|
|
blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
|
posted January 31, 2014 03:50 PM |
|
|
OmegaDestroyer said:
@ 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.
Well, there are various ways to help you move the way you want. Special abilities, followers or items can make it happen, for instance the Witch's broom (In night, when you throw I die, you may move any number of spaces up to your die roll). It's a matter of drawing them though.
In many reviews I've read that the downside of Talisman is it's randomness. True, the game can be really cutthroat when you draw two dragons one after another. But all its charm comes from this fact. True, there will always be this luck factor, for instance one character will gain various buffs with ease, while the other will get many negative effects and struggle to survive. But in all play-troughs with my family we observed that usually our characters are quite evenly matched, and we practically always have and intense run for the Crown, when one of us decides to finally go for it. We already had a few showdowns when one player managed to catch the other, and win with only a few lives remaining. And even with it's competitive nature (there is only one winner) the whole process of adventuring, imagining all those adventures, and the suspense when drawing a card is what makes this game real fun to play, even when you loose... And believe me, there is still a lot of strategy here, how and when you use your spells, fate counters, or if you take a risk to gain a great prize, even if it means facing that Arch-Demon  I've never played a game like this, one that gives you a lot of fun, even if you ultimately don't win a session...
|
|
Geny
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
|
|
posted January 31, 2014 08:37 PM |
|
|
So, I finally got my Small World box and already tested it out against my brother. I'd like to thank all those who recommended it to me, because even though it was only a 1 vs. 1 game we both quite enjoyed it. The pace was good, despite the fact that the two of us having to consult the rule book every now and then. And of course the gameplay was simple but with enough room for strategic thought.
If you're curious, I've won by a landslide, but mostly because we haven't realized the full power of some Race + Special combos and I happened to stumble on something pretty awesome - Berserk Elves. Combined with the declined Ghouls I used in the beginning I ended up dominating most of the map for several turns. My brothers Seafaring Halflings didn't have a chance.
I do have a question for those familiar with the game though. We went through the races and specials after the game and while most of them seem useful under certain circumstances, the Dwarves look really underpowered with only 3 units and a not-so-great ability. Did we miss something?
____________
DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
|
|
OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
|
|
posted January 31, 2014 08:46 PM |
|
|
Some races are just better than others; that's all there is is to it.
As to Dwarves specifically, I'd only take them if they had a lot of money on them due to skipping, or if they were paired with an ability that gives them more troops. Other than that, if you do get stuck with them, I'd put them into decline as soon as a superior choice appears.
=====================================================================
Francis Drake
Players: 3-5
Play time: 120 minutes
Price: Currently $89.95 on Amazon.com
In short:
Sail the open seas as a privateer in Her Majesty's service seeking fame and glory in this fantastic Euro-style game.
In long:
As always, this is just a quick overview.
Francis Drake began as a Kickstarter campaign. In the game, players take on the role of an English privateer sailing around the Caribbean, plundering Spanish galleons (for jewels), sacking local colonies (for gold and silver), and trading spices for vast sums (you get victory points for what sets you have). The game consists of three voyages that are each broken into two parts: Preparations and Sailing.
During the preparations phase, players begin in port and can make up to three stops to various stores in order to secure resources for your voyage. This is done by placing a token in order, until everyone has done so 3 times. You can recruit crew (needed to attack colonies), purchase trade goods (needed to trade for exotic goods), purchase cannons (used to attack ships and colonies), purchase supplies (needed to make longer voyages), or move to special spots (more on this in a bit). There are 18 different spots you can choose from but be forewarned, if you ever pass up a spot, you can never go back to it. For example, Spot 3 offers 2 cannons and Spot 4 offers 3 crew. If you go to Spot 4, you are never allowed to go back; you can only go forward to a new spot. If you make it to the end of the pier without taking your last action, you can always take 1 crew, 1 supply, or 1 cannon. The first player to finish their shopping, gets to set out on the voyage first (more on that later).
Special spots offer very powerful bonuses, such as being able to upgrade your frigates to powerful galleons (required to attack ships), gaining a ghost crew (gives you a dummy ship), gaining special abilities that grant you bonuses for every gold and silver on the board (more on that later), and even getting a special bonus ship for your journey called the Golden Hind.
One last note on preparations, you need to carefully consider what resources you choose to acquire. Getting a bunch of cannons is awesome but if you neglect to get any supplies, you will not be able to sail far enough to fight the Spanish. Likewise, don't even bother trying to trade without trading supplies because you will walk away empty handed. Several times in our inaugural run, players failed to take into account what resources to get and were often heavily limited to what actions they could take in a round.
