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Minion
Legendary Hero
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posted December 15, 2013 12:22 PM |
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I would recommend Bohnanza. It is a trading game, it is very social as all the trades are dealt with other humans and will end in 1.5 hours. That is one game we play veeery often, easy and fun. If it more like 20 minutes you are looking for then King of Tokyo for sure. It is just fun fun fun, but there is lots of dice!
Also since you just began I would recommend the game that began my interest in board games Carcassonne. Simple yet strategic and addictive. And it is probably the most popular (proper) board game 
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"These friends probably started using condoms after having produced the most optimum amount of offsprings. Kudos to them for showing at least some restraint" - Tsar-ivor
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted December 15, 2013 02:00 PM |
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I'm getting Talisman: The Magical Quest Game for Xmas. It will be my first time playing an actual board game. I've always wanted to play one, or an paper RPG, but didn't have the chance so far. I will be playing it with my family, we'll see how it plays out, as we do enjoy some family games. Later I'll try to interest my buddies 
I've heard a lot of good things about this game. That it's a classic (it's well known, and many players in my country started their board game adventure from this game back in the 80's), it's fun, and has quite good price/content ratio. I've read a lot about it, and I really do like the ideas behind it. I suppose some of you guys know it well.
I've picked it mainly because it's easy to get into (advanced players say it's mechanics are even archaic) yet deep and simply fun. I've thought about "Chaos in the Old World" as I like it's setting, but found it too complicated to enjoy with my family, plus they say that the game is only fun with at least 4 players, and I'm not sure how many of my family members will be "available". It could end with only me and my brother  (and Talisman starts with two players ). Plus, it has a nice expansion mechanic (attachable corner boards), so if I do enjoy it, there' a great way to expand your experience.
Do you guys have some opinions on it, maybe some good ideas to play it. I've heard about randomized endings: you pick an alternative ending card at random (the game is supposed to be very random ) only when you reach the final goal. Seems like a fine idea. You need some alternative endings first though
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SKPRIMUS
Promising
Supreme Hero
The One and the Prime
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posted December 15, 2013 02:18 PM |
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long time ago, I used to play Talisman (seems to be Games Workshop 2nd edition with all the expansions except talisman dragon!). Good times when we got together for a night
It's definitely more fun with more players & if not everyone knows everything about how all the strong characters are. If only 3 or less players, we tried two characters per player. [we didn't give stuff between own players & didn't go too much into attacking each other until it was later ingame]. I liked randomly picking like 2 or 3 characters & then a player chooses 1.
Later editions I don't know, but i would think with the many characters & possibilities, then still would be enjoyable - but still probably need a number of expansions for full enjoyment.
And I recognised the game when seen on Big Bang Theory TV show!
____________
Hope defeats despair - "a blatant clue"
too many idiots in VW
"to lose is to win, and he who wins shall lose"
bashing orcus 
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OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
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posted December 15, 2013 04:54 PM |
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Minion said:
I would recommend Bohnanza. It is a trading game, it is very social as all the trades are dealt with other humans and will end in 1.5 hours. That is one game we play veeery often, easy and fun. If it more like 20 minutes you are looking for then King of Tokyo for sure. It is just fun fun fun, but there is lots of dice!
I will second the recommendation for Bohnanza. It is a quick, fun trading game and it is has been very popular with my group.
I said I would talk about my latest acquisitions and would like to start with two games I won in contests on Boardgamegeek: Rokoko and Speculation.
=====================================================================
Rokoko
Rokoko is set in 18th century France under the reign of Louis XV. The king is hosting a lavish ball and it falls upon the player to provide coats & dresses for the nobility and creating decorations for the event. Generally the more you have of each, the better. The ultimate goal is to earn the most victory points.
Here is an image of the board:
The game is a pure Eurostyle game. You start the game with a pool of 5 predetermined workers and 5 dollars. The game takes place over 7 rounds where you assign workers to perform the following tasks:
1. Obtain the queen's favor: The queen's favor makes you first player, nets you five dollars, and is worth 3 victory points at the end of the game.
