Giving a new meaning to "cell mate" its another obsessive thread of the Board Games GeneralPreviously on /bgg/: >>97253063 Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/h8Tz2ze8Survey results: https://pastebin.com/YJPZ44rqThread Question:What aspect of the hobby do you have an unhealthy compulsion over? Sleeving? Logging plays? Reviewing games? Monitoring reviewers ratings to shit on them with greater accuracy?
Tq: researching the team behind a game to see how much experience or qualifications they have. I know it isn't as important as I make it, hence unhealthy. But Ive almost entirely stopped buying and find myself more drawn to making the sausage so I want to engage with quality not quantity
The autism has been rising, the spreadsheets call.It is that time of year again!/BGG/S TOP NINEUse Pub Meeple's Top Nine generator and post your top nine gameshttps://www.pubmeeple.com/top-nineNewbies and the forgetful can check out /bgg/s previous 'Top Nine' results in the OP survey resultsTop nines will be collected over the next two weeks, sometime afterwards I will post the compiled data and we can compare to where the generals darlings lay a year ago.VENERATE THE COUNT
>>97290097>TQI used to have an unhealthy obsession with sleeving. I've managed to somehow basically kick the habit outside of specific games (Dominion). There's something to just letting a game naturally and light riffling bareback making sweet love to a deck>>97290127Winter Court has dropped out of my top nine from last year... Haven't played it at all as no one wants to play it wiff me cry
>>97290127
>>97289869>So is root supposed to be good or are you guys just lyingI think at this point the hype of cute animals has worn off and it's pretty much the consensus on /bgg/ that Root is bad. There are some stragglers who seem to pretend to like it, but everyone whi actually discusses the game beyond meming acknowledges that it has fundamental design problems. For me, it strikes at the core of the game design, namely the wincon. Others who have played it more have other issues such as overly long turns and faction balance.
Spirit island people, what's the appeal for you? Do you play it solo?A guy in my group loves it but he likes it because it's not "random" (no dice) and not confrontational. Looking at you top 9 I guess you like it for some other reason. I was pretty lukewarm about it but I'm starting to get into the hate territory.
>>97290503I havent played it solo in many years. But I did play a lot of solo games two handing. Did not ever care for one island/one spirit solo.I enjoy playing it with my wife or in a 3 player game. 4+ players is too long/too much going on / too disastrous if one player is shitting the bed and not enough people are in range to swoop in and right the ship.Ive always liked exploring spirit compositions and synergies, inching up the difficulty levels or facing an adversary not seen in ages and forgetting its rhythms leading to a curbstomp and the yearning to rematch right away.7.5 years in and its never felt stale.Dont think I need any more expansions for SI. Game has more than enough content and I can always search out fan made adversaries if I really need a new boss.
>>97290503It's a good title, great even.But it really depends on what you find fun in games like that, it is a coop and 1 player being retarded and genuinely ruin the entire experience.I've become lukewarm on coop games in that style, I prefer something closer to boss battlers/campaign games over the coop challenge it provides, but it is far from a bad game.
>>97290503I play it solo 2 spirits. Tried 4 but was too much for me.I like the escalation of every game element as the game plays: spirit growth, fear cards, blight, invaders, adversaries.Currently going trough all the scenarios.
Twilight Struggle 2 when?
>>97290503The mechanic-theme-name connection within the cards is unmatched.It's a puzzle game and get you combo cool shit together.People who would play true solo are actual mouthbreathing retards, you should play two handed AT LEAST.Co-ops in general are great because a lot of people are sore losers.
>>97290483What if you played Kemet but replaced the unit miniatures with Root meeples?
>>97290768It works with other games so why not.
>>97290097>TQone of the reasons i put this challenge on myself is because i want my collection to be as curated as possible, no repeating genres or mechanics unless it's justified, for example, by a higher player count, one could say i'm obsessed with reaching board game nirvana
>>97290821Board game nirvana is full of autists.
To add to the spirit island, agreeing with what has been shared, I enjoyed two spirit solo. 1 on 1 section was subpar. It was fun when it wasn't taken too seriously, and I made sure to play spirits that didn't need a ton of effort to progress with. I imagine it wouldn't be for me if I was playing two very challenging spirits, or playing with someone who was AP prone or a sourpuss. I do sometimes think it isn't really for me because I can see what I have to do to really optimize it from like B+ efficient and able to win on easier challenges to A+ and winning harder scenarios... and it doesn't seem like fun to me at that point >>97290723Gene self insert with his portrait on the 'international pred ring busted' card>>97290821Yeah I feel that anon. It's the same as my desire to go deeper as well. Most people when they aren't playing but doing bg stuff are buying or doing prepurchase activities (review watching mostly), Im getting really deeper into design itself instead
>>97290127I'm need to re-evaluate my top 10, but this is it. 7 Wonders didn't make the top 9.>>97290326>>97290447My New Years Resolution is to get Dune (classic) to the table. It's been on my shelf of shame since Covid.
>>97290859>its been on my shelf of shame since COVIDLiterally me.Come to French Canada and we shall kill two birds with one Harkonnen.
>>97290127>>97290859>I'm need to re-evaluate my top 10, but this is it. 7 Wonders didn't make the top 9.7 Wonders just missed the cutoff on mine too.
>Dune Kwisatz haderach edition still shows "lands in 2025"What are they even doing
>>97290942>AcquireBASED
>>97291143>BASEDCringe
>>97291721>CringeKino
I never played Acquire. It looks like it might be too random with the tiles. Is it so or does it balance out somehow? I assume it's not jus "get better tiles - win lol".
>>97291728>KinoSlop
>>97291782>I assume it's not jus "get better tiles - win lol".It isn't but the randomness of the tiles is hugely impactful. If you get stuck with a tile that helps other people (e.g. a critical merger) you never play it and it clogs your hand forever. Towards the end of the game most of everyone's hand is tiles they don't want to play. If all tiles that cause a certain merger to happen are in the hands of people who aren't invested in that merger then that merger never happens, which is how the randomness can make a big impact.For luck mitigation, you can plan your investments around critical tiles in your hand or tiles in your hand that are currently meaningless but have the potential to become critical tiles later in the game. It's not a full mitigation but Acquire does not feel like a sacky.
>>97291782The tile randomness isn't as big of a factor as it might seem. While it can help, the real strategy of the game is smart stock buying: how to best benefit when company A gets acquired (stockholder bonuses) and how to best benefit when company A acquires a smaller company (preexisting shares get more valuable). It's a great game that you have to play by your gut instinct and mind games, rather than pure calculation alone. There's a reason why it's still popular 60 years later.The anniversary edition is also great, the poker chip money and tile bag are nice to have.
>>97291782>>97291880>If you get stuck with a tile that helps other peopleThis isn't the best wording since a merger pretty much always helps multiple people. I meant a tile that helps only other people but does nothing for yourself.
>>97291889That can still be planned around, do the merger early and deny a potential bigger payout.
>>97291898Sometimes it's the right move and sometimes that keeps people liquid in the middle of the game who otherwise wouldn't be. I've lost more then one game that way.
>>97291885>the poker chip money are nice to have.There's not a good way to hide the chips and Acquire with open information is AIDS. In a just world Acquire would have Chinatown paper money instead of Monopoly paper money.
>>97291807>slopKWAB
>>97292118>KWABNamefag
I like bgg because games I would never consider buying I get to read this interesting discussion on the nuances of them I wont get elsewhere, so thanks anons
>>97290447I'm not familiar with Obsession, but what's Hansa T doing with all this sloggy bullshit?
>>97292198You shut your whore mouth unless you want Hansa T flying off that list.
>>97292417Me if I were /vm/
>>97292742/vm/ has pretty good taste.
The problem with For Sale is that it's not No Thanks!
First post-christmas session was one of the rare 5p ones, so let me give a short session report.>Fury of DraculaBeen lying around my shelf of shame for a while, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. It comes with the usual FFG package of vague rules, some of them only existing in the rules reference, some only in the regular manual. The game itself is easy enough, albeit due to a lot of information being externalized to the cards you get a lot of "wtf does this do" and people not properly reading their cards. We played two games of it, first one was pretty drawn out (+3h) but the second one was already much more fluent. Now, did I like it? Not really. I found it to be the exact thing I hate about designs leaning into ameritrashiness. It is a fundamentally broken game with the rules as written which I would assume the designer notices if I do so on my first fucking game. Talking about the seafaring dracula + whatever the drac card to take one card on the trail back into your hand is called. I thought it seemed pretty powerful in our first game, but choose to just toy with my prey and have fun. that small period was pretty fun, the hunters close on my trail and me having to fall back to a few tricks to evade them. The large part of the game however felt very drawn out, far ways to travel, lots of actions where nobody does anything of note or even passes. Luck plays a role as well, but I don't mind that as much in a game this thematic. What I do mind is how I cannot understand how this game came to get a 3rd edition and still see so many stupid design decisions. As is, it's an alright but long, very thematic game with many a sharp edge I ll get rid of asap because it doesn't really respect my time. It takes far too long and has lots of downtime and I cannot believe for a second it was playtested by anyone.>Didn't get Santiago to the table>Didn't get Circadians: Chaos Order to the table because I just had no time to re-read the rulesIt's a pity, really
>>97293352>Dunc and ClankSurely you only need one. Cool list otherwise.
