serling
4061
When is it scheduled to arrive anyway? My local stores have been listing it since forever, or what feels like it anyway. I thought it was due earlier this month…?
dtolman
4062
Boat full of Eclipse is scheduled to arrive next week. Then just customs, distribution to retailers, and then to customers.
serling
4063
Fuck yes, Cyclades just got restocked at my local game store. Been wanting a copy for ages. I’ve decided to throw in Dixit and King of Tokyo on my order too, just because I need a couple of those easy-to-set-up games that play in under an hour.
This is going to be the best holiday season ever. So many cool games to play! :)
So what’s up with the glut of space-themed 4X games all the sudden? There was GMT’s, another one whose name I’m forgetting, and now Eclipse.
It sounds like Eclipse is the cream of that crop, though?
Space Empires 4x. SE4x has a strong reputation for people looking for a space war game with fog of war. The other one I’m getting is the Ares Project, which again has hidden information but within the context of a 2-4 player card game of sorts.
Eclipse does sound like the strongest contender for the “TI3 without the bullshit” crown.
SE4X is the GMT one. The one whose name I was forgetting is Ascending Empires (I kept thinking “Ascension” and then that’s a different game). All three of them out this year, too.
Ascending Empires got nixed for me because of the primary combat mechanic, which I’ll describe uncharitably as “throwing shit”. And I was really not clear on what Battleship Galaxies was before I got into that, either, and I’m definitely looking to get out.
Is BS:G not just a rethemed Battleship, as I had assumed?
It’s worse, actually, since the re-theme takes the deductive component of Battleship, such as it is, and turns it into a dice outcome table. I assumed it was going to retain the core mechanic and somehow staple it on to a vaguely tactical setup, with cool plastic figurines.
dtolman
4070
Lets not forget Eminent Domain - the Euro style combo of Dominion, Race For the Galaxy, and a Space 4X game.
I beg to differ on Battleship Galaxies. I suppose you could also say the original battleship is worse since it has no energy management, no deployment options, no movement rules, and no hand of cards.
Its one of my favorite games this year. It has great components. It allows the player a lot of creative freedom in their strategy. The deck building and fleet building will get exponentially more interesting as the game matures. My only complaint is that it needs an expansion to flesh out the various strategies and to make it playable with 3-4 players.
When I noticed who the designer is I was expecting HeroScape with ships which is exactly what I got. Maybe others saw the Battleship name and expected something else?
The fact that it isn’t playable with 3-4 players is a big problem for me, and I don’t find the strategy in the cards that interesting relative to the big picture of plastic pushing on the board. It’s serviceable on that level, but not remarkable. What I was specifically describing is the employment of something that superficially appears to be the core battleship mechanic (the grid of numbers as a means of deducing ship placement) as totally useless hit randomizer. What I was expecting was some use of it in combat where you would need to bracket and damage ships using fleet placement against deduction.
It’s my fault for not reading up on it enough before impulse buying it, that I freely admit. I know nothing about Heroscape (except that it has a tremendous number of expansions) and did not realize it was modeled more on that than on Battleship itself.
Okay, it’s that time of year. Santa needs to know what board game(s) to bring the philosophist family. I have 4 sons, 16, 11, 7, and 4 (who doesnt play yet).
Games we already own:
-Memoir 44 and terrain expansion (love this but only 2 players)
-Smallworld (a favorite)
-Castle Ravenloft (a favorite)
-Pirates Cove (all time favorite)
-Battlestar Galatica (like the concept but tough for the 7 year old. Also too long)
-Arkham Horror (like the concept but too fiddly. would like a streamlined version of this)
-Lord of the Rings, by reiner knizia (easy coop game that basically plays itself)
-Axies and Allies (love this game but too long and the board is too small
-We have most of the good iPad board games (probably 2 dozen of them).
Games I’m considering:
- Conquest of Nerath
- War of the Ring Second Edition
- Wrath of Ashdarlon
- Descent
- Dominion
- Shadows over Camelot
Thoughts and recommendations?
dtolman
4074
Forget Shadows Over Camelot, and get Pandemic instead.
