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Thread: Drum Roll:: News:: Last copies of Drum Roll available through our Indiegogo campaign

3pod — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 09:19:11 +0000

Hey everyone,

We have launched our Indiegogo campaign for Among the Stars!

We've got less than 100 Drum Roll copies left in our warehouse. We are offering a limited number of copies through our campaign. The rest is available to order through our online store.

Unfortunately there are small chances of unsold copies making it to Spiel-Essen.

You can visit our crowd-funding campaign here.

Thread: 1989: Dawn of Freedom:: Strategy:: Broad strategic questions after one play

DrGarry — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 09:17:45 +0000

by DrGarry

Hi All:

Long time TS player just played my first 1989 as the commies (only five turns, though). I found it very stressful, and felt under the hammer the whole time. Which means I haven't got the hang of it. Some ruminations and questions:

In one review, Roger said:

The decision whether or not to cede power is one of major strategic importance to the communist player. At game end, they earn bonus victory points for the number of countries they still control, but this must be measured against the likelihood of having that country's scoring card coming up again, which in turn will require a commitment of ops points in that country. Voluntarily ceding power on the other hand, allows you to focus your energies elsewhere on the board, and there are many events in the deck that will likely allow you to pillage and plunder the democrat support points. This is, by far, one of the most interesting decisions in the game for the communist player.

I only half get this. Surely repeated scoring is just what the Communist wants?

Following on from Roger, once a country falls to the Democrats, I presume is there no reason to pump in SPs there, since the only time that country will score again in the Final Scoring Round.

I'd like to know what the distribution of VP scoring is: Should I be expecting more VPs from the Scoring table, or from the Presence/Control/Domination mechanism? How important is the final scoring round?

I'm not sure what the USSR Stability Track is about. In one post, the inestimable Ted says that Sajudis is bad for the Commie. I'm not sure why, nor why Helsinki Final Act is so terrible.

Thread: Empires of the Void:: Rules:: Terraforming

Spazwaldo — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 09:07:48 +0000

by Spazwaldo

Nomads of Earth lists Terraforming as a starting tech. The rules state that when they research Terraforming they flip the Earth token to New Earth. From this rule I've come to the conclusion that they start with the token but it's not resarched as opposed to The Academy of EEGH who seem to start with Subspace Scan researched and ready to use.

I, however, can't figure out exactly what the grey circle on the actual Terrafroming token that says "Any 3 goods" means. Does this simply mean I must control 3 other planets and pay the 3 credits or are goods tangible things like cards/credits?

I'm guessing it's first example or you could terraform on your first turn but as with any dubious rule I prefer to ask for clarification before teaching the game wrong.

Thread: Yalu (second edition):: Rules:: Fire Commitment subphases

Carlo M. — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 09:04:38 +0000

by Carlo M.

Hello, I'm prepping to play the classic version and a question arose (8 pages of rules and I'm still able to get stuck.....)

The rules states that the player indicates "which of his units will fire at which opposing units", but the example of play on page C4 implies that the attacker merely indicates which of his units will attack certain opposing hexes (not selecting the units till the assault subphase).

Given the peculiar combat rules, this actually makes a difference, or I'm over-reading?

Thanks in advance

Review: Quarriors!:: Gedanken zu Quarriors!

Lomingen — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:38:26 +0000

by Lomingen

Lange ist es her, dass der letzte Bericht von mir geschrieben wurde. Nun aber wieder. Wer sich für meine anderen Berichte interessiert: Es sind Ruhm für Rom und Dampfross. Hier ist der Link: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/browse/boardgame/0?usern....

Nun aber Gedanken zu Quarriors!

Einleitung, Gestaltung und Geschichte.
Beim Spiel Quarriors! von Wizkids stellt man einen mächtigen Krieger dar. Dieser hat Wissen, dass es erlaubt Kreaturen zu fangen und zu beschwören, dass es erlaubt Zaubersprüche zu erlernen und zu verwenden. Also eine Hintergrundgeschichte, die man in wie vielen Spielen schon erlebt hat? Kurzum: Die Geschichte ist völlig egal. Man nutzt Kreaturen um zu gewinnen, doch woher die kommen, oder warum man das tut (um sich bei der Prinzessin beliebt zu machen) hat mit dem Spiel nichts zu tun.
Dargestellt werden Kreaturen und Zauber druch spezielle Würfel. Das ist zwar ungewohnt, nachdem man sich an die Gestaltung gewöhnt hat aber kein Problem mehr. Es ist dann in der Regel schnell klar, was der Würfel gerade zeigt und es geht nur noch um die Frage, wie man den Würfel geschickt einsetzt. Dem Spiel liegen 130 solcher Würfel bei. Es gibt dabei 18 verschiedene, die jeweils auch durch bis zu vier verschiedene Karten repräsentiert werden. Leider sind die Würfel recht klein geraten. Auf einem Würfel steht im Extremfall neben dem Symbol für die Kreatur, die Stufe, der Angriffs- und der Verteidigungswert sowie ein Symbol für Sonderfähigkeiten. Bei 13mm Würfeln ist das viel. Gut, dass die Würfelseiten zusätzlich noch auf Karten abgebildet sind und man so im Zweifel auch schnell mal nachgesehen hat. Aber immerhin sind die Würfel nicht nur bedruckt, sondern geprägt. Das verspricht längere Haltbarkeit.
Das Spiel ist verpackt in einer Dose in Form und Bedruckung eines Würfels aus dem Spiel. Das lässt sich zwar nur schwer im Regal stapeln, aber passt dafür irre gut zu dem Spiel. Einen Wehrmutstropfen gibt es aber dennoch: Viele der Kartentexte lassen Interpretationen zu. Es bleiben auch in der Anleitung einige Fragen offen. Das ist schade und wird hoffentlich durch eine FAQ oder ein Errata korrigiert. Mal sehen.

Spielerzahl und Dauer.
Gemäß der Schachtel spielen 2-4 Spieler etwa 30 Minuten. Wie ist da mein Eindruck? 2-4 Spieler kommt gut hin. Es darum geht, die Kreaturen der anderen Spieler zu besiegen und diese damit zu hindern, dem Spieler Punkte zu geben. Da ist es nun egal, ob man einen oder drei Gegner angreift. Die Kreaturen sind mit jedem Gegner wieder frisch und erholt und greifen mit voller Stärke an. Es ist aber nicht egal, ob man von einem oder von drei Mitspielern selber angegriffen wird. Bei einem Gegner überlebt die Kreatur schon mal schneller. Dem wird Rechnung getragen, indem die zum Sieg nötige Punktzahl bei zwei Spielern höher ist. Funktioniert auch ganz gut. Also 2-4 Spieler kommt gut hin.
Bei der Zeitangabe muss ich klar widersprechen. 30 Minuten Spielzeit habe ich noch nicht geschafft. Wobei das Spiel mit etwas mehr Zeit immer noch ein kurzer Absacker am Abend ist. Ich glaube, so 45-60 Minuten sind treffender. Man könnte nun die Spielzeit über die zum Sieg nötigen Punkte anpassen, das funktioniert aber nicht. Spielt man um weniger Punkte, so kommt das Spiel gar nicht ins Rollen. Man ist noch voll im Aufbau seiner Würfelsammlung und schon ist Schluss. Schade. Und mehr Punkte (wenn der Abend noch lang ist) geht auch nicht . Jemand der am Anfang viel Glück hatte, lässt sich nur noch schwer einholen. Dem seine Kreaturen sind dann einfach viel stärker. Dann ist es besser, wenn das Spiel endet.

Anspruch und Tiefe.
Anspruch sucht man in diesem Spiel vergebens. Es ist zwar möglich und auch sinnvoll, sich gute Kombinationen aus Würfeln zu überlegen und zu versuchen, diese zu bekommen. Aber wirklich viel Einfluss hat man nicht. In jeder Runde würfelt man und kann sich dann Entscheiden (1.), wie viele der erwürfelten Kreaturen man ausspielen möchte. Das kostet Kraftpunkte. Danach kann man sich noch entscheiden (2.) welchen Würfel man mit den verbleibenden Kraftpunkten aus der Mitte nimmt. Das war der eigene Zug. Wenn die Mitspieler dran sind, kann man sich noch entscheiden (3.) in welcher Reihenfolge die eigenen Kreaturen verteidigen. Und das war es dann auch schon.
Klang recht abwertend. Sollte es nicht. Ich glaube, dass niemand bei dem Spiel wirklich Anspruch und Tiefe erwartet. Es ist ein kleines Spiel um den Abend ausklingen zu lassen oder einfach mit ein paar Leuten (und vielleicht etwas Bier) eine nette Runde zu spielen. Anspruch und Tiefe waren wohl nie der Gedanke dieses Spiels. Und das ist auch gut so. Und das wird auch repräsentiert.

Glück.
Würfel aus dem eigenen Beutel ziehen. Da muss man schon Glück haben die richtigen zu ziehen. Dann würfeln. Da muss man schon Glück haben gute und passende Seiten zu erwürfeln. Und dann sind da noch die Mitspieler. Die sollten natürlich nicht das Glück haben, geeignete Kreaturen zu erschaffen. Die sollten meine Kreaturen im Kampf nicht besiegen können. Glück ist also ein wesentliches Element des Spiels. Also lasst uns nicht über Glück reden. Glück braucht man, die anderen aber auch. Es sei nur drauf hingewiesen: Die Strategen, die ein nur leichtes Glückselement mögen, sind hier falsch.

Wiederspielwert.
Es gibt für die Meisten der Würfel verschiedene Karten. Der Würfel repräsentiert also immer wieder mal andere Kreaturen und andere Zauber. Da immer nur eine kleine Auswahl im Spiel zum Einsatz kommt (8 von 50 Möglichkeiten) ist für Abwechselung also gesorgt. Das Spiel kann mal also gut immer wieder spielen. Für mich fürchte ich aber, dass ich mich sehr schnell überspielen könnte. Wenn ich das Spiel zu häufig in kurzer Zeit spiele, dann vergeht mir wohl völlig die Lust. Also lieber etwas seltener, dafür immer mal wieder. Ich glaube in den Runden bei mir zu Hause wird das ein Spiel, gerne mal genommen wird, das aber nicht von vorne herein auf dem Plan steht oder zwingend jedes mal vorgeschlagen wird. Dafür hat das Spiel auch nicht genügend Tiefe und Würfeln kann ich auch gut mit anderen Spielen. So hat man dann noch etwas mehr Abwechselung.

Fazit, Vergleiche und persönliche Meinung.
Quarriors! ist ein Spiel für Zwischendurch. (Das habe ich schon mal geschrieben, oder?). Als solches ist es konstruiert, also solches ist es konzipiert und als solches funktioniert es. Als solches ist es aber nicht ganz billig. Der Preis ist zwar durch die vielen Würfel gerechtfertigt, aber viele andere Spiele, die nur so nebeibei laufen, sind billiger. Ich finde, das Spiel lohnt und ich habe den Kauf nicht bereut. Es wird sicherlich noch ein paar mal gespielt werden. Und die Ausstattung ist ja auch gut und sein Geld wert.
Der Vergleich mit Dominion ist einfach Pflicht in einem Bericht zu dem Spiel. Das Prinzip ist ja identisch. Würfel (Karten) ziehen, geschickt einsetzen um aus der Mitte neue Würfel (Karten) zu bekommen und Siegpunkte zu sammeln. Wer sich im Laufe des Spiel die beste Zusammenstellung baut, der gewinnt. Aber der Glücksfaktor ist viel höher. Und noch etwas ist anders. Bei Dominion muss man sich irgendwann im Spiel entscheiden, das Deck nicht mehr zu verbessern, sondern Siegpunkte zu sammeln. Dieser Wechsel findet bei Quarriors! nicht statt. Siegpunkte bekommt man immer nebenbei und so kann man sich auf den Aufbau des Decks beschränken. Irgendwie fehlt mir da was.
Dann lieber ein Verglich mit diesen anderen Absackern wie Phase10, Heckmeck oder Sitting Ducks. Hier benötigt Quarriors! einfach etwas mehr Zeit. Kann sich in die Reihe aber gut einfügen. Ich freue mich auf die nächste Runde. Es wird noch etwas dauern, bis alle Karten mal auf dem Tisch lagen.

Thread: Eurorails:: Rules:: lakes in Sweden - close to Goteborg to Stockholm

thisaliensean — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:32:00 +0000

by thisaliensean

Moving northward from Goteborg (4 milestone) and then eastward towards stockholm crossing the large lake - does this crossing counts as 1 milestone or 2 ? The distance is 2 milestone wide but it is still connecting 2 dot.

Sean

Thread: Sun, Sea & Sand:: Rules:: Booking Tourists

sneuhauss — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:18:16 +0000

by sneuhauss

Hi,

I have a question concerning the booking of tourists:
Am I allowed to book tourists that will arrive in 5 or more weeks?
If i am allowed: What happens with the family member and the tourists? Will I leave my member on the boat and only place the tourists later on my board when the booked tourists will arrive in 4 weeks?

Thanks!

Thread: Hemloch:: General:: White rims on the white "Rotten Cohort" 's ?

echdareez — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:09:46 +0000

by echdareez

Hi there,

My copy of Hemloch arrived last week and I was wondering if anyone else has the following problem:

]]>

thanks!
/dimi

Thread: Tanto Cuore: Expanding the House:: Rules:: Some questions regarding Estates

RapH8ter — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:07:22 +0000

by RapH8ter

Hello, I've picked up this game recently and I'm having fun playing it with some friends. Everything is fine however I do have some questions regarding Estates and their effects.

1. The Estate card states that it "Can only be bought with an available Chambermaid Chief on hand to occupy". So then that means that it can only be bought when there's an available chambermaid chief on hand, but I was wondering if it's possible to also use the chambermaid chiefs in my Private Quarters when buying a Estate even though I don't have a chambermaid chiefs on my current hand.

2. Whenever I buy an estate and then, for example, used a Claudine chambermaid chief card to occupy the Estate does she loses all of her VP points? I know that she cannot be targeted by events unless a card effect removes the Estate from my Private Quarters and then she is put back into the discard pile.

Many thanks in advance.

Thread: Agricola:: General:: E cards in the K deck

rasa12 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 08:00:12 +0000

by rasa12

I just recently picked up Agricola and played a few family games because each game we played a new player would join in. I was looking at the decks to get ready for the first game with the cards and while looking at the K deck I noticed that there are some E deck cards in it. Are those E deck cards supposed to be in the K deck or are they in there by mistake? Should I take the E cards out of the K deck and put them with the other E deck cards? I know that later I can combine the E, I and K decks together but to just be starting out I am a little confused on this. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Thread: Thunderstone:: General:: why some people say this game has problems?

matzi1 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 07:59:28 +0000

by matzi1

Hi!

