6501

It’s The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game from Fantasy Flight.

6502

Well then. If you like Lord of the Rings, you can try the Cryptozoic games. They are self-contained games, but you can combine the various games. It’s 2-5 players, plays a little like… Dominion except I’d say there’s a bit more random to it. They’re very easy to pick up too and pretty cheap. I purchased the two I have for 10 or less. I have played with minimum 2 and max five and enjoyed it. Dominion itself is fun and a lot more strategic I think. The Game of Thrones The Card game isn’t too bad either. I find that FF tends to make games a little complex though so I often kind of dread learning anything that comes out of them and this one felt a little heavy in rules too but still well designed for 1 vs. 1.

My 2 cents.

6503

I consider the DC Deckbuilding game the worst deckbuilder I’ve ever played, so I’m not sure that I’m going to be a great resource tastewise, if you enjoy it that much. But you might try other deckbuilders. Ascension is beautiful, has tons of expansions and is a similar design (i.e. DC Deckbuilder is based on it) but without a lot of the problems. High Command remixes the deckbuilder by way of a miniatures license and is pretty fun (it comes in Warmachine: High Command or Hordes: High Command but they are compatible with one another). Eminent Domain is a planetary control deckbuilder with planet-taking and research - definitely get the Escalation expansion, it’s vital to the experience. And there’s Marvel Legendary, for a superhero experience, or the supposedly superior coop-oriented Legendary Encounters games that license things like Alien, Predator and Firefly. (I’ve only played a tiny bit of Marvel Legendary and a lot more Encounters, so I can’t say for sure. The first two Encounters sets are real good, though.) Or for a no-deckbuilding-at-all coop superhero game, Sentinels of the Multiverse remains a classic.

6504

If you want a LOTR game that does justice to the theme and plays well, try LOTR: The Confrontation (short, 2 player only) or Middle Earth Quest (epic, accommodates more players).

6505

You might like to try Coreworlds a very good deck builder SciFi game though most say it is best with the expansion.

6506

I enjoy Coreworlds with the expansions. Mostly played it 3-player, but sadly so infrequently that it doesn’t play as fast as it feels it should.

6507

Star Realms, which has a decent iOS implementation and a cheap physical package ($15 for a set for two players) is an enjoyable version of the deckbuilders you describe. I know there is a Quarter to Three league that has played a lot more than I have, and they can probably identify an issues with it. At free (I think, for the iOS app) or $15 for the box, it isn’t much of an investment either way, as boardgames go.

On the coop side, Legendary Encounters is really cool. I have the Alien version, which I enjoy because it includes scenarios and cards for all the movies, which satisifies people on both side of the Alien/Aliens split. It is also tough as nails, at least for my group of players, which makes it attractive.

We also enjoy Shadowrun: Crossfire. I don’t actually think it is the best deckbuilder ever , but enough of my friends like cyberpunk stuff and coop games that the game works. Also, it is one of the few deckbuilders that lets you buy cards from the central market and place them directly in your hand, which several of my friends prefer. They want to play with their new toys right away.

6508

+1 Star Realms. Really the best pure deckbuilding game out there IMO. I think this fits what you want perfectly.
+1 Core Worlds. There is a really great feeling of progression in this game. It can feel a bit long though.

I actually think that Splendor would work well too (though the theme is not as cool as those other two).

6509

I’ve posted about my experiences with the LotR:LCG in other threads, but I really think it’s a game that needs to grow on you. It’s definitely a different experience than standard deck builders. Instead of building up to powerful hands versus an enemy deck where the threat is fairly steady, you generally don’t know what you’re going to face with the LotR:LCG, even from the same scenario. A couple of weeks ago I setup a scenario and basically lost in the first round. I played it again a few nights ago and had a relatively easy experience. But most of the time it falls in between, where you can be doing well one second, just to have things rapidly go downhill the next. It makes for some very tense gameplay, which can generate some really great moments. It does take a lot of time to get used to the flow of the rounds, and the out-of-game deck building is not my favorite thing.

For something closer to the DC Deckbuilder, I’d heartily echo some of the other recommendations already posted. My wife and I love Marvel Legendary. We just logged our 50th play of it last night, making it easily our most played game. Like most deck builders, the decision-making is fairly light, but they came up with a number of really interesting scenarios, and it’s fairly easy to adjust the difficulty with the heroes/villains you select for the scenario.

