*Which two main mechanism combos would you like to see more in games?

Sorry, I'm a bit tired and I copy-pasted this from the other thread.

>>96611224
Temu Uwe Rosenberg look alike

>>96611224
>What aspects of board games are underexplored?
I think there arent enough worker placement games with different worker types, most wp games use all the same kind of worker
>What game would be massively improved by just changing the theme?
I generally dont give a shit about a game's theme as long as it's not cringe stuff like my little pony or gay shit
I still don't understand those who are like "boo another game about X theme, thats boring, i want more games with Y theme!"
>Which two main mechanism combos would you like to be used more in games?
Hand management and worker placement

TI4 is essentially an auction game
No I will not elaborate

Modern Art is essentially an auction game. This general is not ready to accept this take yet.

>>96611489
so true

Five-card draw is the pinnacle of auction games.

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>>96611224
>TQs:
>- What aspects of board games are underexplored?
Simultaneous turns and selections could be explored in so many genres
>-What game would be massively improved by just changing the theme? (pick the theme)
Trapwords would be a household name like codenames if it didn't have the fantasy theme.
>- Which two main mechanism combos would you like to be used more in games?
Abstracts and "player powers". Come on, are you gonna let santorini be the only one?
>Bonus question: What is your favorite game by Martin Wallace?
A study in emerald

>>96611489
trvke thread

>>96611515
Tom?

Is 52 pickup an auction game?

>>96611515
>Trapwords would be a household name like codenames if it didn't have the fantasy theme.
but don't hobbyists love muh fantasy?

>>96611466
Twilight Imperium is literally just Catan.

>new thread
oops
What's your favorite 2p game?

>What aspects of board games are underexplored?

Religious themes. There should be a game about the Muslim conquests or the Exodus.

>What game would be massively improved by just changing the theme? (pick the theme)

Odin's Ravens would be a much better game with a Looney Tunes Wacky racers theme.

>Which two main mechanism combos would you like to be used more in games?

"I cut, you choose" is really under utilized. There are a lot of fake conflict points in games that would be better by just using this mechanism. The other one that comes to mind is hidden movement, especially in games where it's not really the entire point. I'd love a game like The Others with a hidden movement aspect to it.

>>96611489
Is this not the common opinion about the game?

>>96611728
summoner wars, boi

>>96611224
>What game would be massively improved by just changing the theme? (pick the theme)
idk, but I'd love to see more molecular themes. Something like a war game where a body(the leader or president) is being taken over and there are fighting white blood cells, osmosis jones style

>>96611889
>There should be a game about the Muslim conquests
Have you heard of the First Jihad?

>>96611889
Only one religion is allowed this and has a recent game by a known designer. Double standards.

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I swear this dude has played some of the most random games I run across on the gulag.
His collection is (or perhaps cumulatively) 5k so that's not surprising but I guess having 2.7k videos over 10 years is nuts to me

>>96611224
>What is your favorite game by Martin Wallace?
Never played any, always got the impression he's usually designing for 3+ players
Any 2 player games of his worth checking?

>>96612093
that's insane. How do people even remember all of these games? I rotate about 10 games and every time I go from one game to another, I have to reread the rules to remember all the little things. I don't know how people can remember 50+ game's rules.

>>96612109
A Few Acres of Snow

>>96611726
>map is a bunch of hexes
>roll dice
>cards
good lord

>>96612109
OP's pic is a 2 player game
I haven't played it, though

>>96612167
>distinct editions with heavy marketing
>expansions to increase player count
Bros....

>>96612093
what phenotype is this

>>96611071
Okay, what do you call it then when a game has randomness but the best strategy is clear? Or in your words, if every position is solved but the game is non-deterministic? Not that anon, but this sounds like pedantry.

>>96612252
>Not that anon, but this sounds like pedantry.
No, he's right.

>>96612256
I'm asking what do you call this then if not solved.

>>96612261
I'm not that person but I believe that is called a broken game. Only abstract strategy games can be solved.

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You thought you could just research Lightwave Deflector and dogpile the leader? You thought you could just sneak into his home system and grab a planet to stop him from scoring a win?

Lightwave Deflector is BANNED, faggot. It no longer exists. Git gud.

>>96612134
They don't, they play their games less than 5 times when they first get them and then they become permanent dust collectors while they move onto the next fad of the month. For whatever reason consoomers aspire to follow their example.

>>96612320
They get a dopamine rush from buying something new and playing it for the first time. They become addicted.

>>96612093
What purpose does 2 copies of Quacks serve

>>96612222
>negotiation heavy
>sucking off the other players is the winning strategy
B-bros, I don't feel so good...

>>96612318
I'd just like to interject for a moment. What you're refering to as Lightwave Reflector, is in fact, Light/Wave Reflector, or as I've recently taken to calling it, Light plus Wave Reflector. Lightwave is not a reflector unto itself, but rather another free component of a fully functioning reflector system made useful by the light reflectors, wave reflectors and vital reflector components comprising a full technology upgrade as defined by L1Z1X.

>>96612509
>sucking off the other players is the winning strategy
I should play this with women only

Jisogi has got to be the blandest worker placement game I've played. Quintessential example of being carried hard by its art, theme, and production

>>96612549
I could tell by googling it it was trash. No play required.

>What aspects of board games are underexplored?
Bullying. not saying it would be fun, maybe it would be, but designers totally ignore it because everything has to be balanced and inviting. What if I have a higher power level than Sally and we're both occupying the same area? I should be able to reach over and take her stuff.
>What game would be massively improved by just changing the theme? (pick the theme)
Hanami
>Which two main mechanism combos would you like to be used more in games?
Rondels and spatial abstracts
>What is your favorite game by Martin Wallace?
Age of Steam

>>96612564
Amateur
I could tell just by looking at the name

>>96612594
what's a spatial abstract? examples?

mindbug is better without the mindbugs

>>96610192
>My gf loves Ra at 2p
Sounds like wife material to me bro. Are you going to make it official and join the anons with board gaming wives cool dude club?

First off, thanks for tips anons on team based board games. I didn't expect to get so much toward the end of the thread's life.

>>96609742
>La Famiglia
I've seen it mentioned in the threads, but never bothered to look it up. I'll need to now as a team based worker placement game would make me much more interested in the genre. (Nothing against worker placement games in particular, I've had a fine time the handful I've played, but I haven't found one that I've loved enough to purchase.)

>>96609784
>Concordia
I never knew this classic had a team based mode, that sounds way more fun than the typical every man for themselves mode.
>Dune Upirising
I know this is hot shit on the gulag, but is this still fun if you haven't read the books nor watched the movies?
>I think the Undaunted games
Briefly looked on the gulag and only Undaunted 2200: Callisto is marked as being a team-based game.
>I wish there were more shorter games...A game for 30-60 minute that is made for two teams and isn't some long euro team mode.
You and me both brother.

>>96609837
>Guards of Altantis
Seems the gulag vastly prefers the sequel Guards of Atlantis II, have you tried that one as well?
>Windward can very easily be adapted to two player teams
I've seen this game at a convention, but don't know much about it. Would it be good with a homebrewed team mode?

>>96609940
>Decrypto
>Yokai Septet
>Innovation
I keep forgetting to try these on BGA. I'm gaming with some buds who've moved away this weekend so I'll try to push for one of these instead.
>Captain Sonar
I've seen this at conventions and always want to play it, but it's either full or doesn't work with my schedule. One day!

