That’s certainly true, and probably a really important variable. It certainly had me on the fence for a long time.
peterb
4462
So has anyone picked up A Few Acres of Snow and formed any opinions of it? A quick search of the board just showed that Lorini felt it was slow her first few times playing while a few others were talking about picking it up. Did it just not impress or did it get lost in a flurry of new releases? People on BGG seem to like it, but they love plodding Eurogames so it’s hard to tell.
While I’m at it, looking back only showed a few posts about Rune Age. No, I’m not hoping to compare it to AFAoS, since I know they’re very (very) little alike. Does it have legs, though? Do the various versions play well? Is it fun with two people? Would it be fun for a group of people who like games but aren’t necessarily fantasy buffs? For my point of reference, I don’t much care for the themeless sterility and euro-depths of Dominion, while I love the trashy randomness of Ascension. I know anything from FFG is going to be packed with theme, but how’s the play?
Lorini
4464
The ‘plodding’ part is much more wargamey than eurogamey in my assessment. If A Few Acres of Snow was a true euro game it would be done in half the time.
It plays excellent IMO. Actually, I think Rune Age acts more as a filler deck building game then something like Dominion or Thunderstone because setup and play is so quick.
I’ve only played it exclusively 2 player so can’t comment on more players than that, but I think it’s a great 2 player game.
The one downside is indeed its legs. Almost all who have played Rune Age agree that it desperately feels like it needs expansions because there is so little variety there. That’s not to say you won’t it enjoy it for about 20 plays, but beyond that it might start feeling a bit stale.
Overall, I think it captures the essence of Runewars and brings it surprisingly successfully into a deck building format.
aganazer
4466
That’s probably a good description right there. Its a good filler since it plays well, games are quick, and its easy to teach.
Compared to Thunderstone and Dominion it lacks the engine and combo building that those games have. It’s also a lot lighter on content so it doesn’t have as much variety from game to game.
Rune Age has had a hard time getting to the table lately. King of Tokyo has been our filler of choice and Rune Age isn’t deep enough for a main course type of game. I’d much rather play a game of Thunderstone when I’m in the mood for a deck builder.
Do you mind selling me on Thunderstone? I’ve watched Tom Vassel’s reviews of the game and I’m still not entirely sure I get it.
aganazer
4469
It was probably my group’s most played game this year. It has a few strengths that worked well for my group.
There are a ton of card interactions and huge amounts of game content creating new and interesting combos that are different every game. I really can’t emphasize this one enough. I’ll usually lose interesting in a game as soon as every game starts to feel samey.
There is almost no downtime.
The theme and art is great.
There are just a lot of great brain burning decision points. You’re constantly balancing the need to prune your deck, cherry pick the best dungeon monsters, snatch up village cards that may get scarce, all while trying to stick to a vision of what your end game machine of a deck should be.
Xemu
4470
I love Thunderstone but can’t convince my group (that loves Dominions) to really give it much playtime.
Rune Age took REALLY look for us to play, but maybe we weren’t understanding something. Easily 3x the time of something like Dominions.
It is very pretty! This is a game born for the computer age. Are you going to buy it, Tracy?
Heh… Well, if you do, I will be interested to read what you think.
This is the first valid reason I’ve seen for owning an iPad.
The “watch it played” dude who covered LOTR-the-card-game said there was some sort of database available that shows each card and provides a FAQ for each one to answer common inquiries. He said he provided a link, but I couldn’t find it. Does anyone have such a link to share with me? Thanks in advance.
Dave Perkins, get Carcassonne because I want to destroy you in every aspect of iOS gaming.
I was just today toying with that idea! (Not the purchase of Carcassonne, but the desire to be destroyed by you in every aspect of iOS gaming.)
There’s this: http://lotrlcg.com/
And this: http://www.cardgamedb.com/index.php/lotr/lord-of-the-rings-card-spoiler
Thanks, Tracy. I saw that site, but there doesn’t appear to be a FAQ attached to each card. All the dude’s doing is providing scans for some purpose – probably for wanking.
Hmm, now I’m curious what he was talking about, too. That second link allows for comments, which are handy to see what others think about particular cards.
Maybe he was referring to this: http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/66894/comprehensive-card-reference-unofficial-faq
From the comments the latest version of that isn’t up at BGG yet, but here’s the direct link to the PDF: http://www.kaybee.org/kirk/LoTR_LCG_Cards_and_FAQs.pdf