I have played this games 10 times now and I am aware that some people here on the forums say that this game has serious problems. But what are they? I havent found a simple problem with it. Can somebody help me out? (BTW I have the box which came with the 1.4 v rules)

Thanks!

Thread: Ora et Labora:: General:: Comparisions to Feudality??

8bit — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 07:50:53 +0000

by 8bit

Do they generally play the same? Is it better?

Thread: Dominant Species:: Rules:: Wasteland

Zolos — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 07:48:32 +0000

by Zolos

Hi,

Is it possible to put an AP there but then not choose any of the elements?

Thread: Android: Netrunner:: General:: What official FFG formats exist for other LCGs?

byronczimmer — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 07:32:06 +0000

by byronczimmer

I realize this is probably more of a question about FFG in general, but what official formats exist for current FFG LCGs?

In other words, is there something analagous to "Friday Night Magic"?

Are there guidelines for what would be needed to coordinate 'league play'?

Anything is useful.

Thread: Blood Royale:: Rules:: Confiscating resources, how?

Sitnam — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 07:22:10 +0000

by Sitnam

The rulebook says moving resources onto another powers land isn't allowed unless a marriage contract is drawn up expressly allowing it. Marriage contracts can stipulate anything provided it doesn't contravene the rules. Confiscating resources are allowable in the rules if another player willingly moves them on to your land (made possible only with a marriage contract). The rules also say the spirit of marriage contracts should be abided if at all possible.

So how can I make a deal allowing another player to move goods though my land and steal them?

Session: Castle Panic:: A Great Session of Castle Panic: Family Friendly and Fit for the Tabletop!

oldschoolgamr — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:59:31 +0000

by oldschoolgamr

I liked the idea of Castle Panic the minute I saw the concept. I dig Co-op and I wanted a laid back game to hook my wife on the hobby. Castle Panic is that game. If you add in the additional strategic mechanics of the expansion: Castle Panic: The Wizard's Tower you end up with a really enjoyable game that has more depth than it may appear to at first glance.

Although I highly recommend the use of the low cost Wizard's Tower expansion (which I use for every game of Castle Panic I play - well, all but the vey first game...), I wanted to post this session report on the main game page to allow those considering an initial purchase of the base game an opportunity to check this out and perhaps encourage a closer look at the expansion (while you putting up shipping costs already - right?). I do have a session report that describes a handful of session over at the expansion's page - or just click here: Smiling From High Atop The Wizards Tower: Striking the Mega-Boss Balance.

So - we found a window of free time to get Castle Panic back to the table today (myself and my wife - playing the Co-op rules) and had such an enjoyable game I wanted to get it on the boards so folks could perhaps get some sense of why this is such a neat experience.

For this game we had decided to pare down the monster tiles according to the expansion rule variant "Monster Shortage". While using all the tiles is still my preferred way to play, we often need a shorter game time due to the widely varying moods of our special needs daughter.

Now, I figured this change would lower the difficulty and maybe need some further tweaking to keep the challenge up - boy was I wrong... Quite unexpectedly, the difficutlty shot up 10-fold! Which is a very, very, good thing.

The first six monster tokens draw were: Golem (3HP), Ogre (4HP), Goblin Calvery (2HP - Moves 2 Spaces), Centaur (3HP), Climbing Troll (3HP - Not Stopped by Walls), and Doppleganger (XHP - replaced with the first monster slayed, but doesn't move till then). Talk about a challenge. We were losing walls AND towers left and right! This was something, at least for us, that was really quite rare. I certainly liked this new attituge monster setup - the panic was mounting early on this one!

Mid-game there was a huge build up of monsters in the 6 and 3 arcs... which conveniently had no wall or towers separating them... And, as you can likely guess, to the rescue was none other than a good 'ole Giant Boulder. This tumbling terror takes out ALL monsters it rolls over and typically stops once it hit a castle structure (which is removes from the board). But since there were no castle strutures on this particular path, all I needed to do was roll a or a and the game would be turned heavily in our favor (for that moment at least...)

Rolled a ... Shoot! (or other term of frustration depending on who you are playing the game with - I said something more colorful I am sure).

Just as we were about to recognize our low chances for the win (rare for our always Co-op games - at least before switching to the "shorter" [READ: more challenging!] tile set), my wife drew Wizard Quake (destroy a tower and all the monsters in that towers arc (i.e. the wedge emminating out from the center of the board). This could do the job that rolling boulder couldn't accomplish...!

But wait - I said there wasn't any towers there, right? Yes, I did - but luckily I had Mystical Manufacturing (Play a brick OR mortar card to rebuilt one tower) and promptly traded it to her. She was able to build a tower in the 6 arc then immediately destroy it to clear at least half of the 6/3 arc monsters - buying us significant time to regroup (nice job!)

A few turns later I snag another Giant Boulder and once again have a shot at clearing significant monsters from the 6/3 "alleyway". Rolled a and instead took out the wall protecting our Wizard's Tower! We're down to two towers and two flaming (on fire - three fire tokens and its been burned down) walls, with the tile bag still feeling near half full... With on of the biggest issues being a Dragon (5HP, moves sporadically - via die roll and movement key - and breaths fire that catches your castle structures on fire frequently) that has yet to even move out of the Forest ring...

I can always count on the wife to buy us some breathing room. She discards and draws (a wizard card - of course): Hammer of Light (Slays one monster in the Forest ring..) and decimates the Dragon before it can utter another single flame. (Nice!)

Things are getting down to the nitty-gritty... Only two towers and two wall left standing. Some resonable monsters are approaching and I realize eventually I will have to use the Barbarian card (the only one in my hand) to rid the inner circle of a monster. My wife says just use it now to clear a monster that is further away - but I say wait to big the best target. Guess who should have been listened to...?

The last tile drawn after flooding the board with more monsters (grabbed a "Draw Four Monster Tokens" that needed resolving) was of course "Each Player Discard One Card" - Bye, Bye Barbarian...

The wife draws Wall of Force and sends the Troll Mage and an Ogre back to the Forest - they were knocking on the door of TWT (The Wizard's Tower)! Seriously, the Panic is crazy!... hence the name of the game...

Now down to two towers and one wall (yes, on fire)! We manage to juggle hit cards to weaken he remaining monsters with the goal to to keep TWT around as long as possible. I use Extingushing Wing and then Burning Blast to buy us some time.

Suddenly, My wife has drawn the needed hit card and Valado's Wave (four points of damage in one color...). These do the trick and the battle has been won...! The tension and difficulty with the more focused monster tiles was great - this will now be the default monster tile loadout we use going forward... [We ended the game with two walls and two towers (including TWT).]

The tension is well designed, the components are great (thick cardboard and strong cards), and the theme is quite appropriate and very well animated (animation work is done by the games designer - Justin De Witt). Grab the game and grab the expansion - especially if you are looking to game with a spouse/children who are relatively new to the whole "BGG-type" of boardgaming. And of course take a minute to survey the forest - you never know how the next tile pull is going to change the board and foil your best well laid plans... Time to regroup and hope for the impecable timing of the Giant Boulder. Of course if you can't roll a or when you need it, the rock won't do you much good.

Thanks for reading.

Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark:: General:: First post ever... to share my miniatures

NegSpace — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:55:24 +0000

by NegSpace

Hello! I've been lurking around BGG for a while and have yet to post, so I figured why not use my inaugural post to share the first miniatures I've ever painted!

I used to play Descent with a few friends until they moved away, so naturally I had to procure my own copy. After looking at everyone's brilliantly painted miniatures, I had to throw down for myself. The first one is awful (they're not in order), but they slowly improved over time. Took me about a month, testing out various techniques (only about four or five used the 'dip') that I read about as I educated myself in the art of miniature decorating. Let me know how they came out!

http://s532.photobucket.com/albums/ee327/lhashiguchi/Descent...

Right now they're just the heroes. I plan to move on to the heroes in Tomb of Ice before starting on the monsters (gotta PLAY the game now and then, and my painting set up definitely prevents that).

After that, it's on to Battletech!

Thread: Magic: The Gathering:: News:: Magic 2013 Previews

goodshepherd — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:52:45 +0000

by goodshepherd

It's probably for next week, but the guys at TCGPlayer.com seemed to have found some spoilers up. True to form, it turn out that the Magic 2013 Product Page and Card Image Gallery is now up...

First, let's start with the new...

Here's Call to Mind on a stick, and cheaper than Izzet Chrononarch to boot...

The new keyword for the core set appears to be Exalted... and for the third straight run, black gets to have it...

This is going to be the prerelease card... Something to remind you of Clash of the Titans with...

Interesting Lava Axe variant, but I might want last year's card more...

A budget Dragon Whelp without the clunky mana limitation...

Another phoenix, but one that is actually good for mono-red...

Cheaper Pyrotechnics...

... and it's officially goodbye to Incinerate and the extra no-regeneration clause...

Green gets an Overrun - Lure lovechild...

---

That's it for the new; here's some of the old...

...

And the first multicolored card to appear in a core set... ever.

===

I'll let that last card sink in a bit... when new cards come out, I'll try to post them here.

Thread: A Touch of Evil: The Supernatural Game:: Rules:: Katarina vs grotesque

Preacherbbb — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:50:45 +0000

by Preacherbbb

Quick question, might have been answered, does katarinas special ability overide a grotesques' defense ability,ie can only be hit on 6 instead of the normal 5 or 6. Katarina can hit on a 4 5 or 6. Any help would be appreciated. Erik.

Thread: Jamaica:: Rules:: Gunpowder

neverscene — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:43:38 +0000

by neverscene

A question came up about gunpowder tonight. Do both players have to play all gunpowder before the attacker rolls? This way if an attacker rolls a 'star' to force an instant win the defender loses the used gunpowder. Or, does the defender get to wait to play the gunpowder after the attacker roll and before his or her roll?

Ultimately we decided it seemed more fair to have everyone play all gunpowder before any rolls. Otherwise the defender gets a bigger advantage because he or she can see what is rolled before deciding how much gunpowder to play.

Thread: Commands & Colors: Ancients:: Rules:: leader retreat

blackomatic — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:31:11 +0000

by blackomatic

Situation:

A unit with an attached leader is attacked and loses blocks and flags

a Leader Casualty Check is made before the retreat

The retreat goes to the edge of the board and the remaining blocks are removed due to the impossibility of further retreats

no additional Leader Casualty Check is made but the lone leader must evade off the edge of the board at no victory banner cost...

correct?

Thread: Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack:: General:: Mission Idea

sithmaster — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:29:37 +0000

by sithmaster

So despite having the original Mechaton rulebook somewhere on a harddrive I never played it due to lack of group interest at the time. The other day someone brought up Mobile Frame and I was surprised. It would be nice if it caught on with my group but the following idea will guarantee myself getting a copy at some point.

People make Ogres out of Legos so I plan on using this

as my super unit in a cooperative type mission something similar to the bosses in Armored Core for Answer. A deck of cards can be made to control the mech giving me the option to solo. If the pdf comes with a mission/rules for such a thing that would save me time but if not well it gives me an excuse to find/acquire my/new legos.

Thread: Legend of the Burning Sands:: General:: Deck Lists

togashijake — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:28:50 +0000

by togashijake

Anyone have any old decklists by chance?

The only thing I could find oonline was a pdf of somemarticles for an online magazine, but I was hoping maybe someone had some more saved on their computer from years ago.

Really looking for the championship Moto Gaheris + Elephant deck and all the old classics. Any decklists for the Awakening factions, Jackals, Ashalan etc wouldnbe amazing too.

Some of the factions seem to build themselves, but Jackals and Ashalan are killing me to come up with good decks.

Thread: Clout Fantasy:: General:: I'm new to Clout Fantasy.....how do I get started?

xia0dingdang — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:27:12 +0000

by xia0dingdang

Hi guys,

I have the Elves vs Undead & Centaurs vs Globins starters decks and two boxes of booster packs from some event a few years back.

A guy wants to buy the booster pack of two chips at S$0.40/pack from me recently. He increased his offer to S$1 per booster pack but I thought maybe I should open them up snd try to explore this new dexterity game instead(I read that this game is dead in this forum but it's new & interesting to me as I never played it before). So after opening up all the 72 booster packs from their shrink wrap, I saw that for some chips, I have two of the same chips and 6 yellow Dragon chips.

How do I get started to play Clout Fantasy with my hubby and friends?

Does each player only play with 15 chips? Can the 15 chips be a mixture from Starter decks and booster packs? How to differentiate the starter and booster chips from one another?

Can the chips from the start decks be mixed with the chips from the booster packs and stored together in one color/faction per box?

Are the extra chips necessary or useful? Do we need two of the same chips in our army? Just wondering as it would be nice if I can trade them for some other chips with other people.

I read on the BGG forum that each booster pack only come with 3 yellow Dragon chips. Must we have 15 Dragon chips in order to play the dragon as a faction? How to get other yellow Dragon chips?

The Pirate and Merfolk decks seem interesting but it is not available anywhere. Any idea where to get it once we are more familiar with the game play?

Thanks for your kind advice.

Cheers and Happy Gaming,
Michelle

Review: Deadlands: The Battle for Slaughter Gulch:: The Good The Bad & The Ugly A mini slaughter gulch review

Jokerman — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:22:59 +0000

by Jokerman

Hi All,
Picked this up recently. Here are my thoughts.

THE GOOD.
The theme of this game is cool and even if you are not familiar with deadlands mythos you should enjoy it.
This is the most kit i have ever seen crammed into such a small box.
Imagine your favorite western combined with scifi and horror and you on your way. Players play one of 6 factions attempting to have the highest score at the end of the game. The game can end in a number of ways so the replay value with 6 factions all playing differently,multiple endgames, so many situations that can occour is of the scale
The game is part placement style,part minis,part rpg. The game system attempts to create a living breathing world for you to play in. events will change the course of play,NPC's will arrive and leave,A deputy may arrive and begin patroling town looking for trouble makers,new stock will arrive at the local shop etc. This is quit cool.On your turn you secretly plot movement and actions for your gang {starting with three until you recruit more} then everyone movs at the same time and once they have all moved the random events occour that can change your plans drastically. After this each gang member carrys out there action in order of priority. There are soooo many things you can do and the situations that occour can be so much fun its mind numbing. Each faction will tend to be better at certain things and are rewarded for doing these things.
and so the next turn begins.

THE BAD
The rule book is not very clear and appears to not have been written in any particular order giving the impression that they were not edited
This is a shame because most of the rules you need are there some where unlike earlier TC releases.
There has been criticism regarding game breaking methods of play that allow you to just concentrate on one or two actions only to win the game. I think this is refered to as "farming " in the computer games community.
I however have played 6 games now with different end objectivs and player numbers and have not encountered this at all. If you think a player has found a loophole its down to you to close it.
If they are gambling well go shoot them or dynamite the saloon.
If they are mining well go mine too or shoot them,stab them arrest them.
If they are robbing the train/stage coach have someone hang around to arrest them etc. the lists of options are endless.

