Boardgaming in 2020: the year of the, uh, post-minis era? We can only hope!

[JPR]

Lowlands?

[Wendelius]

Agreed. The fairly recent games that come to mind matching the description are either Lowlands or maybe Crossroads games like Gen 7 or maybe even Dead of Winter.

Lowlands is by far the better candidate as it’s all about preventing the lowlands from flooding while doing the minimum amount of work to build that wall and letting others do it for you.

Lowlands - Shut Up & Sit Down Review

[Merakon]

Archipelago perhaps? Tom Chick at one point called it “probably my favorite boardgame.”

Archipelago - Exploiting paradise one wooden cube at a time

I’ve probably gotten this to the table maybe 20 times, often through bullying, cajoling, wheedling, bribery, extortion, or some combination thereof. It’s probably my favorite boardgame. One of the many things I love about Archipelago is how different every play sessions is. In any given game, you don’t know what systems are going to be important, or what tools will be available, or what victory conditions will determine the win. Because of the way the scoring works and the way the evolution …

[Ginger_Yellow]

@Chris_Gwinn

There was some game that was a hot topic of discussion here that was a competitive game but with a shared loss condition. So it was cooperative in that you had to all do but if you spent too much energy on the public good you would fall behind and not win the game. I think Tom wrote a review. I realize this is a super vague description, but does it ring bells for anyone?

New Angeles does that as well, but with a traitor.

[JPR]

Interesting. I bought Archipelago this year but haven’t had a chance to play it. Didn’t realize Tom was such a fan.

[Chris_Gwinn]

Thanks!

[BloodyBattleBrain]

Looking at it, it seems the inverse of Spirit Island :O.

[Matt_W]

@BloodyBattleBrain

Looking at it, it seems the inverse of Spirit Island :O.

But Spirit Island is the inverse of Settlers of Catan. It’s boardgameception.

[tomchick]

@Chris_Gwinn

There was some game that was a hot topic of discussion here that was a competitive game but with a shared loss condition. So it was cooperative in that you had to all do but if you spent too much energy on the public good you would fall behind and not win the game. I think Tom wrote a review. I realize this is a super vague description, but does it ring bells for anyone?

Yep, that’s definitely Archipelago. Amazing bit of game design and easily one of my all-time favorites. And sadly, one that my group never liked as much as I did, so I didn’t get to play it as much as I would have liked.

The designer, Christopher Boelinger, did a dumbed down version with a sci-fi theme called Living Planet that I bought shortly before the pandemic. It’s no Archipelago.

-Tom

[tomchick]

@BloodyBattleBrain

Looking at it, it seems the inverse of Spirit Island :O.

Well, pretty much any game about the era is the inverse of Spirit Island because Spirit Island is the inverse of colonialism. :)

But you’re right there are some interesting contrasts to Spirit Island: especially the co-op elements and the way the natives build up strength over time.

-Tom

[Don_Quixote]

I do love me some Archipelago, too. Even with your dismissal, I’ll have to look up Living Planet, I hadn’t heard about that.

[tomchick]

@Don_Quixote

I do love me some Archipelago, too. Even with your dismissal, I’ll have to look up Living Planet, I hadn’t heard about that.

I mean, Living Planet is fine, and it’s built on the same basic design as Archipelago, but I just don’t see any reason to play it instead of Archipelago.

(Note that I’ve never gotten to actually play it, though.)

-Tom

[Don_Quixote]

Well, great. I’ve got a copy ordered now, too. Not that I’ll get to play it in the next six months (at least), but hey, why not?

[Chris_Gwinn]

I was asking for a coworker, but I ended up ordering my own copy of Archipelago.

[Arioch]

Aw, I was sure you were talking about CO².

[sincilbanks]

@tomchick

@Chris_Gwinn

There was some game that was a hot topic of discussion here that was a competitive game but with a shared loss condition. So it was cooperative in that you had to all do but if you spent too much energy on the public good you would fall behind and not win the game. I think Tom wrote a review. I realize this is a super vague description, but does it ring bells for anyone?

Yep, that’s definitely Archipelago. Amazing bit of game design and easily one of my all-time favorites. And sadly, one that my group never liked as much as I did, so I didn’t get to play it as much as I would have liked.

The designer, Christopher Boelinger, did a dumbed down version with a sci-fi theme called Living Planet that I bought shortly before the pandemic. It’s no Archipelago.

-Tom

Ditto here, I love the game, my group hate it with a passion…

[jsnell]

Party like it’s 2021!

Board gaming 2021: minis are back, baby!

I can’t wait! But I have to.

@tomchick can we lock the 2020 thread?

[BloodyBattleBrain]

Good point!