2. Purchase materials: On the board, there is a warehouse where the players can choose to buy bolts of silk in various amounts OR lace and/yarn. All are necessary to complete various dresses & coats. For example, one dress may require 2 yellow silk, 1 red silk, and 2 lace.
3. Make a dress or coat: Each round, there will be a selection of clothes you can make for a certain price. You select an employee, pay the resources and dollar amount and then you have the choice of selling the dress for money or placing it in a hall at the party to obtain victory points later on. Certain dresses can only be made by masters and I will get into that later.
4. Hire employees: By using a master card and paying the dollar amount, a player can obtain a new employee to add to their pool. These employees are generally a lot better than your old employees and come with some great perks. Once purchased, they immediately go to your hand allowing for an extra turn that round. Only masters may hire employees.
5. Depute an employee: You ship an employee off to work for the king. When you do so, you get the monetary value of the employee and the card is gone forever. Additionally, if the employee had a special ability, you can use that ability once before the card is gone forever. You use this ability to get rid of unwanted cards and make a quick buck. You can only depute if you have more than 4 employees in your deck though.
6. Fund a decoration: You fund a decoration by paying a dollar amount. Certain decoration spots provide powerful bonuses but cost a lot of money.
Employees come in three flavors: Apprentices, Journeymen, and Masters. Apprentices can only purchase materials, be deputed, or fund a decoration. Apprentices can do everything but hire employees. Masters can do everything in the game and their dresses can serve as tie-breakers if placed in the appropriate spot in a hall. Just about every employee has a special ability they can use after making an initial action, such as taking an extra purchase materials action or reducing the amount of a dress. Since masters are always powerful, they have the worst advantages and lowly apprentice with a great bonus may be better investment than a new master.
At the end of your turn, you gather income. Initially, you only gather 5 dollars a turn. You can, however, fun certain decorations that will give you money for each dress you have rented out or each decoration you have created to increase your money every round. Doing so is important because you always need money and never seem to have enough.
At the end of the game, there are many, many ways to earn victory points. You can earn points by having the most dresses & coats in a particular hall, being the first to have a dress or coat in every hall, et cetera.
Rokoko is a very good game; it is clear, concise, and offers numerous paths to victory. If you enjoy Eurostyle games, I highly recommend it. As with all games, however, I encourage you to read & watch reviews before purchasing Rokoko. I did not discuss everything in this overview and may have left out a key detail (I highly doubt it) that may be a deal-breaker for you. If you are interested in a video review, the Dice Tower reviewed Rokoko recently.
======================================================================
Speculation
Speculation is a remake of a 1992 game based on the stock market. Admittedly, the theme is not something I really enjoy but since I won it, I wanted to give it a shot.
In Speculation, there are 8 different companies that you can purchase the stock of. Depending on the size of the group, you start off with X amount per company. In a 3-player game, each company had 2 stocks to choose from with players starting with 1 random stock, $20, 8 company cards, and 1 Bank Holiday card (the cards are shuffled together). Your goal is to end the game with the most money.
Here is an image of the board (I apologize for the small size. BGG does not seem to have great working links to images for this game):
Throughout the game, stocks will rise and fall along a graph. The value of each stock is based on its overall rank (1-8) and it's position on an incline/decline. Right next to the incline or decline, the game gives you the value of the stock depending on what place it is in.
For example, if you look at the board in the image, you can see the green tile is in first place on the second incline. The value of 1st place on the second incline is $175 (I am using my own game board because I cannot easily make out the details of the board at that resolution). Conversely, the brown tile is ranked 4th but on the decline, which makes its value $80.
Each turn, a player draws the top two cards of their company deck and draws from the action tile bag and movement tile bag. (As an aside, in the copy of the game I received, the bags were not typical black, but strange, randomly colored bags that look like they came from a dollar store. It is quite strange...) The action bag contains tiles with the following actions:
1. Trade: Each player may purchase one share and/or sell one share to the bank.
2. Rank +1: The player chooses any company tile and increase it one rank to the first empty space. For example, if the blue tile is at space 40, and red is at 41, you can increase blue to 42.