THE UGLY
The components while mainly pretty nice have some obvious flaws.
All the factions are moulded in the same colour plastic so it is hard to tell who is who particularly in games of 5 or 6 players.

The player shield to hide your mini map is to small and flimsy

some people think the figers bases are to small and the figures tend to fall over.
I did not find this a great problem but have fitted tidly wink size coloured bases to the figures more for ID than stability.

Over all I think this is a great value fun game that is worth overcoming its problems as there is a gem of a game inside.
The shear number of options available to the playes is bound to cause some teething problems. Also once you know what you are doing and have some direction the games are never longer than 2 hours sometimes much less.
8/10

Session: Star Wars: The Queen's Gambit:: I get my butt kicked by an elementray schooler. Again.

dbucak — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:22:52 +0000

by dbucak

I had told my son, Devin, a few weeks earlier that if he completed all his school projects I would play Queen's Gambit with him. Tonight he was a little down and I asked him if he wanted to play chess. He reminded me that I had promised to play this game, so we set it up in the dining room and played.

He decided that he wanted to be the evil side, so that he could prove he was the master of the game on both sides. He has won every time we've played, mostly as the Jedi.

I started off with two Anakin cards and made it through two checkpoints. He concentrated on the battle and started killing Gungans. I played Anakin cards whenever I could and tried to assault the throne room. Unfortunately I had chosen the Red Queen as the real one and he concentrated his destroyer droids on her. She died, limited the palace guard movement to 2. I started concentrating on the Jedis.

At this point it didn't look too bad for me. I had inflicted a fair amount of damage on Darth Maul and Anakin was about 3 spots from the end. However things quickly started going downhill. Devin knocked down the shield in the battle and moved in his tanks. He killed Qui-gon but I wasn't too worried as Darth Maul was at 15 damage. However a Darth Maul's Rage card turned the fight around. He inflicted 5 quick points of damage and followed up with 2 more Darth Maul cards, getting Obi-wan up to 7 damage. He also started rampaging through the battle, getting lots of bonus cards and deploying lots of Starfighters at the same time.

I was winning in the palace, but not for long. Two more Darth Maul cards finished off Obi-wan and I tried for a last push. I traded in most of my hand for battlefield cards and drew two Anakins. I played two Purple Queen and palace guard cards, plus the two Anakins. I managed to push my way into the Throne room with the fake queen and two guards. Now it was up to Anakin. I was only two spots away from the droid control ship, but there was a lot of starfighter cards in the way. Unfortunately I crapped out almost immediately and never really got another chance. Devin wiped out pretty much everything on the battlefield and generated a lot of bonus cards. These he used to activate Darth Maul, who slaughtered all the palace guards. Finally Maul fought his way into the throne room, killed the purple queen and it was all over.

Review: Hogwarts: House Cup Challenge:: The Purge: Review 11: Hogwarts: A 4 player Review (and comparision from 2 players)

william4192 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:22:44 +0000

by william4192

]]>

Conclusion: In my last review, I looked at the game mostly from a 2 player perspective, now I want to focus on the 4 player experience. The four player experience is different in that we did fail more adventure cards and it was harder to move around the board (which can be a good thing). There is still quite a bit in luck in what cards you draw and what is played around you. In our latest game, I was able to get way ahead in VP and the three "skills". Everyone else was pretty close which is probably how the game would normally play out if I didn't get so lucky.

2 Player Game: In the two player game, we would pass adventure cards and never fail. There are a couple of fixes with the best perhaps being that you don't get a new "skill" every 25 VP, instead only every 100 VP. This will slow down the players from getting too strong too fast.

4 Player Game: In the 4 player game, you grow more slowly as the main score is moving faster and the VP's are being assigned around to 4 people instead of 2. This makes the game move in a more realistic manner and you can actually fail (and thus hurt your opponent) adventure cards.

Notes about the game: Luck still plays a part in the game as what cards you are dealt can determine where you will be on the board and what you can do. It is odd the characters are just slight variations of each other (their starting scores are different). None of the characters have any unique powers. Nothing really differentiates Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter. Nothing makes me feel like I'm that character as opposed to just a random student wizard at the school (except for the pictures on the cards of course).

It is still odd that we don't work together and compete for points (because the movies/books focus so much on teamwork). The teamwork cards did make more sense in the 4 player game (than the 2 player game), because you may help someone in third (if you are in second) to in effect hurt the player in first. In a two player, it is a zero sum affair.

I still like this game a lot and it has a lot to offer (especially for fans of the movies/books). See my other review on this game to get a more detailed analysis of the game.

Final Conclusions: This is a good game and plays better with 4 players than 2. It is a great game if you are a fan of Harry Potter (which I am). The game is very unique in that the designer actually built a good game around a beloved movie/book license. I congratulate him for that and thank. If you are a Harry Potter fan, pick this game up. You should not be disappointed.

*One Final complaint: I wish the game included the last 2 years in the books/movies. It seems it is ripe for an expansion. I also think this game should have been a co-op or you should have been people from different houses (to make the theme work better). Other than this I have very little complaints.

Thread: Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War:: General:: A different kind of analysis of the Keldon server data

beadydub — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 06:20:39 +0000

by beadydub

Before delving into the heart of the thread, I wanted to provide a brief introduction and little context for it. To cut to the chase, skip to the 3rd paragraph. I am a new member of BGG, and first time poster, but a longtime boardgamer and card player (more of the "bridge variety" than the "poker variety"). I've lurked on BGG for the past 5 years or so to gather information on new games to recommend to my regular gaming group of the past 20 years.

As my gaming group has gotten older, we've come to appreciate substantial games that can be finished in a reasonable amount of time. We just don't have the energy anymore for marathon games of Divine Right, Axis & Allies, and Republic of Rome. Many of us have also learned to appreciate the euro-style of gameplay, in spite of cutting our teeth on some of the AT games of Avalon Hill. But there again, it's tough to set aside a really long evening for another game of 1870. So, I have great admiration for RftG and its expansions. It does a nice job of removing much of the "fiddliness" of a full-blown board game without skimping on the strategic heft.

I am by no means an expert player. However, after roughly 100 games (95% against Keldon's AI, in progression through all the expansions with most in BoW, and the remaining 5% IRL in base) I feel I have played and beaten the AI enough to have some understanding of the range of strategies in BoW that can be employed and when to use them. I am also an inveterate "data and stats" lover, so I particularly enjoyed rrenaud's thread on his analysis of the Keldon server data. I believe, like others, that there is something to be learned about effective strategies by examining these data. By profession, I spend a lot of time analyzing ecological data. When presented with something like the Keldon dataset, I tend to look at it like an ecosystem. So, the analysis that follows comes at the problem somewhat differently, and I hope is complementary to Rob's. One of the tools that ecologists use to understand the relationships amongst species (e.g. tree species) and their environment (e.g. climate and landscape position) is ordination. In a nutshell, it's a tool for ordering species along environmental gradients in the hopes of understanding some of the important factors that influence where certain species occur.

I've applied this tool to the Keldon dataset, treating the cards played in a tableau as the "species" data. There are also two items about the "environment" that likely influenced which cards were played that are known a priori and readily available from the data: the player of the cards and goals achieved in the game (for most GS, RvI, & BoW games, at least). It appears that there was a bug in the game log script used to compile the data because many of the games that had no goals listed actually did have some achieved when I checked them out individually on the Keldon server. This analysis only uses games with at least one goal achieved and assumes that this bug is essentially random in nature and does not systematically impact only certain types of games. There are actually two other "environmental variables" to consider, number of players and expansion version, but I have dealt with those by limiting the analysis to 2-player advanced BoW games. Because of concerns that have been expressed about the influence of the AI on the dataset, I have restricted it to human vs. human (HvH) games. And because of concerns about the BoW learning curve, I have further restricted the analysis to tableaus of players with at least 50 2PA BoW HvH games to their credit, which includes almost all of the @30 players rated better than [AI] Data for 2PA BoW on Rob's stats page.

In summary, the analysis is based on 21,871 tableaus from 219 "experienced" players of BoW 2PA HvH games with at least one goal achieved. There were, in truth, roughly twice that many tableaus that could have been used, but because of the technical specs of my home computer and the size of the dataset, that's all that could be processed. Even with just half, that's still a rich dataset, and I am confident that a similar analysis of the other half would provide comparable results. BTW, these 219 experienced players account for almost 75% of the tableaus meeting the BoW 2PA HvH goals criteria. To put this into better perspective, there are almost 2,700 different names of players associated with games meeting the BoW 2PA HvH goals criteria. In other words, the majority of these players have only played a few such games on the Keldon server, many only one or two.

Here's Figure 1.

]]>

There's a lot to this, but I'll try to explain the keys points. The "Loadings" plot has to do with the "environmental variables". In order to make it somewhat legible, I had to use abbreviated names for the labels. For example, V17 is the goal "Most Military", V19 is the goal "Most Prod worlds", and V3 is the goal "First 3 aliens". You'll notice that the arrows point in different directions and have different lengths. This is related to the magnitude and direction of their influence on the cards that get played. Those that point in the same direction have similar influence, opposites have opposing influences, and perpendicular arrows are uncorrelated. The "Species" plot shows where cards occur along the environmental gradients defined by the loadings. Again, these are abbreviations. For example, V189 is "Uplift Mercenary Force". You'll notice that it's over in the vicinity of where that "Most Military" arrow was pointing. Finally, the "Scores and predictions" plot indicates where each tableau occurs along the environmental gradients. Tableau 29799 corresponds to Player 1's tableau in http://www.keldon.net/rftg/showgame.cgi?gid=99750. I would characterize that as a fairly military tableau and would conclude that a1cibiades employed a military strategy for that particular game. You'll notice a roughly equilateral triangle shape to these data. The vertices of this triangle correspond to the three primary strategies employed in these games: military (right), production/consumption (bottom), and development/prestige (top). All other strategies employed appear to be a mixture of these three elemental strategies.

Some players might have a proclivity for a certain style of play, or tend to play certain strategies more than others. That's where Figure 2 comes in.

]]>

This is actually the "Loadings" plot again, this time leaving the goals off of the figure so you can focus on the influence of the players on cards played instead. Each point corresponds to one of the 219 most experienced players. The same interpretations apply here as to the tableaus: military (right), production/consumption (bottom), and development/prestige (top). Most fall somewhere in the middle, which isn't too surprising for experienced players. The red points that are labeled are the @30 highest rated players. You'll notice that most of them are also in the middle, but tending towards the top. The ones that I find most interesting are V148 and V8, which correspond to raistlin and ascolta. These are both highly rated players who have found success playing predominantly development/prestige strategies. Their graphs on Rob's stats page bears this out as well (http://rftgstats.com/bow/player_raistlin.html and http://rftgstats.com/bow/player_ascolta.html).

What I take away from all of this is that the data support my general understanding of the game and available strategy space. I don't think these results suggest that prestige is overpowered, but that BoW has rebalanced the game towards development strategies and away from, for example, production/consumption in the base game. So, nothing earth-shattering here, but it is interesting to see some experienced players who have enjoyed success by adopting strategies towards the edges of the overall strategy space. Maybe they're on to something that we should be paying attention to.

Thread: In Magnificent Style:: General:: One of my favourite things about IMS.

Duncan01 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 05:58:49 +0000

by Duncan01

The smell of the new laser cut counters matches very nicely with a glass of scotch.

Thread: Gears of War: The Board Game:: General:: Where are the premium figures for this game?????

mhutton — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 05:44:47 +0000

by mhutton

Arkham has 'em, why not Gears???? Hoping for them, and premium figs to go along with the first expansion pack.

Session: Ghost Stories:: Solo Hell Challenge (Cemetery in Center) - Game 3 Win

mith — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 05:37:01 +0000

by mith

Please see the first session report, Solo Hell Challenge (Cemetery in Center) - Game 1, for disclaimer and information.


          ___________________________________________          
         |                Yellow                     |         
         |           Bottomless Pockets              |         
         |          (1 tao before moving)            |         
         |___________________________________________|          
 _______  _____________  _____________  _____________  _______ 
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||   Circle    ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||     of      || Sorcerer's  ||  Tea House  ||       |
|       ||   Prayer    ||    Hut      ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
| Green ||_____________||_____________||_____________||  Red  |
|       | _____________  _____________  _____________ |       |
|Str. of||             ||             ||             || Dance |
|a Mount||             ||             ||             || of the|
|       ||             ||             ||             || Spires|
|(extra || Herbalist's ||  Cemetery   ||   Buddhist  ||       |
|die, no||    Shop     ||             ||    Temple   || (fly) |
|Curse) ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||_____________||_____________||_____________||       |
|       | _____________  _____________  _____________ |       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||    Night    ||  Pavilion   ||       |
|       ||   Taoist    ||  Watchman's ||   of the    ||       |
|       ||    Altar    ||    Beat     ||Heavenly Wind||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|_______||_____________||_____________||_____________||_______|
          ___________________________________________          
         |                  Blue                     |         
         |               Second Wind                 |         
         |    (2 exorcisms or 2 village's help)      |         
         |___________________________________________|


                    RQi BQi YQi GQi Tok  Tao
Starting Inventory:  3   3   3   3   3   RBYG

Turn 1, Yin:
26 (Fallen Monk) to Green Bottom: Add Ghost;
34 (Skinner) to Red Bottom.

Turn 1, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Move to Temple;
Pick up 2 Buddhas.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   2   RBYGK

Turn 2, Yin:
Advance Haunter 34;
10 (Yellow Plague) to Yellow Center)

Turn 2, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Move to Pavilion;
Exorcise 34 - Roll: GKK, failed;
Exorcise 34 - Roll: RWK, 34 defeated;
Place Buddhas on Blue Right and Red Bottom.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   1   BGYRKK

Turn 3, Yin:
37 (Sharp-Nailed Mistresses) to Red Top: Add Ghost;
35 (Reaper) to RM

Turn 3, Yang:
Power Token Red;
Move to Herbalist;
Herbalist's Shop Help: YW, +1 Yellow Tao, +1 Red Tao;
Herbalist's Shop Help: KW, +1 Black Tao, +1 Green Tao


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   0   BGGYYRRKKK

Turn 4, Yin:
39 (Blood Drinker) to Red Bottom: 39 destroyed by Buddha.

Turn 4, Yang:
Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   3   BGGYYRRKKK

Turn 5, Yin:
44 (Raging One) to Red Bottom.

Turn 5, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Move to Pavilion;
Exorcise 44 - Roll: RGG + 3 Red Tao, 44 defeated = +Yin-Yang.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   2   BGGYYKKK

Turn 6, Yin:
3 (Coffin Breakers) to Yellow Right;
45 (Gloomy Minion) to Blue Right: 45 destroyed by Buddha.

