Boardgaming in 2018!

Is that Insepctor Lestrade sitting unloved in Zurich??? How did no one take Lestrade??? He’s one of my favorite cards. So versatile. So many dick moves you can do with Lestrade. If I’m ever playing with you, I will not let you get Lestrade. And you better not let me get him either, or you will rue the day!

The opening can depend on which 15 cards are showing (12 cities, 3 permanents). An opening with a zombie or vampire card is going to be very different than an opening with a bunch of assassins. Sherlock or Moriarty have the potential to introduce a lot of cat-and-mouse with factions. Did he try so hard for Moriarty because he’s a Loyalist? Or does he want me to think he’s a Loyalist?

Since this is a deck-builder, I usually try to get an economy going with things like People’s Will, Freemasons, and Diogenes Club. Mrs. Hudson and Watson, certainly. I like to build up an “economy” and look at what the other players are doing before I decide whether to tip my hand about my faction.

But my friend @justaguy2 is of the opinion that you might as well just announce your faction immediately by going after whichever cards will help you in the long run.

-Tom

It was unfortunate to see Lestrade late to the party because we… hardly anyone bothered about Zurich and the cards on Zurich just like in real life.

I also went with a misdirection early on to buy opponent’s agent (AR). Then I thought that was a silly ineffective move because I couldn’t do anything meaningful with it until I realized I could turn the agent into vampire and let him run amok. It was all these card synergies that made me fell in love with this game. There’s so much depth and meta to uncover!

Why there’s such a thing as second edition? Why there are people hated the intricacies and tactical nuances of first edition? I just can’t.

I don’t mind people knowing who I am usually… Can be dangerous if you’re the only out restorationist early, though. But if you rush you’ll be ahead of everyone on your team!

All this talk has made me download the rules for Study in Emerald.

…am I just dumb, or is the rulebook terrible?

It’s terrible. I had a lot of trouble understanding my first play. It’s pretty easy to play once you get the basic ideas down luckily. I also think it’s terrible in part because the game is so incredibly weird.

I was reading the first edition book. Just finished reading the 2nd edition. It’s a little more clear, but not by much. Some things are actually more confusing (when Restoration/Loyalist points are scored, and apparently you can’t voluntarily reveal your secret identity anymore?).

One thing I’m bummed about is they went too far in some places and streamlined the theme right out. They took the neat looking and themed War/Revolution tracks from the 1st edition and turned them into generic Loyalist/Restoration tracks. No art or anything. Just a number “10” at the end of the tracks instead of masses waving flags or artillery pieces.

They also changed the rule that everyone in a faction was outright eliminated if their lowest scoring player had fewer points than the other team’s lowest scoring player. Now it’s just a -5 VP penalty. That seems like it would defeat the whole purpose of the thing. Wouldn’t that just make someone try harder to horde all the points for themself rather than lifting up their weakest teammate?

We got a chance to play Dice Forget last night. It’s a beautiful game, unique not just with the dice but they way it’s set-up. And oh my god, the insert is awesome. I really think this team needs to teach classes on how to do inserts. It’s just so… I mean aside from someone who just hates plastic inserts, it’s pretty amazing.

As for the dice part. Yeah that many rolls creates some randomness but it felt a lot less in the you’re screwed because someone rolled really well and more, well then I gotta make my dice better too which I liked. Long initial set-up… promises to be significantly less set-up the second time around. And my group wants to play again. We only lost one person to a cellphone during set-up. Once she understood the game, all in.

Great to hear, thanks Nesrie!

We’re finally getting around to a real Kingdom Death Monster campaign. No casualties in the opening fight, which was surprising. I’m debating about selling off some of the expansions though, as they’re worth quite a bit on eBay.

So my copy of Everdell has now been played 4 times, and I’ve only been in one of the games. It is easily my groups new favorite game of 2018 and I don’t see that stopping any time soon.

I also got to play a post campaign game of Charterstone twice this week. All of the stuff is basically spoiled for me, but that hasn’t dampened my desire to play a campaign myself. Looks like that might happen soon.

How much does second edition take out of the game? Would love to play this but first edition is now ridiculously expensive.

Yeah I had that same question 5 posts above. I haven’t played either edition but just reading the rules it seems like the 2nd took a lot out (most notably the faction with the lowest scorer doesn’t automatically lose…seems like it neutered an interesting mechanic).

Woops missed your post entirely. I trawled the BGG threads a bit for details but it seems like half the comments claim it’s barely changed and half claim it’s been completely gutted. Suppose I’d need to play it for myself if it’s that divisive.

@Infested_terran has stated some of the gameplay differences that I feel took out a lot of flavours and enjoyment from first edition. I’d also add that instead of a point to point movement subjected to geographical area restrictions, second edition spots an abstracted map in which your agents only travel in two ways–clockwise or counter clockwise 😒

Assassination has been streamlined a lot too. There’s no longer the distinction of Agent/Royalty assassination ability for each agent. Every agent recruited can kill any agent/royalty so long you can pay the cost. For example, in first edition, Sherlock Holmes can only be recruited to kill royalties (as befitting to the short story). In second edition it’s possibly not the case though i.e. Sherlock could kill any agent/royalty as long the assassination cost is met. On top of this, double agent tokens were removed so there’s no “a-ha take that!” surprise move present in first edition.

These changes resulted in streamlined gameplay and ease of teaching but at the expense, IMO, losing thematic flavours and the opportunity to pulling off clever tactical combos that could only be found in first edition. Some people, from I’ve read, would prefer the shorter and directness in second edition. But I’m blessed with a gaming group that enjoy heavier games with more openess and sandboxy nature and don’t mind the learning curve.

Price wise my friend paid $100 for a near mint copy. It looked exactly like it was just out of its shrink and everything was taken good care by ex owner. Since the launch price was $80-85 5 years ago I thought this was reasonable with inflation accounted and the game totally worth the $15 premium, if your gaming group willing to invest time in it.

Those that claimed it barely changed? They’re objectively wrong. #fakenews

The change I definitely remember seeing is the removal of permanent effect cards. Now, there aren’t a lot of them, so this may seem minor, but they all had big, cool effects on the game and taking them out… no, thank you.

Some people are saying Root is a hardcore Vietnam sim.

The wandering raccoon is the Khmer Rouge.

Good to see Walter Sobchak on Twitter.