>>97293414Thanks. The games feel quite different to me. Dunc feels like a balls to the wall, how-much-can-I-over-extend, auction game, and clank catacombs feels like a mad dash race where you are doing ridiculous and stupid combos to collect trash from a funhouse of a dungeon. They are both from the same designer, though, so I get your point
>>97290503I only really like it at 2 player and 3 player very occasionally.For me I just enjoy how much the game feels like a MOBA in some ways, you have a character that gets slowly and slowly stronger as the game progresses. It feels like your decisions in piloting each spirit (Outside of a couple craply balanced ones) have a real impact on if you win or lose.I've never played it solo, I don't play solo games. I'm also a bit of a co-op hater even as it often feels like a lazy design choice to make the game easier to develop but spirit island never comes off that way to me.Looking back IMO the base game is a bit pants and it peaks at Jagged Earth but I had played the base game ~30 times and did everything in it before even getting Branch and Claw so probably just a hindsight thing
>>97293753>>97293352>paths of glory + war chest + third world warBased. Nice to see some other out of left field ones like mine was. I do find that sometimes board gaming gets a little too homogenous in these spaces for how wide it is
>>97290127If I could play it more, I'm sure Arcs would be in this list. Caylus also seems very promising, but I need to play it first.
top 9 is too hard..
Summoner wars and Hansa teutonica bros, I'm thinking we fucking WON.
I wish I got the chance to play more games.
>>97290097Played a few games with some bros over the past few days. The most liked one was DungeonQuest which was kind of surprising.
>>97294294Is civolution actually good? How many times have you played it
>>97294592yes29 times
>>97293879People might joke about /bgg/core (or gulagcore), but it is a real thing. I assume the thread gets a trickle of new people lurking every so often and they see certain games being discussed consistently so it affects what they try out and eventually post about. Then new people show up and the cycle repeats. That’s why you see a lot of Knizia, Hansa, Pax, Summoner Wars, Sakura Arms, etc…
Spirit Island going strong
>>97293753I wanted to play more argent this year
>>97294694Yes, but these are also beasts of games that wouldn't stick around if they weren't
>>97294592Nta anon, but I think it is very good, best game of 2024 imo
>>97294694Knizia is very much boardgamercore general. You'll find few people deeper in the hobby who like nothing he's done.
>>97294821We were reddit all along??
>>97294829Look at all the SI love
Mage Wars Arena.Is it worth picking up?
>>97294801>Pax IlluminatenHave you played Transhumanity? What do you like about Illuminaten?
>>97294694How dare people like... Reiner Knizia????
>>97294954It's probably the most accurate representation of two wizards fighting each other in tabletop.It's also 100% not worth getting unless you got someone who is going to jump hard into it with you as it is not casual at all.
>>97294966It also has pretty easy to understand spell book construction. Spells have a school, an element, and a level (1-5).Your spell book can have 120 points of cards.If it is a school and element your wizard specializes in, it is a 1:1 cost based on the spell level.Outside your specialization? 2:1 cost.Opposed by your specialization? 3:1 cost.So your water wizard can absolutely put that level 5 fire spell in their kit, but it's going to cost you 15 points. Spell books are interesting in that it's literally a binder of 4 pocket card holders. You don't draw shit, you pick whatever you are going to cast each turn so combos are pretty much assured.
>>97294966>>97294997>wiz-war>mage wars arenai'm just researching, i have no intention of failing the challenge, after all i have a year to decide which one of these i'm getting, any similar games i should consider?
>>97295017How long have you been in this hobby?
>>97295017I mean this kindly, but it's 4 days into the year and making this comment and your othrers, it is probably a good idea to seek professional mental health help. People quitting gambling addiction or heavy drug use have that same mindset dawg, it shows your brain needs actual rewiring. You also are a couple weeks tops away from relapse and buying more but youll lie to us>>97294826At worst he has some "cool ideas, good game, not for me" games all over his catalogue. Stuff I would enjoy playing but not grab first
>>97294826>KniziaI just wish his games were more available. Most of his new ones don't look that interesting but it just might be the theme/art.
>>97294511Are there any great boat games? That hidden movement(?) warship wargame? Shipyard? Can't think of many that would manly deal with ships.
>>97295050Nemo's War.Container, maybe.Any number of wargames, like Seastrike, for exampleCaptain Sonar if you can get enough people together
>>97295050Unfathomable is pretty good if you missed out on BatttleStar Galactica before the license ran out.
>>97293339Oh and I forgot>Hot Streak!Wanted to see what the hotness was all about and I'm pleased to report it is exactly as you'd expect. Loud, stand-up-and-shout fun with so light a ruleset you can get basically everyone to the table. By its nature it is obviously not a serious and competitive game, and you have to go in with that mindset. What I don't really get is how the game seemingly stays hot for so many people. I felt like we got diminishing returns already in game 3. It's fun and all to see the goofy bs that gets generated with suprisingly high frequency; the seemingly best mascot turning around and immediately running off course, the one in front of the finishing line turning around and running over all other mascots etc. But there's only so much good time you can have before the gamer's brain comes out of hiding and goes yeah but you aren't actually deciding things here, it's just the dopamin rush of gambling masquerading as fun. Gut comes back with "ok but it's still fun!", but guts voice grows ever quieter. Brilliant entry game for a group of nongamers, maybe the best there is atm, especially because the production is great and the box is a fun gimmick. Hot streak neither reinvents the wheel nor does it provide more meat for competitive gamers than comparable games, as one would expect with the raving reviews it gets. Still a very good box and I'd recommend trying it.
>>972950277 years, with a long 15 year hiatus ending in 2022, when the collection started>>97295037might go seek help if i relapse, but only if i relapse, as of right now everything is under control, but i don't think it's an addiction since every game entering the collection goes under heavy scrutiny and most are easily discarded, there's small room for rotation and so far i don't regret selling any of the games i've sold
>>97294829Define what makes a game reddit so I can give an answer.
>>97295102An anon said it best in reference to flip7. Paraphrasing him and overexaggerating:>Spend years designing and playtesting a game>Figure out art, rulebook issues, materials in minute details>One week alone is spent on figuring out correct (invisible) conversion rates as to neither make too point salad-y nor unbalanced trash>After the usual back and forth it gets published after 2 years and sells 1200 copies>Not bad, proud of myself>Flip7 comes out at the same time and sells millions>A literal gambling game, stolen almost 1:1 from pairs/paaranoiaApparently that's what people want, slot machines in disguise
>>97295104What is your top9? I want to know what someone with such a big timegap plays.
>>97295102>Loud, stand-up-and-shout funI never "get" these kind of games. Camel cup always fell flat. It was never a tight race with exciting ending. Even then you had most bases covered and didn't know the endgame result. I don't care if blue or white camel wins, I might get 2 more coins but that's it. Or something like Sheriff of Nottingham.Most fun moments are in games that arent marketed as "fun, loud excitment" where players make weird, unexpected moves that are a surprise and that creates fun moments together with table banter. It might just be the expectation from games.
>>97295104>i dont need help>its under control>its not an addictionDefinitely haven't heard that before! It costs nothing to be humble and seek help, but Im filtering anyway since obnoxious, gl>>97295185What is there to get. Some people play with casuals who dont want to intellectualize moving their bird token into the cat territory as some profound moment of tactical genius. Most boardgames sold are family oriented goofy fun pointless shit because most people are there for the people first and the game second and not the reverse like boring pseudos
>>97295185You might approach the games from too cerebral/competitive a mindset. I know I tend to do that too, the trick is to be able to switch to a more gut-based playstyle at will. Take sheriff as an example. The best way to play it most of the time is to just never lie. Which is obviously pretty fucking boring. You can let that dictate your game and wonder why people would play this stupid thing or go with the flow and enjoy the dumb nature of it, largely ignoring optimal play. Funmaxxing, as zoomers would say. It doesn't always work for me ofc. I cannot for the life of me understand why people love can't stop so much; it takes far too long and I really didn't feel the appeal at all. Oh of course I'll take a 6/7/8, otherwise I'll have 3 rolls then watch everyone else for 6 minutes.