Turn 6, Yin:
Move to Temple;
Pick up 2 Buddhas.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   2   BGGYYKKK

Turn 7, Yin:
25 (Fallen Monks) to Green Top: Add Ghost;
56 (Wu Feng Howling Nightmare) to Blue Right: Add Ghost;
49 (Grave Walker) to Blue Left: -1 Qi.

Turn 7, Yang:
Move to Tea;
Exorcise 3/37 - Roll: RWG, 3 and 37 defeated;
Place Buddhas on Yellow Right, Red Top.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   2   BGGYYKKK

Turn 8, Yin:
Advance Haunter 49;
43 (Flesh Devourer): 43 destroyed by Buddha.

Turn 8, Yang:
Power Token Red;
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Move to Pavilion;
Yin-Yang Circle: Add Black Tao to Circle;
Exorcise 56 - Roll: WGG +Black Tao, 56 defeated = +1 Qi, +Yin-Yang;
Yin-Yang Pavilion: 49 to Yellow Right: 49 destroyed by Buddha, Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   3   BGGYYRKK

Turn 9, Yin:
15 (Perfidious Nymph) to Blue Right: Add Ghost;
47 (Severed Hands) to Blue Left: Add Ghost;
23 (Creeping One) to Green Middle.

Turn 9, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Move to Altar;
Exorcise 26/47 - Roll: BG, 26 and 47 defeated = +1 Blue Tao.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   2   BBGGYYRKKK

Turn 10, Yin:
Advance Haunter 23;
42 (Scarlet Evildoer) to Red Bottom.

Turn 10, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Move to Herbalist;
Exorcise 23 - Roll: RKK, failed;
Exorcise 23 - Roll: GGY, 23 defeated.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   1   BBGGYYRRKKK

Turn 11, Yin:
Advance Haunter 42;
33 (Great Putrid) to Green Middle.

Turn 11, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Green Tao;
Exorcise 33 - Roll: RYB, failed;
Exorcise 33 - Roll: GGR +2 Green Tao, 33 defeated = +Yin-Yang;
Yin-Yang Pavilion: 42 to Green Bottom, Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   3   BBGYYRRKKK

Turn 12, Yin:
Advance Haunter 42: Haunted Taoist Altar;
16 (Sticky Feet) to Blue Left.

Turn 12, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Token;
Move to Temple;
Pick up 2 Buddhas.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   2   BBGYYRRRKKK

Turn 13, Yin:
Advance Haunter 16;
Advance Haunter 42;
21 (Liquid Horror) to Blue Center.

Turn 13, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Green Tao;
Power Token Red;
Move to Altar;
Exorcise 16/42 - Roll: RRY +1 Red Tao, 42 defeated;
Exorcise 16 - Roll: WKG +1 Blue Tao, 16 defeated;
Place Buddhas on Green Bottom and Blue Left.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   0   BGGYYRRKKK

Turn 14, Yin:
27 (Restless Spirit) to Green Bottom: 27 destroyed by Buddha.

Turn 14, Yang:
Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   3   BGGYYRRKKK

Turn 15, Yin:
59 (Wu Feng Death's Army) to Blue Left: Buddha lost.

Turn 15, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Blue Tao;
Move to Altar;
Exorcise 59 - Roll: WGG +3 Black Tao, 59 defeated = Curse Lose Tao, +1 Qi, +Yin-Yang.


 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   2   -

Turn 16, Yin:
40 (Blood Drinker) to Red Top.

Turn 16, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Power Token Red;
Move to Temple;
Pick up 2 Buddhas;
Yin-Yang Pavilion: 25 to Green Bottom, Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   3   K

Turn 17, Yin:
Red -1 Qi;
53 (Dark Wraith) to Blue Left: Advance Haunter 53.

Turn 17, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Move to Altar;
Exorcise 25/53 - Roll: WYR +2 Black Tao, 53 defeated = +Yin-Yang;
Yin-Yang Tea House: +1 Qi, +Green Tao, Add Ghost;
19 (Ooze Devil) to Blue Left;
Exorcise 19/25 - Roll: RRR +1 Green Tao, 25 defeated;
Place Buddha on Green Bottom.


 Current Inventory:  5   3   3   3   2   -

Turn 18, Yin:
Advance Haunter 19;
Board Full: -1 Qi.

Turn 18, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Blue Tao;
Power Token Red;
Move to Pavilion;
Pavilion Help: 19 to Green Bottom: 19 destroyed by Buddha, Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   3   B

Turn 19, Yin:
2 (Walking Corpse) to Yellow Left.

Turn 19, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Move to Herbalist;
Herbalist's Shop Help: GK, +1 Green Tao, +1 Black Tao;
Herbalist's Shop Help: KK, +2 Black Tao;
Place Buddha on Green Middle.


 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   2   BGKKK

Turn 20, Yin:
11 (Lich) to Yellow Right.

Turn 20, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Power Token Red;
Move to Pavilion;
Pavilion Help: 11 to Green Middle: 11 destroyed by Buddha, Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   3   BGRKKK

Turn 21, Yin:
5 (Restless Dead) to Yellow Right.

Turn 21, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Yellow Tao;
Move to Tea;
Exorcise 5/40 - Roll: RBB, failed;
Exorcise 5/40 - Roll: YYR +1 Red Tao, 5 and 40 defeated: Curse: Add Ghost;
50 (Black Widow) to Blue Left.


 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   2   BGYKKK

Turn 22, Yin:
Board Full: -1 Qi.

Turn 22, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Move to Temple;
Pick up 2 Buddhas.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   1   BGYRKKK

Turn 23, Yin:
Board Full: -1 Qi.

Turn 23, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Blue Tao;
Move to Pavilion;
Exorcise 15 - Roll: WYG, 15 defeated;
Place Buddhas on Blue Right and Red Bottom.


 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   0   BBGYRKKK

Turn 24, Yin:
18 (Abysmal) to Blue Right: 18 destroyed by Buddha.

Turn 24, Yang:
Pavilion Help: 50 to Red Bottom: 50 destroyed by Buddha, Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   3   BBGYRKKK

Turn 25, Yin:
41 (Scarlet Evildoer) to Red Bottom.

Turn 25, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Move to Temple;
Pick up 2 Buddhas.


 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   2   BBGYRRKKK

Turn 26, Yin:
Advance Haunter 41;
46 (Repellent Beauty) to Black Right.

Turn 26, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Move to Pavilion;
Exorcise 41/46 - Roll: KR +2 Red Tao, 41 and 46 defeated: +1 Blue Tao;
Place Buddhas on Blue Right and Red Bottom.


 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   1   BBBGYRKKK

Turn 27, Yin:
61 (Wu Feng Bone Cracker) to Blue Left: -1 Black Tao.

Turn 27, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Move to Watchman;
Exorcise 21 - Roll: YYR, failed;
Exorcise 21 - Roll: WGR +3 Blue Tao, 21 defeated: +2 Red Tao.


 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   0   GYRRRRKK

Turn 28, Yin:
-1 Black Tao;
17 (Abysmal) to Blue Right: 17 destroyed by Buddha.

Turn 28, Yang:
Move to Altar;
Exorcise 61 - Roll: GGY, failed;
Exorcise 61 - Roll: WYB +3 Red Tao, 61 defeated = +1 Qi, +Yin-Yang;
Yin-Yang: Unhaunt Taoist Altar.


   Final Inventory:  3   3   3   3   0   GYRK

Ghosts Remaining: 9
Score: 47

The strength of blue doubling up on actions is just too strong for the solo game (IMO), even with the worst possible central village tile. From the way this game went, I suspect yellow would be almost as strong, at least with Bottomless Pockets - I used power tokens 27 times, and 21 of them were to use yellow's ability (the other 6 to fly with red; I didn't use green's at all, in part because it was blocked for a few turns). Playing yellow should go much the same, using power tokens on blue. Green's abilities are nice as the active Taoist, but not so useful as a neutral - as I understand the rules, you have to decide before an exorcism roll whether you use the power token, and there is usually a better use for that token when you don't know if you'll need to reroll. Still, I don't think green would be as strong, simply because he would have to choose between the two most useful abilities (blue and yellow), and may have more trouble using red's when needed as well. I think Red is probably the weakest, since flying is only occasionally used; I'd much rather have green's ability (whichever) every turn and spend tokens to fly than the other way around.

Review: Owner's Choice:: The Purge: Review #10: Owner's Choice: Stock Market Galore

william4192 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 05:33:52 +0000

by william4192

]]>

Conclusion: Let's get right down to it. This is a short game and can be made shorter by the players. I don't necessarily like that because someone who is not "getting" the game, may end the game faster just to get it over with instead of continuing to learn the game. Due to the rolling of dice, it can be hard for someone who is behind to have control over whether they can catch up or not. Yes, the stock market may go up or down you need to know when to buy and sell, but the dice roll (not your actions or decisions) that change the price of the market (and thus the stocks).

With that out of the way, I do enjoy this game mostly due to the length of the game. It doesn't stay around too long, actually it could be a little longer. I enjoy the press your luck focus of the game; will you sell the stock while it is higher or see if it can rise a little bit more before you sell it. Money is how you win the game and buying low and selling high is how you win. Of course, if you buy low and the stock tanks and the company becomes bankrupt (as happened in our game), then you can lose your shirt.

]]>

Components: The paper money is a little annoying. I'm not a hater of paper money, but money is flying back and forth a lot so it becomes annoying always making change.

The little pawns are serviceable, but I'd like to see something better. I really like the look of the board and the font. There is a bit of writing on the board I can't figure out why it is there (the square 100 from 190-300). In addition, I like the modular aspect of the 4 L's that make up the squares you land on. This mixes it up a little from game to tame.

You have to sticker the dice and I really, really hate doing this. My dice don't look good, because my hands shake too much.

Overall, this is a cheap, fast game and the components are fine for this game. They are not great, but do the job.

]]>

Rules: The rules are very clear (missing the one thing I mention up above) and we were able to play in five minutes with little rule looking up. There is even a chart that explains the dice rolls (the dice are custom and drive the mechanics of the game). There are not a lot of rules in this game and the book is in full color and explains the game perfectly. The only drawback is that there is not a full component list with pictures.

]]>

Flow of Play: Two steps: 1. You can buy and sell stocks based on prices of the market 2. You move the purple pawn around the "board" and decide which square you will land on (you can move 1-4 squares). If you land on a "stock" you can roll the fund dice and do what it says or roll the stock dice (for $50 that goes into fund) and do what that dice says. If it is an event, you can roll the event dice and do what it says. There are other squares (about 3-4 more) and they all do certain actions.

That is the entire game. Buy/sell stocks and move your pawn and roll the dice. I promise it is more fun than it sounds. If you had to do this for three hours, it would wear thin. For 30 minutes, it is very exciting.

The dice rolls can make stock prices go up or down or not move at all. The dice might give you money, take money, or give you money and move the stock price.

]]>

Should I buy this game?: Yes. This is a pretty cheap game on Tanga (at least as of this writing) and should be a fun filler that your group could enjoy. It seems it might be a better game with more players and because each turn is two very quick actions, there is very little downtown. If you are looking for a fun, dice rolling, stock market game that can be played in 30-45 minutes (maybe quicker with no AP), then this could be your game. It even comes at a great price.

Thread: Kogworks:: Strategy:: A game that made the kids think...

dlow — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 05:21:03 +0000

by dlow

I've had Kogworks in the shed since a couple of CANCON's ago. Brought it out this weekend as weather constrained us inside (nice thing about a shedful of games!).

The layout and colours sparked the kids (ages 8.5 and 10) interest straight away, but what impressed me was that the game gave them a vehicle for exploration. While building shapes post-play, they first discovered that "a loop got stuck", and hypothesized that all loops were bad. Then they found another loop that was OK - and hypothesized that the size of the loop was important. Then followed further testing, and they quickly hypothesized that whether the number of cogs in the loop was odd or even (i.e. "parity") was actually the important thing :-) Further testing seemed to confirm their hypothesis.

They then started playing again, with this realisation impacting on their play, as they tried to set up odd-sized loops to block, or changing loops from odd->even to break blocks!

I like games that lead to that sort of reasoning on the part of 8 & 10 year olds

Thread: Adventures by Gaslight:: General:: Last one

bingo414 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 05:15:19 +0000

by bingo414

This is the last expansion that I need! Then I'll have all of the original published Consulting Detective cases. I know I need to be patient, but it drives me nuts that I can't even find a copy for sale online in the U.S. for even a million dollars. Grrr...

If anyone is interested in offering me a copy for gratuitous amounts of money, my inbox is open...

Thread: The Artifact:: General:: PBF/EM?

Tzer — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 05:09:56 +0000

by Tzer

I would imagine this game would be perfect for a play be e-mail/forum game, but considering how many copies are in circulation, finding players would be damn near impossible

Thread: Gumshoe:: General:: Heads up!

bingo414 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 05:00:25 +0000

by bingo414

A 1st edition copy on ebay at what I would consider a reasonable price. I paid $60 for a sealed 2nd edition copy, so it is possible to do better, but I thought I'd go ahead and post this. It comes with the errata booklet that Sleuth put in later 1st edition boxes. I figure that between that and the errata documented on this site, this would be a good purchase.

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?type=4&cam...:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_500wt_951

Review: The Big Bang Theory: The Party Game:: A quick review

Mundane — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:58:22 +0000

by Mundane

My son and I enjoy the The Big Bang Theory and since the price was right ($20.00) I decided to get it when we saw it at Origins.

The Big Bang Theory – The Party Game is a light game for fans of the show that will remind people of Apples to Apples.

Components:

180 blue “Theoretical” cards.
4 blue “Bazinga” cards.
75 red “Experimental” cards.
12 blank cards
60 point chips (12 each of numbers 1 to 5)
6 cardboard envelopes

The cards are decent quality if a bit thin. They have quote from the show and the blue cards have a picture from the show as well. The point chips are thick glossy cardboard with the numbers on both sides.

Gameplay:

If you’ve played Apples to Apples then you know how to play this game.
Each player starts with seven of the blue cards. One player is the judge and turns over a red card.

Examples of red cards:

Needs a spanking
Handy in case of apocalypse
Bad at Sports
Doable

The other players then select a blue card they think matches what is on the red card.

Examples of the blue cards:
Personal Robot
Sexy Vampire
Psychic
Wonder Woman

After playing a card the players draw back up to seven blue cards.

The judge then assigns a point chip to each answer. For example in a five player game the judge would give one answer a four, one a three, then a two, and finally a one. The player of each answer then takes the chip assigned to their answer.

The judge then rotates to the left and another round is played. The game lasts 12 rounds and whoever has the most points wins.

There are two types of cards that mix the game up a bit.

Some of the red cards are called “Experimental Formula” cards and have a green face. These require the other players to play two cards. The two cards are placed in a cardboard envelope so they stay together when the judge shuffles them.

