hepcat
6221
Just received my preorder for Navajo Wars yesterday. I started playing the tutorial in the playbook and I’m very impressed so far. Point to point map and CDG mechanics with a great solitaire engine driving it all. Resource management, raiding, a tech tree of sorts, culture…it’s got a lot of great stuff.
Anyone have experience with the Star Wars LCG? I’m thinking of picking it up to play with my girlfriend. We play two-player Euro games a lot, but I like CCG / LCG games and would love to get her into one. I tried with Netrunner when it came out last year, but that game is just impossible to teach. Between being excessively asymmetrical so you have to learn two games to play it, and it being all about bluffing, it made it way too hard for us to get through a game without her getting confused / frustrated (luckily I have some coworkers to play with). And the deckbuilding rules in that game are a little intense…
I was looking at Star Wars because it looked like the two sides were more similar and because the deckbuilding sounded simplified (grabbing sets rather than individual cards). Is it easy to teach? She’s generally no slouch with learning games (we play Race for the Galaxy, Trajan, and Brass pretty regularly, but those games have mostly public information and are perfectly symmetrical which makes them way easier to learn I think). Also, is it any fun? I’m not really looking for an “intro to CCG” game that doesn’t go anywhere but introduce the concept so we can move to Magic later. Any thoughts?
Star Wars LCG has become my favorite card game to play. The two sides are almost the same play wise. The dark side player needs to destroy three light side objectives or survive long enough to get the Death Star dial to twelve. The light side player just needs to destroy three dark side objectives. I really enjoy the deckbuilding for the game. You don’t pick each individual card for the decks. Instead you pick objective sets of six cards (1 objective, 5 cards for your deck). If you take a set you have to take all six cards. You combine ten objective sets together to form a ten card objective deck and a fifty card draw deck, then you begin playing.
I think it is a lot of fun to play. Most card games have a lot of decisions at the deckbuilding stage, and only a few meaningful ones during play. Star Wars reveres this and makes deckbuilding decisions simple and gameplay decisions more meaningful. When to hold troops back to defend your objectives, when to attacks. Do I play defensively as the dark side and just try to hold the force battle, winning in six turns? Or do you strike at the light side objectives and keep their forces thin so they can’t hit you? Highly recommend. One core box gives you four decks (Rebel Alliance, Jedi, Sith, Imperial Navy) that are playable right away. Edge of Darkness gives enough cards so you can play the remaining two faction (Smugglers and Spies, Scoundrel) decks properly. I’d look at those two boxes right off (about 90.00 MSRP) You don’t really need any of the force packs with those two boxes. Once those six decks get boring, then add the six Hoth cycle packs to the mix and have fun.
And if you have a group of friends who might be up for a challenge, there is a pack coming up soon called ‘The Balance of the Force’ which pits one player with a special deck against two or three players. The light side deck is called ‘The hunt for Skywalker’ which has the dark side players trying to find Skywalker on Tattoine and capture/kill him. The Dark Side deck is called ‘Jerjerrod’s Task’ which has the light side players trying to destroy the death star before they are all defeated. I’m looking forward to it.
Well that sounds perfect. Guess I’ll be out 90$ this afternoon. Thanks!
Got to play my copy of Lords of Vegas last night. It was pretty fun. Although the reviewers that I watched pointed out quite a bit of “there’s a lot of dice, but there isn’t too much luck to this game”, I think the players disagreed. It also took quite a bit longer than on the box because we a) had to figure out the rules, and b) wheeled and dealed quite a bit. This was a result, though, of one of the coolest parts of the game. At any time, not even your turn, you can trade pretty much anything with another player. The only things you can’t trade are things that would break the game (which are spelled out for you) and “future actions”. So no promising to do something later. Although we read this as the typical board gamey rule of “You can promise to do anything you want, but you aren’t obligated to do it by any mechanic” whereas the trading we made mandatory if you agreed (since the rules basically describe it as such).
