Recommend me a board game?

Jasper_Phillips · 2011-11-28T20:03:42.000Z

Hrm. The Banners of War rules are online, but they don’t list what the new units do. :-/

dogbert · 2011-11-28T20:20:15.000Z

philosophist:

I would still like one strategic/fantasy board game as well, perhaps something my 16 year old and I could focus on. He is really excited about the new edition of the German board game, War of the Ring. Has anybody tried that one?

War of the Ring is absolutely fantastic for capturing the theme of the books & building up a “story” as you play. It looks intimidating to learn, but it’s really not - there’s just a lot going on & both sides play pretty differently. A good teacher goes a long way, and seeing as you’re in Round Rock, you’re in luck ;) There’s a bunch of us here in the north Austin area that love that game and are happy to teach. I’d be happy to walk you through a game on my copy some time, though work is making things tricky game-wise at the moment.

Jason_Lutes · 2011-11-28T21:14:17.000Z

Jasper Phillips:

Hrm. The Banners of War rules are online, but they don’t list what the new units do. :-/

Here’s a batch of 4, and here’s another.

Jasper_Phillips · 2011-11-28T23:56:36.000Z

Those seem mostly fine to me. I’d say the Great Wyrm is good while the Forest Guardian and Leonx Rider seem weak, but otherwise they’re all decent alternatives.

I’d have to see all the possible unit upgrades to really get a sense for it though.

Lizard_King · 2011-11-29T06:06:34.000Z

Don Quixote:

Dreadfleet for $70! Holy Crap! Too many other expenses… must resist…

It’s a heck of a thing, but I have to admit that I couldn’t even handle the assembly portion (and the way it looked in all gray for both sides was unacceptable even for me) and farmed the whole project out to a third party. I have never invested so much effort into a game that I haven’t even been able to play, so I guess in that sense it’s the ultimate Warhammer boardgame. I’m excited about playing it…some time early next year when it’s done.

But for 70$ it seems like a no brainer if you are interested in it, especially relative to the 120+ you were looking at around release time in many places.

Bahimiron · 2011-11-29T07:01:34.000Z

CyberMonday’s over, but if buying for a Secret Santee make sure you visit BGG’s Secret Santa store list to get a list of promotions. I totally flubbed and forgot to put in the SecretSanta1 for something I bought off of CSI for my BGG Santee yesterday. I am sad.

caesarbear · 2011-11-30T14:22:12.000Z

z22:

Next, although I haven’t played mine yet, Risk Legacy sounds like it might fit your crew. It’s an evolving game where you actually use stickers and markers to alter the game as you play it!!

Yeah so this is out on store shelves now. Three Moves Ahead has a good indepth interview with the designer Rob Daviau. I’m fascinated by the concept, seems so good conceptually, but then there are just so many ways for this to go wrong. First being paying $60 for Risk.

I’m tempted to bring a fresh copy to Unity Games and play with a new group of strangers, but then I’d being playing Risk for hours instead of much better games and be left with a mostly useless gameboard at the end of the day. It just seems they got carried away with the idea of permanence. It’s like some kind of performance art. Couldn’t they figure out a way to make things semi-permanent instead? I’d love to see this campaign concept reworked with a better base game and without the gimmickry of one time only tricks.

Lizard_King · 2011-11-30T16:49:20.000Z

caesarbear:

Yeah so this is out on store shelves now. Three Moves Ahead has a good indepth interview with the designer Rob Daviau. I’m fascinated by the concept, seems so good conceptually, but then there are just so many ways for this to go wrong. First being paying $60 for Risk.

I’m tempted to bring a fresh copy to Unity Games and play with a new group of strangers, but then I’d being playing Risk for hours instead of much better games and be left with a mostly useless gameboard at the end of the day. It just seems they got carried away with the idea of permanence. It’s like some kind of performance art. Couldn’t they figure out a way to make things semi-permanent instead? I’d love to see this campaign concept reworked with a better base game and without the gimmickry of one time only tricks.

Pretty much the only thing that’s interesting to me about this game is watching the contortions that people will surely go through to avoid making their changes permanent.

SlyFrog · 2011-11-30T17:31:12.000Z

Lizard_King:

Pretty much the only thing that’s interesting to me about this game is watching the contortions that people will surely go through to avoid making their changes permanent.

Or buying eight “backup copies” because one day they might want to start all over, and that could happen a bunch of times, and so you need to make sure you have fresh, unplayed copies still in shrink in case you want to play a new game in 2051.

Lizard_King · 2011-11-30T17:59:47.000Z

Don’t get me wrong, by “people” I mean “people with whom I have much in common except for this one thing that I will mock”. But I really can’t believe that Build Your Own Risk is somehow a thing.

Otagan · 2011-11-30T18:35:16.000Z

I’d be lying if I said the concept of an evolving Risk game didn’t have me heavily intrigued.

Unfortunately, unless I can find a group of people who are all down for 20 games of Risk, then it’s just going to remain an intriguing concept as far as I’m concerned.

Don_Quixote · 2011-11-30T19:34:34.000Z

Otagan:

I’d be lying if I said the concept of an evolving Risk game didn’t have me heavily intrigued.