Elder Sign may be the streamlined Arkham Horror you’re looking for.
I would say not to bother with Elder Sign. It’s super easy and practically devoid of theme. Nice components though.
I would cross Descent off your list because it’s very fiddly and takes a long time to setup and play (longer than Arkham Horror?).
I’d recommend Wrath of Ashdarlon only if you really like Castle Ravenloft as it’s more of the same and doesn’t add much else.
If you like Arkham Horror’s theme/concept, I might recommend Elder Sign. It’s kind of like a really stripped down version that plays in 30 to 60 minutes.
A word of warning about Dominion, it doesn’t have much of a theme, so it might be kind of boring to your sons. Perhaps go with something like Thunderstone or, better yet, Quarriors.
Fuck Shadows over Camelot. Especially since you already have a better version of the same concept in Battlestar Galactica.
The games you are looking at don’t seem like obvious upgrades or divergences from your current collection, and some (like shadows vs battlestar) are actually a step down. Perhaps you could mention what drew you to them in the first place, but I can definitely see how a quick scan of the hot games could lead you there. I’m curious what about Battlestar is proving problematic since it’s a game that tends to alienate a (small) subset of people because of their tastes in games rather than the complexity or length per se (and it plays best with five, by far, but should be very manageable with four in terms of time).
I would caution against Nerath for a couple of reasons, but mostly because I’m not convinced the >2 player is strong enough to get you to a place where it can be held against really solid multiplayer conflict games, and it seems you are interested in bringing everyone into the game. It is Axis and Allies, for all practical purposes, but it does bring an advantage of streamlining into relatively quick resolution if you play the short or medium game.
If you’re interested in theme-heavy multiplayer terrain/warfare/etc, you might have a look at Chaos in the Old World, which with the expansion goes up to five players. It is hands-down the tightest multiconflict game I have, bringing in some of the best ideas of a variety of genres into a thematically appropriate abstraction of Warhammer fantasy. Perhaps a video reviewmight give you a clear idea whether it’s for you or not. A lighter game that similarly crosses genres into war/turfholding that plays faster and has a classy Greek mythology vibe would be Cyclades, and that scales nicely up to five. A heavier game that takes the mentality into a really cool place would be Dominant Species, but that’s not for the meek.
With Dominion I think you’re on the right track as card drafting/hand management games have some really cool things going on these days, but I would look at the ones with more “game” to them (off the top of my head, Race for the Galaxy, Glory To Rome (esp if you like the look of the new edition, and currently I’m excited about Eminent Domain). I’m sure the more hardcore crowd here in that direction can give you tips on the very fantasy themed ones like Thunderstone that I know nothing about but may fit in with your LOTR tendencies. Glory to Rome is probably my favorite and has been dependably taught to a wide variety of people (it’s passed the mom test).
Beyond that, I have a couple of recommendations that I think everyone looking to add to their collection should make sure they look at and discard with good reason before moving on, and that would be Dixit, Citadels, and Dixit again. Seriously. I used to have more but now I just insist on Dixit again because I am continually impressed at how strong the game is on the basis of how it uses great art and a solid core mechanic to deliver hours of entertainment with diverse crowds. Citadels is just my favorite portable, 2-5 player game with backstabbing and role-taking aplenty.
mkozlows
4079
Command & Colors: Ancients is an excellent step-up game from Memoir 44, and I’d recommend it if you want something in that vein.
As a streamlined Arkham Horror, I’d recommend Touch of Evil. It plays similarly in a lot of ways, but is much faster and simpler while still being thematic (kind of generically spooky thematic – vampires, werewolves, headless horseman, etc. – rather than Cthulu, though).
Also I’d like to throw in a vote against Elder Sign. Streamlining Arkham is a great idea, but turning it into a barely themed yahtzee game is not what I had in mind.
I thought about that, but he said the main problem was the 2p aspect, which cuts out a lot of directly similar alternatives.