3. Rank -1: The player lowers a rank of a company by one point following the same rules of skipping occupied spots.
4. No action: You do not do anything this turn.
Then you draw a movement tile which are numbered 1-6. This determines which stock will ultimately move along the graph. To determine which stocks move, each player at the same time, puts one of their two cards down. If at any point, a Bank Holiday card is played, no stocks move. So for example, let's say I drew a 4 tile. The players put down the following cards: Red, red, blue. In clockwork order, the red company would move 4 spaces, skipping any occupied spaces, and then move 4 spaces again. Then blue would move 4 spaces.
The game continues in such a fashion until you reach the End space. At that point, all of the characters add up their money and the value of their stocks. Whoever have the most, wins.
Speculation is not a really deep game and fairly easy to get into. That said, it is very easy to fall behind in it. One of my friends foolishly dumped all of his money into a stock that ultimately went nowhere and lagged far behind for the rest of the game. Honestly, I do not think it was possible for him to win the game due to such a substantial error. So if you enjoy games where you always have a shot at winning, be forewarned. The game is quite dependent on luck so if that is a turn-off to you, I would look elsewhere.
When I discovered I had won a copy of Speculation, I was a little concerned due to the somewhat uninteresting theme. That said, I am glad I played the game and plan to keep it. It is a light to medium weight game that plays in about an hour. More-so than Rokoko, I would encourage you to read & watch reviews. The game's theme may be a tough sell for your group and I would hate for you to buy a game you cannot find anybody to play with. If you are interested in a video review, the Dice Tower reviewed Speculation recently.
======================================================================
If you are interested in either game, again I recommend you do research. I just gave a very brief overview of both games. Next I shall do mini-reviews of two games I won in a bid at BGG's Jack Vassal Memorial Fund auction: Zogar's Gaze and Say Bye to the Villains.
____________
The giant has awakened
You drink my blood and drown
Wrath and raving I will not stop
You'll never take me down
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JollyJoker
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
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posted December 15, 2013 05:11 PM |
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Just played "Castles of Burgundy" for the first time - very good game, actually.
It's one of those games where you have a lot of material and will need tocheck a lot of detailed info while gaming, but where the game itself is extremely easy, since when it's your turn you have a very small number of actions you can pick out of a small number of available actions and combine in any order, making the game itself pretty fast-paced, easy and clear.
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OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
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posted December 15, 2013 05:36 PM |
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I have not tried it but would love the chance to play it. Unfortunately, there are not many people in my area who are into gaming and I would be willing to bet I have the largest collection around the UP.
Oh, I almost forgot. I picked up a copy of Formula D for my buddy for the holidays. I have yet to give it to him, but since he is big into cars, I figured it would be a safe bet for him.
friendofgunnar said:
@Geny, the game you want is "King of Tokyo". It looks like it's one of Omega's top three games as well.
King of Tokyo lasts about 30 minutes. If you're looking for something longer, I'd make two different recommendations, and the recommendations are based on who you're playing with.
"Ticket to Ride Europe" is a game that nearly universally acknowledged as being easy to learn and also a game that pretty much anybody can have fun playing. If you're sitting down with non-gamers this is the one you want.(the Europe version is more complex than the original game with the American map)
"Small World" I think would fit your criteria perfectly as well. Looks like Omega will back me up on that:
Quote:
My group loves this game. Very easy to play and a lot of fun. I highly recommend it.
Actually, I forgot to update that information on King of Tokyo. Currently, I'd rank it is as my 5th favorite game. It is fantastic and I think every gamer could use it in his or her collection.
And yes, Small World is an excellent game and another fine addition to any gaming collection. Unfortunately, I seldom win it due to swearing revenge on people early on and ignoring larger threats... I also Kickstarted the digital versions (which in hindsight was not a wise use of money), but it did net me some expansions I did not have, new Kickstarter created factions, a 6-player board and hardcover encyclopedia (I have yet to receive the last two).
____________
The giant has awakened
You drink my blood and drown
Wrath and raving I will not stop
You'll never take me down
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JollyJoker
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
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posted December 15, 2013 06:22 PM |
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Formula D - well. I own 20 or so tracks and over a decade ago I was member of a regular round of 4 playing the game once a month (regular Formula 1 season with 12 tracks).
Was MASSIVE fun, although, if you play the game "seriously", that is, with qualification lap, debris and so on, a game will take TIME; you are in for basically a full Satursay night or something like that.
