Lykurgos,
Would you say New Angeles is like Power Struggle? That was the game I first thought of when I saw this and one of the reasons I didnt pick it up. Power struggle is great but I don’t think I could stomach a 4 hour version of it.
Shameful confession! There is a Power Struggle sized and shaped gap in my boardgaming experience. Never played it! Do I need to leave this thread and never return? I appeal for clemency.
As for whether the game can overstay its welcome, I think it possible but unlikely. It hasn’t with us. There is plenty of variety in terms of threats and deals. What players want to do and need to do evolves during play. In early turns the game can be similar to a full coop. In later turns players will become more bullish about pushing for their own secret objective. The assets acquired during deals add new options.
It is possible that a group with players fond of min-max analysis could find the going slow. I’ve read of such on the boardgamegeek forums. I’d say the game is wonderful when the players immerse into the negotiation and debate. If they instead go for cold hard optimization . . . . that could be dull and flat.
If playing Power Struggle were a requirement for participating in this thread, it’d be a pretty empty thread. One of the most criminally underrated board games ever published :(
But I wonder if Shieldwolf might have gotten some names mixed up? Nothing about New Angeles looks like Power Struggle to me.
I don’t even know what Power Struggle is. I hope I won’t be kicked out of this thread!
-Tom
SHUT IT DOWN. SHUT IT DOWN NOW!
Close the QT3.
If everyone is turning in their QT3 pass for Power $truggle. I’m the first one getting kicked out as I have never played Settlers of Catan.
Power $truggle is a game about racing up the corporate ladder gaining control 4 out of 6 areas. One of the big points in the game is beating your adversary a hidden card of one of the other players in the game. It is certainly not a co-op game or have the hidden traitor aspect, but there is negotiation.
A key role to victory is making secret offers to other players for their game breaking tile cards. Most of the time you’ll want to accept that offer as it helps move you up one of the tracks and gives you other bonuses. It can be very cutthroat and can be played in about 60-90 minutes. A Lot of bgg folks swear you can finish a game in 30 minutes. It’s a good very good and pretty quick game, though not one I needed to keep in my collection.
That said, I love the FFG Android universe. I love Android and Netrunner and New Angeles looks amazing. My fear is two parts. The Length and the “Archipelago Factor”.
My group has so many games that getting one out that is longer than 3 hours requires us to really like it and know it well. Otherwise you’re struggling through the rules or saying, “this was okay but I’d rather play x”. See previous Power $truggle post.
My bigger concern is that my groups are not huge on co-op, there are exceptions, but as Archipelago proved, “If I can’t win, no one wins.” We played that game a several times and either the traitor won or someone was so behind and weren’t going to win they caused us to lose. I’m not saying it’s right, but I get not wanting to continue a long game where you have no chance of catching up. Hence apprehension on picking up this $60 dollar game.
I got to play a lot this week.
Lorenzo iL Magnifco (x2) What an awesome little engine building game. That plays surprisingly fast. This is a euro through and through. That said if you have a chance you definitely give it a try.
Secret Hitler(x2). I liked it, but I don’t see what all the fuss is. This just like Avalon or The Resistance. Fun but I don’t think it’s a replacement to One Night Werewolf. Also the App is seriously trying too hard for laughs. “Are you going to be the one that screws up the game for everyone? Are you? Are you sure? You don’t want to be the one that everyone blames forever…” You get the point that went on for 30 seconds.
Starcraft with Brood War (x2). What an amazing experience. It’s big, it’s long, it’s fiddly, but it is totally awesome. Team battles with 6 players was epic and fun knowing someone had your back.
Misson Red Planet second edition (x1). I own the first, but had never played the second. Having done so. I think I prefer the 1st edition. I like the art better, though I wouldn’t mind having some more cards from the 2nd edition.
Star Wars Armada (x1) Finally got Rebel Fighters 2 and the hammerheads. They’re extremely effective if played correctly and a great support ship for the rebel fleet.
Also picked up Trickerion on sale and the expansion for Rebellion. Not too shabby a week.
I feel this way too, although I think ultimately I will play the second edition in the future because of the improvements it brings to the table. And my 1st Ed. board has one panel broken off. But, man, the art for the 1st is so great.
So yesterday during our epic gaming day we played Photosynthesis, Stop Thief! (remake), and Champions of Midgard.
Everyone really liked Photosynthesis. It’s not like any other area control game I’ve played in the past, and strategy is actually kind of hard due to the sun rotating around the board. One player had a strategy of making a line of trees on one edge of the board, effectively blocking most of the other players from getting sunlight during some turns. I need to play it a few more times to start developing a good strategy. During any given turn there are some meaningful choices to make, and it’s not obvious what you should do. The biggest trade-off decision wise is what to do with your biggest trees. They earn the most light (3 points each), are hard to be blocked by other players, but the only way to actually score victory points is by removing them from the board - starting over your whole buildup from a seed to large tree. Overall, I quite liked it and am anxious to play more.