>>96610021
>Quartermaster General WW2
How's the WWI version compare? I don't mind playing WW2 if it's substantially better, but I don't have any WWI themed games and it'd be cool to mix things up.

>>96612679
>la famiglia
>team based worker placement game
That's only half of it. The other half is violence, up to and including car bombs.

>>96612679
>Seems the gulag vastly prefers the sequel Guards of Atlantis II, have you tried that one as well?
I dont think anyone refers to the first game when talking about GoA.

>I know this is hot shit on the gulag, but is this still fun if you haven't read the books nor watched the movies?
It's a worker placement, deckbuilding gam with a space theme. Nobody cares about the ip. I read the first book, watched the movies and I would prefer if it was some generic theme.

>>96612679
Dune Imperium's theme is far and away the loosest of the big three Dune games (GF9 Dune, War for Arrakis, and Imperium/Imperium Uprising)
Uprising does seem to be somewhat more thematic, but not a ton. You can generally get the needed gist of the setting from the manual. I actually played Imperium first, and then got into the books and movies afterward.

>>96612728
Isn't it like 3+ hours long?

>>96612309
It's not broken if it works but has obviously optimal strategies. Come up with a better word if you want to be pedantic about terminology.

>>96612679
My post kind of got lost in the weeds, but you should check out the War Chest 2v2 variant. It's just as good as the 1v1 mode in the game. It's on BGA

>>96612756
>>96612755
Does DI:U have a team mode? I think it does at 6 players? Or am I thinking of something else?

>>96612799
A game isn't solved if the result is still up to randomness. Learn what 'solved game' means before opening your mouth next time.

>>96612509
>he can't win through war
L genotype

>>96611489
Piping hot take, stunning and brave

>>96611728
W A R O F T H E R I N G

>>96612252
I'd call it a shit game. A large portion of coops suffer from precisely this problem

>>96612679
>WWI version
I thought WW1 would be better initially since it goes harder on card management, but it is much less interesting. There are multiple aspects to this, but it mainly boils down to the fact that the design is much more railroaded. There's really 1 or 2 ways each power can approach the game, trying to split between them is almost a guaranteed loss. And then which way you can go is largely determined by card draws. And then there's one outcome on each front (Entente wins or Central Powers win).

So there's basically something like 8 fairly concrete scenarios the game can play out in, and half of them are extremely rare due to being driven by secondary powers. The game being 2v3 also means that card draws balance out less between teams, so if Germany in particular starts with a shit hand, it's almost a guaranteed loss.

Meanwhile, WW2 has obvious main fronts (Russia vs. Germany, US vs. Japan, UK just being dicks to everyone and Italy being Germany's sidekick), but it is much more open in terms of what wacky shit can happen. Japan attacking Moscow, Germany abandoning the USSR front and going all the way to China or taking the UK with naval power.

And even without going outside the core conflicts, the way it. The Western front being completely dominated by allies, but Axis winning in the end because Japan set up a massive VP farm to counter-balance.

Plus, the status and response cards in WW2 are cool as fuck and add much more identity to each faction. Both are present in WW1 but are pretty mundane and/or less numerous.

It should be said that it's not some grand strategic game, but a quick (games probably last 1.5 hours on average, for 6 players) and simple wargame with tons of variety. 50% luck, 50% skill, 100% crack.

The only negative thing I'll say is that the expansions, while fun, fuck around with the balance of the game and make it more swingy. Total War is still worth it though.

>>96612949
Sorry, phoneposting, fucked up some editing but whatever.

>>96612093
what is his endgame

>>96612942
A game can be shit for a multitude of reasons, not just because its optimal strategies are obvious. I am still waiting for a term that's more apt than "solved" in this case.

>>96612594
>Bullying. (...) What if I have a higher power level than Sally and we're both occupying the same area? I should be able to reach over and take her stuff.
Isn't this Root, somehow?

>>96612822
3vs3

>>96612837
I'm not the anon who called some game solved. I'm the anon telling you to fuck off until you come up with a better term for it, you pedantic idiot.

I've played the Trump game (1989) a couple of times now, and I like some of the mechanics enough to want to play better versions. The blind bidding, random chance of stealing a card from a player's hand, and counterspells in bidding make for a compelling game, but it doesn't quite feel put together enough to play.

>>96613071
ah right, thank you

>>96613143
tremendous bait

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Lads, anyone tried pic related? Heard good things about it, but there's a huge amount of it for dirt cheap (€20) on the secondary market which is not the best sign

>>96612630
i do not agree

>>96612630
Might as well play competitive flip7 then

>>96612594
Age of steam isn't his as far as I know, i believe he's listed as designer on bgg because he made a map or two

>>96613381
nah. the way cards interact is what's good about the game. the gimmick is lame.

>>96612538
lol

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What are some good games that use hex polyominoes?

>>96613428
It's the one thing that stops the game from being a pure luckfest
Whoops my opponent has an unblockable faggot, guess I'll topdeck or lose

>>96611224
has anyone here tried to design a game?

>>96613484
Akropolis

>>96613247
Backed it on KS, decent game where you build on top of what others have already built, so you have to look at what others COULd do so you don't give them freebies.
There are some really small, fiddly cardboard game pieces. Thus, I've found it plays best online and sold my copy.

>>96613541
Yes, it's harder than you'd think, but very rewarding and changes how you think of other games

>>96613541
Define "tried". I spent years thinking about it on and off, then started trimming down to the core design and coming up with the gameflow, and then once I had a good picture of how the game would play, someone on /bgg/ informed me that the game basically already exists. Now I'm in the demoralisation stage.

>>96613688
>informed me that the game basically already exist
That true of 90% of games that come out each year. Just push it out, nobody expects a first time game to be perfect.

A fantasy wargame. Anyone played it, any info?
Runewars, Battlelore and Burning banners are pretty ok.

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>>96613729
Forgot pic

>>96613627
i expected it to be hard, but i rarely get creative so i'm giving it a go. it's a simple game that came to me in a dream lmfao but even just thinking through this "simple" game presents a lot of challenges
>>96613688
keep developing it brother, you might find an interesting twist you can put on the established formula. my game turns out to be very similar to Ganz Schön Clever (which i bought for research) but it's not putting me off

>>96613688
make it anyways, please. all art is derivative, but eventually it will carve out its own identity. ambitions like this are your soul's longing

>>96613713
I don't have that much creativity in me. It took 10 years of gaming to come up with one idea, I ain't ever coming up with more than 2, so it better turn out at least decent.

If anyone's remotely interested, I asked about a year ago about games with Fury of Dracula style combat because I want to make a more in-depth dueller with that kind of core gameplay. Then I come up with all sorts of things to make it a stand alone game and not a minigame, trim it down and make it workable, and I find out a few weeks ago after checking on TTS that I basically came up with BattleCon. I only skimmed the rules a bit because I don't want to know too much about it and either be demoralised completely or start copying it, but god damn.

>>96613765
I will. Demoralisation is just a stage, the itch is still there in the back of my mind, and I'm still having stuff revealed in my dreams. I think I have a slightly different twist on it, but my main fear is that the core of the game (the combat itself) will have been done better.