>>97295234Nta anon but you seem pretty angry at nothing
>>97295169It's all tight designs, primarly elegant games that play around the 45 minute mark, usually the most genre-defining best-in-slot games stay, but some of my decisions would leave /bgg/ scratching their heads, like astro drive staying over heat because heat takes too long to explain or jamaica staying despite being a racing game too because i haven't found another "pirate" game that fits better in my collection>>97295234I agree with >>97295246 would you like to take the challenge with me anon? you'll be forgiven any games you purchased during the first week of january
>Suggesting a person with all the classic signs of a severe addiction in general much less to boardgame purchasing simply look into supports is "angry">>97295239It also helps a lot that the games designed for that kind of thing let you do it without being punished. People cant be playing spirit island expecting to be casual and impulsive and have a good time. Conversely, camel cup optimization is pointless as well
>>97290127Always fun, thanks. >>97290289Mille Fiori <3 >>97293039I've been interested in endeavor deep sea, how do you find it?
>>97294956> Have you played Transhumanity?Not yet, i have only played Ren, Pamir and Illuminaten.> What do you like about Illuminaten?I mostly play it as a two player game because individual player turns usually take some time. I like the puzzle you have to solve each round provided by the board, your actions, influences, scheme sequence, the court, faction powers and events to achieve a plot. In a sense it reminds me of Mage knight, but in a competitive multiplayer format. You have a lot of tools, what is the best possible play you can make out of them. The player interaction only starts to shine when both players know what they are doing, but it is interesting when present.
>>97295403I put it on the list and mostly play solo and think it is missing a lot of the potential at that playcount which says a lot about how good I find it. I really enjoy laying out the tiles and then 'exploring' them. I really enjoy how simple the flow is. I can be low energy and brainpower and almost automatically flow through the steps within a minute or two or rereading the rules. The objectives are interesting and thematic with an interesting board where you choose your path. I find that the objectives are the weakest part of the game, as thematic as they are, they are tricky to meaningfully work on in solo or 2p. I know the exp. is going to address it and Im sure house rules already exists. Because finally, the length. Too short. It is, 6 turns or something, but needs to be two more. Or 3. If you're really really efficient your engine is only coming online on the 4th or 5th and then it is really abrupt. I don't want to be clearing the board and being bored with no challenge, but like, it is too challenging of a game to do the missions for most players , and I see that a lot online. For fiddling around and just doing shit, top notch.It's an interesting game with a lot of flaws, but the rest of my list is unhinged so it made sense for me. I'm very much not unwell and don't fantasize about buying games, so all the 2025 pickups were very intentional to fill niches I dont have, or captains chair for solo because it is glorious
>>97295132In other news, casinos are a good place to meet people who like board games.
>>97295636It tracks. The reason chaotic random games are popular is because people enjoy the dopamine hit of success without needing to always meaningfully work for it with skill or effort
>>97295102imo you get a surprising amount of agency and private information despite it being only one card per round of turnover. everyone's bets are also data points
>>97295102I would love to buy it, but it's 50 bucks when long shot the dice game is 30. It's just unjustifiable as much as it does seem like it would be a hit with my group. So I have a decent amount of pokemon plamo, I might just pirate the rules and diy it
>>97295893Idk, it seems absolutely minuscle but in tbe first turn. But by nature of the game, everything can and will happen. It's fun to play with that and shout its fucking dangle time after he miserably failed 2 races, go all in on him with risky bets and win, but that has little to do with what you put in, just how the cards fall. Not saying you have no agency over it, just that seeing that ine card you put in do its job lets one overvalue its significance. But honestly, having the feeling you are influencing it is genuinely enough. Just like I remember playing pokemon and mashing the A button on the gameboy when trying to catch one. It'd have felt gruesome waiting for the game to spit out result a or b, but doing something (even though I had the sinking feeling it would do fuckall) felt good. Not saying it's exactly like that, but you get the jist
>>97296041Eh, I think it's actually good value for money, it's largely around €40 here. Plus I'm pretty sure you can easily sell hot streak for €10 off on the secondary market.
>>9729698380% of the box is just the minis. I'd much rather have a love letter size package but I get it, this makes more money and cashes in on the fall guys trend. If there were ever a year earlier it would be gangbusters
>>97290127My list of games I've most enjoyed playing in 2025.
>>97297068I think the minis here for once are pretry fitting. Essentially they work like weighted chips, and their chunkiness is almost necessary imo. Usually I'm the first one to say dump the solo mode to save me €10, but it seems like you lose more than you gain by downgrading the components in this specific case.
>>97297079Can you tell me what you saw in Viticulture? I kept replaying it last year trying to like it but simply couldn't. Do you use some house rule or something?
>>97297079Sell me War room. I've heard varying things about it, from great light wargameish grand strategy game to axis&allies with a LOT of extra steps
>>97297284Use the Tuscany expansion - it makes every season useful, and also introduces characters with perks - it opens the game up by introducing more flexibility in terms of play style (you can take more actions due to seasons not being so rigid in terms of fixed action choices) and introducing characters creates more options through their perk system - they're effectively extra workers with unique added bonuses.
>>97298402I haven't played A&A for years, but enjoyed my sessions with it.War Room is probably my favourite war game I've ever played - and I've played a fair few (COIN games, Memoir, A&A, Undaunted series to name a few).Players plot their unit orders in private with their allies, but unlike most war games where turn order is fixed (so being able to predict an enemy's most likely action is often somewhat straightforward), War Room involves a bidding system to determine play order. The beauty of this is that if you outbid a player, your orders get fulfilled first - so you move your units on the map first, meaning that you can often pin an enemy before they've even had a chance to reveal their orders, or you may have left a territory on your turn meaning when it comes to their turn, their order to attack you in the territory you were previously in will be wasted. It creates an excellent psychological component to the game - an element of cat and mouse.Combat is somewhat similar to A&A, but there's a unit losses tracker which is tied to your nation's morale which ultimately determines your resources each round, ability to move around the board (you’ll lose railways and ports) and the amount of units you can field.The resource management aspect of the game, along with the hidden orders mechanic, is what elevates it above most conventional 'units on a map type wargame', imo.
>>97298402I play with Tuscany and the visitors that focus on wine making. Doesn't make it that much better.
>>97298530Something nice I will say is that War Room's designer has the chops. The guy in ancient and worked on a ton of A&A stuff, so I think if anyone deserved to take a crack at something fresh but in parallel, he was a great fit. And I will definitely keep my mind on this game going forward if people are asking me for something in that category
Are Pax Pamir/Porfiriana/Ren/Hispanica enjoyable Solo if you don't particularly care for player negotiation aspects? I enjoy playing wargames solo/two-handed, Hispanica in particular looked interesting in theme.
>>97298676Enjoyable? Debatable. Worth it? Absolutely not, not when there are so many significantly better games at 1player doing similar experiences that function perfectly either solo or 2handed
Today I will remind them..../bgg/ is a Hansa board.Edit: thank you for the geekgold, kind stranger!
>>97298785It's about time it got some recognition.
>>97298402I've wondered for some time why people always insist on tuscany improving the game. If you ask me, basegame isn't good and has problems, but at least it's got very tight worker placement. Add tuscany and the game is so wide open it's almost disgusting. Doesn't matter much anyway since the best way to play the game still is to plough through the visitor decks, but at least now there's buildings and special workers to distract you. Mind that I'm not one of these 'but you don't actually make wine!" fags, I don't really mind that. I mind how much the power level of visitors varies, how your starting grape or family can see you start with a disadvantage from the get go, how multiple buildings on the board are nigh useless or at least strangely priceda and so on. It doesn't seem to have been thoroughly playtested tbqh, or maybe I just don't know what jamey tried to do here
>>97298780I thought playing twohanded pax ren was an interesting challenge, but not enough that I'd seek it out. That, or any other solo boardgame.Also pic related
>>97298852I expected nothing less cringe from the man who has "By day Matt Eklund is a prosecutor, fighting off crime and villainy with gumption and honor" on his BGG bio. A prosecutor. Self-deception. The irony is dripping
>>97299011The only thing dripping in this thread is your pussy.
Which game holds up better after 100 plays. Pax Ren or Innovation ultimate
>>97299771Do you think you're going to find someone here with 100 plays of both games?
>>97299784Yes. They are both on BGA
>get new game that is 98% cards>sleeves I like are out of stockWell won't be playing that anytime soon.
>>97299906Which sleeves?
