Completely understand that. One of the reasons I asked to demo before I commit.
Looks cool! Uh, $225 + $31 shipping. Good luck to them!
It does total to a nice round number at least.
If you backed in the 1st 48 you got free shipping so there is that.
I agree 225 is a lot to swallow.
I am reluctant to commit to an entirely indie app-assisted boardgame in general because there is simply no guarantee the app will be updated to remain viable on newer OS releases. A bigger company has these risks too, but they have been around and so there is some reason to think they will continue to be. A startup, not so much.
After eight games in five days, I’m happy to give Marvel Champions a big thumbs up!
It has a bit more depth than I initially gave it credit for, yet my kids (almost 11 and almost 10) were able to grasp the basic gameplay and even pull off some combos without my prompting. And the theme is extremely appealing to them - they recognised more of the characters in the artwork than I did, mostly from their time playing the Lego videogames together.
The game also works really well two-handed solo. It’s less complex than the AH LCG in terms of how much information you need to hold in your head at once, and returning to an in-progress game the next day doesn’t require quite as much ‘ramp-up’. The setup is a lot quicker too, which greatly reduces the mental hurdle of getting it to the table later in the evening.
The ‘grab a hero and one of four aspects’ deckbuilding is actually a welcome relief compared to the hours spent on arkhamdb.com fine-tuning AH LCG decks between scenarios. As more product is released and deckbuilding becomes more meaningful this might change, but FFG seems to be pushing a more casual approach with this game so we’ll see.
The heroes included in the core set all play differently, and the villains that I’ve tried, while not nearly as varied as AH LCG is from scenario to scenario, were interesting enough and there is some scope for variation as parts of the encounter deck can be swapped out. FFG appear to have plenty in the pipeline so here’s hoping the core is a vanilla intro, while the later packs start to play with what’s possible in the design.
Has anyone else dipped their toe in?
Usually 2-3 of us!
I was gonna say, “Jeeze, enough with the Terraforming Mars add-ons!” but then I saw that board to the right of the box. A new board for players to track resources? That’s the one add-on Terraforming Mars has needed ever since it came out!
-Tom
Totally agreed, but it was a Kickstarter exclusive add-on, not included in the retail edition of Turmoil. Which, well, that’s special.
You can get third party ones, from Broken Token and probably elsewhere. But yeah, that was a weird decision.
It’s the entire reason I backed the KS. The expansion is a nice bonus.
WTF Where is my copy!!! Did you grab that or essen or did that arrive in the mail?
Played the Beyond Humanity. It lasted 3 hours that’s with explanation and some breaks. We played a 4 player game all new players except one of designers. I will guess it would play in about 2-2 1/2 hours once you know the game.
Positives.
The app and the modules aren’t a gimmick.
The tech is cool
Love the theme
The city building aspect and there really isn’t another game like this out there. Reminds me a little of Frostpunk
Game avoids trap of most semi co-op games by giving you secret goals.
Gameplay is simple.
The game feels tight (money, resources and worker spots are all in high demand
Art I like the the photo art on this which is odd as I think it’s terrible in flying frog games.
Negatives
Player order is locked and only changes if someone has the right decree. Turn order in a round is 1,2,3,4 4,3,2,1 but as 2nd and 3rd player you can feel hosed. More on this in a minute.
Concerns
Assistants are extra workers. You can only have one and they have unique powers. The problem is if someone has the one you need you still need to take one even if it doesn’t give you a power you need because of the extra worker which is critical. There needs to be more of them and a way to trade them out without losing the extra action they grant.
Decrees passing and failing seems a bit arbitrary. It would be nice to have some idea what the chances are of your decree passing.
For most of the game I felt I was losing. I was 2nd and 3rd in player for most of the game. That locked me out of buildings I wanted to construct, and worker spots I needed. I wasn’t well liked by the colony, I hadn’t built lot of modules and I was hurting for resources. Mid game I changed my strategy. Instead of helping construction, I started focusing on my goals and was able to win. Not sure if that was just 1st time player luck or if people gave up on personal goals to try and build more buildings, but it what I did worked.
I enjoyed the game, and the complaints I have could be fixed within the app or with little physical change.
I can’t go into the details, but I am now less concerned about the company disappearing and not supporting the app then I was last night.
Still not sure if I’m keeping my pledge but I have 6 more days to decide.
Mail. Arrived the same day I got the shipping notice.
Sweet.
I have a back log of ordered games.
LoH expansions
Nemesis
TM
On Mars looks like it’s delayed until End of the year.
Tainted Grail is probably the same.
We don’t sell used games, and I can get you Too Many Bones!
I thought they were only selling direct via their website (so I figured only used copies may be floating around)? It actually shows out of stock for the US, but they said their shipment is at port waiting to get through customs I guess.
What would be the cost of getting the game through you? I’m not sure I’ll be able to convince the wife we should get it, but I aim to try. :-)
If you want you can take this to PM, whatever you prefer. Thanks!
For the most part that’s true, but Gaming Goat recently bought a ton of their stuff for distribution through stores. Shoot me a PM with which titles you are looking for (base, expansions ,etc).