Anyways, thanks, but enough about my non-game. I'll report in 2 more years when I have version 0.01 of the rulebook.

>>96613541
Multiple, actually. I get the design autism sporadically after I consume media that makes me excited about a certain theme. Right now I'm designing a pax game set in the Cold War where you play as the secret agencies instead of the political entities, and it's hard work, but it's rewarding to apply my brain to it. I've also got a number of other designs which are stuck in development hell. One of them is a sci fi 4X deck building game with worker placement and player diplomacy. Another is a deck construction game with area control and card-based player built maps that plays like an open world sandbox game, kind of. Anyway, I always feel like the design is too ambitious for what I'm solely capable of putting out so I need people like me to help, which I can never find.

>>96613688
Anon, please follow the advice of others and keep working at it. You'll be surprised how many people buy games solely based on theme. Also, you can always add your own gimmick or extra mechanic that indeed makes the entire game feel completely different to others. Caverna and Agricola are to me basically the games, but people still buy both. If you FEEL you need to get this done, do it irrationally. Do it just because you want to.

>>96614049
>Anon, please follow the advice of others and keep working at it.
Oh I will, but thanks for the kind words stranger. It's just a bitch finding time or mental energy between work, family stuff, and actually playing games.

>>96613851
I had some trouble teaching Horseless Carriage to my group today, there's a lot of systems and little details that I tried explaining but I think I only confused the matter more, anybody has some sort of script to teach it?

>>96614500
Whoops, didn't mean to reply to that anon

>>96613541
I've designed a few dozen games, none have been picked up by anyone, I had a lot of meetings around a Clue-like card game I made, but Hasbro and All play both ultimately passed on them.
My favorites I've made are a real time plane programming game, a pax/4x game and a shrunk down, card game version of Star wars Rebellion.

>>96614560
Bummer that they got passed on, but still cool. What stage of development of the game did you approach them with? How far did the talks go and do you have any idea why they said no?

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>>96613541
aye, it's a lot of fun. The whole 'take your design and half it and then half it again' is entirely apt when starting off. Too easy to start grand and not have a strong foundation.
>>96613688
I fell back into the demoralized stage after grinding out some designs and that I know what's wrong with them but keep running into wall after wall trying to fix them.

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>>96614645
I'll also add, I was not expecting the learning curve to feel as brutal as it does. I figured it'd pop up later in the process with balancing and math shit, but once I started going an inch into game theory and basic psychology whoo boy. It turned this really simple rummy (jong) game I made in a day into this 'month long 6 revisions later what am I doing' mess
which is why I probably should stick with classic abstracts as I'm too stupid to grasp the whole picture

>>96612761
My teaching games are about 3 hours. You can do it in less

>>96614576
I approached them when the game was pretty solidly designed, but it had placeholder assets, it was before they released the Clue Murder Mystery party games.
My intent with the design was to literally replace the existing Clue card game because Hasbro was making a line of "hobby gamer card game versions of their existing line", and in my opinion, their current Card game frankly not a good version of Clue , it has more rules, it takes just as long to set up as the original game, it takes more space on the table compared to a regular card game, so I made a 21 card version of Clue that you can play with 2-4 players, and works well at 2 players.
I had two meetings about it, the first one they were very excited about the concept and how cheap it would be to produce, I don't know why the second meeting fell apart, but I have my suspicion that it was more expensive to discontinue the existing game and replace it, even though my game cost less per unit and could sell at the same price point.

>>96614672
You should have an intuitive understanding of statistics before you attempt to make a game, but math isn't really important for balancing most of the time unless your core math is fucked. The hardest part about making a game is realizing that how you handle the components in the game space is the most important part of a game, above math, above art, above theme, above everything else.
It sounds silly, but you should want to make people want to pick up the cards and move the pieces in your created space, because you're not just making a theme, you're setting the tone of the room your game is in as well, or at least should be attempting to.

>>96614645
>I fell back into the demoralized stage after grinding out some designs and that I know what's wrong with them but keep running into wall after wall trying to fix them.
This is why I like to have 3 designs going at a time, each at different weights. Most of the time you just need space from a design to breathe air into it.
>>96614049
those sound like very cool game ideas, and I can relate to never having help. Designing heavy games is a beast because you tend to get a lot of feedback from the same handfuls of people, even in big design groups, there's basically nobody willing to playtest these kinds of games

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>>96611932
I hadn't but it looks neat if not expensive.
>>96612013
pic related? I know the One Hour WW2 guy was designing a COIN game about the conflict around the crucifixion of Jesus, which was one of the most interesting reframings of a religious story I've ever heard.

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>>96614778
No I totally agree, I always stress to people to do the TTS prototyping stage second. Not just because its easy to incubate ideas forever and go overboard with variations with a half baked idea. But far too many designs sound mechanically interesting but feel clumsy and unfun in person in a way you can't always expect unless you physically replicate it.
I would know as an autist whos obsessed with putting too much shit in grids.
>>96614813
Yeah I like to juggle multiple too, I think its more carrying the baggage from previous designs and trying to make them work when I should instead accept certain systems will have innate limitations that need to be embraced or move on from. But picrel is the levels of obstinate I am so it's no wonder why I keep running into the same walls. Something something insanity doing the same thing yadda yadda

>>96614813
I have some autistic friends willing to help me playtest it, and I've got somewhat of a foot in the door with ION Games, whom I contacted about my designs and were receptive. That was a couple of years ago, so I'll need to actually get something playable before I contact them again.

>>96614674
>>96612761
I've played it like 4 times and it never went below 3h. Love it, though, but it's hard to get it out. And I don't see playtime getting shorter; the better we are the more intense the planning phase becomes

>>96614858
>pic related?
No, that's about a folk legend, not really a religious thing. There's another one. Ezra and Nehemiah

>>96614976
Ask Phil if he is interested in a Pax like Pirate game for me

>>96612093
He's in the process of donating like 99% of his collection to the Indiana University for storage/curation/collection.

>>96614049
>Right now I'm designing a pax game set in the Cold War where you play as the secret agencies instead of the political entities
Hell yeah. Semi-related, my favorite part of the Delta Green setting is all the nonsense the various intelligence agencies get up to, especially the Soviet ones since they're an absolutely clusterfuck of purges and counter-purges.

If you can make a board game dedicated to that feeling that'd be amazing. Nothin else is in that niche.

>>96613143
Somewhere on bgg I saw a video of an AI trump talking about his boardgame, but can't find it now

>>96615148
Which one in Indiana?

I have my own definition of certain board game genres to exclude games I find shit

>>96615094
Pax Hispanica?

>>96613688
kek same, except I discovered it on my own and didn't spend years working on it.

>>96615282
no, a good one

>>96614703
Very interesting stuff anon, thank you. Hope whatever you got cooking works out eventually.

>>96615336
oof

>>96615339
Thanks. I've got a cowboy worker placement game I'm working on right now, but there's some personal stuff that has kind of stopped time for me outside of work

>>96614560
aren't hasbro people known to be assholes who treat their employees like shit?

>>96615355
Yeah, the point wasn't really to be an employee, but to sell them the license to the game.

>>96614560
I'm very interested to learn more about the last two you talked about, the 4x pax and the star wars rebellion mini games. Where can I read more about them?