I own Small World as well. It's a basically a mix between Risk and History of the World's action phase, set in a fantasy environment - and it IS fun.
Very fast-paced, pretty good game.
Speaking of History of the World - enjoy that as well. Trouble is, the game needs a certain number of players.
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Geny
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
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posted December 15, 2013 06:32 PM |
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Thanks to all for suggestions and especially to FoG for linking me to that channel. It looks like a great way to actually understand the games, because no amount of written explanations can really explain the atmosphere of a board game.
____________
DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
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Minion
Legendary Hero
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posted December 16, 2013 04:20 PM |
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You are absolutely right, I always watch video reviews to get to see and understand the game properly ^^ But if you scroll down the pages I linked and find the section "videos" you will find what you need there.
____________
"These friends probably started using condoms after having produced the most optimum amount of offsprings. Kudos to them for showing at least some restraint" - Tsar-ivor
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OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
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posted December 20, 2013 07:49 PM |
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I have a brief moment of respite at work (I just jinxed it), so it is time to talk about Zogar's Gaze and Say Bye to the Villains.
=====================================================================
Zogars Gaze (Why we still can't put apostrophes in links is beyond me.)
Zogar's Gaze was one of two games I won in the latest Jack Vassel Memorial Auction at BoardGameGeek. It is a press-your-luck card game in which the players pick a race and a class, then start exploring a dungeon in hopes of finding riches and glory.
Each race and class comes with certain requirements, which are dependent usually on Fame Points (acquired by killing monsters), Treasure Points (for collecting artifacts), collecting mushrooms, awaiting 6 Zogar's Gazes (more on that later), etc. Classes determine which card you need to acquire to win the game, in addition to your class. For example, if you are a Grey Gnome, you'll need to acquire 5 mushroom points and Excalibur.
Once you have a race & class, you start exploring the dungeon. Dungeon exploration is fairly simple. You shuffle together 3 decks containing levels 1, 2, and 3. You then split the deck and draw the top card. Whatever it is, you get. You may stumble upon an artifact, trap, Zogar's Gaze, or monsters. If you find an artifact, you can keep it and keep looking for more items. If you draw a trap, more than likely your turn ends. If 7 Zogar's Gazes are drawn, the game ends in failure. If you draw a monster, you have to fight it and your turn ends.
Monster cards have certain dice combinations listed on them. The dice will either be red or green. For example, a Skeleton requires 3 ones to win and is green. You then proceed to roll five dice and are allowed to reroll twice (similar to Yahtzee). If you the exact number you win. You can also win by getting +1 of a kind or a higher straight (if the card called for a straight). If a monster has red dice on it, then you need to get the exact number. Certain monsters also have an F(ire), I(ce), P(oison), or H(oly) marker and are instantly defeated by items/spells with those values. If you fail to defeat the monster, you take a point of damage, lose all acquired cards on hand, and start back in town.
If you manage a successful expedition, you can purchase one of two items form a market in two. You do so by having 5 points worth of cards. Points are determined by the level of the card. For example, the Skeleton I mentioned earlier is worth 2 points. The items can be very powerful but are usually one shots that can help you instantly defeat a monster or steal items from another player. Once you have bought gear, you begin exploring again.
The game ends when you have met your specific goals or 7 Zogar's Gazes are drawn.
I had looked at Zogar's Gaze awhile back on Kickstarter and it seemed interesting. When I had a chance to bid on it during the auction, I foolishly did so. Only after I was locked in to win, did I bother to read reviews. If I had done so, I would have never put $50 down on the game because the game just isn't that good. It is slow, you are constantly being defeated by monsters, and when there is only 1 of each of the specific goal cards, the game is way too long. I have played it twice so far using modified house rules (you can keep killing monsters) and even then, it was not that interesting. Sadly, I never felt like I was exploring a dungeon either.
I cannot recommend this game to anyone. It's dull and the theme is weak.
=====================================================================
Say Bye to the Villains
Say Bye to the Villains is the second game I bid on in the auction. It is a light, co-op game where players take on the role of vanquishers swearing to bring justice to various villains. There are two phases to the game: Preparation and Execution. The Vanquishers win if they kill their targets and fail if they do not do so.
