Thanks for the impressions, I’ve been keeping an eye on this one but based on my strange combination of abstract admiration for Chvaatil and a tough time actually getting games in I’ve been wary of jumping in. I’m definitely looking to try it at Atlanta gamefest now in January to see how it feels.
z22
4502
Mage Knight Boardgame
I played Mage Knight Boardgame this week, 4 players, intro scenario. As said above, the game has lots of fiddly bits and lots of rules. Overall I thought it was a good game but one I won’t be getting. For my tastes it was too long and had too much down time between turns, mostly because we played with one person that had Analysis Paralysis.
Too many times, due to the randomness of card draw determining what you can/can’t do on any turn, we had players taking 5 seconds for their turn, followed by Mr. AP taking 15 minutes to needlessly plot out every possible move he was capable of taking. Since my regular group has a couple of these AP players I’m staying away from buying this game. I’m leaning towards more games that stray from the take one turn and pass the turn marker style of play, where you have no participation between turns.
Runeage
Fun game but in need of expansions. We’ve only played 4 player games and found it very enjoyable. The cooperative scenario has been great fun. The competitive scenarios were also very fun but suffered from what many FFA games do, the pile-on. There’s nothing you can do, except beg for mercy, when you’re the victim of a pile-on in this game.
Eclipse
Unpacked it today, will play it Monday. Wow, over 900 pieces! Rulebook reads like it should be a great game.
Game of Thrones 2e
Might see the table Monday too. I’ll let you know.
A friend and I defeated Passage to Mirkwood today, so it can be done, guys! Oh, I’m talking about LOTR: The Card Game, and Passage to Mirkwood is the first scenario.
JM1
4505
Wahey! Someone got me Blood Bowl: Team Manager for Xmas. This doesn’t break my “no more boardgames” rule (ok, it’s more of a guideline) as it’s basically a card game but with very pretty components. Looking forward to trying this out.
And I received the Discword: Ankh-Morpork boardgame for Christmas, wooo. I gave a friend Galaxy Trucker, so it seems there’s some sort of balance in the universe.
Thanks! But I was joking. But we did win. But thanks!
Daagar
4508
Jumping in way late - What is the minimum age level for the LOTR LCG? I just stepped into this thread after ignoring it for 40 some pages, and the game sounds absolutely awesome… non-collectable, co-op play for 2 players (and solitaire mode)?! OMG!!! But, my son is only 11. He’s familiar with the pokemon-style card games, but hasn’t delved into Magic or the WoW TCG or the sort. Have a little xmas money left over, and might sink it here if it is something he could actually do with me.
An 11-year-old could definitely play it. A key thing is that it’s co-op, so you guys can discuss what to do amongst yourselves, so even if he’s not certain exactly what a card would do or whatever, you can explain it and point things out.
Daagar
4510
Well that makes sense. Sounds excellent!
I’ve been playing test games of Mage Knight in preparation for my first multiplayer session this Thursday. Lorini’s pooh-poohing of my concerns about overly-deterministic gameplay was fitting. The game is calculation-intensive, but there’s still some chance and risk involved, especially in PvP combat and assaulting adventure sites at night (when you can’t tell what lives there until you choose to attack). The overall feeling the game gives me is of awesome, open world strategic decisions coupled with super-crunchy tactical cardplay decisions. A well-executed turn of effective card combinations is extremely satisfying.
It’s really not much at all like Runebound, which I consider a great thing (I loathe Runebound). The main thing it lacks compared to other adventure boardgames is the sense of crazy random shit happening (via event cards, die rolls, etc.). The board is built via tile draws, but most of the information is visible. In the cases where it’s not, you always have the choice of taking your chances or not. The most unpredictable element is PvP combat, which I am really looking forward to seeing in action.
But yeah, this is absolutely not a game to played with AP-prone players.
That is the truth. I played my second game the other night- my friend Jon and I (who had both played before), and two new players, one of whom is prone to AP. The game dragged on for hours, though we only barely made it through the second Round (the first night) before we found the city. I shudder to think how long it’ll play in the “full” scenarios if anyone is really prone to over-thinking things.
The irony, of course was that the AP-player (Mark)'s biggest problem with the game was the down-time between turns- of which he was the biggest contributor.
I also have Eclipse and Risk:Legacy on-deck for the coming week. Can’t wait.
tylertoo
4513
Santa brought:
7 Wonders
Castle Panic
LoTR:TCG
Cool dude, that Santa guy.
Now that I have LotR:TCG I will destroy Dave at it as well!
…wait, it’s coop?
BOO!
ShivaX
4516
You can always play coop and then at the last minute make both of you lose while screaming “The Ring is MINE!”
That almost makes me wish I lived near Perkins.
One of my xmas gifts was the Space Hulk card game (Death Angel). It looks great, but now I feel like getting the real boardgame. It’s such a shame that it went out of print :(
My QT3 secret santa got me THUNDERSTONE this year. Never would have bought it myself but what the hey, I like deckbuilding. Just played the first game with my wife and holy crap, that was a lot of fun! And close, too. She beat me by two measly victory points that I would have had on my next turn if she hadn’t thrown the last fight to end the game.
And now I’m deep into the expansions on my Amazon wishlist. More stuff to buy hooray!
