Yeah, I always sell the middle field.
I just went insane and started buying solo/coop games and kept buying them and buying them, P500, Kickstarter…I just looked at what I bought and got sick. I have barely any time as it is …does anyone else just let loose and buy, buy, buy.
Mr. President
Plum Island Horror
Fields of Fire, Deluxe Edition
Unbroken
Tiny Epic Dungeons
Sniper Elite
V-Sabatoge
More Final Girl episodes.
Obsession
Ruins Death Binder
Company of Heroes 2nd edition
7th Continent
Return to Dark Tower.
I"m going to throw up.
Well, better get it out of your system, because you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you. :) Any idea where you’re going to start?
I’ve been pretty much the opposite. I haven’t bought anything new in forever, but I’ve instead been playing the holy heck out of the stuff I already have. It’s wonderful!
I did that when I first got into the hobby some 6 - 8 years ago now. These days I don’t have much room for anything more and have to really, really think about my purchases. And oh boy were there some regrettable purchases included in my collection.
Really curious how this game will turn out - I pre-ordered it as well recently based on my love of Dawn of the Zeds but pretty much going in blind
Me too… I like Zeds and hope this one is a “better” Zeds and not so much like Zeds that it seems too samey.
I looked in my board game closet the other day and noticed so many games I have never played, like all the D Day games and mostly other wargames that just take so much time to learn and play out. I really want to get into those but I’m now playing quicker and shorter playing games with so little time I have in my life for my hobbies. Stupid I just bought so many more…I guess saving up for another 5 years till retirement!
Return to Dark Tower is one to not sleep on. I think a lot of folks were thinking like me when they originally backed it: “Oh, it’ll be nostalgia, and hopefully there will be some gameplay with all the fun, silly, throw-back touches like that ginormous tower.”
And then the real joke is: it’s a very good game and no nostalgia for the original is needed whatsoever. They did not just slap some rules together and push this game out the door.
And solo play is fun? I just called Hex and Co. and they have 2 copies in stock… it’s more or less on my way to work later today, so I’m seriously considering stopping by to pick that up.
It is! That’s really the bulk of my play with it.
You will need two accessories however: a 14" or 16" flat bamboo lazy susan (about 10 bucks from Amazon) to turn the circular board around and around because that big honkin’ tower in the middle can make it difficult to see the opposite side of the board. And also rechargeable AA batteries (and a charger), which I think was about $12 or $15.
And something (iPad or android tablet or phone) that can run the app that you need to play it with.
SOLD.
I already have rechargeable batteries. And a lazy susan is an A+ hilarious gaming accessory.
Ha, just realized this was the solitaire thread so my question was dumb! My bad.
Unfortunately, due to a stockroom error, they didn’t actually have the game available. Impulse purchase denied!
Well…just ordered another one. American Tank Ace from Compass. I kind of liked Tank Duel but this one is solo and that is all I play mostly so hope this one scratches the tank vs tank itch.
Ah, sorry about that. Or, happy that they saved your wallet!
If you do get a chance to get it, I echo @triggercut. Return to Dark Tower is not just a giant piece of nostalgia based plastic. It’s a solid game and the alliances expansion makes it great. A lazy susan totally helps too. While not a solitaire bonus, it is enjoyable enough apparently to be a common request by my other half for a game night.
They recently finished a reprint campaign on backerkit (an alternative crowd sourcing site). You might be able to get it there.
I too have been on a little bit of a board game buying bender. Lots of games I’ve always wanted keep popping up on sale. For solo stuff I’m excited to get Under Falling Skies to the table, such a dense box of stuff that looks really clever. I continue my descent into Arkham Horror LCG with the new design boxes for Dunwich and Carcosa. Those solo or co-op will be a blast. I finally got a copy of Spirit Island and am really looking forward to trying it. It seems like a pretty consistent top 5 for solo and coop.
I did end up resisting backing Dark Tower. I still have the original and it seems like I would be the perfect candidate to buy but after playing Mansions of Madness right before the KS I decided I’m not sure yet how I feel about apps. I’m not saying they are the same or anything like that or even that I dislike MOM I’m just not sure. Now you’re making me regret it ;-)
About Cthulhu Death may Die I have it but haven’t played ( my job sucks I never have time to play it’s just some future fantasy time in my mind that I’m striving for) It’s not mainline madness slow burn Cthulhu it’s more Tarantinoesque if you will. From reviews talking to folks it just seems to be tuned to deliver a pretty rip roaring exciting climax using Lovecraftian ideas. I get why some people don’t like their Mythos that way. Me I’m down for that, it sounds fun to play. I probably don’t need to say it but yes I bought in to the new Kickstarter. I’m weak.
Even with all my recent buys I was sad that I missed Dawn of the Zed’s for $62 at Boardlandia last week and then Mage Knight ultimate edition for $ 70 some at Gamenerdz this week. a couple that have been on my short list for a long time.