At the start of the game, players pick a vanquisher and are dealt 7 preparation cards. You then draw a number of villains equal to the number of players and deal them situation cards (more on that later). You then have 10 units worth of time to prepare for battle.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Each vanquisher has three attributes: Speed (who attacks first), Strength (how much you hit for), and Life (how much damage you can take). Most vanquishers come with special actions and I will get into that in a bit. On a vanquishers turn, they can take several different actions.
1) Play a preparation card for the time cost. These can be used to enhance your character, look at situation cards on villains, remove situation cards, nullify revealed effects, etc. For example, for 2 time, I play a card that gives my character +5 strength, while counter-measure lets me remove a revealed card from the villain.
2) Draw a card for 1 time.
3) Draw 2 cards and discard 2 cards for 1 time.
4) Pass 1 card to another player for 1 time.
5) Look at target situation card for 1 time. This lets you look at a situation card on a villain. You cannot reveal it (show the group) but you can turn it to its side to denote if it is serious or not.
6) Use special ability for X time. Certain characters have special powers, such as for 2 time, draw 3 cards.
7) Declare aim. Pick which villain you plan to fight. This is typically the last action you take and once done, you cannot take any other actions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Once a player reaches 10 time, there preparation phase is over. On to the villains.
Each villain has a Speed, Strength, and Life attribute, as well as a number denoting how many situation cards they are dealt. Furthermore, most have special abilities that come up during combat.
A situation card can be anything from a thug, bodyguard, or mercenary that adds to the attributes of the villains (+2 speed/strength/life, etc.), a card that harms the player (gives you -3 stats), a really nasty pass/fail effect (a hostage card requires over 9 speed or the battle is immediately lost), and even cards that harm the villain (debauchery has been the downfall of many). Certain cards have really nasty effects when they are revealed and can be very damaging if revealed in combat. Fortunately, during the preparation phase, it is possible to play certain cards that can reveal situation cards and/or remove/nullify them. For example, if revealed, it is possible to rescue a hostage before battle or eliminate a guard dog.
Once the preparation phase ends and the targets are chosen, it is time to execute your plan. The players flip over the situation cards of the villains and compare their combined attributes with those of your character. Whoever has the highest speed strikes first. So if you have low speed, it is possible to be killed before even getting a chance to fight your target. Assuming you survive or strike first, you then compare your strength to the villains combined life. If it exceeds it, the villain dies. If it is not enough to kill the villain, he or she then counterattacks and you can be killed. In most situations, if you fail to kill the villain, you lose.
The game is over after every duel has been fought.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I bid on Say Bye to the Villains after only reading about it once or twice. I am very happy I did so because I greatly enjoy the game. It plays quickly, is easy to teach, and the theme is great. It always feels like you are sitting in a room, plotting with your fellow vanquishers about how to take down notorious villains. Plus it feels great playing one of the Infinity Speed/Strength/Life cards. It has been a hit with my group and has been played several times. For a light game, I simply cannot recommend Say Bye to the Villains enough. As always, I encourage you to read up on it and watch reviews, and see if it is something you would like.
======================================================================
That's it for now. I will update throughout the holiday week a bit since I have some time off.
____________
The giant has awakened
You drink my blood and drown
Wrath and raving I will not stop
You'll never take me down
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JollyJoker
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
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posted December 20, 2013 11:29 PM |
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I've always had a weak spot for
Family Business.
I like the way how a "Contract" is the basic card in that game and how it will make you go from peaceful to "I'll kill that fragger", if there's a contract played on one of your mobsters without a seemingly good reason.
In short, the game tends to get pretty emotional pretty fast - which is actually a lot of fun.
Played "Augustus" today - new game. Kind of a Bingo thing with a bit of depth.
Will be good with 4-6 players.
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OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
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posted January 07, 2014 02:59 PM |
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The latest games I've played have been Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords & Francis Drake.
Pathfinder is exactly what it purports to be: an adventure card game. It is easy to teach and a lot of fun to play. One aspect I enjoy is that you can level-up your character throughout your adventures, giving yourself a larger hand of items to choose from, gaining special abilities, or upgrading your basic abilities. You get a lot of game in the box and there are several adventure expansions available to purchase.