Examples of the “Experimental Formula” cards:
“The brain of a ____ and the body of a ____”
Super awkward
Weird fantasy

Four of the blue cards are “Bazinga” cards. After all players have chosen their blue card(s) one of the players can play a “Bazinga” card which forces the judge to discard the red card he drew and draw a new card. This can be useful if you had no good cards for the first red card.

Summary:

As you can see this game is a variation on Apples to Apples themed around the TV show The Big Bang Theory. If you have a group that likes Apples to Apples and are big fans of the show this is probably a decent purchase given the low price point. As a word of warning just like the show the game has many sexual references. If you don’t let your child watch the show then you won’t want them playing this game.

Thread: Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game - Fame and Fortune:: General:: Why are the huts yellowish and the villages bright red?

Jarklor — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:39:04 +0000

by Jarklor

When I got the base game and expansion it felt odd for the fact that the hut markers look more dark green in the base game than in the expansion pack ones look yellowish. It's very obvious when you set them on the board because the fame and fortune ones are going to be better. Same goes for village markers which have two different tones of red.

I don't know if this happened to everyone but for me it did. It wasn't a HUGE change but the pieces from the base game and expansion were obvious to tell apart.

Thread: Twilight Imperium (third edition):: Variants:: Template fleets for faster play/combat

Dreamshadow — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:34:28 +0000

by Dreamshadow

Has anyone considered letting people buy template fleets to speed up gameplay? Or do you think this would take too much away from the heart of the game (or just change too many other aspects of it?)

Thread: Agricola:: Rules:: Taster and Late Sleeper

cesso — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:25:19 +0000

by cesso

The player to my right is the starting player and decides to use the Late Sleeper in this round. I have the Taster. Can i use the Taster to play twice before any other player?

Thread: Sunrise City:: Variants:: Solo Sunrise City

bankrupt — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:25:05 +0000

by bankrupt

Just handling the pieces of Sunrise City is so much fun I had to try it solo, even though it is becoming my wife’s most requested game. [I’m also working on a two player variant with more intensity than the out of the box rules provide but it isn’t well balanced yet. Three players seems to me to be the “sweet spot” for this game and the two player variant needs to mimic this.]

My main challenge was to make playing alone with all those cool, chunky building tiles into something more than just a puzzle while not introducing an excess amount of luck. I am at least part way there. Please let me know what you think.

A hallmark of a “crisp” solo game is minimization of manipulating fiddly bits beyond what one player normally does in a multiplayer game. In this variant the “Other Player” plays two building tiles per turn and nothing else. The tiles are so hefty this doesn’t feel fiddly at all. The OP does not bother with scoring.

I also left out several parts of the multiplayer game:

- Many of the role cards don’t mean anything when playing solo. Unless I invented an extremely complex selection mechanism, the order in which they appeared created too much luck. Do not use them.

- The “N, E, W, S” designation for placing zoning tiles is unproductively fiddly when there is no first player and no one else to “restrict” with this limitation.

- The floor bonus tokens are not available above the ninth floor [four tokens.] The Active Player, “You,” and the OP can build higher but there is no bonus for doing so. Otherwise the random nature of the OP building tiles creates too much luck in the availability of large floor bonuses.

- Do not use the “Kickstarter bonus” negative community buildings. You would just play them on the distant edges of the “city” where they have no effect.

Your scoring goal is to collect all the stars, or at least as many as you can. In this quest You are not limited to three rounds. Play until it is time to draw another building tile and there are none left to draw. At that point count your stars. In the highly unlikely event that you reach 70, add in the un-played building tiles.

As I think is good form in solo variants, You should be faced with the same decisions as in a multiplayer game, absent only Your assessment of the personalities and playing styles of your human opponents. The OP's building tile placement creates an alternative, and, in my opinion slightly greater, tension. [Played to win, this solo variant is possibly half a game weight “number” higher than the multiplayer game.]

You otherwise play and score almost exactly as in a multiplayer game:

Zoning: Take and place four zoning tiles and four building tiles per round. In the first round take and place six zoning tiles else the OP will be drawing unplayable building tiles indefinitely.

Bidding: Place up to six bidding chits on unbuilt zones. If you place two chits on a single zone the OP cannot build there. [Good strategy may dictate never doing this.]

Construction: At the start of this phase draw one building tile for the OP. Place it on any floor anywhere that its zones allow it to be played without regard to the presence of bidding chits other than the prohibited two chit zones. If there is more than one such possible placement You choose where to place it. If the tile cannot be played, discard it from the game, then draw another tile and attempt to place it. Continue until a tile is placed. [Tiles the OP discards are tiles that You cannot play, and you need every one of them to have a hope of winning.]

You then play two tiles normally.

Another tile is drawn for the OP and played, or not, as before until a tile is actually played.

You then play two tiles and the round ends.

Strategy:

- Plan all four turns of a round as soon as you draw the first OP building tile. You have a maximum of ten rounds; 40 turns. The need to create scoring patterns that earn double stars is the same as in the multiplayer game. Points from zoning districts and community buildings are essential to these patterns. 70 stars may be an unreachable goal.

- During the zoning phase you must create places for the OP to play what are at that point two unknown building tiles AND as in the multiplayer game create places to play your own tiles for maximum bidding chit bonuses AND calculate you future moves to be able to earn double stars.

Review: The Pillars of the Earth Expansion Set:: Pillars of the Earth Expansion, reviewed by an avid fan

brumbynut — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:17:46 +0000

by brumbynut

So first attempt at a review, hopefully it's useful. The review is solely on the benefits and changes the expansion introduces and whether they're worth it (short version, yes!). It's written on the basis that you've played the original game and understand the rules.

The game comes in a box essentially the same design as the originial game but with a brown border. Same dimensions except it's only half depth.

Obviously the expansion is designed foremost to allow 5 or 6 players so you get two extra sets of meeples and master builders (in orange and white), an extra resource card (1 sand for 1 worker), some extra craftsmen (2 per turn) and some more privilege and event cards as well as extra resources (which unfortunately don't quite colour match with the original). The game scales as well so the amount of resource cards and craftsmen available varies depending on how many players you have (so the tight tussle for these remains).

You get a half size board to place alongside the original, the artwork matches and flows well between boards. The board provides a number of other master builder placement options which take place in phase 9 after rolling for taxation. These are:
Tax collector which provides not only immunity from tax but allows you to collect the rolled amount in gold and is key if finances are tight as it's a double win
Crusades, there are four new meeple placement options allowing you to gain victory points for your workers (rather than making any leftovers into shearers for gold)
Shiring privilege card space, privilege cards are split into ongoing effects (which remain in the two spots on the original board) and instant or one off which are placed here
Inspiration in St Denis which is a clever addition that allows you to reuse one of your own craftsmen or another person's craftsman at minus one capacity, very handy if you missed out on a metal using craftsman but have metal available
Lastly is the coast which is similar to the resource market but there's only one spot and you can only sell, the trade off is everything gets a better price.
Across the top of the board is the Master builder track which is used in 5/6 player games and helps balance the order of master builder placement, only two MB's go in the bag and whoever comes out first places their third MB onto position 5/6 on the track, second takes the next highest position and so on until all the MBs are out of the bag and then the track is used from 1 - 6. So if your first MB came out first, your last one will be last.

There are 12 new craftsmen, 2 per turn and without breaking them all down they add flavour to the game without upsetting the balance, there's a craftsman who converts sand into stone, another who provides VPs for MBs placed in the market. Last game there was much humourous discussion about how exactly the beggar (who gains a resource from the market) was gifted with a lump of stone or a handful of sand....

There's also the black master builder who is place in the bag with the other MBs and allows you to reserve a spot on the board and replace him with your next MB, last game he saved me 5 gold and scored me the craftsman I wanted. He can be excellent if he comes out of the bag early but there's a bit of luck involved. You can pick him up with one of the new privilege cards.

Overall it's an excellent expansion, the game remains about decision making and weighing up the benefits of each action and each placement. The expansion provides variety, scales well (there's more things to do but still not quite enough to go around) and retains it's replayability by always having cards that aren't used (there's more privilege, craftsman and event cards than you'll use in a game). Also, unless it's a 6 player game you'll get a different resource mix each turn as well.

It remains a simple game, people who've played before quickly pick up the nuances from the new board and as the mechanics are the same new players learn the rules for the new board at the same time as the original. I've introduced a heap of people to this game and by the end of the first turn they've always understood the rules and are quickly competitive.

I really enjoyed the base game and this has added to that, not only the ability to play with extra players but more choices for a 3/4 player game (although these are generally much higher scoring!). I've given it 9.5 out of 10 cos it is pretty well perfect. Played it with two noobs this week and in turn three one looked at the other and said "This is a great game, I reckon we should get it." I reckon they should too!

Session: Ghost Stories:: Solo Hell Challenge (Cemetery in Center) - Game 2

mith — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:17:42 +0000

by mith

Please see the previous session report, Solo Hell Challenge (Cemetery in Center) - Game 1, for disclaimer and information.


          ___________________________________________          
         |                Yellow                     |         
         |           Bottomless Pockets              |         
         |          (1 tao before moving)            |         
         |___________________________________________|          
 _______  _____________  _____________  _____________  _______ 
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||  Pavilion   ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||   of the    ||   Buddhist  || Sorcerer's  ||       |
|       ||Heavenly Wind||    Temple   ||    Hut      ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
| Blue  ||_____________||_____________||_____________|| Green |
|       | _____________  _____________  _____________ |       |
| 2nd   ||             ||             ||             || Gods' |
| Wind  ||             ||             ||             ||favor- |
|       ||             ||             ||   Circle    ||  ite  |
|(double||   Taoist    ||  Cemetery   ||     of      ||       |
|action)||    Altar    ||             ||   Prayer    ||(re-   |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||  roll)|
|       ||_____________||_____________||_____________||       |
|       | _____________  _____________  _____________ |       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||    Night    ||             ||       |
|       ||  Tea House  ||  Watchman's || Herbalist's ||       |
|       ||             ||    Beat     ||    Shop     ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|_______||_____________||_____________||_____________||_______|
          ___________________________________________          
         |                  Red                      |         
         |           Dance of the Spires             |         
         |                  (fly)                    |         
         |___________________________________________|


                    RQi BQi YQi GQi Tok  Tao
Starting Inventory:  3   3   3   3   3   RBYG

Turn 1, Yin:
13 (Hound of Depth) to Blue Middle.

Turn 1, Yang:
Power Token Blue;
Move to Temple;
Pick up 2 Buddhas.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   2   RBYG

Turn 2, Yin:
6 (Zombie) to Yellow Middle.

Turn 2, Yang:
Power Token Blue;
Move to Herbalist;
Herbalist's Shop Help: Roll: KW, +2 Black Tao;
Herbalist's Shop Help: Roll: WW, +1 Black Tao, +1 Red Tao;
Place Buddhas on Red Right and Green Bottom.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   1   RRBYGKKK

Turn 3, Yin:
33 (Great Putrid) to Green Bottom: 33 destroyed by Buddha.

Turn 3, Yang:
Power Token Blue;
Herbalist's Shop Help: Roll: KG, +1 Black Tao, +1 Green Tao;
Herbalist's Shop Help: Roll: GR, +1 Green Tao, +1 Red Tao.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   0   RRRBYGGGKKKK

Turn 4, Yin:
38 (Bleeding Eyes) to Red Right: 38 destroyed by Buddha.

Turn 4, Yang:
Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   3   RRRBYGGGKKKK

Turn 5, Yin:
55 (Soul Eater) to Red Right: -1 Green Tao.

Turn 5, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Blue Tao;
Move to Herbalist;
Exorcise 55 - Roll: WWY + 2 Black Tao, 55 defeated = +Yin-Yang.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   2   RRRBBYGGKK

Turn 6, Yin:
47 (Severed Heads) to Red Left: Add Ghost;
17 (Abysmal) to Blue Top.

Turn 6, Yin:
Power Token Yellow, +Black Tao;
Exorcise 47 - Roll: RY + 1 Black Tao, 47 defeated = +1 Black Tao.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   1   RRRBBYGGKKK

Turn 7, Yin:
9 (Hopping Vampire) to Yellow Right.

Turn 7, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Yellow Tao;
Move to Sorcerer;
Exorcise 9 - Roll: RGB, failed.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   0   RRRBBYYGGKKK

Turn 8, Yin:
Advance Haunter 9;
51 (Black Widow) to Red Right.

Turn 8, Yang:
Yin-Yang Sorcerer: -1 Qi, 51 destroyed. (Note: Caught error when typing up, forgot to pay Qi. See end.)
Exorcise 9 - Roll: GGW + 2 Yellow Tao, 9 defeated.


 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   0   RRRBBGGKKK

Turn 9, Yin:
52 (Dark Wraith) to Red Right: Advance Haunter 52.

Turn 9, Yang:
Move to Herbalist;
Exorcise 52 - Roll: GBW + 2 Black Tao, 52 defeated = +Yin-Yang;
Yin-Yang Pavilion, 6 to Yellow Left, Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   3   RRRBBGGK

Turn 10, Yin:
61 (Wu Feng Bone Cracker) to Red Right: -1 Blue Tao.

Turn 10, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Move to Herbalist;
Exorcise 61 - Roll: YBK, failed;
Power Token Blue;
Exorcise 61 - Roll: KKY +4 Red Tao, 61 defeated = +1 Qi, +Yin-Yang.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   1   BBGGK

(Note: Caught error when typing up, misplaced Blue Tao; not sure it would've made much difference.)

Turn 11, Yin:
27 (Restless Spirit) to Green Bottom.

Turn 11, Yang:
Move to Temple;
Power Token Blue;
Pick up 2 Buddhas.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   0   BBGGK

Turn 12, Yin:
Advance Haunter 27;
10 (Yellow Plague) to Yellow Center.

Turn 12, Yang:
Move to Herbalist;
Exorcise 27 - Roll: YYB +2 Green Tao, 27 defeated;
Place Buddhas on Red Right and Green Bottom.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   0   BBK

Turn 13, Yin:
28 (Rotten Soul) to Green Middle.

Turn 13, Yang:
Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   3   BBK

Turn 14, Yin:
31 (Wicked One) to Green Bottom: 31 destroyed by Buddha.

Turn 14, Yang:
Power Token Blue;
Move to Herbalist;
Herbalist's Shop Help: YK, +1 Yellow Tao, +1 Black Tao;
Herbalist's Shop Help: GK, +1 Green Tao, +1 Black Tao.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   2   BBYGKKK

Turn 15, Yin:
12 (Drowned Maiden) to Blue Bottom.

Turn 15, Yang:
Move to Tea;
Exorcise 12 - Roll: KYW, 12 defeated.


 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   2   BBYGKKK

Turn 16, Yin:
23 (Creeping One) to Green Bottom.