The board is beautiful but can get busy pretty quickly...
Once everybody has made preparations, the players then head out to sea. Every player has four ship tokens, numbered 1 through 4. In play order, the first player selects one ship token, keeps its value hidden, and places it on a location of the board he or she can go to. Your ability to visit locations is dependent on your supplies (if you have 2 supplies, you can visit areas marked 2 or 1 but not 3 or 4). Locations can also have multiple spots, with the first spot offering greater, 1-time bonuses. Anybody can play on any spot; the tokens act as bids with the lowest token placed on a spot winning and ties being broken by turn order. If you lose a bid on a contested spot, you do not get anything, so order is important. Additionally, the Golden Hind I mentioned earlier acts as trump to everything and is extremely powerful. Finally, the ghost ship acts as a decoy. You can place a piece down in hopes of tripping up your opponents, but the ship itself has zero value. Oh, and in an interesting twist, players do not have to place all of their tokens. They can choose to return to port at any time to become first player.
Once everybody has placed their tokens, the tokens are revealed, and the highest bids win. At that point, you have to trade your resources for the locations requirements. For example, in order to sack a colony, you need 2 crew and 1 cannon. You would return those resources and get the appropriate reward (silver or gold in the case of colonies).
Once the tokens are revealed, players collect their rewards, and points are awarded for what actions a player took. Depending on what actions they took, they can also pick up bonus points. Generally this is done by switching things up, such as attacking a colony and a ship on the same turn.
After the next two voyages, players count up the values of their silver, gold, jewels, and exotic goods. The highest value wins. (In our inaugural run, I was able to secure victory with two sets of exotic goods, which resulted in +56 victory points on top of my gold and silver points).
So what do I like about the game? Pretty much everything. The production values are top-notch, including plastic supply barrels, cardboard chests for you to hide your loot in, and plastic frigates and galleons. The artwork on the board, cards, and player boards is all very well done and the cardboard itself is nice and thick. The game is easy to learn and plays fairly quickly despite the 120 minute play time. There are different paths to victory and plenty of options to consider. You have to weigh your actions carefully, because if you neglect certain items (such as supplies), you can find yourself very limited in what you can accomplish on your voyage. Lastly, the game plays well with 5 people and my group thoroughly enjoyed it.
I mentioned the high production values and the cost of such values are passed on to the buyer. Currently, the game is listed for almost $90.00 on Amazon.com, making it very expensive for a board game. Also, the game is physically heavy. While not a turn off to most people, just be forewarned that the game weighs quite a bit.
In conclusion:
Francis Drake is an excellent Euro game with a strong theme. If you enjoy Euro games and can stomach the price, you will not be disappointed.
|
|
Geny
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
|
|
posted January 31, 2014 08:58 PM |
|
|
|
OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
|
|
posted April 07, 2014 03:57 PM |
|
|
Recently I uploaded a photo of my buddy and I playing Formula D. Corribus asked what game it was, Geny replied, and Corribus wanted to know if they were any good. Instead of taking the thread further off-topic, I thought I would briefly comment on the games here.
====================================================================
Formula D is a very fun, very popular racing game. The mechanics are very solid and fit the theme perfectly. The players take the role of a driver trying to win a race in Monaco. You move around the map by rolling colored dice that correspond to your gear. 1st gear has is 1-2, second is 2-6, third is 4-8, etc. At the start of your turn, you can upshift or downshift to increase the range of movement. You have to be cautious regarding gear because when you encounter a turn, you are required to stop inside of it so many times. Failure to do so results in wheel damage or in my latest case crashing. The race is 3 laps and players have the opportunity to fix their tires once a lap. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins. Lastly, the game alternate night map with new rules, mechanics, and racers; it adds re-playability and is a lot of fun.
That is a very, very brief over view of Formula D. If you are have more questions, follow the link or consult with JollyJoker. From the sounds of it, he has way more experience than I do regarding the game. I do not own Formula D. I gave it to my friend who really enjoys cars as a Christmas gift.
Small Worldis a very popular area-control game with variable player powers. The game has been brought up quite a bit already in this thread but a brief overview might be helpful to those who are interested in playing it.
At the start of the game, 6 race/power combos are laid out. On your turn, you select a combination of a race and a power such as Flying Humans, Diplomatic Skeletons, or Wealthy Giants, and take X number of units representing your race. Alternatively, if you do not like the options, you can place 1 coin on the race you don't want and skip it. Then whoever takes that race in the future, gets the coin. Once you have your race, you then start taking over the world.