Stop Thief! is an awesome reboot of the game I had as a kid. It’s not deep by any means, but everyone had fun trying to puzzle out where the thief is from audio clues. One of the best things they did was remove randomized movement (the original had dice) and now you have cards that have the amount of movement your investigator can make and sometimes a special ability (like get a tip, or move through windows). You don’t get cards back until you play one of the lowest numbered cards and you can pick up all of your played hands again. Each investigator has a different set of abilities. Some get two tips. Only one character can move through windows. One guy has longer movement than anyone else. Having owned the original, it has a lot of nostalgia for me (you can even turn on the original sound effects - oh BTW it uses a phone or ipad to run the game). But even the other players in my group quite enjoyed it as a light game.
Champions of Midgard has been discussed here before. My fiancee and me had played it before and already liked it. My sister and her girlfriend were a bit intimidated by the size of it and number of tokens (playing with both expansions) but by the end quite enjoyed it.
I had not played it either, but I can answer the question as to whether it is worth it. That would be a resounding yes. The tutorial is excellent. The game is excellent. I have played maybe a dozen games over the last couple of days with varying amounts of success, but enjoying it all the while. So many options and it really feels like an accelerated civilization development game. You can play against the AI in custom games, they have dozens of Challenges of increasing difficulty. You can play online, which I have yet to try. And finally, there is pass and play.
You can tell Asmodee Digital is not screwing around with that portion of their business. Everything about the app is quality.
I second the recommendation. I even bought it twice (once on ipad and once on android.)
I never played the cardboard version (weight 4+)
Crossplatform play is implemented but I have not tested (various timers for once a day play, or live play with short timers)
I’ve been staying up till 3:45 every day playing this in bed. The app is good interface: you can undo things, you can minimize screen popups to see the situation… (think of all that Tom Chick article complaining how PC strat games fail at this).
Best part of android version is it runs acceptably on an emulator so I can use a big laptop!
One not-so-obvious tip:
A two player game is very different from a three, or a four player game. The two player is duel mode where you really want to hurt that one opponent. A three player suffers from a tripod problem so you carefully balance who you hurt. A four player you focus on expanding your own shit and don’t have to pay laser focus on your opponents ( i mean, you could but it’s not worth doing against AI imo).
What do you guys think of Gloomhaven? Is it worth the 150+ dollars? I know its been mentioned here, but does it have lasting power after the initial release a few months ago?
Pretty sure you’ll get a resounding yes from those of us that have played it. Our ongoing campaign is maybe 8 or 9 quests in and still going strong.
Damn, now I have to find a copy. Oh well, something to get for xmas! People keep comparing it to the board game that couldn’t be made… a Dungeons and Dragons board game with a campaign. sorta like what Descent shoulda been.
Awesome. So many boardgames to get again. And I hear 7th Continent is another game thats good with similar campaign mode gaemplay.
7th Continent also looks great (haven’t played my copy yet) but they’re not similar at all. Each game of 7C is completely independent with a specific ending depending on which curses you’re taking on.
Gloomhaven has you building out an entire world as you level up then retire your characters. The city itself and upgrades/unlocks are persistent throughout the whole game.
Ah, sounds more like picking a specific end state mechanic like in Arkham Horror… sounds cool.
Didn’t know you retire characters in Gloomhaven… wow thats kinda cool like in Massive Chalice?!?
Damn, board games getting all deep so awesome!
Gloomhaven is just about to release their 2nd printing. Kickstarter shipments should be going out in the next month or so. Not sure what that means for finding it in the wild, though.
Personally, I don’t enjoy miniature games or DnD combat at all so Gloomhaven fell completely flat for me. When I play tabletop RPGs I’m in it for the story and role play, not minis mechanics. But if you play DnD for the combat or minis games you’ll love it.
I would say it does tactical combat so much better than D&D. But yes, it’s not designed to replace actual roleplaying in any sense, and if you aren’t into tactical combat it isn’t going to be for you.
I do like tactical combat in my vidja games but I’ve basically never played a board game that had comparably good tactical combat. The closest are the Warhammer etc type games but those take way too long to play.
Great weekend for gaming.
Who was/is playing Lisboa? Man, what an amazing game. Please tell me the length comes down. Our first game of 3 players was ridiculously long (3+). I’m not AP prone, but that game broke me. Lots to think about. Lots to do and my mind was just blown.
Learned Trickerion and Madiera. Did some painting on the Star Wars Rebellion expansion and Star Wars Armada’s Rebel Squadrons II. I need to find someone to paint my AvP game as my terrain from Battle System arrives tomorrow, glorious!
Oh and this little beauty made her maiden flight against the rebel scourge. Admiral Sloane and a wave of tie fighters quickly dispatched the local rebel contingent.