Turn 16, Yang:
Power Token Blue;
Tea House Help: +1 Qi, +Red Tao, Add Ghost: 5 (Restless Dead) to Yellow Right;
Tea House Help: +1 Qi, +Red Tao, Add Ghost: 53 (Dark Wraith) to Red Right: 53 destroyed by Buddha.


 Current Inventory:  5   3   3   3   1   RRBBYGKKK

Turn 17, Yin:
Yellow -1 Qi;
19 (Ooze Devil) to Blue Bottom.

Turn 17, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Yellow Tao;
Yin-Yang Pavilion: 5 to Red Right;
Move to Herbalist;
Exorcise 5/23 - Roll: RGG +2 Yellow Tao, 5 and 23 defeated.


 Current Inventory:  5   3   2   3   0   RRBBGKKK

Turn 18, Yin:
Blue -1 Qi;
Advance Haunter 19;
42 (Scarlet Evildoer) to Red Left.

Turn 18, Yang:
Move to Tea;
Exorcise 19/42 - Roll: RKK +2 Red Tao, 42 defeated.


 Current Inventory:  5   2   2   3   0   BBGKKK

Turn 19, Yin:
Blue -1 Qi;
Advance Haunter 19: Haunted Tea House;
62 (Wu Feng Dark Mistress) to Red Left.

Turn 19, Yang:
Move to Sorcerer;
Sorcerer's Hut Help: -1 Qi, 19 destroyed.


 Current Inventory:  4   1   2   3   0   BBGKKK

Turn 20, Yin:
30 (Wicked One) to Green Bottom.

Turn 20, Yang:
Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.


 Current Inventory:  4   1   2   3   3   BBGKKK

Turn 21, Yin:
Advance Haunter 30;
29 (Rotten Soul) to Green Top.

Turn 21, Yang:
Move to Sorcerer;
Sorcerer's Hut Help: -1 Qi, 30 destroyed.


 Current Inventory:  3   1   2   3   3   BBGKKK

Turn 22, Yin:
2 (Walking Corpse) to Yellow Right.

Turn 22, Yang:
Move to Circle;
Circle of Prayer Help: Add Blue Tao to Circle.


 Current Inventory:  3   1   2   3   3   BBGKKK

Turn 23, Yin:
Yellow -1 Qi;
22 (Fury of Depth) to Blue Bottom;

Turn 23, Yang:
Move to Tea;
Power Token Green;
Exorcise 22/62 - Roll: YWB, 62 defeated = +1 Qi, +Yin-Yang;
Yin-Yang Sorcerer: -1 Qi, 22 destroyed.


 Current Inventory:  3   1   1   3   3   BBGKKK

Turn 24, Yin:
Yellow -1 Qi, Possessed;
41 (Scarlet Evildoer) to Red Left.

Turn 24, Yang:
Power Token Blue;
Move to Herbalist;
Herbalist's Shop Help: RK, +1 Red Tao, +1 Black Tao;
Herbalist's Shop Help: GW, +1 Green Tao, +1 Red Tao.


 Current Inventory:  3   1   0   3   3   RRBBGGKKKK

Turn 25, Yin:
-1 Qi;
Advance Haunter 41;
25 (Fallen Monks) to Green Bottom;
35 (Reaper) to Red Center.

Turn 25, Yang:
Move to Tea;
Exorcise 41 - Roll: RYK +2 Red Tao, 41 defeated.


 Current Inventory:  2   1   0   3   3   RRBBGGKKKK

And at this point, thinking I had 3 Qi rather than the 2 I should have had, I lost one to the possessed board and used the Sorcerer, so I should have been dead (but obviously would have had to try something different here instead). The possessed board really snuck up on me here.

Thread: Katalyka:: General:: so what subgenre is this?

gamer667788 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:10:31 +0000

by gamer667788

what would you compare it to? What sets it apart?

Thread: Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game - Fame and Fortune:: Rules:: What is the use of fortification/caravan markers?

Jarklor — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 04:10:10 +0000

by Jarklor

I read the rules well but I dont understand why you would want them. If you have a fortification marker on a city you wouldn't be able to have any addional armies placed on the city tile. So you would automaticly lose nomatter what since the enemy has nothing to attack. If people COULD attack cities it would only be usefull if you had absolutly no units left in play.

For the caravan markers... Why would I want to sacrice a scout to gain an extra 2 production for ONE turn when you can just make it travel to a forest outside of the citie's outskirst to collect 2 production for MULTIPLE turns? Plus you wouldn't be able to have a additional army piece since you can never have a fortification/caravan marker together.

Am I missing somthing or is there a mistake? Maybe if you were alowed to have both a fortifaction/caravan marker and an army in play it would be usefull.

Please, help me out.

Thread: 18AL:: Rules:: Wording of New Decatur Yards is confusing

Shadoglare — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 03:31:01 +0000

by Shadoglare

Is the "half price train" ability only useable once, or repeatedly?

The first half of the rules for this company state "A corporation ... may purchase any one new train from the bank for half the regular price. This action closes the New Decatur Yards"

What exactly does "closes" mean? The ability is gone forever? The company is removed from the game? It's done but for that turn only?

The next paragraph continues by stating "This train purchase is subject to all other normal rules... and is subject to the limit of one purchase per turn if no 4 train has been purchased."

So... if it's only good once... why bother mentioning that you can only buy one train at a time in the first part of the game?

This whole section seems to contradict itself

Thread: Risk Legacy:: Rules:: Factions' Mission Powers? (spoiler)

fan_I_am — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 03:13:20 +0000

by fan_I_am

How does the Mutants red mission power work? 'If u control the Fallout territory and all Bio-hazard scars u get a red star token.'

Does this happen at the end of every mutant turn or is it treated like a mission card: a one-time use and u cant lose that token once u got it?

Review: 51st State:: The Purge: Review #8: 51st State: Boy, am I going to hear it for this one!

william4192 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 03:07:35 +0000

by william4192

]]>

Conclusion: I like to start my reviews with the end, so hear I go. I want to preface this review by saying I know people are not going to like what I'm going to write, but this is my honest review of the game. Some may not even consider this a review, but when I learn a game, play a game, think about a game, and discuss a game, then that is my review.

In this case, I could not learn this game. I've read the rules a few times and I just can't put it together. I am not the smartest man in the world, but as an attorney I have to have some level of intelligence (no lawyer jokes! LOL). I am not a meat head, but for some reason I just cannot remember all the icons. I know why. I don't have the time or patience to learn a new language to play a game. I keep trying these games out from time to time, but I always fail.

That the previous paragraph for what it is. I am someone who wants to like this game (I love the theme), but I just don't have the group, time, or patience to learn the language (icons, icons, icons). I'm not a huge card playing guy, although I have have learned to like quite a few. On top of it, I don't have anyone who is going to put the time into to learn this game.

If you are going to learn a game like this (icons, icons, icons), you might want to invest in Race for the Galaxy, only because the number of expansions would give you new cards.

This is a game I'm going to part ways with and wish it luck.

]]>

Components: The cards and chits are of good stock. The cards are interesting because they have at least three uses for each card. This gives you a lot of choices. The scoring track is on the back of the box, which I found to be okay but for some reason it turned me off. Everything is pretty normal to me.

]]>

Rules: Not well written and not easy to understand. The font is very small and there are not a lot of examples. The icon list at the back is a great idea and very helpful. I could never learn how to play this game.

]]>

Flow of the game: The flow of the game seems to be slower pace. You have to know what cards your opponents are putting down and I like this aspect. Each card has multiple uses and the cards are very attractive. I was unable to teach myself the game (mostly due to not wanting to learn the language.

]]>

Should I buy this game?: I know I wouldn't and I am getting rid of my copy. I think Race for the Galaxy would be the better investment (mainly because of the number of expansions). If you are going to learn the language, you are going to want to get the most out of it. If you are a big fan of the theme (and I am!) and have the time to learn the language, I think there may be a pay off. If someone taught me this game, I'm sure I would have fun. With that said, I'm not sure I'd have a regular partner to play with.

Thread: Wiz-War (eighth edition):: Variants:: Inspiration from Unreal Tournament

larienna — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:56:09 +0000

by larienna

I had a chance to play 2 games of wiz-war lately for the first time. I find it interesting.

I had some ideas to use first person shooter concepts and transpose them into wiz war. I can see from other post that some of ideas have already being suggested.

An FPS I really like is Unreal tournament, An idea could be to implement some of the game modes into wiz war. For example:

Capture the flag: Each starting location has a chest, you need to take 1 of the chest and bring it back to the spot of your color to score a point. The chest get back to it's original position afterward.

Domination: There are tokens around the board, that get flipped to the players team color when moved on. Maybe you need X tokens of your color to win, or if you have more than 1/2 the tokens on the board of your color, your team score a point.

Frag Ball: The side exits are goals, and there is a ball item in the maze. The portals are placed on the top and bottom of the board. You need to capture the ball and shoot it into the opponent's goal. If you get hit, you lose the ball. Shooting the ball could be a free or an attack action. You could make pass to other players too.

You could play in teams of 2, or if you way with more than 4 players, in teams of 3 or 4. Maybe doors and drop points are team based rather than character based.

----------------------------------------------------

Other ideas

Destroy the statue: Each player has a statue on their starting location that needs to be destroyed by enemy wizards (like a wall).

GEM collection: I could re-implement my "gem collection" variant for dungeon twister. You collect gems around the maze and need to bring them back home to score points. Each time you get attacked you drop a gem.

-----------------------------------------------------

From what I can see, the game seems flexible enough to support various play modes.

Thread: Pirate Dice: Voyage on the Rolling Seas:: General:: how does this game compare to roborally?

littlegorgor — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:43:52 +0000

by littlegorgor

i'm interested in getting roborally, then this game appeared

I'm wondering if the use of dice make it more random than roborally?
it is supposing to be a shorter game but support less players?

Thread: Virgin Queen:: General:: Berwick - what's up with that?

Greg Forster — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:42:37 +0000

by Greg Forster

Anyone else OCD enough to be bothered that England starts the game with troops in an unfortified space, or is it just me?

Thread: Virgin Queen:: Rules:: Inactive Major Power Activation Question

rspilky — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:36:32 +0000

by rspilky

Ok, here's one I can't find in any of the previous rules postings. We're playing a 3-player game. At this stage of the game, the Ottoman is an activated major power and allied with France and the HRE is an inactive major power. Venice is also an inactive minor power at this point.

During the Diplomacy phase, the player controlling the Ottoman (the French player) declares war on Venice as the Ottoman power in order to try to go after the +1 VP for Cyprus on behalf of the activated Ottoman player.

This triggers a diplomatic status check on Venice which is won by the currently inactive HRE power. My questions are:

1. Was the HRE ineligible to participate in Venice’s diplomatic status check in the first place (since it's inactive) and therefore either Spain or France must win the diplomatic status check?
2. If the answer to 1 is 'no', meaning, the inactive HRE power was able to participate in Venice’s diplomatic status check, then do we now need to roll a diplomatic status check on the HRE power itself?
2a. If the answer to 2 is ‘yes’, then; Is the Ottoman power eligible to participate (as a potential deactivating power) in the HRE’s diplomatic status check? If ‘yes’, (and should the Ottoman win the diplomatic status check for the HRE) what could he do with the HRE at this point other than prevent it from allying with another major power? What happens in this case to HRE’s alliance with Venice and Venice’s war with the Ottoman power?
2b. If the answer to 2a is ‘no’ [meaning the Ottoman power is not eligible to participate (as a potential deactivating power) in the HRE’s diplomatic status check], that means that either France, England, Spain will win the HRE’s diplomatic status check (or one of these three powers may have won the diplomatic check to begin with even if the Ottoman power was allowed to participate). In either case, should France, Spain or England win the HRE diplomatic status check (as an activating power), then will they need to decide to be at war with the Ottoman (as the HRE player) in order to accept the Venetian alliance?

Thread: Super Dungeon Explore: Caverns of Roxor:: General:: Previews

Kirenx — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:23:03 +0000

by Kirenx

For anyone interested, preview shots taken at Origins have been posted on the SPM forum: http://forums.sodapopminiatures.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=330

Thread: Elusive Victory: The Air War over the Suez Canal, 1967-1973:: General:: Looking for PBEM opponent

jeff-n-jessa — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:21:41 +0000

by jeff-n-jessa

Hi - I'm learning the DT/EV system and could use some more practice. Email me if you're interested in a vassal game. Thanks, Jeff

Thread: Maria:: Rules:: Saxony moving right

jdcausse — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:03:54 +0000

by jdcausse

Just a clarification I need...
Does Saxony moves right on the political board ONLY when a Prussian victory marker is REMOVED from the victory box?

So for exampe, what if Saxony does not have any victory point on the victory box and loses a major battle/general? Is Saxony not moving right?

The rules says "removed" So from that I believe, Saxony would NOT move right unless there are victory marker to remove from the victory box.

If so... is that better for Prussia then to AVOID loading the victory box, early in the game, to extend the Saxony alliance? (by reducing the opportunity for Austria to capitalize on a -potential- future major victory in battle)

Thx

Thread: Tanto Cuore:: General:: Number of each maid?

Aysez — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 02:01:31 +0000

by Aysez

Ok, I have a not so small problem. There was an accident that involved (possibly) losing some of my Tanto Cuore cards.

Could some kind soul PLEASE tell me how many of each card there's supposed to be? Because by the numbers it looks like some are in stacks of less than 10. I think, I'm really not sure.

So if anybody could help me, I'd truly, truly appreciate it.

Thread: Saganami Island Tactical Simulator:: General:: Player in SF East Bay?

dcgreenwood — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 01:41:57 +0000

by dcgreenwood

I'm a new SITs player - are there any players in the San Francisco East Bay interested in a game? I live in Martinez.

Thread: Virgin Queen:: General:: Untimely Death issue

Will W — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 01:37:04 +0000

by Will W

One of the few problems I have with Virgin Queen's design is the Untimely Death card. It will come up 1-2 times in an average game. In real history, every single leader on the list died during the Virgin Queen time frame, most of them by the end of turn 4. So, I think there needs to be some mechanic to make more leaders pass away, above and beyond assassination. Here are some possibilities I'd like to throw out:
-Another copy of the Untimely Death card.
-A Leader Death phase at the end of each turn, where a random leader on the list dies based on a table, with an occasional "two deaths" or "no death" result.
-A Leader Loss roll when leaders are in battle or assault. Yes, it is wargamey, but it creates great tension. Remember what the Ottomans did to Zrinyi when they captured Szigetvar in 1566? Here's a hint: they did NOT take him back to Istanbul to hold him for ransom.