You start your conquest from an edge of the game board. If there is nothing else in a territory, it costs two units to control it. For every chit (be it a mountain piece, lost tribe piece, or opponent piece), it costs +1 to take an area. So if a spot you want has 2 enemy units, it would cost 4 units to take. When you take over a territory controlled by another player, that player always loses 1 of their units for good and the remainder can be used for new conquests. Once all of your units are placed, you can redistribute them to reinforce areas and then you score one coin for every area you control.
Eventually, your units will be spread thin or you will have taken enough casualties that your army is no longer viable. At that point, you put your race in decline. They no longer can attack, use their powers (there are exceptions), but still generate points. The next turn, you will be able to pick a new army and conquer again. After X amount of rounds, the player with the most coins wins.
Small World is a great game and has been a big hit with my group. It plays any where from 2-5 players with expansions pushing it up to 7. There are a lot of different combinations in the core set and with expansions comes to about 28 races and 35 powers. There is a lot of replayability with the game. Furthermore, if you want a "darker" theme, there is a variant called Small World Underground, which adds a new board, powers, and races. If you are looking for a great game for all ages, Small World is an easy recommendation.
Shadows Over Camelot is a variable power, co-op game with a traitor. The loyal knights are trying to defend Camelot from the forces of evil while the traitor attempts to sabotage their efforts. At the start of the game, you pick a knight with a special ability and loyalty cards are handed out. You review your loyalty card and keep it hidden. It is possible there is not a traitor, which makes for a suspicious and very easy game.
Gameplay is straight-forward. At the start of every round, evil progresses. This is represented by a siege engine being placed in front of Camelot, the active player losing a health point, or a black card being drawn. Black cards are always bad and range from making it harder to acquire the Holy Grail or Excalibur to the Black Knight or a Dragon appearing to challenge the knights to Saxon & Pict invaders to really, really nasty special cards such as Morgan (causes you to lose life or cards). If so many black cards fill up a quest, the quest is lost. Losing a quest results in X black swords being placed on the round table, any knights at the quest losing health, and siege engines possibly being placed in front of Camelot.
After evil progresses, the Heroes have numerous options available to them. They can take 1 of the following heroic actions on their turn and sacrifice a life point to take another: Draw 2 cards if in Camelot, move to a quest, fight a siege engine if in Camelot, heal 1 life point by discarding 3 identical cards, play a special white card, place a card to contribute to a quest, or once 6 siege engines surround Camelot, accuse a knight of being a traitor. If you play enough white cards to complete a quest, X white swords being placed on the round table, active knights gaining health, and possibly drawing white cards. In the event you successfully accuse someone of being a traitor, a white sword is placed on the round table. If you falsely accuse someone of being a traitor, then a black sword is placed on the table instead.
Once a traitor is exposed, they can no longer participate in quests. They are allowed to take one 1 white card randomly from a loyal knight and either place a siege engine in front of Camelot or draw & play a black card. If the traitor makes it the entire game without being exposed, at the end of the game, the traitor reveals and a white sword is flipped to a black sword. Lastly, the traitor may reveal him or herself at any time to be the traitor.
The knights win the game if 12 swords are placed on the round table and at least 7 are white. The knights lose the game when 12 siege engines surround Camelot, the knights all die, or there are 7 black swords on the round table.
Shadows Over Camelot is a lot of fun to play and another easy recommendation. The theme is popular and the hidden traitor always keeps people guessing. Playing with newbies who end up being the traitor is always humorous because being new, they ask a lot of questions and it is pretty obvious who is who. That said, in our most recent plays, the loyal knights have failed to stop the newbie traitors. I have only been a traitor once and had a maliciously fun time in my role. The knights didn't stand a chance.
====================================================================
On another note, April 5 was Tabletop Day. The day was created by Will Wheaton in an effort to promote the board gaming hobby (and his web series  ). Gaming stores throughout the nation ran tournaments, introductions, and other events promoting the hobby. Since the closest store to me is 80 miles, I just hosted a game day like I usually do on the weekend. The difference was instead of 3-4 hours, we played for over 11. We played with a new player to the hobby who was really enthusiastic and wanted to keep trying new things.
The games played were:
Cyclades
King of Tokyo
Shadows Over Camelot
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game
Ticket to Ride
Small World
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
We Didnt Playtest This At All (I hate how we can't have apostrophes in links.)