>>97299618At least Im not afraid or too stupid to run a solo game>>97299906When ultra pro matte was out for half a year I learned lesson and just paid for 100 bucks worth to never worry again
>>97290097What's a great boardgame I can bring my family together to play? They're all down with the Lord of the Rings aesthetic and lore, as well as generic sci-fi and fantasy. They used to be Monopoly players in the past and told me they had a blast playing it, even if they've had negative experiences playing with randoms who get butthurt when they lose a boardgame. I gave Catan a look and it looks very promising, considering how simple the rules are to pick up, but increases in complexity with how negotiation works. The expansions look very fun and fluffy as well.
>>97300010Catan takes longer than it ought to and you run out of meaningful decisions partway through the game so if your family likes Monopoly they'll be right at home.
>>97300010>even if they've had negative experiences playing with randoms who get butthurt when they lose a boardgamePeople can get very butthurt playing Catan because the optimal strategy is to gaslight the table, convincing them you're not doing that good and to pile up on another guy
>>97300481I see where root takes its inspiration from
>>97300484Root is basically asymmetric Catan
>>97300498I'll do you one better>Root is asymmetric catan with untradeable resources
>>97300498>>97300538Guess the reviewer:Root and Catan are the same game wearing very different animal masks.One is a forest opera about imperial decline. The other is a wheat futures simulator in a Fisherprice palette. But strip off the otters, the cats, the mysticism of woodland insurgency, and you’re left staring into the same economic abyss: players circling a board, extracting value from geography, pretending their negotiation is social when it is in fact purely predatory.And yet, somewhere between the cardboard brutality and the pastoral delusion, Catan is the better version of Root.Let’s talk about why:Every game of Root contains the same moment of dawning horror:You realize, around turn three, that you picked the wrong faction.Not “suboptimal.”Wrong. As in: the geometry of the board now rejects your existence. The birds are flying too high, the cats are losing ground, the vagabond is off committing war crimes with a teacup, and you are left with an asymmetric toolkit that no longer fits the puzzle in front of you.Catan does this too, but with fewer costumes and more existential clarity.Your initial settlement placements are destiny. One bad number spread and you are not playing Catan, you are witnessing it. You sit there, watching other people generate ore like it’s a minor deity, while you clutch two bricks and a sheep like family heirlooms in the apocalypse.Both games are merciless about early mistakes.The difference?In Catan, you know exactly why you’re suffering.In Root, you write a 600-word forum post about how the Lizards are “misunderstood.”
>>97299906>sleeves I like are out of stockThey're not coming back
>>97300481I agree, but isn't this 80% of games for the most part that contain player interaction?
Honestly I get my sleeves from temu. You can buy them by the 1000s. Never understood the 'premium' sleeves being anything more than marketing. Yes, they're acid-free and archive proof. It's the same factory making the 'premium' sleeves
Twilight Imperium is Catan with Root elements, in space
>>97301110there's too much politics and the tradeables are actually tradeable and not diceroll dependant for TI3 and 4 to be anywhere near Root or Catan. The first two editions, meanwhile, are just Risk in space.
>>97301131Another point for Summoner wars and Spirit island that seemed to be the staple of /bgg/ together with Hansa Teutonica.
>>97301131You like Barony that much? What do you like about it? Any similar games you like?
>>97301175>Spirit islandThis game took an 180 here. I remember people constantly bashing it. Maybe it was just a loud minority as it seemed to become more and more popular in the last couple of years.
>>97301192These threads used to praise the game before the Phase 10 copypasta started getting spammed at any mention of Spirit Island. I always figured it was a few vocal shitposters but it definitely drained my interest in talking about the game outside of my group.
>>97300972Not really, for example (I'll talk about games I play) in brass focusing on someone too hard usually opens paths for him to build other stuff for cheaper. In dune you don't have VPs so maybe someone blow his load too early and fail to win because the other 2 alliances agree to not fight each other for 1-2 turns but hiding your plan is different from constantly trying to convince other people you're actually really far behind and someone should really hit the vagabond but you really cannot do it for reasons
>>97301316>but you really cannot do it for reasonsMy reason is that I'm right after the vagabond in turn order so if I don't do it it's someone else's problem.
>>97301348I found holding the game hostage becomes almost a moral question. Do I let the person trying it get away with it for the games and players sake or do I spite him to make sure this doesn't repeat itself. Not as bad with root as it is after 5h of Ti4, of course. I am still wondering if that is a legitimate way to play or just shitty metagaming
>>97300980Can you give a link to the ones you get?
>>97300009>solo gaming with sleevesJesus, how many condoms do you put on for a blowjob?
>>97301807I always sleeve games in which you shuffle often, so solo deckbuilders get the treatment for me. Not because of the wear, but because mash shuffling is so easy and satisfying.
>>97300083>>97300481Yeah, I can see how a game like Catan can generate severe butthurt if it's anything like Monopoly. Do you have any recommendations for a Catan-like game that's still good? I was also looking at Ticket to Ride, Road to El Dorado, and Quest. and they all seem like great casual games too. I'm also ok with presenting a good casual deck-building games we can all play.
>>97301875Try Chinatown.
>>97301192I haven't been here for a while but Spirit Island was received pretty positively back then, so it's probably like that other anon said and it was all one or a few very mentally unwell shitposters
>>97301837I understand sleeving games you shuffle a lot during each game. Wouldn't even sleeve something like ark nova or tfm, though.
>>97298530>War Room is probably my favourite war game I've ever played - and I've played a fair few (COIN games, Memoir, A&A, Undaunted series to name a few).I mean this in the nicest way possible, but that’s about the list of wargames I’d expect from someone who says War Room is their favorite. No I am not saying grognard games are innately superior either.
>>97301192Copypasta memes + there is a cadre of people here who despise co-op games. I get why too, every co-op has more or less the same flaws and SI is no different. But if you like co-ops then I struggle to think of a better co-op than SI.
>>97301948Yeah, I had a similar thought and just refrained from posting, it can only lead to gmtshitpostingFwiw, I remember discriminating gamer having it as his top game and I do respect that dude. Would like tp try it, but it's too expensive to just go for it tbqh
>>97301837That's fair, I guess I do that too>>97301910Very rarely do I hear someone with something actually bad to say about it, it's mostly the guy who figures if that copypasta was funny once(it wasn't) it will be funny a thousand times more.
>>97301875Ticket to Ride and El Dorado are good. I’d also recommend looking into Carcassonne, Modern Art, High Society, For Sale, and Through the Desert
>>97301192I do hate SI (and coops in general, >>97301974 said it very well). But due to a lack of shilling, there is no need to shit on it further. I do also agree, it's the best coop game I've tried and I'd very much recommend it to people into heavier coops. I still think it is an absolute blight
>>97301977It certainly isn’t bad but if you’re going to play as ass numbingly long game like that with that many people I have at least three if not more games I’d play instead of it
>>97302013>I still think it is an absolute blightGuess it’s a good thing I didn’t mention how I feel about Arkham Horror or Gloomhaven then
>>97300010Catan anon here, it's great! Pretty easy teach and it's got a surprising amount of depth for a dice chucker. Once you've got the rules down it also plays pretty fast, about 45-60 minutes on average for a casual game. Don't listen to the naysayers, it's a perfect family gateway game. That being said, it's not as good at 3 players, really needs a full 4. Also, most of the expansions suck and it's really best as the base game. The only variant I would recommend is the Government Cheese house rule if you dice variance pisses you off.
Goatbros... did we climb to close to the sun?
>>97299771Yes. They're both fantastic with ton's of replay-ability.My only word of caution is that the Innovation expansions can get pretty out of hand and cause the game to drag out the more you add. Innovation is best as the base game.Pax Ren is also an absolute bear to teach newbies. I've hurt people teaching them Pax Ren. It's really for hardcore strategy heads that can deal with an opaque ruleset.
>>97300010If you absolutely must play Catan, the GoT version solves a lot of the uglier parts and is actually a decent game I wouldn't be angry to play again.
>>97301192I can see why people like Spirit Island but i thought it was nothing cool. Granted i only played like twice so maybe i'm missing some key insight that makes the game fun, but that's all the more reason for me to not talk about it.
>>97301875>good casual deck-building gamesClank and it's variants is the classic go-to for casual dumb fun. The simple idea of a get in & get out heist, the thrill of pulling cubes out of a bag to see who gets dragon'd, the game's got it all to wow casuals with.