>>96613071
To be crystal clear, Dune Imperium Uprising's team mode can only be played with 6 players in a 3v3 setup? It cannot be played with 4 players in a 2v2 setup?

>>96615156
That's what I'm trying to do, anon. Cramming all the little crazy espionage stories in this game. My main inspiration is Espiocracy, which is an upcoming PC grand strategy game where you play as a secret agency.

>>96612679
Windward is about skyships hunting flying whales and sometimes each other. The gimmick is in the movement - you get 4 spaces of movement each turn, except when you're flying with or against the wind. You can move an unlimited number of spaces with the wind and you can't move against it. The whole game feels like you should be smoking tobacco pipes laced with opium in a victorian gentleman's club.

>>96614500
Either go in round order (research, turn order, factory build, specs and parts and how they work, sale, market aftereffects of research), or go from the top of how you win down into the systems needed to get to the part where you win (start with sales, then explain that to make a sale, you'll need to build your factory with A B and C, you have A by default, B is in the communal supply, and for C you need to research, what's a research? i'll show you! and so on). But I also suck at teaching so maybe don't take advice from me.

>>96615046
>No, that's about a folk legend, not really a religious thing.
Lol, imagine thinking (((they))) would pass up on an opportunity to make some money.
https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2522156/cultural-misrepresentation

what if i want to design a game but my chosen theme was used by a recent game and i didnt know that at the beginning? shall i change the theme or stick with it? what would you guys do? i'm not talking about a generic theme like cute animals or ww2

>>96613143
>I've played the Trump game (1989) a couple of times now
>The blind bidding, random chance of stealing a card from a player's hand, and counterspells in bidding make for a compelling game
I picked this up at a swap meet for $5. I was going to give it to a friend as a gag gift, but out of curiosity I read the rulebook and I was impressed. It didn't come off as a forgotten classic, but it seemed much better than you'd expect.
I want to try it at least once before I give it away, but I've had no luck tabling it.
It proved to be too complex for my mom to understand.
Most of my board gaming circles I play in have at least one person with TDS so I'd never be able to table it without extreme kvetching if not outright rioting.
My more apolitical hardcore gaming buddies don't want to touch it as it's far too lightweight for their refined tastes.

Do you know how well it plays at 3 players? Reading the rulebook gave me the impression that you needed 4 to get the best experience, but at this rate I might just have to settle for 3.

>I like some of the mechanics enough to want to play better versions.
I'm surprised it's never been reimplemented. It'd be easy to retheme.

>>96615540
>TDS
after all the shit he's doing, that's just called being normal these days tb h

These are some Christian games I found:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/371972/ierusalem-anno-domini

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/171479/commissioned

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/348939/the-acts-of-the-evangelists

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/255392/the-acts

Crusades are military, not strictly Christian. Old Testament stuff is also of the Hebrews. For a game to be Christian-themed it has to be about the New Testament and not about real warriors or people who happened to be Christian.

thoughts on Halo: Flashpoint ?

>>96615557
>>96615540
No matter how much you dislike the guy (and I do), I find it strange someone would just flat out refuse to play a game just because his name is on it.

>>96615730
Would that we were all so calm and rational.

>>96615217
Found it
https://youtu.be/fNOpiQJYtCI?si=_8QQJ-_jwcNsNT_B

>>96615595
There's a game about electing the next Pope:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/434283/habemus-papam

Very few explicitly Catholic games. There's an OOP Button Shy game:

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/188181/avignon-a-clash-of-popes

But that's about it, I think.

>>96615540
It definitely wants four players to play smoothly. Three player negotiation games get messy and unfun rapidly, and the bidding phase would probably fall apart at three players.
I was considering playing this and then Bloc by Bloc as a chaser.

>>96612728
Noice

>>96612755
>>96612756

Dope, thanks.

>>96612805
Thanks for pointing that out as I missed it last thread. I watched Tom Vasel cover it while having breakfast this morning and it looks good. I saved it on BGA and will give it a shot sometime.

>>96612949
Kudos for the thoroughly detailed breakdown. Shame about WW1 falling flat, but maybe it'll get an improved second edition someday like WW2 has?
Anyway, you've really sold me on the WW2 game, that sounds incredibly cool and fun. My only question is if it plays well at 4 players or does it need 6? I can get 4 players who would be interested and capable of playing a game like this easily, but 6 is a taller order. I'd only be able to pull that off a few times a year most likely.

>>96615456
>The whole game feels like you should be smoking tobacco pipes laced with opium in a victorian gentleman's club.
Kek.
I'm guessing the game comes down to whomever hunts the most whales at the end? So a team mode would just be adding up each team's scores collectively and see who wins?

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>>96612679
I've discovered recently Cosmic Frog actually plays better as a team game...2v2 or 3v3.

>>96616170
I do love warchest a lot, but I've never played the 2v2 in the assumption it is the usual half-assed attempt just to be able to put "2-4 players" onto the box

>>96615743
Indeed, if only.
>>96616146
Sigh, that's exactly what I feared. Alas, I'll hold out till I find the right group for it.
What has your experience been in that regard? (The theme and players you've introduced it to.)

>>96611224
>- What aspects of board games are underexplored?
team play, custom maps, creating/switching alliances, upgradeable workers, changing landscape(player board)
>-What game would be massively improved by just changing the theme? (pick the theme)
any mid solid game with generic theme would get traction if it had good art and unique theme. If Tiletum, Barcelona, Pulsar had some animals, candy chefs, wacky human vice demons theme with kyle ferrin art it would be a hit.
>- Which two main mechanism combos would you like to be used more in games?
stocks + worker placement

>>96616258
I played with a bunch of progressive friends who aren't deep into tabletop games (one of whom had played it before, though), and a group of people who were chan-adjacent and I game with weekly. The less-experienced gamers liked it more, and we realized it doesn't feel like Trump circa 2025, but his pre-Apprentice era.
There are bits of it that feel a lot like Magic, and I really like those. Getting to steal a card at random from someone's hand when you roll a T is very fun, and also very tilting when you lose the card you were planning to play.

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>>96616251
I haven't played it yet, but my understanding is it gives each player 3 token stacks instead of 4 which you just snake draft like normal. I'd probably have tried it by now, but lugging around War Chest to a game night is a tall ask. That box is heavy and awkward.

>>96615595
I looked into this once before and you've already listed the big ones I ran into. Commissioned in particular seems exactly like what you're looking for and I'd like to try it myself someday too. (Although I do worry for all its theming if it boils down to a simple Pandemic clone.)
Biblios is Christian themed and highly regarded, but the theming isn't too strong.
I haven't played it myself and I don't think it's what you're looking for, but Deliverance is a game where you play as angels battling demons and notably takes place after Christ's resurrection.

>>96615595
>https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/371972/ierusalem-anno-domini
For the longest time I thought this was a space game. The hooded people on the cover looked like blue aliens/ dark elves from morrowind.

>>96616351
That game fucking sucks btw.

>>96616289
The box is truly the worst thing about the game. Huge, flimsy as shit, doesn't even fit all components+manuals smoothly, and the magnet lock isn't really working as well as it should.

>>96616325
>Biblios is Christian themed
Really? I only remember it being nondescript monks, even the holy texts aren't especially reminiscent of IRL ones

At least as far as I can remember

>>96616170
>Shame about WW1 falling flat, but maybe it'll get an improved second edition someday like WW2 has?
Not anytime soon. The designer is working on the East/South/West front "trilogy" for WW2, which is a series of 1v1 games which will be possible to combine into a huge campaign. That's not getting finished for at least 2 years at this pace.