I pulled off a subtle victory in Cyclades and was the King of Tokyo. The traitor doomed Camelot and I fell along with the loyal knights. Since we played the intro campaign to Pathfinder with our leveled-up characters, it was a cake-walk. I didn't win Ticket to Ride but the highlight was watching my buddy's gambit of taking a bunch of tickets in hoping to score big in the end fail miserably resulting in him only getting 10 points. Small World, in a very rare case, was won by a man (not me). I say it's a rare case because generally the men are so focused on warmongering we neglect easy points. The werewolves were far more successful in eluding the villagers in One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Finally, I don't really know who won We Didn't Playtest This At All. Being such a chaotic game, we didn't really keep track.
All and all, it was a fantastic gaming experience. 
|
|
Fauch
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
|
|
posted April 08, 2014 03:34 AM |
|
Edited by Fauch at 03:42, 08 Apr 2014.
|
this is the last one I played : room 25
pretty fun, inspired by the cube movie I guess.
though we played 2 or 3 games and the exit was never found, despite the guardians being close to no threat. in the 1st game, me and the other guardian were both convinced the other one was trying to escape, and we spent the whole game fighting each other, while prisoners were free to run away (and still mostly died )
the idea is there are 25 rooms, shaped in a square. everyone starts in the center one. all the room are squared and have 4 doors, but you can't see what is in adjacent rooms. you can take 4 different actions, and you have to program 2 different ones at the beginning of each turn. you can take a peek at an adjacent room (without showing to other players. you are free to tell them what you saw or not. or lie), you can walk into an adjacent room (then the room is revealed for everyone), move the room you are in along with all the room in the same line, or (more interesting ) push a player in an adjacent room (preferably one with acid or saws)
|
|
Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
|
|
posted April 16, 2014 02:16 PM |
|
|
Hey OD, sorry for never replying to your post here. Those sound like fun games. The racing one in particular sounds different. I think we are going to be starting a game club here soon; maybe I'll suggest this one!
____________
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
|
|
OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
|
|
posted April 16, 2014 02:25 PM |
|
|
Good call. If you need any more recommendations, just ask. Also, let me know how the group turns out.
I run a very small one here that has around 10 members. We played last weekend and I think it's time I tell you about one of the games we played.
========================================================================
Eldritch Horror
Players: 1-8
Play Time: 120+ minutes
Price: Currently $39.99 on Amazon (33% off)
Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
In Short
Arkham Horror with much needed innovation and fat-trimming. If you like the Cthulhu Mythos, this is the best co-op game board game out there.
In Long
As always, this is going to be a very general overview.
As I stated in the first post of this thread, I love all things Cthulhu Mythos. I discovered the Mythos a few years back when my wife thought I would enjoy the game Arkham Horror. I decided to take the plunge, bought the game, and instantly liked it. For those of you unfamiliar with Arkham Horror, it's a game where the players assume the role of investigators trying to prevent an Ancient One from awakening and destroying the world. The investigators navigate the city of Arkham, fighting monsters and exploring portals. Close enough portals and the Ancient One is defeated. Fail to do so, the Ancient One wakes up, and the investigators are in for a world of pain. It is a long, somewhat complicated, difficult co-op game and we failed far more than we ever succeeded. I own several of its expansions, each adding more to the game but in turn, making it much more complicated. It is a great but due to its complexity and length, it was difficult to bring to the table.
Fortunately, Fantasy Flight Games came up with the idea to streamline Arkham Horror and Eldritch Horror was created. Essentially, it is a leaner, slightly quicker, less fiddly version of Arkham Horror.
As with its predecessor, the investigators are charged with preventing an Ancient One from waking up and destroying the world. In this globe-spanning quest, the investigators must explore every nook and cranny to unravel the mysteries surrounded the Ancient Ones.
The game board
Unlike its predecessor, Eldritch Horror only has four Ancient Ones to combat: Cthulhu, Shub Niggurath, Yog Sothoth, and Azathoth. In order to defeat an Ancient One, you must solve three different mysteries. The mysteries vary depending on which Ancient One you are combating. When an Ancient One is picked, a Mythos deck is created which contains events and marks the time (run out of Mythos cards and you lose the game). A marker is also placed on the Doom track and Omen track. If the Doom track reaches zero, the investigators lose the game. The Omen track advances Doom. Once that is all done, monsters, gates, and clues are spawned on the board.
The faces of madness...
Mysteries are solved when the investigators complete certain tasks. Azathoth mostly requires the investigators to research the occult to learn secrets to keep it sleeping. On the other hand, Cthulhu and Shub Niggaruth require the investigators to fight lesser Ancient Ones and explore hostile locations such as R'lyeh. If you solve all three mysteries before time runs out or before the Ancient One awakens, you win the game. If the Ancient One awakens, then you have to perform a final mystery and usually combat the Ancient One.