Unfortunately, unless I can find a group of people who are all down for 20 games of Risk, then it’s just going to remain an intriguing concept as far as I’m concerned.

I’m lobbying my group on the idea, but doubt I’ll get anywhere.

Tracy_Baker · 2011-11-30T21:38:07.000Z

I backed D-Day Dice on Kickstarter a while back and just noticed that it’s about to hit the $100,000 mark. They’ve thrown in so many stretch rewards so far that it’s a great deal at the $35 pledge level, and there’s still a week to think about it: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1325766284/d-day-dice-board-game

Lizard_King · 2011-11-30T21:46:13.000Z

Tracy Baker:

I backed D-Day Dice on Kickstarter a while back and just noticed that it’s about to hit the $100,000 mark. They’ve thrown in so many stretch rewards so far that it’s a great deal at the $35 pledge level, and there’s still a week to think about it: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1325766284/d-day-dice-board-game

Could you explain what you like about it other than the loot? Elder Scroll ruined yahtzeelikes forever and I’m not sure I grasp what’s good about this from looking at the rules.

Tracy_Baker · 2011-11-30T22:17:31.000Z

Lizard_King:

Could you explain what you like about it other than the loot? Elder Scroll ruined yahtzeelikes forever and I’m not sure I grasp what’s good about this from looking at the rules.

I love dice games. Especially ones you can play solo that aren’t completely luck-based. D-Day Dice is more about resource management than trying to luck out on rolls, and has more tension than most dice games I’ve tried (this was print-and-play before he went commercial with it). There are lots of different maps, each with different routes posing different challenges, but one thing they all have in common is that you have to keep moving.

Ultimately, yes, it’s a dice game. If you hate them there’s no reason to get this. I just like the theme and the designer, and find that this is more nuanced than most dice games (something I think is best summed up in this strategy guide: http://files.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/62gyv0f81k/DDD_Strategy_Guide_1.0.pdf?).

Re: Elder Sign. The board game version turned out to be too fiddly and time-consuming for the weight of the game, but I’m loving the slightly more streamlined iOS adaptation.

JM1 · 2011-12-01T01:01:52.000Z

Lizard_King:

Pretty much the only thing that’s interesting to me about this game is watching the contortions that people will surely go through to avoid making their changes permanent.

No kidding. “Hey, let’s buy this game where permanent changes are its raison d’etre and then try and work out how we can get around that”. Why, people? Why?! You are trying to get rid of literally the only thing that makes it worth buying.

Lizard_King · 2011-12-01T06:13:34.000Z

Tracy Baker:

Ultimately, yes, it’s a dice game. If you hate them there’s no reason to get this. I just like the theme and the designer, and find that this is more nuanced than most dice games (something I think is best summed up in this strategy guide: http://files.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/62gyv0f81k/DDD_Strategy_Guide_1.0.pdf?).

Re: Elder Sign. The board game version turned out to be too fiddly and time-consuming for the weight of the game, but I’m loving the slightly more streamlined iOS adaptation.

Thanks, that helps a lot. My view of Elder Sign was that it was too much dice-placement and not enough thematic integration of the mechanics (it still boggles my mind that the flavor text amounts to a quick sentence in most cases and doesn’t describe each step in solving a mission).

The expansion to DDay sounded good but one thing at a time, right? I like dice games (Alien Frontiers, for one), it’s just hard to figure out if they are going to be more AF or more Elder Sign sometimes.

aganazer · 2011-12-01T06:28:23.000Z

I thought I hated dice games. Elder Sign Omens (the mobile version) only reinforced this. I agree with LK about the poor thematic integration, but I also found the loot to be poorly implemented, and the more “gamey” mechanics (the entrance options and character special abilities) felt contrived and uninspired.

King of Tokyo totally changed my mind about dice games though. I can’t get enough of that game even though I don’t really care for the theme. It just goes to show you that a good game is much more important than a good theme.

EDIT: Also, Eclipse preorders are sold out and the pre-order shipment is in North-America! I had a feeling this would happen. Glad I pre-ordered.

dtolman · 2011-12-01T07:51:33.000Z

aganazer:

EDIT: Also, Eclipse preorders are sold out and the pre-order shipment is in North-America! I had a feeling this would happen. Glad I pre-ordered.

Only at the Manufacturer level. At the moment, their are plenty of individual retailers with excess copies they are willing to (pre)sell to you.

Nephrinn · 2011-12-01T08:41:04.000Z

dtolman:

Only at the Manufacturer level. At the moment, their are plenty of individual retailers with excess copies they are willing to (pre)sell to you.

I’m really considering purchasing Eclipse after watching Drakkenstrike’s excellent video review. What really caught my attention was that he believed FFG’s recent Civilization was a masterpiece, which I tend to agree with. And if he’s under the impression that Eclipse is the best game of 2011, then it’s probably a must buy for me.

Unfortunately, it’s PRICEY at $65, especially when I’ll probably only be playing it 2 player. So, it’s either Eclipse and a few LOTR LCG expansions, or all LOTR LCG expansions and something else.