I haven't played WW2 at anything except 6 players. It is at its core a 6 player game, with less players people will be 2-handing, which sounds like a terrible idea. The upside of it is, it's the perfect game to introduce to new people, if that's a possibility for you. I got two of the guys in my group as regulars because they got hooked on it.

My post was a bit harsh on WW1 primarily due to post length. It is still a good game and occupies a niche that is kind of empty, so if you're interested in it, I don't think your money will be wasted. The fact that it's 2v3 is also an interesting aspect, since you get to play a faction that is more powerful than the enemy individually and vice versa. "Objectively", I would probably rate WW1 as 8 and WW2 as 9, it's just that going from the mayhem that is WW2 to a more structured game like WW1 was a bit deflating.

>>96616359
I don't trust reviews/rating for games with certain themes and religion is one of them. It usually gets overrated because of it and it's hard to determine if the game is good on its own or just ok and it gets better ratting just because of the theme.

>>96615868
There's also Banish the Snakes by GMT about converting Ireland.

>>96611224
>Bonus question: What is your favorite game by Martin Wallace?
I strangely love Anno 1800. I don't understand exactly why but with this game I immensely enjoy the building up of the tech tree and not care about the score. This goes against every other game that I enjoy.
Are there any other similar games? I want to see if I would also like those.

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Survey time: What are the top games of 2020s?

>>96616170
>I'm guessing the game comes down to whomever hunts the most whales at the end?
It's a race to 15 points, a team variant would most likely be a race to 30 or more. It's already a fairly short game.

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>>96616479
1. Ark Nova
2. Revive
3. Dune Uprising
4. Eclipse
5. Guards of Atlantis 2

In that order

>>96615391
https://screentop.gg/@maximpactgames/Supernova
Here's the Pax/4X game. I don't have a digital version of the mini Star Wars Rebellion. I also have a twitter and Bluesky account, I don't post a lot, but I respond to messages on both. Rulebook is under construction atm, I've been present for every playtest currently, so I'm still working on getting the rulebook to a place where people can learn just with the book.

>>96616479
Reimplementations shouldn't count imo. Great Western Trail is from 2016. 7WD from 2015.

>>96616274
>Barcelona
I'll bite. What makes it special? It seemed like a common euro so I never got into it if i'm honest.

do you guys actually think choosing an animal theme increases a game's chance at being popular? or is it more about how good the art work is?

Thoughts on the Euro being backed by euro games? The USD can be backed by ameritrash

>>96616608
>What makes it special?
Nothing, it's not special. That's the point. It's a solid game but a popular theme/art would be enough to elevate it. What's special about a game like Everdell?

>>96616640
ah gotcha

>>96616581
https://boardgamegeek.com/search/boardgame?sort=rank&advsearch=1&q=&include%5Bdesignerid%5D=&include%5Bpublisherid%5D=&geekitemname=&range%5Byearpublished%5D%5Bmin%5D=2020&range%5Byearpublished%5D%5Bmax%5D=&range%5Bminage%5D%5Bmax%5D=&range%5Bnumvoters%5D%5Bmin%5D=&range%5Bnumweights%5D%5Bmin%5D=&range%5Bminplayers%5D%5Bmax%5D=&range%5Bmaxplayers%5D%5Bmin%5D=&range%5Bleastplaytime%5D%5Bmin%5D=&range%5Bplaytime%5D%5Bmax%5D=&floatrange%5Bavgrating%5D%5Bmin%5D=&floatrange%5Bavgrating%5D%5Bmax%5D=&floatrange%5Bavgweight%5D%5Bmin%5D=&floatrange%5Bavgweight%5D%5Bmax%5D=&colfiltertype=&searchuser=Botiam&nosubtypes%5B0%5D=boardgameexpansion&playerrangetype=normal&B1=Submit

looking at the gulag there seems to be a lot of 2ed or re-themes:
DI:Uprising, Eclipse, GWT, 7wd, The crew, Kanban, Pandemic, Age of Innovation, Clank, TTR, ...

>>96616691
Yes. It would be interesting to see a pure top 100 list without remakes, just OGs.

>OP pic
So Martin Wallace remade Reiner Knizia's Battle Line and no one talked about it lol

Name a single bad Bruno Cathala game

>>96616770
Queendomino

>>96616770
Lumen

>>96616479
Uprising
Hegemony
Stationfall
Arcs
Bullet

Pax Ren 2ed
DS Marine
JC 2ed
Kemet B&S
Summoner wars 2ed

A lot of good games but not a lot of original heavy hitters.

>>96616873
>Bullet
that's the anime game or some other thing?

>>96616873
btw what's the ideal player count for Hegemony? the idea looks cool

>>96616873
Stationfall is an honorary mention for me. If it didn't require an hour to teach and 30 minutes to setup and tear-down it'd make my top 5 no problem.

>>96616953
The state is the worst faction and is the one you play without when you play with 3, but I'd still say it's 4 players or bust.

>>96616930
yes. I gotta be honest, I didn't know what pick as my last original game but I wanted a lighter game. I saw bullet and thought that's original enough.

>>96616953
what >>96617001 said. State is the worse to play but the game is best at full player count.

>>96616962
what would you pick?

>>96617001
>>96617037
when you say worst faction, what do you mean? weakest, hardest to win, hard to manage?

Does anybody here like Viticulture in any way?

>>96617062
I find it fun actually, but it is the worst designed. Unlike every other faction which has unchanging overall goals and has to navigate the game to get to them, each turn the state gets a random agenda card which has a list of randomly set up policies it should pursue. Which means if you want to maximise those VPs you should vote half of the laws in some weird schizophrenic direction every turn.

>last turn i wanted minimum taxes
>this turn i want max taxes
On and on. It's weird that they couldn't have come up with something better.

For anyone that has experience with wargames or has played Salerno '43, assuming the allies have a normal landing phase what is a normal first turn supposed to look like for the axis. Should you leave Battapaglia and pressure the beaches when getting good odds feels too risky. Do you try to push forward but only to create some zoc bonds that wont hold up but might delay them. Do you retreat a bit into mountains and just abandon trying to take out the beachheads?

It's hard to get an idea of what a safe strategy is to at least open the game with when most of the stuff I've read online is from morons doing really dumb shit

>>96617062
>>96617150
Eh, I think the states mission cards are the thing that makes the state less fun to play. 2 of your actions are basically predetermined because they are so essential to your gameplay each round

Thing is when we (or at least I) say "worst to play and least fun", I'd still absolutely jump at the opportunity to play hegemony as the state. It's just an extremely good design.

>>96611224
Does risk 2210 hold up?

>>96617124
It's a decent door block if your house gets drafty.

>>96617197
At least the idea of the mission cards makes sense. Managing the state means you have to deal with crises and shit, fine. Agenda cards are just pure shit.

