No worries! I honestly didn’t mean to sound like a jerk yet I totally see why I came across that way.
Has anyone beaten the first mission (Mirkwood) of LOTR using the straight-up Legolas deck? I can’t see how one would. Together, the three heroes have only 4 willpower, and the deck provides no boosts.
Ha! I never finished watching that series, quitting when I’d learned how to play.
A solo tactics deck with the base set of cards is probably the most difficult to play. As you say, they have very little capability of questing outside of the heroes. I’m sure it’s possible, but why put yourself through such torture?
I beat the first mission solo with… Crap, I’m not at home with my cards to remember names, but out was Eoyeon, a guy from Rohan, and then a green lady that cost 11. She heals people, and has a good questing ability. I beat the first mission easily with that deck, whereas the tactics Legolas deck was almost impossible.
I think that trying to play a solo deck of one color is kinda rugged. It just leaves too many holes.
Personally I like the Tactics deck, if you add a little Lore. There are several ways to peak at the encounter deck in Lore, which is amazingly useful. Not to mention being able to heal up your poor tactics heroes who take a beating. Plus it adds a few more options for questing.
The deck I haven’t seemed to be able to get anything useful done with (either by itself or mixing it in), is Leadership. I’m not sure why but it just doesn’t seem to work well for me, despite having some crazy powerful cards.
Glorfindel is not a lady! Sheesh. (of course elves are the metrosexuals of the fantasy genre, so your mistake is understandable)
Just cuz the main appeal this game has for me is how difficult it is. I like making games difficult. But solo tactics seems impossible… I hardly even believe that Rodney did it.
He basically used Legolas’s special ability (augmented by a weapon) to kill stuff and add quest counters. As well as an endelss stream of sacrificial allies for blocking. Pretty effective actually. He also had a few lucky draws, but that’s all part of a game like this.
Both times I tried, I lost because my threat level hit 50. Even if Legolas kills one enemy per turn, that’s only 2 progress tokens to go on quests or locations, so… well, maybe I just need to watch him play. :)
Recently on this board I brought up that I love Martin Wallace games (I think it was after I picked up Brass) and someone suggested I get London.
I picked London up for Christmas and it’s fantastic! It doesn’t feel as deep as Steam or Brass (the other two Martin Wallace games I own), but it’s so much more approachable and fast to play. There’s still a ton of depth to each decision you make. I feel like London is to Brass as San Juan is to Puerto Rico and I’m really glad I own both. So thanks for the suggestion, whoever that was.
Also based on some previous grumblings here I’m looking very intensely at A Few Acres of Snow. I was hoping I might be able to play it with my girlfriend since she’s quite taken with Dominion. Is it pretty approachable or considerably more complicated? For reference, I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking her to play Brass or Steam, but I would asking her to play London.
SlyFrog
4553
Yeah, it does work better that way. :)
Cool game, and awesome that you’re playing it with a nine year old.
Wader
4554
So QT3, I would love some recommendations:
I received some spending money for Christmas, and want to get some board games. I plan to buy the Blood Bowl Team Manager game (or Ascension, I haven’t decided which yet) for myself, but I would like to get one that would appeal to a wider variety of people for my second game.
Games that have gone over well with this group include:
Survive! - This was a huge hit with almost everyone. It had enough strategy to make the thinkers happy, but also appealed to the ones who just wanted to play.
Robo Rally - I notice that there is a theme of “screw your neighbor” games being popular in my group. We play multiple games of Robo Rally.
Small World - Once they got over the number of small pieces, even the complex averse people had fun.
Ticket To Ride - Actually, this group has liked almost all of Days Of Wonder’s games
So, any recommendations? I would say that a good theme is important because that tends to make people in the group who are scared of complexity more comfortable.
Here’s what I am thinking of choosing from, any comments about these (pro or con) would be appreciated.
King of Tokyo (looks like a lot of crazy fun)
Forbidden Island (I have heard good things about this)
Cargo Noir (another Days of Wonder, so at least I know it’s safe)
Arkham Horror (this is increasing the complexity, but the theme might sell it)
Battlestar Galactica (even more complexity, and my wife hates playing games with lots of text on little cards)
A Game Of Thrones:The Board Game (this is my “screw you guys, I love A Game Of Thrones, who cares about the complexity” pick)
Any other ideas?
apost8
4555
Forbidden Island will be a good pick for your group. The complexity is comparable to the others you list, and the theme is good.
Battlestar Galactica might be okay if the people in your group like the TV show, but be aware that it has a longer playtime than the games you list. (Except maybe “Robo Rally”? I don’t remember how long that takes.) This might be a turn-off, depending on your players.
A Game of Thrones has both more complexity and a long playtime. I think it may not be a good fit for your group. But it’s not a bad game – I don’t own a copy, but I am happy to play it.
Wader – King of Tokyo for sure. Either Forbidden Island or Pandemic (both use the same core mechanics, but Pandemic is slightly more involved) are great. (Defenders of the Realm is also a Pandemic derivative, with a fantasy theme and one step more involved than Pandemic.)
I will once again recommend Kingsburg for a great medium-weight strategic game (about as heavy as Small World).
I would say you probably want to stay away from Battlestar and give careful consideration before getting Arkham. These are both much longer and much more fiddly than most of the other games you cited. If your group likes HP Lovecraft in particular, you might try Elder Sign.
Benhur
4557
I played the newest edition of Game of Thrones a few weeks ago and it was rough. It definately takes some patience and a long time to get through. The order phase really made my brain hurt because you not only have to think about your long-term strategy, but what you opponent’s long-term stratehies as well. Definately needs a trial and error/patience investment.
I was estatic to get the second edition War of the Ring as a Christmas gift today. I can’t wait for some hot two-player action soon.
Wader
4558
Thanks for the advice so far. I was leaning toward King of Tokyo, but I see only one copy on Amazon, at about 20 dollars more than what appears to be its standard price (if coolstuffinc is close to its standard price), so I might have to pass on that unless anyone has a retailer where it is in stock.
Forbidden Island might be the right choice then.
Any opinions from the gamers here as to Blood Bowl Team Manager vs. Ascension? I have been hearing about how great Ascension is for a long time, but everyone seems to be praising BB lately.
Dixit was pretty much of a failure at our house. Everyone loved the artwork but after finishing the game we all agreed that we’d just as soon play Apples to Apples.
Dominions was a big hit and we pulled Saint Petersburg off the shelf to rave reviews.
We played Dixit last night and I thought it would bomb, given the crowd, but it didn’t at all.