Francis Drake is a Euro game where you act as a privateer in her majesty's service. You can win the game by obtaining victory points earned through trading exotic goods, sacking ports & harbors, or plundering the mighty Spanish Armada. The production values are absolutely top-notch, which for the $80.00 price tag, they better well be.
I will update this post with more in-depth reviews of both games when I get the chance. In the interim, I strongly recommend both to any gamer.
Lastly I got a chance to play Formula D and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The only thing I did not care for was the inability to take a curve in 6th gear. 
____________
The giant has awakened
You drink my blood and drown
Wrath and raving I will not stop
You'll never take me down
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OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
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posted January 13, 2014 05:12 PM |
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Ugh. I just spilled beer all over Eldritch Horror last night. It would have been fine if one of the players had blotted instead of wiped with paper towel, taking some of the ink off of the board in the process. Thankfully, the game is still playable.
The clincher is two-fold: First, it was the inaugural play of the game. Second, I just threw out the proof of purchase chit, which I may need in order to get replacement parts. I scoffed at the idea of needing it the night before the incident. The irony is not lost on me.
____________
The giant has awakened
You drink my blood and drown
Wrath and raving I will not stop
You'll never take me down
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friendofgunnar
Honorable
Legendary Hero
able to speed up time
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posted January 14, 2014 12:21 PM |
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I actually like 'battle-scars' on my thematic games. They kind of serve as reminders of the time when the game was played. Not sure how bad your beer episode was though, might be too much
I played Talisman recently btw. It's kind of a sucky game if you measure it by modern standards but if you view it as just a story-telling game it's actually somewhat fun.
Right now I'm big into Caverna. Lotsa cardboard and wood bits with that one.
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The_Polyglot
Promising
Supreme Hero
channeling capybara energy
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posted January 14, 2014 01:27 PM |
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Did anyone here play Munchkin Quest? Looks fun, but my lil bro always wins 
edit: OHOHOHOHOHOOO!  Had our first full game with the family... My bro was a d-bag throughout, so we ganged up on him at the end...
For those not in the know, MQ is a dungeon-crawler, you fight monsters, level up and take all the loot you can. At the end, your 10th level Munchkin with all his loot has to fight a 20th level boss monster. You take the sum of your level and equipment, and roll a 6-sided die to get your strength, monster(s) do(es) the same, if your value is higher, you win. Each Monster also rolls at least one die, and of course can be buffed further with a skein of other cards.
Well, D-Bag Bro ended up fighting multiple Plutonium Dragons and an Overbear, buffed with stuff like Coldly Rational, Electric Exploding Acidic Potion, Frozen Explosive Potion, and a few others... Final combat strengths were 20-something+d6 for my bro, and 102+7d6 (A hundred and two plus seven rolls with a 6-sided die!) for the Dragons & Co. We promptly surrendered, and the game won.
____________
Friend-shaped
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OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
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posted January 20, 2014 06:49 AM |
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Damn. That's harsh. I have Munchkin Quest but have not touched it in a long time mainly because there are other games I enjoy more.
As to myself, I played Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords and Eldritch Horror. My group won both and we had a good time.
Since I have tomorrow off, I think I will the belated reviews of Pathfinder and Francis Drake. I may throw in Rampage and Eldritch Horror as well.
EDIT: OK< i said I would review some games, work is slow as Hell, so here goes:
========================================================================
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords -Base Set
In short:
A fantastic adventure game (with an annoying long name) that is easy to learn, fun to play, and a great experience all around.
In long:
This will be an oversimplification of the rules.
The best description I have heard of Pathfinder comes from Tom Vasel of the Dice Tower: "An adventure in a box." I tend to think of it, however, as more of an RPG in a box without all the character sheets. Pathfinder revolves around a group of heroes (1-4, up to 6 with an expansion) attempting to hunt down villains and complete quests in the process.