>>96617167
Only played Normandy 44 but I imagine the other Simonitch 194x games operate on the same logic.
>Do you try to push forward but only to create some zoc bonds that wont hold up but might delay them.
Pretty much this, divert the units on map that aren't defending much + the turn's reinforcements to form a sturdier 2nd line behind the line of ZOC Bonds. Not all of your units will be able to make it there in time to make these formations so the game's a continuous dance of forming ZOC Bonds and a 2nd line behind them in response to the allies' moves. Essentially their goal is to punch through the holes in your defense to acquire VPs while yours is to slow them down enough that they'll run out of gas before they can achieve their victory condition, realistically neither of you will get the automatic victory, so don't be afraid of sacrifices as long as they do their job delaying the enemy.

>>96617037
>what would you pick
see >>96616517

>>96617124
I think the turn order decision is pretty well done and (at least basegame) would be pleasingly tight were it not for the fucking cards. I suppose these are the very element that makes people (faggots) love or in my case hate the game. Why introduce such wild swings into an otherwise tight euro? Some of them are super situational and even then close to useless, some are absurdly strong and universal. I have no idea what jamey meant by this.

>>96617124
it has a neat idea and i played once or twice without hating it

>>96617124
It exists.

>>96616517
i like that image lol

Viticulture made Jamie a multimillionaire
The world is so unfair>>96617509

>>96617524
Oh thanks, NTA you responded to but I made it.

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>>96617124
Uwe Rosenberg had to fix that game.

>>96617827
thank you for your service. it's a very relatable image :)

>>96617347
Okay awesome , that is very helpful to think of it that way. I need to explore the zoc bond system a bit more so what you're saying will be helpful to not have to spend hours fumbling around with my mate trying the strategies Ive seen around and having crappy games.

I think to elevate it to the best entry point to the series it could do with a little more detailed "how to use this system" guide. Because my mate feels like taking back the beaches is a legit objective. When Im like all the turn one attacks he can make are 1-1 odds before they flip their assets. Its never worth it

So I did get autobahn because, well, it was pretty cheap. Haven't played it yet, but even setting it up for a 2handed play was quite the ride
>Box is flimsy as shit to the point where I wonder if someone dumped a chink fake on me
>In stark contrast to those games that throw 100 ziplock baggies at the player, Autobahn has almost none and you can't reasonably store the components as is
>Like half the rulebook is solo rules
>The other half is very weirdly structured, key concepts as sidenotes and such that makes the game seem like a chore even though it's pretty straightforward
>Super weird mix of nice, chunky wooden player components tokens and super small and flimsy tokens as well as offcenter prints
>Felt like it took 20 minutes to set up and store everything you need in reach

What a strangely mixed bag

>>96614124
yea it was fun to play

What thread questions would you like to see in the next thread?

Splendor Duel vs 7 Wonders Duel. What's the better game?

I finally played Dominant Species after having it on my shelf for almost a year
Holy shit it's good

>>96618031
What qualifies as an auction game?

>>96618047
7WD

>>96618009
Let us know what you think after playinging it

>>96618031
Which games would benefit from adding RIOT DICE

>>96612679
Only WWI game you need is Paths of Glory.
Alternatively, Great War Commander.

>>96617935
As I have played Salerno ‘43 I’ll second a lot of what >>96617347 has said
For Salerno specifically you probably want to pick a landing force (either the Brits or Americans) to focus on. You have about 8 turns to cause as much damage as possible before you have to start withdrawing to the north. Luckily the terrain and your greater mobility as the Axis give you a lot of advantages on defense.

>>96618061
Chad was a genius.

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>>96618230
:(

>>96618286
Fuck, that's sad.

>>96618103
From playing an era twohanded:
Seems like a pretty fun euro. The game is suprisingly straightforward even though the manual does its best to conceal that fact. Gotta search a few edgecases (that come up after 20 min of play in your first game). I also like how it is very clear on what scores: there is ONE way to get points, get your dudes into the different offices. That's it. There is no point track. If it can be played in around 90-120 min, it might even be very good, but I am relatively sure the tedious and fiddly setup will see us play it a few times and then go yeah that was cool but fuck that setup and leave it.to.collect dust. We'll see on saturday

>>96618031
Describe a game badly for others to guess

>>96618111
Did you mean raid dice?

>>96611889
>there should be more games with religious themes
>Odin's Ravens would be a much better game with a Looney Tunes Wacky racers theme.

>>96618822
Yes, fuck pagans. We want real religions.

>>96618822
A game about Ragnarok would be cool. Odin's Ravens should be about oil slicks and cartoons.

>>96618286
I give a lot of credit to his wife Kai for trying to see some of his work to its completion. Must be tough.

>>96618952
>We want real religions.
>real
>religions
>plural

>>96616461
Try Beyond the sun, Feast for Odin, Coopers island...

>>96616691
>looking at the gulag there seems to be a lot of 2ed or re-themes:
I think this will continue more and more. Sequels, different editions, spinoffs, re-themes, etc.
It might ght follow the trend we saw in movie idustry. I'm not sure how it is/was in videogames?

What change have you made to a gaming component that improved the game so much you hate playing without it.

I got a standard set of playing cards on Mahjong tiles because Rummy playing kept eating up decks.

That was three years ago and the fuckers are still going strong. Shuffling? Piss easy. Not having to hold cards when playing? Nice. Satisfaction of slamming over a winning play? Superior.

>>96619143
>I'm not sure how it is/was in videogames?
Lots of sequels and franchise games. Lots of remakes recently (but of classics).

>>96619186
You mean you glued cards to mahjong tiles?

>>96619245
He means something like this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D2396XPQ

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>>96619256

>>96618286
Overpromise and underdeliver, typical GMTranny behavior.

>>96619186
3d printed inserts are nice if they help with setups. I have a few deck holders so the cards don't fall over and on deck builder games, I usually use some 3d printed stands that hold the cards at 45 degree angles so you can see them easier around the table. Also, printing custom meeples can be fun if a game didn't include them

>>96619352
inserts are a must if the game only comes in a simple box and some bags like agricola. recently some games like spectaular have had the courtesy of including tuck boxes for the components which is nice.

>>96619352
I just finished 3d printing an insert for Horseless Carriage and between that and the learning houserule that allows for unlimited factory reshuffling during first game only, I managed to get my friends hooked on it.

>>96618286
>>96618230
>>96618061
Dominant Species or Dominant Species: Marine?

>>96619143
Vidya is a glut of remakes of pre-2010 games right now. Some are just simple remasters to run better on modern systems, some are still mostly the same game with some major mechanical and graphical overhauls, and some are just completely new games.
As with all things, there are good and bad versions of each.

>>96619482
Depends on what you want. DS is strategic. Marine is tactical.
This is a recurring theme with Chad’s designs. He ping-ponged between the two philosophies in their extremes his whole life.

>>96619591
True. Also has anyone noticed there's been a lot of board game adaptations of video games in recent years? Slay the Spire, Metal Gear Solid, Dead Cells, Don't Starve, Frostpunk, Sniper Elite, Halo: Flashpoint, Witcher (and even Gwent), just to name a few. I don't mind them if they're good, just making an observation.

>>96619609
isn't something strategic just a series of tactical decisions? what's the difference?

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Leder Games will publish GTA: The Board Game in the future. Now players can commit crimes as cute Kyle Ferrin illustrated people.

>>96619635
In this context a “strategic” game is one in which you can largely plan ahead. It isn’t going to throw a ton of curveballs at you that force you to completely reevaluate your plan. Information tends to be open.
A “tactical” game is one in which you have to make immediate, opportunistic plays based on new information, due to that information often being hidden or having high variance. It’s usually better to leave your options open rather than commit to a set plan.
This isn’t a binary either. It’s more of a sliding scale.