>>97301182Barony hit a sweet spot for me. It’s area control without too many rules or too much complexity—anyone can learn it in a few minutes. The gameplay feels abstract without being too abstract (people are usually drawn in by the theme and the meeples). It’s extremely fast to play; I love how each player sets up the board, and since the map is always different, you constantly have to adapt and plan your conquest properly. There are few actions, but every action is impactful. It’s the perfect “short and simple” area control game, so even if there’s nothing incredible about it, I know I can bring it out with anyone and have a great time when I can’t play a much heavier area control game. It's also good at 2 players. And I love the design—the game was made in 2015, but it looks like a much older game.
>>97302370Looks cool but getting a copy seems rare as shit in the US
>>97301131>RallyMan + Maximum ApocalypseNice.Rallyman Dirt is the only game in my collection where I do not mind beat your own score. Plus the ammount and quality of the fan made content is quite high despite the low userbase.I sold Maximum Apocalypse last year. Didn't measure up to Sentinels and Street Master when it came to variable powers and decks.
>>97290127here you goI didn't intentionally make it 3 light, 3 medium, and 3 heavy games, but it's a neat coincidence.
>>97301884>>97301999 CheggedThank you for the suggestions, I will give them a good look.>>97302097It really does feel like a great casual game. If most of the expansions are not worth it though, which ones would you recommend to mix things up?>>97302156Looks dope, I'll give that a look as well.
>>97300498But does Catan have funny erotic art like Root?
>>97302777The table you play on is pretty funny.
I am really ambivalent towards these rare days where game day sees exactly 5 players. You've got some brilliant games that shine best with 5p and then you have fillers and that's it. Kinda annoying
>>9730317080% of auction games are good at 5. Also you can do a 3p and a 2p.
>>97303468Semi hot take, I think Ra is best at 3
>>97302527Even the new version that came out in 2025?
>>97303632Seconding, 4 sun discs for every player makes the rounds the most interesting.I think it's the only game I own where it truly is "about as good" at every player count.
Why doesnt anyone ever talk about Pax Emancipation?
Speaking of player counts, what game plays best at 2 and 3p? It seems this is where the major line is for player count unless it's a mps euro where extra players just add game(down)-time.
Field is on a roll. Another pasted on theme dice game. He makes it work.
>>97302333I played it like 5 times and I don't think there's anything more. I don't care for it. I probably just don't like these type of co-ops. Quick games like the crew or hanabi are great as co-op but for bigger games it just doesn't work for me.
>>97302370I like these style of games (i don't know what it's called). Simple but heavy games preferably with some area control or route building. Knizia tile trilogy, rise&fall, Domaine... I assume Barony is similar.
Anons, do you still play Hive? Or have you moved on to other abstracts.
>>97304153Found it on their website, BGG implied there was no place I could get it.75 seems reasonable, might pick up.
>>97290723>Twilight Struggle 2 when?That's been around forever...
I saw him mentioned earlier but "the discriminating gamer" is the funniest channel name to me because of the association of discriminating with racism from my career. So its like here's that guy who runs The Racist Wargamer channel.Also ngl and not to start a flame war, but he has pretty mediocre taste in games. He is very much the kind of guy who knows two or three companies he likes, plays something that hits a top wargaming list chart, and that's about it. I don't think he is particularly intelligent for how often he strokes himself, so it opens him up to more criticism when he is unable or unwilling to engage with actually deep games>>97304329Hive is still the one game that I pull out with women who arent board gamers and like so many times now it becomes their favourite out of my big collection. I dont know if its just weird coincidence, but that frickin game is just consistently a hit. I still enjoy it too, but mostly now because I like holidng both the carbon and pocket in my hands from a tactile perspective
Does anyone here have any experience with board game development? I have a good idea and want to try it, but I'm not exactly sure where to start with the creation process.
Anyone playing and enjoying ITU games here?
>>97304525I take it you are 3-degrees anon?
Does root require a good table to play with or something, because I've had four games of it over the Christmas holidays with my buds and its been a blast. Did not enjoy arcs nearly as much by comparison.
>>97304558I think for bg developers (which some publishers apparently employ) to get involved with your design, there needs to be something there in the first place. Going somewhere with nothing concrete and a vague idea seems like something that wastes the time of everyone involved
When you say a good idea, you mean for an entire game and not just a mechanic that can be inserted? There's a lot of online communities for it, I know where I live there are some IRL communities too. It's actually more popular than you might think. Most people start by just getting some kind of prototype together and playtest and refine it for years. A lot of the variables like mathwise just make best guesses and then adjust over time. It really depends on the genre thought. If you're doing a historical hex wargame vs a point salad comborrific euro vs a social deduction game of how to trigger the anon that gets pissy they work at dons instead of having degrees. Mostly the answer if you have concrete ideas is make them into a playable form, then start refining it by sharing it with other likeminded folk. If you share some more people can direct a bit better though
>>97304680If you mean a fitting group, yes, absolutely. But that's true for basically everything. Some games are more robust in that way, but putting the wrong game in front of the wrong people usually ends in a bad time for everyone. It only now occurs to me how fragile boardgaming is in that way and how groups shape individuals preferences just as much as the other way around.
>>97304904This is how any social group operates in any context when it doesn't have centralized control, it isnt just a boardgames thing
>>97304680I think the problems start when you try to optimize and/or you know the game well enough to know how a lot of it will play out
>>97305112Right, it is one of those 'solved' type of games in the sense that once you realize what the optimal choices are then the feeling of so much choice shrinks and with it the magic and fun of the game. Choosing not to engage with the 'right' way to play isn't viable
>>97304904Okay, I guess when you put it that way it's pretty evident.>>97305112I suppose so, our games have been good in the sense that we know enough about our factions that the strongest ones will get targeted by the table early, and deals will be struck by the lesser threats. I guess I really like the table talk aspect being really critical to everyones enjoyment. I even scraped a win as the cats last week because the other players slowed each other down enough. No one has really optimized the fun out of the game yet, not even our resident vagabond mains.
>>97305179If you are the kind of group that table talks and treats it with more of that roleplaying element you're probably as protected as anyone from the game going to shit. At that point it isnt really Root but your group carrying the experience, and I would recommend looking into similar games or experiences that can draw out that energy and passion more deeply
>>97304176The teach is 3x worse then Pax Ren, and only me and one other guy have played it. I'll recc it every once in awhile if someone's being an asshole.
>>97305284>The teach is 3x worse then Pax RenFound a copy in my country for 29$.Looks like Ill be anon #3 soon.
>>97302333It's a brainy coop (or solo) puzzle with deck building and different characters
>>97305469Jeez, that's enough of us to actually play the game. Godspeed, anon
>>97302120>who asked for this.pngThe standard justification for legacy spin-offs is that it's easier to get your friends to agree to play them again. So presumably people who liked Mountain Goats with friends who didn't asked for this.
>>97305478Different characters is neuron activation for me every time. The more meaningfully differently they interact with existing systems between eachother the better. Hence spirit island is a great time. Bullet, Imperium, captains chair all the same. Probably something to do with being bad at games and enjoying that novelty aspect as I lose
>>97304244Stephen Field
does /bgg/ rate Regicide?
>>97305722I'd rather play it than Patience, but that's not a high bar.
>>97305722Honestly just an okay experience. And probably slightly too many rules for what it is, feels like it is trying to add complexity and strategy that just isn't there to add. Very overrated, at best its like a 6.5/10 experience. There's other 52 card things Id probably rather take the time to learn if it was all I had
>>97305722I'd agree with >>97305785Neat idea for the standard sized french decks. Only played it solo on bga, so there's that, but after winning it once (3 or so games in) I felt like I was already done with it.
>>97305942Ive only played it irl which the idea was that I need a time filler when stuck in a physical space, I imagine online would be miserable and even more boring as well losing the "its keeping me busy here because im literally going to go crazy otherwise" aspect
>>97304192Both two AND three? Hmmmm, maybe... Renature?
>>97290097>>97290127Tourist here. Do you guys have a top 9 of all time list somewhere? I can see the yearly ones in the OP but not one for all time. Need to get a few ideas for board games after moving house and only have Carcassone so far.
>>97306149Our tastes don't actually serve as a good barometer of the hobby at large.
>>97306186Hmm, fair point. I'll keep looking through the yearly ones though, there's a few I recognise from there.
>>97306149There's a strong opposition against the creation of a "core" here, with arguments for and against. Really, you would be better suited asking for a sort of game or telling us what you really like/dislike about Carcassonne. I'm sure anons here would be happy to give suggestions based on that.
>>97304244>>97305677*Feld
>>97304558What kind of idea? Just a theme? Or you already know what specific type of game you want to make? The best way to make a board game is to start to make prototypes as fast as you can and to play it yourself, then removing/twisting/adding things and play it again until the game is good.Feel free to share your idea and I will tell you what you should do first.And don't worry about people "stealing" your idea, at your dev stage two people working on a similar idea would still make two different games, lol.