It was fun though, and I look forward to playing it again. It’s relatively light and easy to play, so I could see it coming out at a family-type event or with non-gamers. It shares a lot of the appeal of Catan, in my estimation, with less luck required. It can be cut-throat though, depending on how you play it.
The basic premise of the game is you build casino tiles out on the board using certain different actions, and adjacent tiles of the same colors (there are 5 colors) become part of the same casino. You angle to be the “boss” of any given casino, which can mean you fighting off the other players since other players can build casino tiles adjacent to your tiles of the same color. Being the boss means you get points, which is how you win the game, whereas just having tiles in a casino is enough to get you money. Having money buys you more tiles and fun times. You can also walk into another players casino and lay down a bet if you want to throw a wrench in things.
The theme works really well in my opinion.
Got my Zombicide Season 2 haul yesterday. Base game, season 2, the mall, and all the bonus loot. The shipping box is nearly as tall as my desk. Sooo much stuff. Hopefully I like it!
I’m jealous. According to my tracking number they haven’t sent it to FedEx yet. Hope you like it.
Brakara
6228
Dreamshadow, any comment on why the people in this reddit thread are recommending getting a 2nd core set of Star Wars LCG instead of Edge of Darkness?
I’m asking because I just ordered Core + Edge and am getting buyer’s remorse…
A fair number of people like to double up on objective sets for more consistant decks. Unless you are going to play in tournaments, i wouldnt worry about it.
Otagan
6230
Remember that the people who post in there are probably more hardcore than the casual players you might find elsewhere. It’s like the Netrunner players who buy three core sets to make sure they have three of each card in the game for tournament purposes. It’s not necessary at all for at least 90% of people who play the game.
I hadn’t seen this news posted around here yet, so I figured I’d take it upon myself.
Rob Daviau Has worked for Hasbro for years and years, working mostly on their more interesting, geek-focused stuff- the Buffy: The Vampire Slayer board game, Betrayal At The House On the Hill, HeroScape, Star Wars: Epic Duels & The Queen’s Gambit, and one of the coolest (at least to me and this post), Risk: Legacy.
For those unfamiliar, R:L came out almost two years ago, and it was built more on the setting and system introduced in their more mechanically ‘modern’ version of Risk, Risk 2210 than on classic Risk. The biggest twist it introduced was the campaign game it was built around. After each session, you permanently altered game components, changing the game forever for every game going forward. You put stickers on and marked up the board, tore cards up, introduced new mechanics and elements, etc. It was pretty crazy. We played through the whole campaign (15 games) last year shortly after it was released, and had an absolute blast- I never though I’d say that about a Risk game.
Anyway, they just announced that Mr. Daviau has left Hasbro to form his own company, focusing on the Legacy idea- campaign games that change permanantly after every play. The first up, due out next year is SeaFall, a 4X game set in an alternate-history Age of Sail. As much as I’m anticipating the two Kickstarter games I backed, Myth and Kingdom Death, this has instantly jumped to the top of my want-list. A cool, fully-featured 4X game, building empires and the map as you go, completely leaving behind the dated mechanics and baggage of the Risk system? Sign me the hell up.
JoshL
6232
If you’re interested in SeaFall, you should probably listen to the latest Three Moves Ahead podcast. They interview Rob Daviou and talk about playtesting SeaFall. It does sound pretty interesting, but also pretty far from done right now.
Brakara
6233
Ok, thanks. Just wondered since the OP there said he was a casual player who only played with other casuals (which sounds like me).
As a followup, I just bought the core set and haven’t bought Edge of Darkness yet. I’ve played it with my girlfriend and a friend at work using the pre-built decks and like it a lot. I’m curious about the deck-building, but right now am still interested in just exploring the base decks (played 3 games, have yet to play all the decks in core yet, and certainly haven’t mastered any of them). Unless a friend picks up some sets to deck-build against, right now I think it’s more likely I’ll just continue to play with the pre-built decks in Core and Edge and pull it out when I’m looking for a quick aggressive 2-player game.