Learn Azathoth's true name. What could possibly go wrong?
The investigators are varied with unique abilities, but all come with the Health, Sanity, and 5 skills: Lore, Influence, Perception, Strength, Will, Health & Sanity. Health & Sanity are your physical and mental health. Lose either and you die. The other skills are used for checks. Lore is an investigators ability to understand and exploit the occult. Influence is an investigators ability to command others and acquire items. Perception is how capable your investigator is of observing phenomena and conducting research. Strength is how strong an investigator is and how well he or she will fight. Lastly, Will determines how strong an investigator's mind is, allowing them to shrug off the inconceivable horrors they will face. All skills can be upgraded twice which is a huge benefit. I will get more into skills later. Lastly, on the back of every investigator sheet is the location where they start, starting equipment, and special encounters for each character upon being physically or mentally crippled. The following is an example of an investigator. (I apologize for the large image but the text is difficult to make out on the smaller images.)
A commander of men. Just be wary of traitors...
Each round of the game has three phases: Actions, Encounters, and Mythos. I will discuss actions first.
In the Actions phase, the investigators can perform two different actions. The actions are: Move, Prepare to Move, Acquire Assets, Rest, Trade, and Use Special Ability.
Move- An investigator moves to an adjacent location.
Prepare to Move - If an investigator is in a City location, they can acquire either a boat or a train ticket. They can only ever have two. The tickets are used in conjunction with the Move action and allow a player to move an additional space along a train track or ship route.
Acquire Assets - If an investigator is in a City location and there are no monsters present, an investigator can roll their influence check to acquire one of the four asset cards placed in the reserve spot on the board. In order to succeed, you need to roll success (5s or 6s on the dice) equal to the number on the upper-left hand corner of the card you want. Additionally, you can take out a loan and can a Debt Condition to gain two successes (more on conditions later).
Rest - If an investigator is on a space that does not contain a monster, he or she may recover 1 health and 1 sanity.
Trade - If two investigators are on the same spot, they may trade 1 item.
Use Special Ability - Every investigator has an active ability they can use once per turn. These range from gaining clue tokens, to attempting to acquire new allies, to improving skills, etc.
Once each investigator has taken an action, then the Encounters phase begins.
During the Encounters phase, each investigator has an Encounter depending on the location they are at. There are Encounters for certain cities in Europe (Rome, Istanbul, London), Asia (Tokyo, Shanghai, Sydney [Just run with it]), and the Americas (San Francisco, Arkham, Buenos Aires). There are also Encounters for smaller cities, the wilderness, and the sea. Additionally, there are Encounters for clues, expeditions, and portals. If a monster is present on your location, you must slay the monster before you can have an encounter. If you do so, you may immediately have an encounter.
Example of an Encounter card.
During an encounter, most of the time investigators will have to pass certain skill checks. So if you are trying decipher an ancient tome, you may need to pass a Lore(-1) check. You would then gather up the dice equal to your Will skill minus 1. If you succeed, you generally get something useful. If you fail, you generally lose health, sanity, or gain a condition (more on this in a bit). Other encounters are optional or pass/fail. If you succeed at a Clue encounter, you gain a clue. Expeditions and Portals are more complex, requiring an initial skill check, and then depending on the result, another check. If you pass the first check, you then roll to see if you acquire an artifact or close a portal. If you fail, you have to pass a check to avoid harming yourself or your cause.
On a quick aside, I've mentioned conditions a few times now and they are an important part of the game. Conditions are gained through various encounters and most have negative consequences that are triggered by Mythos events (called Reckonings). Every condition card has text on the back that remains unknown to the player. I previously mentioned acquiring a Debt Condition when discussing Acquiring Assets. If you do not get rid of the debt and the card is triggered, several different things could happen. Hitmen could be dispatched to kill you, thugs could be dispatched to take some of your items, you could be arrested, or nothing could happen at all. There are conditions for mental health (Hallucinations, Paranoia, Madness) and physical health as well (back injuries, leg injuries, internal injuries). Additionally, you can be cursed, which is really nasty (you only succeed on a roll of 6) or blessed, which is awesome (you succeed on a roll of 4, 5, or 6). Lastly, you can gain a Dark Pact with an unknown force. I did so last game to gain an artifact and luckily the condition didn't trigger. Turns out I sold my soul for the artifact and I would have been eaten.
There are Spells in the game that act very much like conditions in that they have a reverse side as well. You cast the spell using Lore and based on your result, apply various effects that are unknown to you. For example, roll very well, and your attack spell obliterates an enemy. Roll poorly and your investigator is wracked with pain.
