No worries; I can keep an eye out for it in the future, but thanks for an offer (tempting just for the fun of getting it that way, but I will find it I’m sure). This holiday break should be a lot of fun to try a new game or two, and the girls are just at the age of getting away from the junior versions of Catan, Carcassone, etc, which have been fun too.
I looked around @Juan_Raigada’s link to TableTop Bellhop, and actually today’s podcast is about the “RPG in a box” genre, which is exaclty the way to describe what I’m looking for.
Familiar Tales also looks great, was thinking to avoid iPad screentime boardgames (for which they just ask to play Roblox), but it seems to be a reading of a narrative story and not more.
Well, father invents necessity or something like that. I wanted a game before Sunday and after online inventory checks, the store I went to that supposedly had my choice of Stuffed Fables and Wonder Book… had neither. Mice and Mystics not in the Greater Toronto Area, same with Familiar Tales. I’ll have to buy one or more of these later.
What I ended up with, which I browsed, found, researched in real time, is Chronicles of Avel.
Actually looks close to what I was looking for. Reviews mention family-friendly, solid character creation and co-op battles with a bit of strategy. Point against it would be limited narrative, but other than that looks pretty good.
Played Endless Winter yesterday. It’s a gorgeous deck building, worker placement, hybrid game with some set collection and area control thrown in. It sounds like it shouldn’t work but it does and does so really well. I’d say similar to Lost Ruins of Arnak or Dune Imperium, but it doesn’t play like either one. So if you own either or both of those you could get this and not feel like you have the same game already. Game play feels a little procedural, but is still fun. It does a great job of giving you just enough bonuses, asymmetrical powers, and rewards to keep it interesting without bombarding you with extra rules. Very icon heavy, but easy to identify and understand. Can we make a rule for 2023 that game times listed on the box are either accurate or removed. Game length is my biggest complaint at the moment.
My wife and I played a game of Sleeping Gods and we weren’t really into it. We also have an unopened copy of the expansion. The base game usually sells for $99 and has been as low as $85 on Amazon. Tide of Ruin usually sells for $40 and has been as low as $33 on Amazon.
If anyone is interested in buying, you can PM me. I don’t know how much shipping would be. We can see if we can find a price we both think is fair, taking the shipping costs into consideration. Thanks!
That also leaves us deciding what coop game to play next. I may pick up Too Many Bones: Undertow (we have the base TMB game and like it). Not sure if I want more of something similar to what we have or shake it up with something different. There is Cloudspire and Burn Cycle (looks like it is sold out). Too bad Frosthaven isn’t at retail yet because we both liked Gloomhaven.
It may be a bit simple for the crowd here, but I’ve been quite into the card-driven racing game Heat: Pedal to the Metal lately.
It’s by the designers of the well-known cycling game Flamme Rouge, and shares some design DNA with that game too. The gameplay is mostly hand management, and some push your luck elements, but it’s all pretty clever and quite thematic in how the heat/stress/cooldowns work. You leverage your heat cards to push the car harder, at the risk of spinning out due to taking corners too fast. Spinning out adds stress cards to your deck, which act as random speed when you play them.
1-6 players, though obviously an expansion with 2 more is coming. Four maps. Fast setup/teardown, easy to learn and quick to play, with some advanced modules to add more depth. A championship mode. The bot cars are really easy to run and can substitute for any number of players.
And it’s not a Kickstarter, so you can actually buy it! :)
I’ve been watching the glowing reviews of Heat, and want it badly. Hoping someone grabbed it for me, even though it was a late add to my wishlist. I also have Camel Up and Ready Set Bet on my list.
Racing games are fun for all skill levels and easy to get to the table. I played the hell out of a friend’s copy of Downshift
Would you go with Marvel United or Marvel Champions? Would it make sense to get both? United is relatively cheap. Is United too simple, like a game to play with younger kids to introduce them to more ‘thinking’ board games?
Who’s the audience? Will you be playing with kids and if so, what age? Solo as well?
Young kids, I’d lean United. Older kids I’d lean Champions. For pure solo, also Champions.
If either whet your appetite, there is a lot of depth (varying mechanics to mix things up, more heroes. enemies, etc, etc) in both, but United being a kickstarter will have availability often locked behind a secondary market. Champions expansions on the other hand will be readily available in any reputable FGLS.
I played Oathsworn for about 6 hours at BGG Con. I really liked it. There was some story reading adventure parts before each “mission”. (Don’t remember what they’re called.) The main focus is on the combat though. IIRC there is even the option to skip the story parts and go straight to the fighting.
I was really proud of myself for not buying it on KS a month or so ago (you know resisting the draw and all that), but now I’m kicking myself that I didn’t back it.
It would mainly be my wife and I. We’ve played and enjoyed pandemic, pandemic legacy, too many bones, gloomhaven. She thought Spirit Island was a little too stressful but maybe with some more plays and we got used to it, maybe she would like it more. We didn’t like sleeping gods. She really only likes coop games because she doesn’t like the competition and stress of trying to beat somebody.
We have a 15-year-old son who usually does not play board games with us cuz he hasn’t really enjoyed them, but we’re hoping to get him interested in one. Thematically he probably doesn’t care too much as he doesn’t have any big interest in superheroes or anything like that.
I like the Undertow expansion for Too Many Bones. It adds a different layout for water combat, and it introduces two special 3-point baddies. New events for the initial days also provide welcome variety. I’ve only played it stand-alone, adding in base game characters, about five times. I haven’t made the bold move of combining base and expansion all together in one box.
I think you’d prefer Champions. It’s much meatier and plays best at 2.
United is better at 4 players. It’s easier to teach, so better if you’re regularly playing with new players. It’s much quicker to set up and play. Champions is deeper. It’s more difficult when learning, but once you get the hang of it you can usually win at the lowest difficulty. It also represents the characters much better. United does a great job with the villains but the heroes are pretty generic. Champions does a great job representing both.
I prefer United right now because short games that are easy to teach are fitting my life better. But if I was in your shoes I think I’d prefer Champions.
That’s a really cool idea. I love it. Brings back memories of playing “Mille Bornes” as a child with my mom. Seeing that it has diffferent maps just tickles me.
Since Marvel United is so cheap, I got both United and Marvel Champions - with the hope I can get my son to play with us with United since he doesn’t have the patience to learn a more complex game. He is capable of learning something more complex but I want to make this as frictionless as I can. I got Champions for my wife and I. I also picked up Gloomhaven Jaws of the lion to tide us over until Frosthaven becomes available in retail.
I think I will get Too Many Bones: Undertide too. I am also tempted at to get the next run of Oathsworn, which won’t be available for a year or so.