>>97305284But do you like it? Does it do anything new, interesting?
>>97304244Looks like an abstract game. As long as it's not a table hog like civolution I might check it out.>>97304312Old german games? I think that's how they call them.
>>97305663I like the variety of spirits. I love the hand building aspect. Cards with powers is great. But the central "pandemic" puzzle just feels uniteresting and boring.
>>97305677Steven Fild
>>97304525>>97304329>HiveI was looking at Hive as a game to play with my father. He only knows classic card games, chess and monopoly and other mass market games (he played some childrens games with the kids) that he doesn't like (too random/lucky).Hive, onitama, or one of the gipf games? Barony also loks great, it doesn't look too complex for beginner. Not a lot of tricktakers, simple cardgames for 2 I can think of.
>>97306504Onitama
>>97306504Maybe some 2p knizias? Battle lineGIPF games (Dvonn, Tzaar, Yinsh) are good but the box is too much air. I'm not into abstract but there are probably some good ones that came out in the last couple of years.
>>97306149There were some made but that's like 10 years ago. Since then there was never any interest and when the idea pops up it gets pushback so it's never made. But like the other anon said, just ask and others will respond. There's tons of games.
>>97305722It is ok. Good idea from a standard card deck. I'm not into solo or coop so I can't say much more.
>>97306375>>97306746Thanks. I'm still thinking about general categories/stuff I want to cover so I'll think about that before I come back.
>>97306893Don't overthink it. Just start playing and you'll see what you like. Maybe try boardgame area or a local bg shop, meeting etc.
Are any "older", "classic" euros, that are designed for more players, worth playing at 2? Power grid, Concordia, El grande, obviously no. CoB seem to be most liked at 2 but what about GWT, Keyflower, Tzolkin, Agricola, Troyes... are they good at 2?
>>97302613>Rallyman Dirt is the only game in my collection where I do not mind beat your own score. Plus the ammount and quality of the fan made content is quite high despite the low userbase. Which unofficial extra would you suggest for the game?
>>97307092>GWT>Tzolk'in>TroyesI wouldn't play any of these games with 2 players. They benefit greatly from having more players to fill in the board.
>>97307178Wouldn't it be the same for Keyflower? I never played it but auctions are usually better with more players. Although ratings on gulag suggest it might be ok with two?
>Finally manage to convince my friends in my hometown to try FCM>Wake up with high feverWhat are some boardgames for this feel?
>>97307381Pandemic
>>97307206No clue, haven't played Keyflower, but BGG ratings clearly say it's best at 4. If it's "recommended" for 2, that's already in heavy cope territory. My rule of thumb is, any game designed for 2 to 4-5 players is likely to be bad at 2 for two core reasons:A) it wasn't designed for 2B) it wasn't playtested at 2All the game-specific reasons flow from these two core facts. It only says "2" on the box to attract a wider audience.
>>97302066Through the Desert is so good, bros
>>97307178I would say Tzolk'in is still good with 2 players actually, with the other pieces filling up cog slots. Can also disrupt the ever-boring "Uxmal Gambit". Haven't played the others at 2p though.
Slopcore
I played Power Grid for the first time. Didn't like it, really.
>>97307697What do you like about it? Do you like it more than other similar Knizias?It was on my wishlist for some time but by the time the new reprint came out I completely forgot why I wanted it.
>>97294826>>97295037>>97295043Which Knizia games do you guys recommend? I have managed to apparently not play a single game he has made so far.
>>97307730>Power GridWhich map, how many players?I played it twice. Can't say I enjoyed it but it might be because I played with some randoms at a public meeting.
>>97307912Schotten TottenRaZoo VaidsThrough the Desert
>>97307912The only Knizias I've played more than once are Ra and MLEM. I like RA but some fag here swears Razzia! is better. MLEM is a bit long for what it offers and I would rather play Celestia, but one of my friends owns both MLEM and Celestia and they prefer MLEM.I do not recommend Zoo Vadis or Modern Art but I have only played them once. A friend of mine likes Mille Fiori and keeps trying to get me to play it.
>>97307955Zoo vadis is group dependant, I've had some of my greatest gaming moments with it. I agree with modern art however. Mille Fiori is really good, it's a point salad but it's infused with little kniziaisms
NTA but I love Advance Wars and want to develop a boardgame in a similar spirit. Is something like this around?
>>97307912Quest for El DoradoRaLost Cities for 2pBattle Line (mostly the same as Schotten Totten, box is too big though)High Society
>>97308020I'm going to say I don't mind the comparison, since you can play schotten with the battleline deck, but the former is so much better as a game
>>97308096I know that there have been differences between editions, but in my mind they are exactly the same, just in Schotten cards go 1-9 instead of 1-10.Are there other differences you had in mind for why Schotten is much better?
>>97308020>>97308096>>97308119hot take I fucking loathe battle line, it's a fucking stupid game, zero fun and belongs in the trash because I wouldn't even want to pass it on to another gamer.
>>97308140>t. low-test Thracian who doesn't even practice pederasty.
>>97307980There's Skirmish Wars: Advance Tactics which is a print and play wargame with AW rules but only 8 hp per unit, and i think I saw(and played) something on the /vm/ Tabletop Simulator thread that's also AW inspired and Touhou themed, where units only had 2(or was it 4? i dont remember all that well) hp. If you wanna design your own game, don't let the fact there's others already existing stop you, in fact I want you to do it just to see how you'll solve the unit health & firepower & terrain defence tracking issue without endless spreadsheets.
>>97306511wrong>>97306504castles of burgundycastle dicemachi koro if you want chill tea house, space base if you want space race thrillsfairy tale (light set collection)evolution the beginning (easy fast dinosaurs eat each other)>>97306149unordered:clank! catacombscastles of burgundyarctic scavengersterraforming marsgreat western trailcentury spice roadcavernafairy tale
>>97304680root is great if you like to play with a script
>>97304244how complex is this really on a scale of nucleum to manhattan project?
>>97297079a Sons of Anarchy bro in my /bgg/?!
>>97294511I wish I had an group that played FCM
>>97293106how about "welcome to"?
>>97307730you're not wrong
>>97307912Ra might just be the overall best design in existence in terms of approachability/ease of play and fun vs playtime and ruleyload...or maybe that award should go to Trough the desertModern art is brilliantLost cities is so much game for just being a deck of cards with numbers on them (for some reason didn't like schottentotten as much)Tigris and Euphrates, of courseaStephensons rocket is woefully underrated
>>97294592It's boring because everyone pretty much takes the same handful of actions each turn and very long. 80% of the in-game scoring doesn't matter because you can make huge points at the end. It's bad as a heavy Euro and really bad as a Feld dice/action selection game.
>>97308119>Are there other differences you had in mind for why Schotten is much better?It's so much tighter without the 10s. The fact that a close game in ST is decided when you're no longer drawing cards is so much better. It's a tiny difference, sure, but I have like a thousand games between the two and at some point you can tell that one feels so more decision heavy for that tiny change
>>97308400Cool, cheers. I'll have to have some more goes at it dumping the 10s out of my battle line. I'll be honest, I've only played Schotten a handful of times before getting Battle Line myself because I liked the art and theme better. I presume you still play ST as the version with the tactics cards though?
>>97308438I don't like the tactics cards. I play with them every now and then but the game feels way more random with them.
>>97307790Tight, chunky, and over before you know it. It's like Go, but fun and with points. And you can explain the rules in 5 minutes. It also plays well at all counts.
>>97307930North America at 5. 2 new players. Hardly felt like a game, felt like doing my taxes.
>>97297531It's more like light wargame grand strategy than straight up A&A. You're doing a lot of roll offs like A&A (the combat is much better in War Room btw) but there's a lot of operational planning and table talk that happens before and after the combat phase that you don't get in A&A. It's like a less backstabby Diplomacy. His new game, Imperial Borders, looks and plays like A&A on steroids.The biggest con to the game isn't setup and playtime, it's getting the full 6 players to play the global scenario because the lower player count scenarios aren't that much fun. If you can get 6 players (don't even have to be good players just fun people) it's worth owning to even play once or twice a year. I've played the game a couple times and it's always fun even with people that don't like wargames because the social part of it is good.
>>97308200How is Onitama wrong?
>>97301948>>97301977As a counterpoint, I usually see at least two tables of it being played non-stop by the same guys that are playing traditional h/c and monster games at Consim each year. So even amongst dyed in the wool wargamers, it's still pretty popular.