As for teaching, my girlfriend had a bit of trouble picking it up, I think mainly due to it being her first Magic-style game. But she enjoyed it enough to want to play again, so that’s a success in my book. My friend picked it up in about 2 turns with minimal explanation, but he’s an experienced Magic-style game player.
I really like how quick you burn through cards in the game. It reminds me more of Race for the Galaxy or Dominion because the quick card burning makes the game feel more tactical then strategic. I also just generally adore card-games where cards can serve multiple purposes, and Star Wars LCG totally accomplishes that.
The negative comments about the core decks being “too-random” on their own hasn’t matched my experience yet, but I haven’t played enough to be any sort of expert on the subject. Could definitely just be we’ve had lucky draws, but the games we’ve played with core sets have been close. Always within a turn of both sides winning.
Yeah, I saw that at the other podcast talking about the playtest on the 'geek. Sounds like interesting stuff for sure.
jpinard
6236
Dead Man’s Draw, the physical version of the excellent card game only has 5 days left. Has this been advertised on Boardgamegeek? I’m not an active member there and wouldn’t know where to post. But I desperately hope this makes it as it would be so much fun to play with family. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1337955109/dead-mans-draw-a-card-game-of-risk-and-reward
If you don’t mind, maybe spread the word around? It would be a shame to come up just short for something that would be such a great addition to card games.
Gedd
6237
Pardon if this has been discussed (and likely it has after 208 pages). Does anyone have any recommendations for good strategy games for kids and parents to play together? I have two 6-year old boys and my wife and I bought them several board games recently based on some info I found around the web. We picked up:
Catan Jr.
The Secret Door
Chicken Cha Cha Cha
Sherlock
Quelf Jr.
Scrabble Jr.
We’ve only pulled out the first 3 so far, but I’m surprised at how many games are basically just rehashed versions of memory/concentration. By far, the most fun we’ve had is with Catan Jr. We’ve played 4 or 5 games and it’s a blast, especially as the boys have picked up on the basics. We still help them a little, but they’ve needed less and less as we’ve gone along. And the great thing is neither my wife or myself is holding back on our turns…we’re giving it our best, and still losing (seriously, my one son has won every game). That means it’s not only fun watching them play, but it’s also a challenge for us.
So are there any other games that are along the lines of Catan Jr. that would be suitable for 6-year olds?
And don’t get me wrong, the memory games can be fun. We’ve had a blast playing Chicken Cha Cha Cha. The problem is I’ve had to resort to artificial rules to make the game fun for them (or else I’d probably run the board within 5 or 6 turns).
My kids love Castle Panic. It has the bonus of being co-op, so we can talk about the moves they can make openly.
Memory games are popular for family games because kids are actually better at remembering things than adults, so it has a chance of equalizing the playfield. Supposedly. There’s a game called Gulo Gulo that is about trying to pick particular colors of wooden eggs out of a bowl. I think the idea there is that kids’ small fingers give them an advantage.
I would 110% recommend Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert. In fact, I like the latter (the sequel) better than the former by a bit. These are co-op games, which I love for family play. You have to restrain your desire to tell the kids what to do–I even like to ask them what they want me to do on my turn. As a bonus, they’re also very inexpensive considering their amazing components.
JoshL
6240
Seconding Forbidden Island and Desert, which have the added bonus that they are co-op, which is good for kids who aren’t ready to lose gracefully (hey, it takes time).
Also, I recently picked up “Cardline Animals” which is pretty cool because it has animals, and kids love animals! Your kids have to have enough math to know if a number is bigger or smaller than another number, and have some knowledge of how big a wide variety of animals are (you can play by size, weight, or lifespan). Also it is easy to handicap, you just give the adults more cards than the kids (the object is to successfully play all of your cards into the line). It only takes a few minutes to play.