Well, our house is still out of internet power, 5 days later, and our office power just came back on after 4 days…so I ended up playing quite a lot of solo games:
3 plays of Unbroken. In this quick playing game, there are 4 phases of the game which gives you a certain amount of time in each phase to collect resources in order to strengthen your character with weapons and resources to use those weapons more effectively in order to defeat a “boss” in each phase. You do this by exploring, which entails turning over 2 or more cards from a large deck that will give you different resources. You pick one for it’s resources and then decide to fight the boss or keep exploring. Each card also lowers the time you have to fight the boss and if time runs our before you fight it, they do an ambush attack and then the normal fight which makes it tougher. So, it’s a balancing act between time and resource gathering. 4 phases, 4 different bosses. Its a very quick game but the main mechanic is turning over cards to pick one and it get’s old pretty quickly. I played 3 games and barely lost to the boss on my 3rd game. Done playing it.
Twilight Inscription: Roll and write game based on Imperium which I have never played. 4 areas to concentrate on to get victory points. Exploration, Navigation, Industry, Warfare. Turn over cards which tell you what dice to use for the area you are working on that turn. Then, you roll dice and use 3 of those for more exploring or production, etc. The solo AI is a board that uses other dice to cross off resources and try and keep you from getting points in different ways. It’s a good Roll and Write…I like “Welcome to the Moon” and some others so this one is enjoyable. I have beat the easy AI level but not the medium AI yet.
Ruins Death Binder: Kind of like “Slay the Spire” but in boardgame form. You can move down 3 separate pathways toward a boss and each step may have an battle, an event, or a rest. Once you beat the boss, you reset the map and do it again and try and defeat 4 bosses. You really need to fight as much as possible early on as that levels up your experience which levels up your stats in order to defeat the main 4 bosses. I did not do that on my first run and had no chance to kill the first boss. The problem I see is that if I had got to the 2nd level, and fought a bunch of enemies I would have leveled up fully and had all my stats fully leveled up by phase 2 so what is the point of fighting enemies the next 2 phases if I’m already fully experienced. So, will try this one again but not really confident it will hold my attention.
Iron Helm: I did not like this game when I first tried it last year but gave it another chance and really enjoyed my 2nd playthrough. Was one dice roll away from defeating the main boss and rolled under a 4 so lost at the very end. It was tense and enjoyable but I do remember my 1st game last year where I lose at the very beginning of my playthrough so not sure about this game either …will try again and see how it goes.
Sprawlopolis: Played a few games of this and lost both but it’s a fun quick one.
I really wanted to like both of these games, but for me, they fall under the same category as Friday: while I appreciate that they’re built from the ground up to be quick and accessible solitaire challenges, they feel too “math-y” to me, for lack of a better term. Dispassionate, mechanical, like I’m working on a drawn-out algebra equation instead of playing a game.
By way of contrast, the Arkham Noir games play similarly, in that you’re just working through a challenge comprised of a deck of cards.
But contrasted to Unbroken, Iron Helm, and Friday, the Arkham Noir games feel like they’re a window into some weird narrative. They have their own sense of personality and style, a mood even. It’s probably an unfair comparison, since the Arkham Noir series is designed by an artist named Yves Tourigny, which gives it an aesthetic advantage over the more uneven artwork in Friday, Iron Helm, and Unbroken. But when it comes to smallish single-deck challenges, I’ll take what I can get.
Can you talk a bit about how it compares to other roll-and-writes? It just looks big and sprawling and potentially messy to me, but I can’t deny I’m intrigued. I just wonder if perhaps it’s redundant with games I already own such as the Welcome To… series, Troyes Dice, Doppelt So Clever, and Super-Skill Pinball.
I’ve also come really close to picking up Three Sisters and Hadrian’s Wall. So I’d love to hear any opinions on how those games and Twilight Inscription compare to other roll-and-writes.
My boss just came by and asked me about a couple issues I’m way behind on so this is a quick thought, but I was also worried about some form of bloat with Twilight Inscription after seeing all those sheets mainly because I originally loved the thought and idea of all the choices in Hadrian’s Wall but tried it and it was just too much… too many choices, too many games i’d have to play to get to grips with everything I could do or needed to do. Unfortunately.
But with T.I, I love Scifi and after one game of just kind of concentrating on learning the different areas and how they all tie into each other, my 2nd game I picked a character who had good bonuses to exploring and then concentrated on that area as my main and then the game flowed pretty well. The AI does not do much but occasionally if they cross out enough of a certain die and get close to closing a certain path that you had picked, you might need to change your focus for a few turns to get those points. It’s just a high score solo game.
To me it is a fun, more involved Roll and Write compared to many of the more basic R&W but there is really not much interaction if you are playing with others and the beat your score solo is not my fav solo mode to play in any game.