Tread carefully. There is usually a price...
An investigator cannot have an encounter if a monster is present unless they can somehow slip past the monster. Unlike Arkham Horror, most monsters are stationary in Eldritch Horror and you do not even need to encounter them if you move out of the area. Monsters now have health and battle is no longer an all-or-nothing experience. Additionally, certain weapons, spells, and abilities can harm monsters out of combat. As with Arkham Horror, monsters do both Sanity & Health damage as represented by a Will and Strength test. Items & artifacts can be used to help you battle monsters as well (but you can only use the item/artifact that gives you the highest bonus). As with conditions, certain Monsters also have abilities that trigger with reckonings. Such abilities can range from dragging nearby investigators close to the monsters, cursing players, damaging everyone on the area, etc. Nasty stuff. There are also epic versions of monsters, including the Ancient Ones, who are just awful to have to fight and all have reckoning effects. For example, Shub Niggaruth keeps spawning monsters on its location.
Pretty much how we lost the last game...
The last phase of a round is the Mythos Phase. Like Arkham Horror, Eldritch Horror requires that a Mythos event be drawn at the end of every round. At the start of the game, depending on which Ancient One you are righting, you construct a Mythos deck with yellow, green, and blue Mythos cards. There are a finite amount of cards and if you ever run out, you lose the game.
From Bad to Worse... Pretty much sums up the Mythos phase...
Mythos cards have various symbols in the upper left-hand corner. In the above image, the black symbol advances the Omen track. If the Omen track advances to an Omen symbol that matches a corresponding gate, the Doom track advances. The red symbol triggers Reckoning effects. As mentioned earlier, this can trigger monster abilities and condition cards to activate. Pretty nasty. The blue symbol spawns a Gate and monsters on the map.
Other events are triggered by the Mythos deck such as clues spawning, monsters surging through gates, or rumors appearing. Rumors are really nasty and often make the game much more difficult while they are active. For example, in our last game, there was a rumor that prevented gates from closing while in play. Other rumors summon epic monsters to deal with. It is in the best interests of the investigators to solve rumors as quickly as possible. Lastly, the Mythos cards all have specific events that affect the game somehow. A few are good, such as cards that allow the investigators to heal or allow the investigators to close gates. Most are bad, such as the dreaded betrayal card that causes ally assets to harm an investigator (I have died twice with the same character due to said event) or a card that forces a solved mystery back into the mystery pile to be solved again (really, really hurts.) Lastly, there are easy and hard Mythos cards and if you desire to make the game more or less challenging, you can add/subtract the appropriate cards to do so.
After all three phases are complete, a new round begins and a new lead investigator is chosen (the player to the left of the last player). Play continues until all mysteries are solved or the investigators lose.
======================================================================
Eldritch Horror is currently my favorite game. I absolutely love it. The theme and game-play are very well integrated. It removes most of the fiddly mechanics of Arkham Horror (such as the annoying Speed/Stealth skills and money) and generally feels like a fairer experience. While the game can take 180 minutes, it feels a lot faster than Arkham Horror. The game comes with a fantastic rule book and excellent reference guide that answers just about any question you could have(honestly, I hope Fantasy Flight Games includes reference guides in all future games because it is such a well designed resource). As with most FFG games, the components are top-notch and the artwork is great. The investigators and Ancient are all unique and offer replayability. Really, my only complaint with the game is that you rinse through the encounter cards and after so many plays, you get repeats of events. Fortunately, a new expansion is on the way, Forsaken Lore, which adds a new Ancient One (Yig: The Father of Serpents), new mysteries, 100 new encounter cards, 24 condition cards, 14 new mysteries to solve, new spells, and more. It should help with the staleness of drawing the same encounter cards and is expect out in May. It will be a day 1 purchase for me.
In conclusion
As with every game I post, I encourage you to do independent research & read/watch some reviews to see if the game is right for you.
Eldritch Horror is a fantastic co-op horror game that does a great of capturing a globe-trotting adventure to stop an Ancient One from destroying the world. If you like the Cthulhu Mythos or co-op games, it is an easy recommendation. If you are primarily a Eurogamer, you may be turned off by the random elements and definitely should research the game before buying it.
|
|
Geny
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
|
|
posted April 17, 2014 09:32 AM |
|
|
I've been to a local convention yesterday and bought myself a copy of King of Tokyo. Opened it and played it with some friends and some random con visitors right there and then. Once again, thanks to everyone who suggested it to me - the game is quick to learn, pretty quick to play and a lot of fun (Even though I lost both times).