>>97308587"Wargamers" is a weird demo because so much of it is guys in their 20s and 30s larping as if they understanding the mindset of these 60+ dudes who are retired and dgaf about anything. I used to be in a group with only dudes ranging from 65-80 and it was not the stereotypes people have when they watch 'this is wargaming is rah rah' shit that youtube like the discriminating gamer or zilla blitz put out. It was a genuinely lovely experience and apart from them being really slow at playing I really miss them>>97308578They put machi koro which is a broken solved game, so I wouldn't bother. The anon that said not to take advice from here was actually based as fuck
>>97308346You are entitled to your experience anon, but every single thing you said is wrong.
>>97308490>>97308587Huh, I might check it out then. But from what I can remember it was absurdly expensive and I decided against it because Dune, Ti4 and HIS already cover the 6p slot. Which is something I get maybe twice a year anyway.
>>97290097Wait, this thread does spreadsheet stuff for ttrpgs too? i thought it was just all half-baked "idea guys." I might have to start hanging out here more.
>>97307092Cob and gric might be your best options from those. There are other but I can't think of any right now
>>97306504Hive is a great choice. Maybe look at some older euros. They are usualy not that complex but have interesting choices.
>>97308200Which of the top9 posts is yours?
>>97308484Key to the game is knowing where to block and when to build. Sniping locations early makes it extremely cost prohibitive to other players' builds. Sandbagging builds, however, gives you and advantage in auctions and resource buys. On a group's first play, everyone builds way far away from each other so they can make their little island of houses. True Power Grid patricians get cozy at the start.
>>97308908I like the War Room experience more than HiS. I don't think the game is better but the experience is much more memorable. But if you already have Dunc and TI4, you don't need War Room.
>>97308158Thank you, very inspirational. Of course everything needs to be reduced to some degree. The biggest headache for me is how to do or track actions between two players without needing to meticulously track which units have been moved or have attacked. A single action per player might be too little but I also don't want to introduce some 2 or 3 actions per player system, and of course it shouldn't be legal to do multiple actions with a single unit. I want physical pieces which can be rotated to indicate some sort of state but I already intended to use it to track the unit hp (obviously dice help here for prototyping)
>>97308259try /vm/
i think i'm having an epiphany, i have a board games for every occasion (family, entirely luck based, sweaty duel etc.) and i had a lot of fun with them, teaching them to people, playing them, getting deep into each game, but the problem with this is, because i spent so many time researching and curating, i have a really solid collection, and i expect the new games to be as fun if not better than the old ones, but i'm worrying that the bar is set really high now and new games won't have staying power beyond using new (or derivative enough) mechanics which i'm curious to try, or maybe the familiarity is what makes it feel better?>inb4 addicted brainlet discovers diminishing returnsi came to this conclusion after playing a couple of harmonies and sagrada games back to back, to provide some context
>>97309793I think that's a normal curve, you try lots of games, find out what ones you/your group likes and selling the ones that don't mesh rightIf you're past the curve, just do research on what games you think you'd like before you buy and think a few questions:Do you have a game that does this thing well already? (DoaM, Deckbuilder, etc)If so, what does it do better/different?Do you have the players for it? (John Company 2e is great but its not for everyone)Do you have the space for it? etc etcJust hold yourself accountable for it.
>>97306424Yeah, it's great. You don't build your own tableau, you share the whole market with everyone, and it's a semi co-op in a form I've never seen anywhere else, the first half of the game is full co-op and if you don't all lose you go on to the competitive game.
>>97309863>research on what games you think you'd like before you buy and think a few questionsi do this but some games that do "the same" can feel very different, dale of merchants and living forest could fall in the same basket in a lot of categories, but it makes sense to keep both, so sometimes i try slight variations of the same thing to see how it works out, but it's hit or missalthough i'll concede that i keep games that are very, very similar to each other for the following reasons:>it's someone's from the group favourite game, selling it would feel like kicking them out and it's not a bad game>the game has not been played enough to determine if it sucks over (similar game)>it's among the sweaty games, something the group wants less than 5% of the time, but i rather have the option than not
>>97309039The game was played aggressively. One of the players got completely cuckd out of their placements and was sub ~3 generators for the later part of the game. I'd much rather play Through The Desert for generally the same feeling, but without tye number crunching overhead hi didn't add all that much honestly
>>97309793>>97310365How many games do you own?
>>97310445Power Grid is an interesting game for my group. People always grumble when I pull it out, but then we get to playing it, and everyone gets super into it. Part of it is the fact that you have to do the arithmetic, but there's always plenty of table talk, making fun of people for fucking up and so on.Come to think of it, I appreciate it as an auction game much more than Modern Art. That one always plays out like a wet fart.
>>97310698Currently around 90, looking to get it under 60
>>97309793As someone who works in mental health your arc in the span of like 10 days is a legendarily accurate "quitting an addiction and will relapse immminently" experience >>97309039I appreciate how subtle it is the use that strategy in a way that Ive seen it used, but it doesnt warp the experience like what happens in root for instance
>>97311226>As someone who works in mental healthestimated time frame? two weeks perhaps?
>>97311348I believe in you anon.That said, let's see what the thread thinkshttps://strawpoll.com/X3nkPvA2YgE
>>97311348Probably longer than it took you to have a life changing "epiphany" about le hobby because you were able to go 14 days without buying a fucking board game lol
>>97310923>Part of it is the fact that you have to do the arithmeticThis leads to a lot of the fun in the games. I don't think I've ever been part of a game where someone at some point wasn't a dollar short because they can't add or missed an critical auction because they were saving for resources that ended up being uncontested and cheap. It's not a perfect game but it's one of those games like Obsession that makes a great time out of mediocrity.
>>97309793There just simply aren't many good games coming out these days, you barely get 1 a year now IMOSomething like Harmonies for example is derivative solitaire dogshit that gets by on component quality and boardgamers being desperate to like everything they've spent money on
>>97313375This is a very bad take and only true if you are a consoomet yourself and get your info from mainstream outlets. Traditional wargaming for example is thriving with experienced older designers working and nurting a ton of young talent. Truly a shallow take and I would encourage you to broaden your horizons
>>97313391I don't buy any boardgames and I keep up to date by mainly just looking at boardgames released via distributors to retail and actually PLAYING them with other peoples copiesWargamers are genuinely even more retarded than boardgamers and will praise the everloving shit out of the most random boring crap i.e see the entirety of Hollandspiele's existence. Blow it out your ass you slop eater
/bgg/ users should be forced to append their 3x3 to each post, so their bad opinions may be safely disregarded
>amabelles fucking garbage "wargames"They really will just out themselves as casuals trolling with no knowledge other than what the youtube man tells then if you let them lol
>>97313391Give a couple of examples from last years.
>>97310445>Through The DesertI heard that the new box is too small to put everything back. Is that true?
>>97313918Games or designers. Heres a short list for a diverse background. New editions only included when meaningfully changing the gameOnoda, field of fire new edition, space empires all good things, burning banners (for some), most fearful sacrifice expansion, italy 43, combat commander new edition, battle of hoth, race to berlin, punica, seljuk, by swords and bayonets, chinas war, soith mountain 1862, battle for normdandy, jutland, general orders sengoku , im too lazy to keep going and remembering shit
>>97313778>Noooo us grognards totally hate hollandspiele lol!!!!!The main publisher for your hobby literally supports and is shadow-run by a pedophile. Wargamers are absolute cucks
When your plan to say no games was revealed to be fucking dumb so you pivot to more bullshit we already knew about. Keep up junior, you lose this one bad, enjoy this last (you)
>>97313729Alright. You first.
>>97314088i don't want to throw off the data collection
>>97314222You can just reply to your own post, anon.
Anons that play and love Summoner wars, how many extra armies/factions do you own besides the core box? What is the other dueling game that you like besides SW?
>>97314069This whole top 9 makes sense.>>97314071Who is he talking about?
>>97314249giving myself a (You) feels gauche>97294294
Anon who asked about BotC before Christmas reporting in after testing it with two groups. Some of my initial suspicions were incorrect and some were correct.I was incorrect about how much it differs from the standard Werewolf-style game. It looks extremely similar on the outset. Day/night cycles, murders and executions, similar roles. But the game is designed around having lots of information that can be shared, and ways of introducing false information in the game. So people can bluff or accuse using specific pieces of information rather than blind accusations. And especially the roles that introduce false information are fun as hell.I was correct, going by anons' descriptions, about the overhead this game introduces to the storyteller though. Not only does the storyteller have to set up the scenario, there's decisions that have to be made and lots of extra steps to perform. Unfortunately, in my case it meant I fucked something up in every game we played. It's not even that it's that complicated, but the mistakes were mostly due to trying to keep the game moving quickly and lack of practice.Anyway, the game shits all over Werewolf. Even with my fuckups, the matches went pretty well, and lots of bants were had which were game-related instead of random accusation shit like in Werewolf. The only major downside to this (in addition to the GM overhead, which is on me) is that it goes slower. The night phase in particular is frustrating to people as they have to sit with their eyes closed 5 times longer due to the various player powers.So, thanks for the recommendation. By the way, any anons played the 2nd or 3rd scenarios? I read through some of the roles and it looks like the game becomes chaotic as fuck in those.