The game comes with Scenarios, Adventures, and Adventure Paths. Scenarios are one-off quests to seek & slay a villains, that offer certain rewards, such as items, spells, or weapons. Adventures consist of at least 3 connected scenarios, that in addition to scenario rewards, offer rewards that permanently boost your character, such as Skill improvements, Power enhancements, or the ability to carry more gear. Adventure Paths consist of multiple adventures, with all of their rewards, as well as the ability to take a specialty class.
Speaking of classes, the base game comes with 7 different characters (such as a fighter, wizard, rogue, et cetera)with various stats (more on that later.) Each character starts with a number of cards, consisting of various boons (weapons, armor, spells, items, allies, blessings, or loot) to create a deck. If you ever run out of cards, your character dies. Each character is limited in what type of gear (weapons, spells, armor, allies, items, and blessings) they may use. My primary is a warrior who is skilled in weapons and armor but cannot even hold on to spells. My wife's character is the converse; a spell powerhouse but lacks any ability to use armor or weapons. At the start, you cannot hold that much but as grow in experience, you can bring more equipment with you.
When you begin the game, you pull location cards that are listed on your particular quest card. You then create a deck based on what banes(monsters & barricades) and boons (see above) the location card needs in order to create a deck. Once done with every location, you shuffle the villain and his henchmen, add 1 to each location deck, and shuffle it again. Also, locations can have certain extra conditions, such as allowing you to explore more or discarding cards. Lastly, a location can be closed once the deck is empty, you defeat a villain, or after slaying a henchmen, succeed at the closing check. Then you create a deck of 30 blessing cards, place them above the adventure, and draw one. Then the adventure begins.
The players have 30 turns to hunt down the villain. A turn is represented by a blessing card being drawn. On your turn, you move your character to a location and explore it by turning over the top card of the deck. Every card has a check on it to either defeat & banish it back to the box (most commonly done with monsters & barricades) or to acquire a boon. Checks are your typical RPG stats, such as strength 9, wisdom 5, et cetera. A character rolls a dice based on his stat. My main character has strength 1d10, so I roll a d10 trying to acquire anything with a strength check. If I succeed, I banish monsters & barricades back to the box or acquire a boon. If I fail to defeat a bane, the monsters & barricades can hurt me (force me to discard cards) and get reshuffled back into the location deck. If I fail to acquire a boon, the card is lost forever and banished back to the box.
During your turn, on a stat check, you can play 1 card of each type of boon. Let's say I encounter a henchmen who is combat 9. In addition to my strength/melee die, I could play a spell, weapon, ally, or item to add to the check. Additionally, you can use blessings to gain dice to add to checks, which is extremely useful.
Eventually, you will run into a villain or henchmen. Upon encountering a villain, every character can attempt to temporarily close their current location. If they do so, they close off potential escape routes for the villain. If you defeat a villain, you instantly close your location without needing to satisfy any requirements. If undefeated, the villain will flee to any of the currently open locations. If there are no open locations, the villain is defeated and the heroes win. If you fail to defeat a villain, you take damage and resume the hunt. If the blessing deck every runs out, the heroes lose.
If you defeat the villain, you take the appropriate quest reward and add it to your deck. Then you rebuild your deck up to your hand limit, choosing to keep or discard any boons you may have acquired throughout the course of the game. So instead of having a dagger in your deck, you could end up having an Icy Spear +1. If there is a quest reward that grants bonuses to skills, hand limits, or a new power, you lightly mark on your character card with what gets upgraded. So long as you do not die or fail in your adventures, you keep going with your character, new gear and bonuses included.
As I stated in the beginning, I oversimplified the explanation of the game. Cards can be played in certain ways and I'm sure I forgot certain mechanics, but you should now have a rough idea of what to expect. The game is modular, with several expansion adventures released to create an epic adventure. The base game includes one of the adventure packs, "Burnt Offerings", which adds new quests, banes, & boons. Each expansion is around $15-$20 depending on where you order.
So what do I think of the game? It's a blast. Easily one of my favorite games of last year. I have played it over a dozen times, about half with a group and half solo. It is easy to pick-up and the game play is really tight. Of all of Christmas acquisitions, Pathfinder is at the top of the list along with Eldritch Horror. I cannot recommend it enough if you are looking for a solid adventure game.
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Francis Drake is coming in a bit.
