Boardgaming in 2019!

Hmm. Are you playing the new edition? That version has tweaked the military game quite a bit, and my own experience (not very many games, admittedly) is that it’s much better now than before - wars don’t drain the defender as badly (no sacrificing) and tactics being possible to copy help the defending players(s). Also, there’s always the peaceful game variant (which I’ve played a couple of times with conflict-averse gamers).

The “surrender rule” is rubbish, though - completely agree.

Why are you guys talking about a videogame in the boardgames thread?

-Tom

Received my copy of Antinomy the other day and it is great. Great solo and 2 player game. Really thinky at either player count. Really enjoy multiple of then button shy wallet games but has shot to the top of my list.

Join us on team Hate Through the Ages. We have doughnuts. Well, I guess, join me. Until now it seemed I was the only one.

It’s kind of taken the place of the same category as Race for the Galaxy for me: a game that you seem to hit a plateau in strategy wise and there stops seeming to be any way to improve and victory just seems to go to whom lucks out.

Except Race is a very quick affair while TTA demands a big investment (especially the completely unplayable 3 hour physical version). And there’s almost no king-making or half assed roll your own optional resignation rule.

Just remember: the same guy who made Mage Knight also made Through the Ages. Something to think about.

-Tom

New games this week:










what a wide spectrum of visual quality in this post. That Clank! Legacy game looks horrible!

Some people love Penny Arcade stuff. Not for me though.

I love Penny-Arcade proper, but I’ve never been enough of a D&D guy to care about their campaigns or anything to do with Acquisitions Inc. So this will actually be the first Clank! product I’m not buying.

Which is for the best, because I legitimately love Clank!, but I’m already sitting on two or three expansions I’ve just never gotten anyone to play with me.

Look what just arrived. I blame you, Tom.

You are hexploring it!

Well put. I still like both games (Race more because its shorter and tells a better story) but as you both say, once you find the edge of the strategy then you are left with the final X*% which is either outside of your control or random. *“X” being how the game ends. Who wins etc.

I have to be on the mood now to play either. And the mood is, to my surprise, when I want some mindless entertainment. Both these games have lots of decisions and mechanics to go through which dont matter.

I also find I prefer both digitally.

I can’t even imagine playing Through the Ages as an actual board game. I do enjoy playing it on my tablet though, with friends. I guess I lucked out in going digital the first time around.

It is horrific. Easily 3 hour play time.

Once you’re familiar with action piggy-backing and the basic winning combos, there’s really nowhere to go in RftG, and you hit that plateau after maybe half a dozen games. I had a group with some ridiculous Dominion players who could spot the unbeatable combos within 20 seconds of just staring at the board, and even they gave up on trying to improve RftG play after hitting that plateau.

And I think I hardly ever saw a winner that didn’t involve Galactic Trendsetters, Resort World, or getting lucky with a string of combo’d brown planets.

Through the Ages, I just haven’t improved after forever, and I can never spot any difference in my play between winning and losing games aside from lucking out with the right cards being up when I need them. (along with military being busted in general, it’s also a huge luck factor getting high military early and then whiffing on your rush investment by never drawing any aggression cards)

Shitting on games because you’re too smart for them is pretty insufferable. Or at least it is for someone who’s been playing the game for over a decade and still enjoying exploring it. I guess I’ll go ram my stupid head into finding some more obvious combos over here.

Oh I had heard that a machi koro legacy was coming, didn’t know about an expansion!

This forum needs a like button.

Unfortunately, that’s a staple of the internet, isn’t it? Some guy whose idea of games criticism – or even just casual conversation – is explaining how he’s “solved” the game, or how it’s “broken”, or how he identified some overlooked hole in the design or degenerate strategy after one playthrough. Ugh.

-Tom

Through the Ages online (at least the free web browser version) is also unfortunately one of those games where assholes with 1,000 games played join games specifically generated for new players.

I fucking hate people who smurf, online or analog.