>>96619632
Funnily enough I just paid for shipping for EU PoP, another video game adaptation (though I suppose in this instance it’s Europa Universalis returning to its original form rather than just being an adaptation).
Anyway I think it’s because board games have hit the same problem video games hit in the mid 00s: innovation slowed to a crawl. More variations on a theme rather than entirely new ideas (uncharitably you can call these gimmicks)
Eventually even those ideas start to run dry and you’re left with remixing what came before.

>>96619635
Strategic: Go
Tacticool: Chess

>>96619798
I see. Can you mention a famous example of each type? Just so I can picture what we're talking about.

>>96619815
Thanks

>>96619810
>More variations on a theme rather than entirely new ideas
That's true. And it's noticeable in famous designers. Take Rosenberg for example. He made a trilogy of nature-themed polyomino puzzle games and then another trilogy based on a mechanic from Habitats. Nova Luna, Framework, and Sagani, were all those really necessary? I'm sure he loves making money like everyone else but from a gaming point of view, I don't know. Just slight variations on a theme.

>>96619824
>Can you mention a famous example of each type?
Practically any modern euro is a strategic game. I'll just say Hansa Teutonica as an example. As for tactical, take literally anything Cole Wehrle has ever made.

>>96619609
What do you prefer? Seems like you have some experience with both

>>96619850
Hansa Teutonica is mostly tactical, since it is primarily about using opportunities to abuse your opponents and exploiting openings. If you try to pursue a "strategy", you're completely at the whim of your opponents.

>>96619842
I think I remember he said in an interview that he has less time now that he's a father, that's why he plays it safe now, just retrying what has worked already, so sadly we will never see a similar jump like the one from Bohnanza to Agricola. It seems he's past his prime but who knows maybe he will surprise us again.

Is Patchwork strategic or tactical?

>>96619824
I would say that most games in the 4X (or adjacent) genre are strategic.

Take Clash of Cultures for instance. In a lot of games, there will be little to no interaction between the players in the first half of the game. Everyone is just building up their little empire, pursuing different avenues of technology, massing troops (or not), setting up huge trading networks (or not). The tactics there only really come into play when someone inevitably decides that they want to take a bite out of someone else.

>>96619842
Valve put out a documentary last year on the development of Half Life 2 to go along with the 20th anniversary (and to match the documentary they made for Half Life 1 in 2023 for that game's 25th anniversary). Its a great documentary overall but they had a very interesting and frank discussion as to why Episode 3 ultimately got canned, and in general why they "can't count to 3" for all their games. Its simple: when they make a game, they have to leave a lot of ideas on the cutting room floor and until the game is finished and released its hard to identify certain design flaws.
A sequel is an opportunity to correct that: bring some cut ideas to life, fix some mistakes, sprinkle in a few entirely new ideas. Half Life 2 had flaws, the Episodes (in particular Episode 2) do not. But eventually, you run out of old ideas and have to come up with entirely new ones. And Valve had plenty of ideas for Episode 3, but they ultimately didn't like any of them. They didn't see them as advancing the game design of Half Life 2 forward the way Episode 1 and 2 did, so it got canned. Same reason there is no Left 4 Dead 3, or Portal 3. All the unused ideas from L4D1 and Portal 1 were already in L4D2 and Portal 2.

Now, for Valve, who venerate innovation to a fault, this means they don't make shit for over a decade. For a board game designer, this means that they're happy to make near endless variations that aren't all that different from one another because they don't make billions of dollars of Steam revenue.

>>96619868
I'd say Space Empires is both. You can pursue a general strategy but the hidden units and tech means you have to adapt to what your opponent is doing.
Can't let him just amass raiders, gotta counter with upgraded destroyers, etc...

>>96619879
Haven't played that, but of course the tactical element will always be present in any game. Just meant that 4X games is one of the most strategy-oriented genres.

>>96619609
What makes Marine tactical compared to og?

>>96618952
Not now varg

why are there two games named Mycelia? one's a children's game with anthropomorphic plants and one's a strategy game with realistic illustrations. why didn't the second person use another name?

>>96620004
Both are about fungi, mushrooms.
Depends when the game was actually developed and even then they might just not consider the two games that similar.

>>96619943
I haven't played Marine but it's supposed to have a different way the cards come out and the selection mechanism is different. The programing is replaced with a bit similar mechanism where you can't choose the actions above the action you choose. I can't tell how this translates to actual gameplay.

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>>96619186
>not playing jong instead

>>96619862
Patchwork is economic

>>96619873
Smells like a big pile of cope to justify sitting on their asses while Steam prints money.

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>>96619862
I used to play most of the Uwe small polys purely tactical until the digital versions came out and they started kicking my ass.
Cottage Garden went from an alright quaint little time filler to a 'fuck you AI, I'm thinking 4 turns ahead I'm not stupid fuck you'

>>96620287
Thoughts on New York Zoo?

Choose your rulebook poison:

GMT style: written like a car manual in double colon with reference list excessive indexing, utterly uplayable, will update the living rules in 6 months time
Splotter style: 5 games for a 4.5 weight game, each mechanic is mentioned exactly once, want illustrations? Fuck you, that'll be $199.99
Eklund style: 60% of the rulebook is rambling footnotes, every mechanic is given a name like Subdermal Plastocytophimosis just to confuse you more

>>96620558
Why must they torture us so, their loyal consumers....

>>96620558
>5 games
meant 5 pages

>>96620558
Eklund style any time of the day, if you just want to learn the game you can ignore the footnotes, but it's nice to read them if you're only browsing
for splotters, HC is the only one i've had some issues learning with the fiddliness of the spatial puzzle part but i don't like the game anyway so it's a non-issue -- but im never spending a cent for their games, at most i'll pnp the feasible ones

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>>96620558
I dont choose favorites among my children.

>>96620558
Haven't played an Eklund game unfortunately, but Splotter and GMT make fundamentally different games so it's hard to compare.

I actually like GMT rulebooks. Point by point definitions of everything, cross-references to other sections where mechanics are explained, it's all good stuff. The thing that makes the rulebooks hard to grok is that the games themselves are pretty obtuse. Dozens of different counters, markers, location types, interactions, actions that have conditions and exceptions, etc. The games are very inelegant, as one might say.

>>96620558
>every mechanic is given a name like Subdermal Plastocytophimosis just to confuse you more
Fuck you, I have zero issue creating autocatalytic life by assigning my Bionts to active Refugia and making the perfect rolls to organize Mana with zero losses, including seeing doubles to nab my first Microorganism.
I WILL be first to make landfall while ALSO maintaining dominance of Trophic levels. Cancer is my BITCH.
Also Nucleic Acids best colour, fight me.

>>96620724
Amazing, anon. You are indeed a man of culture

>>96620724
I can't telling if you're referring to game mechanics or doing a bit.

>>96620891
Those are real game mechanics anon. That is what peak game design and rules design looks like, even though you may not like it.

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>>96620891
Por que no los dos?

>>96620352
Weirdly wasn't the biggest fan. It felt a tad fiddley and didn't manage to pull in the highs breeding has in his other games. Perhaps bc you don't eat them.
Only played it twice though.