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The giant has awakened
You drink my blood and drown
Wrath and raving I will not stop
You'll never take me down
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Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
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posted January 24, 2014 03:33 AM |
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I don't quite understand how you can play it by yourself.
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I'm sick of following my dreams. I'm just going to ask them where they're goin', and hook up with them later. -Mitch Hedberg
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blizzardboy
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
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posted January 24, 2014 08:50 AM |
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Board games I recommend:
Twilight Imperium
Victory-point based space strategy game based around diplomacy, politics, logistics, trade, warfare, and research. The map is custom-built at the beginning of each game.
Agricola
Build the best farm within a set time period, through purchasing resources, building homes, fences, pastures, crops; utilizing special occupations (such as forester or pig whisperer), and building improvements. This game is badass.
Dungeon Lords:
In this game, you are the lord of a dungeon. Bid & compete with other dungeon lords with purchasing items, rooms, food, evil, traps, and other trinkets in preperation, and then various adventuring heroes come to your base to try to kill you. Defeat them with as minimal damage to your dungeon as possible. Person with the highest score at the end wins.
Galaxy Truckers:
Build a ship as fast as possible (cargo, weapons, engines, shield batteries, armor, etc.) with the available pieces on the board against other players and make it across the galaxy to deliver your goods as fast as possible (and/or surviving against the various pirate and asteroid events).
Eclipse:
Build your fleet, research new technologies, pacify locals, expand your empire, crush your enemies.
Libertalia:
Yargh! Hire yer crew, store up special artifacts and booty, and compete against the many challenges on the seven seas.
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"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."
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blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
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posted January 30, 2014 10:52 PM |
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Like I said I got Talisman for Xmas. After a few plays with my brother and sometimes his wife I must say we are really enjoying the game. So much we even bought some expansions for it. Each game is different. The game has great replay value. And it has fantastic artistic value too. While it's your usual fantasy-themed stuff, it's executed flawlessly. And it creates great opportunities to use your imagination. A good-natured, Lycantrophe Gnome-like hero (Tinkerer) with an army of mechanized Swords and Shields (just imagine a sword with small legs ), a Dragon pet, a Prince and an Alchemist for friends, riding a Black Unicorn becoming the ruler of World? Talisman makes it happen
Downsides? If you manage to survive long enough to buff up your character you trample over non-player enemies with ease. But I guess there is no "stat building" game in which it doesn't happen. The other thing is that late game (or sometimes even earlier) with so many abilities/items/followers it's a bit hard to keep with all your possibilities (we tend to forget that, for instance, our character has an ability to discard a card etc). And there are many cards which effects intervene, thus creating some confusing scenarios. There were many situations in which, even knowing the rules, we weren't quite sure what to do. It's not that the game is hard to understand. I think it has an exceptionally good and easy-to-read manual, but there are just so many possibilities you have to sometimes read each and every word a couple of times (the "key-word" mechanic). And with so many cards the games really takes a lot of space, and literally forces you to juggle with cards But the sheer amount of cards/possibilities is what makes the games incredible replay value...
I can easily recommend this game for any casual board game players (like me). Though people who play RPG games are potentially better to get into it, because I see that my brothers wife, who is, let's just say, not very experienced in RPG games, has some problems with understanding a few things.
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OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
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posted January 31, 2014 02:45 PM |
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@ Corribus
The mechanics for single player are the same for multiplayer: Hunt down the villain before the blessing deck runs out. It is recommended that a solo player use two characters but I have found success in using one. Admittedly, it is not as fun as having more players and some characters are poorly suited to overcome certain banes. For example, my heavily geared warrior wasn't wise enough to overcome a shopkeeper's buxom, redheaded daughter and ultimately failed an adventure because she kept distracting him.
@ Blizzard
All solid recommendations. Out of all of them, I've wanted to play Libertalia the most. I like pirate-themes and from what I've read of the reviews, would really enjoy the game.
@ Blob
I have played Talisman and have enjoyed it. The only thing I did not care for was rolling for movement. I understand why the mechanic is included but it can be frustrating when you are under a time limit and unable to move where you need to go.
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As to Francis Drake, bare with me a bit longer on getting the review out.
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