Some creatures also have set abilities in addition to the ones that are drawn). The sorts of effects those abilities can cause are pretty wide ranging, they’re not just various ways to ding the players. It adds a feeling of chaos to the game, and forces you to constantly adapt your strategies on the fly. I love pulling those tiles out the bag and finding out what shit I now have to face.

@Spock

that the monster art itself is banners and rather generic;

True for the base monsters, but the boss monsters have real portraits on their cards and standees. This was probably a budget thing.

@Spock

you can’t equip a sword early on

Well, you start out with a basic damage stat that is unaffected by any luck whatsoever. It’s symbol is a sword! There are advanced items that you purchase later on in the city or at a remote shop, once you’ve accumulated sufficient resources. Those items include weapons and apparel for legs, body and head that boost your stats. Pretty standard approach.

@Spock

randomness affects gameplay in lots of ways.

As noted above, I enjoy this, it adds chaos. Every play is different. Which is part of the reason that every time I finish (win or lose) a scenario, I want to try it again.

@Spock

For me, those things mostly sound like pluses:

Agree, as you’ve seen from my responses, those mostly are pluses in my book. I also enjoy the worker gathering resources element. Lots of meaty decisions on each turn.

@Spock

where did you get the game?

I got it a few weeks ago in a local game swap event. I lucked out – gave up an old copy of the base game of Sentinels of the Multiverse and $25 for CoK. Barter!

Keep in mind there are various editions floating around. The KS edition has overlays to keep your tracking cubs aligned; mine does not. You might find a good used copy on BGG. Hope that helps. Here’s a good overview from the publisher.

[Spock]

Thanks for that awesome reply! And thanks for moving it here. I should have thought of that myself.

$25 is a great deal for CoK! I’d pay twice that and be happy.

Thanks especially for the detailed reply to Vasel’s criticisms. I think what bothered him on theme was the random traits of monsters. Why, he asked, would a scorpion have an ice-ray and a mind-reading ability instead of poison and a hard carapace? But for me, that variability sounds awesome. It’s not so hard for me to imagine a cold-weather scorpion with a big brain.

Also, he acknowledged that players can eventually choose different skills, but at the start players are identical, and there aren’t that many skills to distinguish them. Again, this doesn’t bother me, as players are free to start allocating level-up points differently.

Anyway, I think I’m now moving to the “hunt for a better deal than $104” stage. :) Thanks for the feedback.

[Brooski]

@Tyjenks

@Shieldwolf

Beyond the Sun is a game that shouldn’t be fun but is incredibly enjoyable. Tech tree the game. Build out your tech tree and colonize planets and complete objectives for victory points.

I meant to bring this one up when I played it over Labor Day. I don’t like space themes or a lot of conflict on a small board. Outside of the tech tree, that’s what this game is. And yet the way the tech tree is woven into the game design is fascinating. Other games may have done it, but, if so, I missed it.

Another great game with seemingly limited choices each turn, but because of the way mechanics are woven together, those decisions on what to do can be really difficult.

We’re playing it right now at @tomchick’s house! It did seem pretty simplistic at first but I think it is turning out better than expected.

[malkav11]

Man, that is a plain, plain boardgame. I mean, it could be worse - I’ve seen some hideous ones, and ones that are a confusing mess, and that’s at least clean and readable. But it could use some pizazz.

[Dave_Perkins]

I think it’s elegant looking.

[JoshL]

I did always think it was weird that the tech board is like 3x the size of… all of outer space.

But it is kind of a clean graphic design. I’ve only ever played it online, so I dunno how it looks in real life.

[Shieldwolf]

Well I’m jealous there was no invitation. Also how about the weight of that box…sheesh.

[Tyjenks]

@malkav11

Man, that is a plain, plain boardgame. I mean, it could be worse - I’ve seen some hideous ones, and ones that are a confusing mess, and that’s at least clean and readable. But it could use some pizazz.

Yeah, it’s dry and I think that is why I don’t often like space games. A lot of them just seem bland. It was great fun to play and I forgot about that drawback quickly.

[Tyjenks]

@Brooski @tomchick

Who won?!?! And what did you both think?

[tomchick]

Our friend Kyle who has a machine brain won. He also won Dune: Imperium and Quartermaster General: Cold War. I, however, won Seiji Kanai’s Chronicle, a really cool trick-taking game that I knew better than anyone else at the table. I’m sure if we ever revisit it, I will have lost my edge.

I wasn’t very fond of Beyond the Sun. It felt dry. I think it’s because the nature of the game never really changed. My frame of reference for tech-tree games is Innovation and Pax Transumanity, where the new techs bend and break the existing gameplay structures. They feel like disruptions. But it felt to me like the technologies in Beyond the Sun simply optimize the existing gameplay structures without introducing enough meaningful changes.

I will say, however, that I’m glad we played with the advanced factions. It would have felt even more dry if we’d been using the basic symmetrical factions. Still, I’d play it again. As someone noted at our table, it feels like one of those games you’re not really playing until you’ve played it once to see how it works, and then a second time to actually play it.

-Tom

[Brooski]

It certainly isn’t as good as Dune: Imperium or SpaceCorp.

[Tyjenks]

I’d played Dune: Imperium the same weekend and, of course, completely agree.

Beyond the Sun is definitely dry. Maybe I had such low expectations I was surprised I liked it. I REALLY shouldn’t have because a couple were teaching me and their 15 year old was playing, he got bored and would leave the table and only come back for his turn. Then his Dad would get irritated when he whined about missing something and his mom would try to play peacemaker. I just sat their and tried to look like everything was all good. :)

…I think it was just good to be playing board games again.

[Shieldwolf]

I’m baffled by Dune: Imperium. I so want to like it, but it was just too slow for me. I should like it. I Iove deck building and area control games, but for some reason that game just feels like a lot of sitting and waiting to play, but never having an engine that lets you pull off a incredible turns. You’ll get points take control of something someone else had, but it just never feels satisfying to me. I feel the same way about Lost Ruins of Arnak.

[Ginger_Yellow]

Really? I find the turns go really quickly even playing with someone prone to analysis paralysis. You’re only placing one worker at a time, your decision space is relatively constrained, and there’s not a lot of systems cruft to bog things down - combat is very simple for example. I’ll grant you never really get much of an engine, outside of a handful of card synergies, but it’s not that sort of game.

[Shieldwolf]

It’s not the decision making that’s slow. It was making any kind of engine to progress. With four players it was a 2hour game and that just felt like such a long game for what it is. If is not a deck building game, what kind of game is it? Worker placement? That’s slow too, similar reasons. Worker placement is my favorite mechanism. One worker (like most Lacerda games) is fine, but like the deck building in the game, just doesn’t feel like you ever ramp up.

[Ginger_Yellow]

It is (in part) a deck builder. It’s just not an engine builder.

[Tyjenks]

I just think the deckbuilding is different. I was cranky that there were not more ways to remove cards from my deck, but once I stopped trying to pigeon hole the deckbuilding into what I expected, I enjoyed it. FWIW, I think it takes bits of a few genres and blends them together in a tight package of decision making and competition for those few points that awarded. I can understand people’s complaints about it, but I just loved the tension and difficult decisions it forces you to make that you have to constantly adjust as the other players get in the way.

[Brooski]

@tomchick

@Tyjenks

Whoever said Dune Imperium wasn’t very good is a loon.

I’m not aware of anyone here who said that. Seems to me everyone here has nothing but praise for it.

You need to revise your statement.