Thread: Campaign Commander Volume III: Punic Island:: Rules:: Stacking rules clarified for the series.

promuso — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 01:30:24 +0000

by promuso

1. Stacking is not an action and is a function of movement for ground units.
2. When a unit moves into an area containing other units, it must stack.
3. Units must freely stack (i.e. it costs no Supply Points) when:
(i) They retreat into an area containing other units.
(ii) New units arrive as reinforcements in an area containing other units.

It therefore follows that any unit moving into an area containing other units will expend three supply points to do so.

Source: Francisco Ronco (designer).

Thread: Campaign Commander Volume II: Coral Sea:: Rules:: Stacking rules clarified for the series.

promuso — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 01:28:10 +0000

by promuso

Thread: Campaign Commander Volume I: Roads to Stalingrad:: Rules:: Stacking rules clarified for the game series.

promuso — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 01:23:44 +0000

by promuso

1. Stacking is not an action and is a function of movement.
2. When a unit moves into an area containing other units, it must stack.
3. Units must freely stack (i.e. it costs no Supply Points) when:
(i) They retreat into an area containing other units.
(ii) New units arrive as reinforcements in an area containing other units.

It therefore follows that any unit moving into an area containing other units will expend three supply points to do so.

Source: Francisco Ronco (designer).

Thread: Zombicide:: General:: Sleeve size?

GD360 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 01:20:31 +0000

by GD360

I was wondering if anyone knows what kind of sleeves would fit the cards for this game. I usually try to sleeve the cards for the games I have and since I'm spending the $100, just wanted to make sure my cards were protected. I know the game isn't out yet, but maybe someone who works with the company may know the answer to this.

Thanks!
G

Thread: Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game:: Rules:: Range weapons

canadianeh — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 01:15:37 +0000

by canadianeh

For example there is a zombie in the town square. The hero uses a range weapon in a building that is on the edge of the town square tile. eg a revolver is used from the building and able to shoot at a range of 3. Since the town square is so big does it shoot the whole town square tile.

For the weapon durability do you roll that seperately or when the range is shot. Eg. revolver rolled a 4 kills the zombie, then do i roll again for the durability of the weapon?

Also how does the shotgun work. Say there is 2 zombies in that space your shooting at it, do you roll for each of the zombies in that square.

Thread: Virgin Queen:: Strategy:: Assassination of army leaders

Will W — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 01:13:39 +0000

by Will W

Leaving aside assassinating Elizabeth I, let's take a look at assassinating army leaders. The basic assassination procedure is much like burning a debater in HIS, with the crucial difference that 1-hit successes are re-rolled. Murder is a pretty strong tactic for that should be considered in many situations.

Some basic odds of success against any army leader, except the Duke of Parma:

4v2: 35%
5v2: 48%
5v3: 36%
6v2: 62%
6v3: 50%
6v4: 38%
7v2: 70%
7v3: 60%
7v4: 48%

If you succeed, you get 1 VP and cripple an invading army in one blow. There is no effective defense, except for dealing with informants immediately, and even that is only a 55% chance unless you can spare 4 CP to push it up to around 80%.

The downsides are that you can only make one assassination attempt per turn, it is a significant expenditure of CP, and the penalties for failing (especially rolling fewer hits than the defender) are severe. But if that happens when you are rolling 6 dice against 2, you should just stop playing until you've worked on your hit-rolling skills anyway.

Where things get really interesting is when diplomacy comes into play. Hand Guns can be played to boost ANY player's assassination attempt, so it is an excellent card for diplomatic purposes. If you are a perceived leader on turn 3 or later, multiple players can take shots at you(hoping to gain a VP while trying to show their team spirit) so don't get too attached to your leaders. Obviously, killing any leader will severely cripple that power's ability to make war in the future (except maybe Spain, who has four army leaders). Henry III is easy to kill, and doing so really kicks the French in the teeth since he is also their ruler. It seems that in many games, only a few leaders will be left standing by the final card play. This is reasonably true to history; William of Orange, Coligny, Henry of Navarre, Henry III, and Henry of Guise all met their actual deaths at the hands of assassins.

Thread: Get Bit!:: News:: Get Bit WINS Origins Award for 2012!

maydaygames — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:57:29 +0000

by maydaygames

Congrats to Dave, Get Bit! has won the Origins Award for 2012 for Best Family/Party Game. We are really happy for Dave and hope this will continue to help the game to grow!

Thread: Hive:: General:: Strategy book "Play Hive Like a Champion" is out!

SeanColombo — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:43:17 +0000

by SeanColombo

Randy Ingersoll (ringersoll on BGG) - the Boardspace.net 2011 Hive Tournament World Champion, regular BGGer, and a really nice guy - has been working on a Hive strategy book for quite a while, and I found out today that it's publicly available!

http://www.playhivelikeachampion.com/

Vital stats:
- $8.99 from Lulu
- 165 fairly large pages
- Uses diagrams from tons of actual Boardspace games to demonstrate the points.

Personal opinion:
I was lucky enough to get a copy a little early (I'm using it so that I can build good AI for the Xbox version of Hive). I'm about 60% of the way through and I'm loving it so far.

Since I'm coming off as a little bit of a fanboy, I should probably point out that I don't get a kickback on the sales... I just legitimately like the book.

I'll send Randy a link to this post, so he can probably answer questions if you have any - cool how I just volunteered him, huh?

Thread: B-17: Queen of the Skies:: Rules:: which gunners fire which guns??

severn8212 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:41:10 +0000

by severn8212

Other than the obvious, which gunners fire which guns? Is it the closest gunner to the gun firing?

thx
Bill

Thread: Rise and Decline of the Third Reich:: General:: VASSAL or Cyberboard for the Classic Edition?

Michael Hopcroft — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:36:01 +0000

by Michael Hopcroft

I just got a copy of the "classic" edition of 3R. Like most of my wargames I can't set it up in my apartment because I don't really have enough space. MY only chance to play is online or PBEM.

The downside is that the VASSAL module currently available is for the Advanced Third Reich counters and map. The classic edition map is much more utilitarian (with clear spaces in white rather than green, among other things) but cleaner-looking. The counters and rules are also different and I've never even seen the rules for A3R.

Is there a way to get an older-style module for one of the online game engines? I don't have access to a scanner or similar equipment so I can't make one (assuming I can learn how).

Thread: Virgin Queen:: General:: Tournament/campaign game setup comparison

Will W — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:29:48 +0000

by Will W

Even more than in Here I Stand's tournament scenario, all the powers in Virgin Queen's tournament scenario start behind where they would be on turn 3 of a typical campaign game. It is as if the real nations just flailed around ineffectually in the 1560s. Here are the main changes in different nations' setups:

-Spain has built some troops in the Netherlands and has roped in the Venetians. Of course, an opening play of Eloquent Ambassador or Holy League by the Ottomans can undo that.
-The Ottomans have taken Tunis. Of course, an opening play of City State Rebels by the Spanish can undo that.
-The Protestants have taken control of La Rochelle and a few towns of little importance in southwestern France, and have religious control of more of France. They've also painted a pretty picture, and gained control of Scotland. Their position is the most improved compared with their campaign scenario setup. However, all this comes at the expense of having made no progress in the Netherlands.
-France has lost ground, just as they have in the tournament scenario in HIS.
-England (again, exactly parallel to HIS) and the HRE are in basically the same position as they are in 1559!

It seems that the opening turn of the tournament scenario will see frenzied efforts by all the players to make up for lost time.

Thread: GD '42:: Rules:: Entry hexes that are less than half

hipshot — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:23:10 +0000

by hipshot

What counts as the first hex? AM I mixing up game systems when I say only numbered hexes count? Or does even a fractional hex count?

Thread: Raiding Parties:: General:: Set 2 Kickstarter

Nickace9 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:13:33 +0000

by Nickace9

What would you like to see in Set 2?
So far, this is how it is shaping up:

-A Large, in depth Rule-book with pages and pages of detailed information regarding game play, and individual card breakdowns/ analysis.

-Obviously, new cards... Predominately Pirate/Brethren themed

-A Blackbeard card

Thread: The Hammer of Thor: The Game of Norse Mythology:: General:: my final PnP crafted set

dumarest123 — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:04:55 +0000

by dumarest123

my photos of my completed build (sans box which i still have to construct). i took the set over to my FLGS today and he weighed it on his postal scale. with all the bells and whistles it comes in at 9 pounds. cards were printed by printerstudio.com

on to the photos:

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everything all stacked together ready to go in the box

]]>
unpacked components. was lucky to find a plano box for bead crafting over at Michaels with a whole series of tiny boxes with snap lids. makes organizing all the components a breeze, the box is also great for being so compact. the leftmost container will hold the odin and thor miniatures i have on order

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game board set up (6 tiles each with glossy photo paper laminated onto 1/8" birch plywood). heavy enough that they stay nicely in place. and all the decks arranged where they go. you'll notice the card color does not quite match the color of the half circles on the game board. this is the difference between CMYK and RGB printing.

]]>
for the 1 or 2 player game this is the initial setup for Thor, (found a set of d10s that match the colors i chose for the Encounter cards), leftmost card is the reputation tracking card with eurocubes. Thor starts the game with 2 magical items

]]>
and Odin's initial set of cards, he starts with 4 animals and one magic item

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initial characters which begin the game near Helheim

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samples of the Leader Action and Encounter cards

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all the unpacked subcompartments of the plano box, with counters separated. ziplock bags hold the larger sets of stamina damage counters.

photos of Thor and Odin once i receive them and hire someone to paint them.

Session: Ghost Stories:: Solo Hell Challenge (Cemetery in Center) - Game 1

mith — Sun, 03 Jun 2012 00:00:15 +0000

by mith

Disclaimer: The following is a Solo session report played at Hell difficulty. If you are just starting out with Ghost Stories, I very much encourage you to explore the various tactics on your own, rather than looking here for tips; much of my love for this game is a direct result of overcoming that initial learning curve and discovering the depth of the game over multiple plays.

This report, and the two to follow, stem from a discussion of whether it is preferable to play the solo rules as written, or to play solo controlling 4 Taoists. My lone previous experience with the solo game (out of ~70 total plays) was an easy win playing blue, so I was a bit dismissive of the solo rules and challenged to produce a session of a Solo Hell win.

Format is largely copied from Sphere's well written solo session report.


          ___________________________________________          
         |                  Blue                     |         
         |              Heavenly Gust                |         
         |       (exorcism and village's help)       |         
         |___________________________________________|         
 _______  _____________  _____________  _____________  _______ 
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||    Night    ||       |
|       || Herbalist's ||  Tea House  ||  Watchman's ||       |
|       ||    Shop     ||             ||    Beat     ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|Yellow ||_____________||_____________||_____________||  Red  |
|       | _____________  _____________  _____________ |       |
|Bottom-||             ||             ||             || Dance |
| less  ||             ||             ||             || of the|
|Pockets||  Pavilion   ||             ||   Circle    || Spires|
|(+Tao) ||   of the    ||  Cemetery   ||     of      ||       |
|       ||Heavenly Wind||             ||   Prayer    || (fly) |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||_____________||_____________||_____________||       |
|       | _____________  _____________  _____________ |       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|       ||             ||   Taoist    ||             ||       |
|       ||   Buddhist  ||    Altar    || Sorcerer's  ||       |
|       ||    Temple   ||             ||    Hut      ||       |
|       ||             ||             ||             ||       |
|_______||_____________||_____________||_____________||_______|
          ___________________________________________          
         |                 Green                     |         
         |             God's Favorite                |         
         |                (reroll)                   |         
         |___________________________________________|


                    GQi YQi BQi RQi Pwr  Tao
Starting Inventory:  3   3   3   3   3   GYBR

Turn 1, Yin:
37 (Sharp-Nailed Mistresses) to Red Bottom: Add Ghost;
22 (Fury of Depth) to Blue Center.

Turn 1, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Blue Tao;
Move to Tea;
Power Token Blue;
Tea House Help: +1 Qi, +Blue Tao, Add ghost - 41 (Scarlet Evildoer) to Red Middle;
Exorcise 22 - Roll: YRG (Reroll All) WWK +2 Blue Tao, 22 defeated = +Yin-Yang;
Yin-Yang Pavilion: 41 to Green Right, Taoist to Cemetery;
Pick up 2 Power Tokens.

 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   3   GYBR

Turn 2, Yin:
Advance Haunter 41;
7 (Zombie) to Yellow Top.

Turn 2, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Move to Sorcerer;
Exorcise 37/41 - Roll: RYG (Reroll YG) RRK +2 Red Tao, 37 and 41 defeated.

 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   2   GYB

Turn 3, Yin:
50 (Black Widow) to Green Right: Can't Use Tao.

Turn 3, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Exorcise 50 - Roll: WWW, 50 defeated = Curse: Blank, +Yin-Yang;

 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   1   GYBK

Turn 4, Yin:
24 (Fungus Thing) to Green Right.

Turn 4, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Exorcise 24 - +1 Green Tao, 24 defeated;
Yin-Yang Pavilion: 7 to Yellow Bottom, Taoist to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.

 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   3   YBKK

Turn 5, Yin:
54 (Shapeless Evil) to Green Right: Haunted Sorcerer's Hut.

Turn 5, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Move to Sorcerer;
Exorcise 54 - Roll: KKG (Reroll G) KKK + 1 Black Tao, 54 defeated = +Yin-Yang;
Yin-Yang: Unhaunt Sorcerer's Hut.

 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   2   YBKK

Turn 6, Yin:
34 (Skinner) to Red Middle.

Turn 6, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Power Token Blue;
Circle of Prayer Help: Add Black Token;
Exorcise 34 - Roll BBR, 34 defeated.

 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   0   YBRKK

Turn 7, Yin:
9 (Hopping Vampire) to Yellow Top.

Turn 7, Yang:
Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.

 Current Inventory:  4   3   3   3   3   YBRKK

Turn 8, Yin:
Advance Haunter 9;
51 (Black Widow) to Green Right: Can't Use Tao.

Turn 8, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Move to Sorcerer;
Power Token Blue;
Sorcerer's Hut Help: -1 Qi, 9 destroyed;
Exorcise 51 - Roll: YGG (Reroll All) YYK + Circle, 51 defeated = Curse: -1 Qi, +Yin-Yang;
Yin-Yang Pavilion: 7 to Yellow Top, Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 2 Power Tokens.

 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   3   YBRKKK

Turn 9, Yin:
58 (Wu Feng Hope Killer) to Green Left.

Turn 9, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Green Tao;
Move to Herbalist;
Herbalist's Shop Help: Roll: YW, +Yellow Tao, +Green Tao.

 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   2   GGYYBRKKK

Turn 10, Yin
33 (Great Putrid) to Green Center.

Turn 10, Yang
Power Token Yellow: +Red Tao;
Power Token Red (Fly);
Move to Temple;
Exorcise 58 - Roll RYB +2 Green Tao, +1 Red Tao, +1 Yellow Tao, +1 Blue Tao, 58 defeated = Curse: Blank, +Qi, +Yin-Yang;
Yin-Yang Pavilion: 33 to Green Right, Move to Cemetery;
Pick up 3 Power Tokens.