>>97314268>Anons that play and love Summoner wars, how many extra armies/factions do you own besides the core box?Uh...well see i wound up owning everything from SW first edition. Then years later second edition comes along and absolutely blows first out of the water, so I've been slowly getting all the faction packs for 2nd.>What is the other dueling game that you like besides SW?Sakura Arms, Battlecon and Radlands.
>>97314692Thanks for the neutral take anon. I've shat on the game once in the past after having played it just once. I've since come to understand that the eremit or recluse or whatever the role I got was called is considered to be pretty terrible in a first game. But I did not like the information economy in general; everything, even seemingly objective facts come with a "...but what if it's actually not true at all" disclaimer. I get that it keeps everything fluent and unknowable plus its interesting with further plays, but it seemed to me way, way more social than deductive. And that I found kinda shit; I tend to like social deduction games with a more robust foundation more. Maybe I am misjuding the game and should play it again (wish me luck ever getting a +6p group together again)
>>97310277The coop part is probably not for me. >>97314931>social deduction games with a more robust foundationSuch as? Aren't all social deduction games more social, the deduction part is based on "social" observations?
>>97314931The potential for any single piece of info to be fake is kind of necessary IMO to give space for the bad guys, and it's hilarious to boot. Without it the game could very easily veer into easy mode (where good guys can just deduce who the bad guys are), or Werewolf territory (where you don't know shit and accuse people randomly), and both of these are bad and boring. It depends on how the GM set up the scenario, but most of what you hear will be correct, it just becomes a game of weeding out the truth from fiction.I only played it with 11 players, not counting myself. At that player count, there's lots of information to go around and my groups were fairly quick at sussing a lot of things out.You should definitely try it again since the dynamics can differ massively depending on the roles included in each match.
>>97313940I had no problem with the base game itself. It is tight, though. Haven't tried putting the expansion in yet, but supposedly it's possible, although tricky. Base game you should have no problem, though unless you're brainlet mode
The so called deluxe FCM edition has such disgusting art and components, I don't understand how people can like that and call the og edition ugly
>>97315291And it has crucial rules missing from the rulebook. Honestly I'm just happy that retards that decide to buy shit like this get ripped right off. They get what they deserve.
>>97313996I have no star wars games. Is battle of both worth picking up as my first one?
>>97315549No, it's boring.
>>97314692I've played all the base scenarios multiple times and plenty of custom scripts. My group usually plays every SundayHere is the brief:>Trouble BrewingBy far the easiest to run and play, solid roles and low player overhead. If you're playing with new players always play this to introduce them. Some nice ways to spice it up if you've got access to a printer, replace the Butler with the Ogre or add the minion role called the Evil Twin.>Bad Moon RisingMy favorite of the base 3. The script highlights the importance of life and death. Many of the roles will yield information for the town based who died, did not die, or was resurrected. One important caveat is that this script can go LONG, especially if the town is reluctant to execute players. Don't be afraid to shorten the game clock or make (balanced) decisions as the storyteller that get people killed.>Sects and ViolenceThis script is really for experienced players. This script has some of the most fun roles in the game(Savant, Philosopher, Pit Hag), but it also has some of the worst roles in the game(Snake Charmer, Vortox). It also adds the mechanic called "Madness" which requires players to convincingly gaslight players about their role or someone's alignment or be executed by the storyteller. This means as a storyteller you'll need to bounce around and listen to public and private conversations of "mad" players. Alternatively, you can enlist the Evil team to rat on players breaking madness, but that's up to you. The script has very high highs(Good demons, bickering Twins) and very low lows (Snake Charming night 1).
>>97314931the thing about misinformation is that there can only be a limited quantity of it. you can deduce down to two or three possible worlds and then you need to make a judgement call from there. it's a perfect balance of social and deduction
first week without buying games: achievedi promise i'll only namefag on important milestones from now ok
>>97315861>boring>pure action from the get go because the map is so small
>>97316325>a whopping 3 units for $60>dice combat with wonky line of site rulesI've had more fun playing 10 minutes of Cockroach Poker
>>97315549it's fine but i prefer Memoir 44 because it's the same game but there's more expansions for it.also why would you want a Star Wars game specifically? genuine question
Wargaming anons, is Iron, Blood, Snow & Mud a good game? A light wargame about opearation Barbarossa.
>>97314268I'm also kind of interested about this.I was thinking of getting the base game.
>>97316296>i promise i'll only namefag on important milestones from now okIf you insist on posting updates can you please add your wishlist. I'm interested how your interests will change throughout the year.
>>97307092Aggy is almost friendship ending at 2, it's brutal unless you come out and make truces at the start.
Don't let the crow in
>>97316631LMAO that sounds fantastic. I really gotta get it.>>97316695lel
>>97316531There is more than enough game in the core box to not need to add other factions. Though be warned, you'll want to. (I own all factions besides 3 or 4 btw)
>>97316406>>97316469All right, all right. You've talked me out of it
>>97316631Even in "family" mode?
can someone post the Elizabeth Hargraves copypasta? I thought I saved it but apparently not
>>97317239I can't really remember there being a real pasta, just a bunch of greentext stories. Which one in particular do you mean?
>>97317344The one where she goes into a Starbucks
>>97316695>4 years later and my sloppy edit still gets mileage>no one has ever corrected the typo in the text box
>>97317434I was once standing in line behind a super weird lady at a starbucks. You know, large brimmed hat, long mantle full of what I think was pidgeon excriment, the whole deal. I was already shifting my weight around, just needing the code for the shitter. Once she got her obscure onions cocktail, she refused to pay. "That's not a fair price!" she yelled, "I NEED to speak to your manager!". She repeated these phrases even when the manager was present until he, visibly confused, asked her "Well what *would* be a fair price to you, ma'am?" and she shrieked "45 DOLLARS FOR BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRDSSSSSS!" in response. With that, I immediately knew it was Elizabeth Hargrave and went in, "Excuse me miss Hargrave, I just need to us the toi-" as she cawed right in my face, jumped on the table, fluttered threateningly around, using her guano mantle as pretend-wings and started to throw small painted eggs around, shrilly announcing "WE HAVE REACHED THE ENDGAME!"I fled then and there. From what I've read in the papers, there were 4 victims and a lot of salmonella poisoning. Hargrave, as the only (allegedly) biological female boardgame designer, of course remains untouchable by law.
>>97317608>>97317434>>97317239Alright, now while we're at it, does anyone have all the Quinns pastas? I regrettably only saved the netrunner one
>>97317572>no one has ever corrected the typo in the text boxI thought that was on purpose as part of the bait.
>>97317660I WISH i was that clever.
>>97316106>My group usually plays every SundayDamn dude, what is this beast of a group? Church gathering? Are you that Sam Healey fella?How many people do you usually play BotC with and did you notice any sweet spots for player counts?Also thanks for the write-up. I'll stick with Trouble Brewing for a good long while. I.e., this year at least; not that many opportunities to play the game.
Star Trek Captain's Chair or Unstoppable?for me I think the edge goes to STCC, but I'm curious to hear from others who have played both
>>97317608based, thanks anon
>>97317685I live in a big city with a game cafe that hosts our events so there's always lots of interest. Our weekly games are usually 8-12 people, but for calendar events a lot of times we have two games running, one for newbies and one for experienced players, with the former being a full 15 lots of nights. I'd say the sweet spot for games is 11-12, but Trouble Brewing is great at 7+.
Regarding Through the desert, how visible are the pastel camel riders? Any problems with finding your camels on a crowded board?
>>97316570okay, here's my current wishlist to see how it evolves/encourage certain games/talk me out of them:games i don't give much of a fuck about but can get for dirt cheap>red7>mascarade>swindler>king of 12>barricade>onix>general orders>fairy ring>rising for the throne>ninja dice>tonton>wonder woods>pocket mars>cereal killer>fast forward: FORTUNE>monolith arena>war of the ring card game>pentaktys>yangtze>piraten kaperngames i'll most likely get>petiquette>room 25>moon colony: bloodbathgames i could or could not get:>elria>megapulse>potion explosion>heat>splendor>old king's crown>tropichaos>century>7 wonders
Where is our savior?Where is OP?