>>96620287
>Cottage Garden
is that your favorite out of the trilogy?

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>>96621126
Nah fave is definitely Indian Summer. Right amount of pressure and expression for my taste. Plus squirrels, that's always a plus.

>>96620558
Eklund's rulebooks are great as something to read, but they are easily the worst way to learn his games, but I'd still probably pick his because I've gone back and re-read his rulebooks before, I never go back to read a rulebook for any other game once I know the rules.

>>96620558
Splotter by a country mile. Read once and everything is explained clearly. GMT is good for referencing only and Eklunds are good for nothing.

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>>96620558
My only references are Battleline and Pax Ren, and I guess I'll take Eklund since the diatribes add to the experience.

how difficult is it to mod in tts?

>>96622034
it's not

>>96615391
Let me know what works/what doesn't I have another version of this that's themed around the golden age of Piracy.

Attacking needs fleshed out in the rulebook but I can answer questions if you have any.

>>96622004
My beloved

There hasn't been a production update for Dune War for Arrakis since May.
Did Cmon pull a mythic?

>>96622034
just importing objects to look like game pieces? piss easy.
making scripts to automate stuff like random setup? the main problem is the documentation for how to into scripting is all over the place, but other than that it's just Lua so if you know you know and if you don't then don't bother, someone else will script it anyway lol

>>96623153
CMON has been working in debt for a while now, using funds from the latest project to fund previous projects. Them folding is an expected event, not something outta left field.

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is tesseract good?

>>96588382
>Based Canadian doppelganger
How did you know?
How the FUCK did you know?!?

>>96624433
Lol took you a whole thread.

>>96620558
I picked up Argent and was surprised by how good the rulebook is as well as every location/card tells you exactly what you are doing without having to go back to the rule book. I'm of the opinion that any game that includes a folio player aid is not well written. A card with a phase rundown, fine, not a full on flowchart though. That rules out most of the GMT stuff.

I'm also of the opinion that a 10+ page rulebook probably means the game is overly complicated for no reason.

>>96611224
>- What aspects of board games are underexplored?
Their use as one of the best ways to critique systemic political issues by laying the systems themselves bare. We're getting there though.
>-What game would be massively improved by just changing the theme? (pick the theme)
Nightfall. The chaining system is really cool and satisfying and all starter cards KOing themselves should be more prevalent in deckbuilders imo. But the theme is total ass and the embarrassingly bad artwork features total dweebs who are supposed to be badass vampires. And being a "purple" vampire vs a blue one doesn't mean anything so the theme is just kind of floating out there. ecology for the interconnectedness (microbe combos into plant combos into herbivore etc), or even an abstract "color war" theory, or space races if you have to sell it to fantasy scifi losers would all be way better.
>- Which two main mechanism combos would you like to be used more in games?
Push your luck with anything else.

>>96624749
>Their use as one of the best ways to critique systemic political issues by laying the systems themselves bare. We're getting there though.
like Hegemony or what?

>>96624808
Never played it lol. Daybreak would be a widely accessible example of what I am talking about.

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What's your favorite custom dice?

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>>96624907
The dice in Oath tbqh

>>96624925
Kek, nice pic

>>96624995
what's funny?

>>96625003
If you dont get it, we cannot help you

>>96624749
This is a 10/10 post
.>>96624605
More like 3 threads ago but ya, missed it by a mile.
Is my hodgepodge taste that recognizable?
I know theres one other anon who jives with me and has given me several awesome recs.

>>96625069
alright

>>96624607
>I'm also of the opinion that a 10+ page rulebook probably means the game is overly complicated for no reason.
For Euros and most Ameritrash, yes. For wargames where the simulation is the point, no

>>96620558
There’s nothing wrong with GMT rulebooks or wargame rulebooks in general. The problem is the glut of dogshit amateur wargame designers who don’t playtest their games yet still managed to get them published.

>>96625254
And where do these dogshit amateur wargame designers who don't playtest their games tend to get them published?

>>96625340
Literally every wargame publisher does this, not just GMT. Compass. Decision, Vuca, Legion, etc…all publish a ton of slop. You just hear about GMT because retards ITT venerate COIN or whatever.

>>96625444
I guess that makes sense. Also the P500 generates massive amounts of hype for even the most mediocre of games compared to the other publishers.

>>96625465
GMT has managed to create a brand that has made them the modern Avalon Hill (who also published a ton of garbage even in their glory days). There are advantages to throwing shit at a wall and seeing what sticks. GMT has more than a few great games they’ve published even if they are atop a mountain of mediocre to awful ones.

Phil Walker-Harding absolutely mogged Uwe Rosenberg in the polyomino field with Bärenpark. Neither his trilogy nor New York Zoo are better. I have to stop taking people's opinions seriously "Bärenpark sucks!", they said. No, it doesn't. I might like it even more than Patchwork, but we'll see how it goes after more plays.

>>96625692
Börinpark

>>96625754
Good one, Anon. Very clever.

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Never forget: this is a point salad thread, we just let you non-point-saladers post in it.

>>96625834
Thank you, it took more brainpower than the average barenpark game

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>>96625848
>Broom Service
the witch meeples are cute. is it a good game?

>>96625848
Thank you for letting me post, kind sir

>>96625848
We need the 2025 version to end off the year

>>96625848
Severe lack of knizia

>>96626309
You're welcome, just don't abuse it

>>96625908
Kek
Are there any worthwhile tetromino games? I haven't played one that hasn't put me to sleep so far.

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>>96626418
>tetromino
are there really any games besides tetris/blokus clones? Seems like everyone gets there socks off at size 5-6 polys
kind of why uwe's newest has me even remotely curious at 7

>>96626418
>>96626498
oh just realized you're probably asking about poly games in general and i'm being a pendatic autist about baby's first puzzle games
new thread when?

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>>96626418
Hall of the mountain king is pretty good.

>>96626498
>are there really any games besides tetris/blokus clones?
Barenpark and Patchwork

NEW THREAD
>>96626788
>>96626788
>>96626788
NEW THREAD

>>96625692
Really? Walker harding games are perfect examples of games that could be good but always end up merely ok
I suppose Bärenpark might be good if you deliberately want a very light tetromino game, but it's of too little substance for me

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>>96616485
>>96616170
>>96615456
>>96612679
Windward is absolutely great and there is a tonne of space for homebrew game modes.
The fat ass version "treacherous skies" has a bunch of additional stuff (including a team based game mode iirc, and a bunch of other things like a black market, treasure and curtom terrain.)
I think things could easily become more dynamic than just hunting the most whales though. One player could focus on hunting the other teams whalers down and stealing their teeth.

It's not the most complicated game but each turn can become a really nice puzzle of optimising action economy and trying not to get ravaged by an angry whale whilst trapped in a pocket of rocks.

>>96627229
Well, yeah, all those games I named are light polyomino games. I didn't mean to say it was some great thing overall.

>>96626418
Not technically tetrominos but Castles of Mad King Ludwig is always a blast

>>96625926
>meeples
Those pawns are not meeples. Meeples have a fixed cross-sectional profile. A piece of lumber of milled to have the desired profile of the meeple and then segments of the wood are cut off to meeples, leaving two flat sides in the process.
The pawns in your image look like they were turned on a lathe.