It is also interesting to see how player behavior changes with experience. First time we played everyone tried to get into Tokyo to net some Victory Points and got obliterated very quickly. Second time around, everyone was very cautious and I think we went two full rounds before someone finally got into Tokyo City.
____________
DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
|
|
Fauch
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
|
|
posted April 18, 2014 08:40 AM |
|
|
I played only once and won, despite it was the favourite game of one of the players it seemed
I think I had an alien, who had some discount for buying, which at first, didn't seem too amazing compared to other unique abilities, but I think I got a few cards to improve my shopping, including one that would always give me the priority for buying. ending up buying a bunch of nasty cards all at once. I was ensured to deal damage with each attack, and also, anyone attacking me would take damage as well, so I could stay in tokyo, and anyone daring to attack me would just get raped
|
|
OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
|
|
posted April 18, 2014 04:07 PM |
|
|
If you like King of Tokyo, I strongly recommend picking up the Power Up! expansion. It adds a new monster but the main draw are the evolution cards. Whenever a monster ends a roll with 3 hearts, they can take an evolution card. Evolutions are temporary or permanent. Temporary evolutions give you a 1-shot power, such as allowing you to heal or hurt others. Permanent evolutions give you some crazy abilities, like being able to heap on damage, store electricity, or gain additional victory points. What is nice about evolutions is that they add a sense of uniqueness to each monster. The Kraken (who is basically Cthulhu) has a Sunken Temple and Cult evolution while The King (giant ape) has a Giant Banana and King of Tokyo evolution.
Examples: (sorry the images are so large. The text is difficult to read otherwise.)
The evolutions add a lot more variety to an already great game and considering you can snag the expansion for less than $20, it is a no-brainer if you like King of Tokyo.
There is a second expansion, Halloween, that adds two new monsters & their evolutions, and costume cards.
Costume cards are a lot of fun and while they add a bit of silliness to the game, give the monsters some crazy, stealable powers. Costumes are dealt into the power card pile and are purchased with energy. Additionally, you can play a variant where everyone starts with a costume. Lastly, they can be stolen by dealing 3 damage to a monster and paying them energy for their costume.
The costumes vary greatly:
A little difficult to read but the Astronaut allows a monster to win with 17 victory points instead of 20. The Zombie allows you to stay in the game with 0 health provided you still have the costume.
Lastly, the new monsters have Gift Evolutions that allow you to give an evolution to a monster which harms them. For example, last game I a gift evolution that forced the recipient to give me energy every turn or take 1 damage. Nasty business.
Of the two expansions, I recommend getting Power Up! first for the evolutions. The costume cards and new monsters are great but Power Up! just adds more to the game. If you are a fan of the series, you'll want to get Halloween anyways.
|
|
Geny
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
|
|
posted April 18, 2014 04:20 PM |
|
|
I've seen people play with the Power Up! expansion at that con. It did indeed look interesting, and I plan to get it when we get the hang of the basic game.
____________
DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
|
|
Lord_Woock
Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Daddy Cool with a $90 smile
|
|
posted April 18, 2014 06:37 PM |
|
|
I got King of Tokyo for my birthday this year, it's already provided hours upon hours of fun. I'll have to look into this expansion thing then!
____________
Yolk and God bless.
---
My buddy's doing a webcomic and would certainly appreciate it if you checked it out!
|
|
Corribus
Hero of Order
The Abyss Staring Back at You
|
|
posted April 19, 2014 01:09 AM |
|
|
OmegaDestroyer said:
Eldritch Horror is currently my favorite game.
Yeah, this looks like a lot of fun.
____________
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
|
|
OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
|
|
posted April 19, 2014 02:07 AM |
|
|
I discovered Forsaken Lore has been shipped to retailers, so I just preordered it. I am psyched.
____________
The giant has awakened
You drink my blood and drown
Wrath and raving I will not stop
You'll never take me down
|
|
Geny
Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
|
|
posted April 19, 2014 08:40 AM |
|
|
By the way, I forgot to mention that in addition to Small World and King of Tokyo, I also purchased Fluxx, or to be precise Monty Python Fluxx. Since it hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet, I guess I should say a couple of words.
Fluxx is a 2-6 players card game that can last between 10 minutes to almost an hour. The reason being that it is mostly luck based. The version I own is based of Monty Python in general with emphasis on the Holy Grail movie.
You start with one basic rule: draw 1 card and play 1 card, 3 cards per player and no goal. There are 5 types of cards:
Action (Blue): when you play it, you do whatever the card tells you to and then discard it.
