Board Games (catch-all thread)

[Kong Wen]

Someone (Niahak or Vic) mentioned a general board game thread, so here it is, ya slackers!

My local board game cafe tweeted about Onitama, which I'd never heard of, but which sounds awesome. Has anyone played it?

[neuzd]

Looks like this thread isn't very popular...anyway I'll just repeat what I posted in the chat today: I just discovered that my local gamestore has closed.
I mostly went there to buy paints and brushes for miniatures and never played anything with anyone, despite it being a very nice place and having a nice collection of games, board/card and wargames as well.

Anyway, since I'm a loner, I'm playing mostly only solitaire games or solitaire variants. I'm currently playing lots of Friday, which I find very fun, and on the next days Star Realms will be delivered along with the Gambit Set which has some solo challenges.
I plan to get more serious this summer and finally get to play some of the more meaty games I have, specifically Mage Knight, and the solo variants to Space Hulk and Battletech, the AI of which I think should be easily adaptable to simple skirmish games like Silent Death and Ronin.

I'm also thinking very often about Android: Netrunner, especially since I discovered (obviously) a solo variant which sounds deeply thought.

[Niahak]

I had a get-together a few weeks back and one of my buddies brought over T.I.M.E. Stories. It was an interesting experience - kind of between a co-operative "skill-roll" game like Arkham Horror and a more abstract puzzle-ish game like Myst. The downside of the game is you can only actually play it once (assuming you actually complete the game) -- since the conclusion and path to that conclusion is linear, you'd just be going from necessary step to necessary step.

It was pretty fun to play in a social setting for sure - I wouldn't recommend it in a solo environment (especially since the game's mystery has several frustrating red herrings, some of which are obvious and some of which are not at all).

Also played Castles of Burgundy which was much more strategic - at the price point especially, it's a good replacement for a less-combative Euro game like Agricola or Puerto Rico. A little complex, but if you have a group that is up for that it's a good one for sure.

[Kong Wen]

A friend of mine recently published a game called Dice Heist. It's a dice-based risk/reward type game. I haven't played it yet so I can't personally vouch for it, but I know he's a stickler for mechanics, and it has cute art.

[neuzd]

Just played my first game of Star Realms, the Pirates of the Dark Star solo challenge.
I noticed I forgot very soon about some rules so I don't feel to count this as a win. Anyway the game feels truly great, incredibly simple and engaging.
Time for another, more conscious, game.

[neuzd]

Played a couple of games in the last days.
On saturday I tried a solo variant for Battletech that uses some pre-programmed tactics for movement and combat to simulate an opponent.
I still used the quick start rules to get the feeling of both systems. But on Sunday I went deeper into the introductory rules and did a legit 2vs2 skirmish. Super fun mayhem and it went way faster than I was afraid of. I believe I could also manage a 3vs3 without getting too confused, when I've played more games and got comfortable with remembering the rules.
I still avoided physical combat for now, though.

Today I also received Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game and I just finished my first game in the original Alien scenario. Very fun and very tense. I got to the third objective without suffering too many wounds, but once there, the xenos brutalized both the Technician and the Gunner.
I had this game in my wishlist for a long time, it turned out to be a solid purchase.

[VictorViper]

Today I also received Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game and I just finished my first game in the original Alien scenario. Very fun and very tense. I got to the third objective without suffering too many wounds, but once there, the xenos brutalized both the Technician and the Gunner.
I had this game in my wishlist for a long time, it turned out to be a solid purchase.

Do you know if the different variants of Legendary are drastically different games or just basically reskins? I happened to notice they do a Big Trouble in Little China variant and my interest was instantly piqued. Glad to hear the Alien one is good - lord knows the property doesn't need to be crap in other gaming arenas too.

[neuzd]

Do you know if the different variants of Legendary are drastically different games or just basically reskins?

For what I know there are some additions to the Marvel Legendary, so it's not just a reskin, but it isn't a totally new experience either.
In fact the systems are compatible, and there's even a conversion kit.

I believe the "Encounters" moniker defines a certain aspect of the game, introduced with Alien, but not being familiar with the original system I don't know what it's about or if I just had a wrong impression. I only watched/read about Alien and Predator because I was invested with the themes.

Encounters Predator is very much like Alien, but again has a few small additions, mainly the ability to play as the Predator in a VS game (I didn't catch if there's a Predator solo mode, I hope so). Fortunately these new rules are going to be implemented in Alien via an expansion later this year.
I don't even know what Firefly is, so I didn't investigate.
One thing that I'm pretty sure is what could make a difference, is the great number of scenarios and characters present in Alien. because of the ability to mix and match by your liking, it ensures a high level of replayability: the "enemy" stack is made up of 3 mini-stacks, each one specific to an objective, and there are 12 objectives to choose from; the main "player deck" is made up of 56 cards relative to 4 characters, and there are 16 characters to choose from.

Big Trouble in Little China didn't impress reviewers if I'm not mistaken. Memory tells me it was bad artwork, little variation in gameplay or scenarios and overall below average production.

[VictorViper]

You're right, it looks like BTiLC is a (slightly less well received) variant on the original game, as opposed to being one of the encounters series. Seems the encounters games shake things up quite a bit and add new elements to the gameplay.

[neuzd]

Space Hulk will be out again this holiday season.
It's that kind of awesome news that makes me want to do the stupid thing of buying a useless second copy (I won't of course, I still have to finish painting the Terminators and the genestealers are still all on the sprues).
http://www.warhammer-community.com/2016 ... -holidays/

GET IT!