The main complaint about the base game is that they didn’t vary the card art within each hero (every Cyclops card has the same art), but thankfully they changed it in the expansions so every type of card has different art. They did a great job of adding a few mechanics with the expansions (some of them better than others), and the heroes generally play differently enough, and most feel thematic.

Star Realms is also great for simple, competitive deckbuilder that plays fast and has a really cheap base game for what you get. There’s a number of small inexpensive expansions, but I didn’t care for them as much.

I like Sentinels of the Multiverse a lot as well, but you may want to watch a few reviews of it first. It can get a little heavy on the bookkeeping, and the card interactions can be a little weird at first, particularly when timing is in question. I love the way the decks feel very different though, and the art looks great to me. It can also have that feeling of building up slowly as the game progresses.

6510

Shadowrun Crossfire is very hard in my experience so I would be careful playing it with a causal group. The ability to grow in experience between scenarios is fun.

6511

Thanks for the feedback folks! I really appreciate the help.

6512

Agreed with the sentiment here. But just wanted to add that there is a mobile app to help with the bookkeeping. I found it especially helpful on a tablet in the middle of the table accessible to all the players.

6513

What does the app do? We had a guest come over with my group one night with Multiverse… the game fell flat and hard. I was the only one trying, and I am pretty sure one of my teammates went out of their way to get killed to get out of the game. The rules and the damage, it seemed like a lot to keep track of. I had to challenge one ruling because it seemed, well not as intended shall we say.

6514

I tried the app a few times (assuming you’re referring to the one that keeps track of health values and such) and had some issues with it. It’s partly due to my tablet, which would stop registering clicks at times when adjust health values, causing me to lose track of where it should be. I also didn’t like the process of adding/removing minions and such out of the different decks. I ended up going back to using dice to track health.

And keeping up with health values really aren’t that bad. What’s more troublesome in terms of bookkeeping is the different modifier effects. Keeping up with all the +/- 1 damage modifiers (which can be personal, group wide, game wide, only apply to certain types, never mind immune this round, wait did this come first, and now it’s redirected, etc.) is what makes the game tricky at times.

That said, it’s at least due in part because I play it mostly solo, so I’m having to do all the game state stuff in my head. I would still recommend the base set to anyone who is even remotely interested in superhero co-ops, as long as they understand it may take a few games to grok the interactions despite the very simple rules and turn structure.

6515

Does anyone here play/own Flash Point: Fire Rescue? I’ve owned it for years, but only just thought about getting an expansion. The question is: Which one? What’s your favourite? It’s especially confusing as each expansion comes in Kickstarter-only and regular-joe flavours.

I might go for Extreme Danger – the one that gives you little figures and buildings, as I have the original wooden pawns.

6516

I want to know the answer to this as well. I have it and like it a thousand times better than Pandemic. Given that it’s five whole years old (!), I wouldn’t mind hearing recommendations for good ways to flesh it out with add-ons.

-Tom

6517

I would have assumed you’d hate it the exact same amount! :P

Do you not feel it suffers from the same underlying concept of “multiplayer solitaire” or “quarterbacking” or whatever the term is? I have to really hold back from telling other people what to do when playing FP:FR, because I KNOW BEST. It’s my only problem with the game, really.

6518

Oh, right, I forget that some people might not realize Flash Point is a solitaire game. I have no idea why you and your friends are wasting your time when you could be playing a game that’s perfectly cromulent for more than one person. :)

As a solitaire game, Flash Point has far fewer thematic issues than Pandemic and, in fact, folds theme and gameplay very nicely. It also takes a lot less time to play. The presentation is less abstract and the classes make a lot more sense. That said, I am interested in checking out one or more of the better add-ons.

-Tom

6519

The addons are 99% new boards with some thematic mechanics, so it’s really a question of whether you’d rather fight fires in a multi-story apartment building, in a lab, on a cruise ship, in an airplane, etc. Or just do what I did and get all of them.

I think Extreme Danger offers the most besides that, but I got it through Kickstarter so I might be confusing bonuses with what’s actually in the box.

6520

Of the two expansions I own (the first two expansion boards), I think I like 2nd-Story best. It literally adds a whole new dimension to the game. The other one I own, which is the one with the office building and duplex, is alright, but I think that it is not as unique, and in the case of the office, is too damn hard!