New Rule (Yellow): This can either change the basic rule (by changing the number of cards you need to draw/play) or add completely new rules to the game, for example: hand limit, the ability to discard your hand and draw a new one, the ability to play more cards if you sing Monty Python songs and more.
Goal (Red): As I said before, at first the game has no goal. Playing a goal card introduces a new goal. If there already was a goal in play, it is discarded and substituted by a new goal. Most Goals require a player to have two certain Keeper/Creeper cards in front of him.
Keeper (Green): To play this card you simply put it in front of yourself. Most Keepers are only needed as winning conditions, but a few have abilities of their own like smiting Creepers.
Creeper (Black): The bad Keepers. You have to play them as soon as you get them by putting them in front of you. Normally, if you have a Creeper in front of you, you cannot win the game. The two exceptions are if a Rule that cancels this is in play or if the goal is to have a certain Creeper and it is the only Creeper you have (other Creepers would still prevent you from winning). There are certain Actions and Keepers that let you get rid of Creepers.
As you can understand the game is extremely chaotic, because the rules and the goals keep changing each turn. Add to that the fact that there are rules like "Play All" which requires a player to play all the cards he has in his hand even if they make someone else win and you can throw strategies out of the window. However, it is because you never know what will happen and because the game is extremely easy to learn that it is so much fun. The game box is small to the point that it can be carried in a coat pocket, so it can be brought anywhere with ease. If you want to just pass some time without too much thinking and with a lot of fun, Fluxx is the game for you. There are also a lot of different themed versions of the game, including the famous Zombie Fluxx and the obligatory Cthulhu Fluxx.
____________
DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.
|
|
blob2
Undefeatable Hero
Blob-Ohmos the Second
|
|
posted May 11, 2014 10:33 PM |
|
|
Guys, did anyone of you played D&D Castle Ravenloft? I'm a bit of a figure maniac, but most importantly, after Talisman I would like to play sth CO-OP-ish (and shorter to play). I'm still into Talisman, but I also want to try sth new. Other board games that I'm taking into account are Battlelore Revised and Eldritch Horror. Battlelore is really to my liking, but I'm still waiting to see if it will be released in my native language (translating it for others is not a problem, but still it would be nice to see it in my language). Eldritch Horror was recently released, and it seems a nice introduction into Cthulhu mythos, but it has no figures and it seems to have a lot of elements, which might not be practical. Artistically it's top notch, and the gameplay seems really attractive though...
Castle Ravenloft is nice because it's a single release meaning I won't have to invest more money in expansions if I do like it (yeah I know a strange argument  ), but on the other hand this game has a low artistic value (aside from figures everything else is really ascetic) but it's the gameplay that counts the most, no? Gameplay-wise I've heard it has a lot of rule issues, I wonder if it's really that big of a problem..
What are your opinions? Tell me if you think that CR gameplay covers for it's downsides.
|
|
OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
|
|
posted June 02, 2014 09:52 PM |
|
|
I have not played it but I have heard good things about it. I encourage you to go check out the BoardGameGeek page and read some of the reviews and watch some of the videos. From what I have heard, it plays similarly to Descent.
As to gaming in general, I have acquired a few new games since my birthday and will post some overviews of a few of them shortly. Count on Bang! The Dice Game and The Manhattan Project showing up.
|
|
Minion
Legendary Hero
|
|
posted June 02, 2014 09:59 PM |
|
Edited by Minion at 22:03, 02 Jun 2014.
|
I actually meant to write about this, but I forgot. I have played it once and I hated it. But because we like different games I kinda thought my input wouldn't be great, after all, many people like that game. I just hate it  It looks horrible, and it doesn't seem to make any sense... well yeah you are in a dungeon and monsters do come at you... But I would really really suggest something like Descent 2:nd edition. It has AMAZING atmosphere. It will blow your mind. But indeed it has many many expansions, but me and my friends haven't even got them all, so they are not compulsory.
But if you wanna know something more specific about either game, I can tell more of my opinions, but indeed I do feel we like a bit different type of games
Edit: @Omega. No it does not play like Descent (neither edition). Like not at all. ;p
|
|
OmegaDestroyer
Hero of Order
Fox or Chicken?
|
|
posted June 02, 2014 10:33 PM |
|
|
Oh. I thought I had heard that somewhere. Oh well.
As to Descent, I recently acquired it for my birthday. Unfortunately, it has proven very difficult to get the appropriate number of players to start a quest.
____________
The giant has awakened
You drink my blood and drown
Wrath and raving I will not stop
You'll never take me down
|
| |
|
|
This thread is pages long: 