 Current Inventory:  3   3   3   3   3   YRKKK

Turn 11, Yin
Curse: Haunt Tile (Reroll) Lose All Tao;
8 (Hopping Vampire) to Yellow Middle.

Turn 11, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Yellow Tao;
Move to Sorcerer;
Sorcerer's Hut Help: -1 Qi, 33 destroyed.

 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   2   K

Turn 12, Yin:
Advance Haunter 8;
49 (Grave Walker) to Green Center;
-1 Qi.

Turn 12, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Black Tao;
Move to Altar;
Exorcise 49 - Roll: YWK, 49 defeated = +1 Qi.

 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   1   YK

Turn 13, Yin:
Advance Haunter 8: Haunted Pavilion of the Heavenly Wind;
19 (Ooze Devil) to Blue Center.

Turn 13, Yang:
Power Token Yellow: +Yellow Tao;
Move to Pavilion;
Exorcise Yellow: RBK (Reroll All) RBK, failure.

 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   0   YYK

Turn 14, Yin:
Advance Haunter 8;
Advance Haunter 19;
23 (Creeping One) to Green Center.

Turn 14, Yang:
Exorcise 8 - Roll: WRB (Reroll RB) WWK +Yellow Tao, 8 defeated.

 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   0   YK

Turn 15, Yin:
Advance Haunter 19: Haunted Tea House;
Advance Haunter 23;
5 (Restless Dead) to Yellow Middle.

Turn 15, Yang:
Move to Altar;
Exorcise 23 - Roll: GGB, 23 defeated.

 Current Inventory:  2   3   3   3   0   YK

Turn 16, Yin:
Advance Haunter 5;
Advance Haunter 19;
12 (Drowned Maiden) to Blue Left.

And a loss no matter what I do.

This definitely went downhill turn 11. I could have waited a turn on Hope Killer to use the Sorcerer on Great Putrid first, but I was counting on my reroll ability to keep away the worst possibilities for the curse die... I just happened to roll one and then reroll into the other (1/9 shot). The loss of all those Tao tokens hurt, but to follow that up with 6 haunters in a row? I don't think the Tao would have saved me after that, though I would have made more of an effort to put haunters together on corners to try for a double exorcism if I'd had tao to play with. The double failure on turn 13 was just the icing on the haunting frenzy.

Thread: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Revenge Of Lord Zedd:: General:: Looking to Buy

Warrior DVD — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:54:39 +0000

by Warrior DVD

I'm very interested in purchasing a copy of this game.
If your willing sell me a copy, please contact me.
Thank you.

Thread: Dominion:: Variants:: Star Wars Dominion

badgermaniac — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:53:16 +0000

by badgermaniac

I recently created a set of Star Wars Dominion Cards. They are nearly word for word from the base set, so there should be no need to playtest or reword or anything. The cards have simply been rethemed into the Star Wars universe. I was hoping to get these printed for personal use, but with nearly 500 cards needed, I figured it was going to cost between $60-$90, which is just not going to happen. Maybe I will print them on cardstock or something. Who knows. Anyway, I would like to share them but first want to find out if I am able to due to copyright issues. Obviously, the images used are from the actual films, but since I am not selling them or anything, can I post them?

Thread: Sanitarium:: Rules:: when Actions are Events and when the game never ends

dumarest123 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:40:49 +0000

by dumarest123

on all of the Reference cards and in the rules under Disbelieve - the rules state you can discard Items and Actions. however they should read Items and Events, yes?

secondly the rules state the game ends if there is no discard pile to become a new draw deck. however, the Reference cards under Item/Event limit state if you have more than the 5 Unprotected Items and, during search you find a new one you can discard it. what is to prevent a player or players from continually drawing/discarding cards to keep the discard deck cycling?

and maybe i am missing something but ...

in playing a solo game, giving each of my characters a Straightjacket card seemed to quickly defeat the threat of any Shadows, especially since when i first place a new card i can look at it. so when those cards came up i placed them very close to my 2 characters and had them do a Search action to collect each, negating the Shadow/Hallucination threat and then i simply picked up enough Item and Event cards to make up for the Safe items i had not yet found and won the game

Thread: 7 Wonders: Catan Island:: General:: Available at BGG Store Again

bdonchen — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:40:26 +0000

by bdonchen

http://store.boardgamegeek.com/component/virtuemart/?page=sh...

It's Back!

Session: The Guns of August:: Schlieffen Plan November 1914 Central Powers turn

fangotango — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:36:04 +0000

by fangotango

Part Seven of "The Schlieffen Plan" series.

Weather: West Clear, East Clear!

Central Powers Turn

It's clear weather on the East Front this turn, just before winter sets in. We shall see if the extra mobility increases the action. The Central Powers have a few ideas along those lines, and will be making attacks on all three fronts.

On the West Front, the French took a beating when they made a seemingly desperate attempt to take Metz. Losing three units and having a fourth get demoralized has left only two infantry and one artillery defending two hexes. The French do have three hexes around Strasbourg, but one of them is one of the aforementioned hexes with a single defender. Since I'm dying to use my 3-1-1 siege artillery unit more than once this game, I'm keen to make a serious push on Verdun. And, it just so happens that the hexes I need are all weakly defended. So the movement phase will be shuffling units to get properly deployed for those attacks. Once that is figured out, other attacks will only be planned if there seem to be enough units available. I doubt it, since I want to make sure to capture those three hexes: K12, M13, N14. Also, the French line has started to solidify. Hopefully this doesn't mean we're going to get bogged down.

The funny thing is, the German strategy of drawing the French to attacking in the south was in order to weaken the north. This succeeded, but the Germans were thwarted from taking advantage when the British landed on a beach I forgot to defend immediately behind my line. This bought a turn and the French line is back up. However, the French offensive in the south has weakened the French line south of Verdun. Verdun has always been a prime target, so I may as well take advantage now.

]]>

In the East, "The Rift" opened by the Russians is becoming a big nuisance, to say the least, and seems to have the highest concentration of Russian units. "The Rift" is now four hexes wide, and while the units that have broken through are pretty thin on the ground, the loose net I've been able to place around it is, well, very loose, and also thin on the ground. Considering it is composed of Austrian 2-4-3 infantry, it is thinner than the Russians. Further, there seem to be a lot of Russians at the mouth of it ready to rush through. If I don't do something, that will turn into a big problem, especially with the clear weather movement rates.

The Germans have put the vast majority of their replacements on the Eastern front, as well as shifting some units from the West by converting them into two lesser units. Once I am able to pry my eyes away from the hole the Russians have rent in the German lines in Poland, I notice that there are only two Russian units defending 4 hexes right next to "The Rift". A few quick calculations tells me those Russian units will soon be toast, and then there will suddenly be a 4-hex wide hole in the Russian line! How about that!

I don't imagine it will take much time for them to fill it, especially as they have another 12 infantry and cavalry corps arriving as reinforcements in addition to their replacements, but at least it's a step in the right direction, and they will be forced to respond.

At the same time, I notice a hex near Danzig defended by a lone 3-3-4 Russian cavalry. That's practically like an undefended hex, and if I can advance into it in strength, I have a chance to cut the depth of the breakthrough in half.

The Russians are pressing the Austrians, but again the cities are not in imminent danger. Once again, there are a few holes through which I can move Austrian units to cause supply problems for the Russians near Cracow, and stacks of defenders around Lemberg are starting to get to their three unit maximums. The Russians keep inching around the southern tip of the front, but the Austrians are able to respond each time to block them from getting around just using movement.

]]>

In Serbia, just when it looked like the Austrians were about to go from being the hunters to the hunted, one joint attack by the Serbians and Montenegrins put the allies' fortunes back another few turns. The area is once again wide open for the Austrian cavalry to harry the Serbian infantry, and try to drive them back some more.

]]>

Movement Phase

In the west the Germans decide to focus their attacks on the three hexes near Verdun. It doesn't look like strong attacks can be made elsewhere along the line with the available units. Given that the East Front is sucking up the replacements, I cannot afford to risk messy attacks that are the fastest way to destroy your own army.

The line to the south of Strasbourg is not reinforced, and the hexes are defended by only one unit each. I continue to tempt the French to keep attacking what I consider useless hexes. It has worked so far, and almost paid off in the north (except for my dumb mistake and the British being alert enough to exploit it), and seems to be paying dividends in my drive on Verdun.

]]>

In the East, the isolated units in the center of the line are ordered to go deeper into enemy territory rather than being brought back. I virtually surround the two lone Russian corps that are defending a long stretch of territory, and position my units to eliminate them, hopefully leaving no defenders over a 4 hex swath of the Russian line.

Units are also positioned for an attack on the Danzig side of "The Rift", which, together with the "net" finally closing in will reduce the penetration of "The Rift" considerably.

The Austrians shuffle units around to keep some pressure on the Russian supply lines, and adjust to the Russian encircling movement.

]]>

In Serbia, with the misfortunes suffered by the enemy, the Austrians are reinvigorated. Not only do the cavalry continue with their encircling maneuvers, but with the clear weather (which helps the isolated 2-2-4 open up its own supply path and have time to move back to the action), the artillery are in range to make an attack on the forward most Serbian infantry corps. If we take him out, that's another two turns of replacements for the Serbians.

]]>

Combat Phase

In France, things go almost perfectly. All hexes are won with four DE results and one BD result. The Germans lose only a single 5-7-4, while the French lose 14 infantry factors and a 3-3-3 artillery unit. Germany also gets to salvage an artillery replacement point for themselves from what's left of the French artillery unit.

]]>

The Germans do well with their three attacks against the Russians. All three hexes are won, with losses only from one DX. At least more Russian factors were lost than German overall. There is now a 3-hex wide breach in the Russians' line for once, and "The Rift" has grown smaller, with far less breakthrough penetration. The Russians will once again face supply issues, this time faced with heavier German stacks on the Danzig side, and two layers of ZOCs to remove on the Breslau side.

The Austrians make no attacks on their own against the Russians, since the Russian stacks are too big for them to have any hope of success without risking the integrity of their defense.

]]>

The one attack against the Serbians at 3:1 odds +1 DRM for the artillery and the attack in the clear terrain comes up with DE result as well. The Serbians are now back on the defensive again. Hopefully delaying the Austrian artillery units' departure for the Russian Front will not come back to haunt me. Given that the next three months will be snow in the East, it will take the artillery units four full turns to make it to the front line. And that's only if the front line is one hex from a railway line!

]]>

All in all, the Central Powers are feeling very confidant at the moment. "The Rift" is being controlled, and has now been matched with one for the Russians in return. The Germans have three hexes threatening Verdun, and are looking to bring their siege artillery into action against its fortress. The Serbians have been dealt another blow, and the cities of Konigsberg and Lemberg seem to be well protected at the moment.

What could go wrong?

Review: Julius Caesar:: JC Components

Gstealer — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:35:39 +0000

by Gstealer

So I ordered Julius Caesar on tuesday and received the game today through the 99 cent special deal Columbia Games is currently offering.

This is a review for the components only.

I'll be rating using a Good - Acceptable - Poor system and giving details.

Rules - Eight pages of color rules. They are ACCEPTABLE in terms of production quality. Without playing a game yet I would rate the rules GOOD in terms of teaching the game.

Dice - four six-sided, plastic, rounded edges. GOOD

Blocks - wooden, very nice. GOOD

Stickers - nice color and artwork. Had a few that were stuck and needed scissors to separate. Took about 10 minutes to get them all put on. GOOD.

Map - the map is great looking but way to thin. I read about this and it was really disappointing to see it. Playability and look on the table is beautiful. GOOD In terms of durability though it looks, and I hate to say it, cheap. POOR

Overall I have mixed emotions on the components. $64 would seem like a great deal if the map were a bit more sturdy. As it is now I feel like it might be priced a bit high, but if the game itself turns out to be good it would still be worth the price.

I hope to play the game to death over the next four weeks before I have to decide to send it back. I'll be posting session reports as I go.

Thread: Eclipse:: Rules:: swapping out the drive when upgrading

fsiefken — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:34:25 +0000

by fsiefken

I wondered if it was allowed to do the following:
* move you ships to another system with enemy ships
* ugrade and replace the motor for a cannon as ship isn't going anywhere during combat if it's not planning to flee.

Review: Pirate Dice: Voyage on the Rolling Seas:: A short review

cypar7 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:29:50 +0000

by cypar7

Disclaimer:
I’ve gamed with Clint and enjoyed each game we’ve played together.

Review:
I’ll assume that the instructions have been read and will not cover the basics of the game. I normally don’t review a game after just one play, but our one play was a bit long (okay very long). But when playing with a teenager and his little brother I have come to expect games to take longer than average. Each time the kids rolled an Anchor or a Barrel they placed it.

When reviewing a game I like to compare and contrast to a game which was published previously. Pirate Dice is an action programming game much like Himalaya, Roborally, The Great Space Race, and Dungeon Lords.

The difference between Pirate Dice and the others is the dice. Himalaya is a programming game which also allows players to determine their own fate with no luck involved. Roborally and the Great Space Race have cards dealt to you which you place to program actions. Roborally’s cards are determined by the number of hits your robot has taken and The Great Space Race determines cards dealt by your speed of your ship. Dungeon Lord’s cards are determined by the card’s you’ve placed. Pirate Dice’s actions are determined by the dice. Players can keep as many or as few as you’d like with a minimum of one kept. This is the aspect which I like. I like being the master of my own fate. I roll the dice and I know it is my fault I can only turn right, not the deck’s fault. If I don’t like what I roll then just anchor one of the dice and roll the rest again. This ability to try again for something desirable decreased the time required to play because the ships are maneuverable (unless Barrel are Anchors are played on you, but that is interaction and everybody likes that).

The games Roborally and the Great Space Race have the same objective, either complete the race or destroy the other ships/robots. And they are the same in the programming aspect. Players make choices without knowing what choices the others are making. If you like that sort of game and need one which can normally finish in under an hour then this may be for you.

Summary:
Someone in the group should own this, but it doesn’t need to be you and you should suggest playing it. (In my group, I’ll be the one to own it.)

Thread: Star Trek: Fleet Captains:: General:: Fleet Captains Repackaging

elitusprime — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:15:13 +0000

by elitusprime

Thanks to everyone who has posted their repackaging pics. It helped me a ton. Here's what I came up with:

First thing, the paper thin Locations Deck desperately needed attention. I took them down to Office Depot and had them laminate them with 10mil. Cost was about $30.

]]>

Office Depot also had a self serve guillotine paper cutter that I used to cut them out. The middle cut, in the picture below, is import to get spaced correctly. Obviously we want these to be as uniform as possible and if you cut too close to the card, it will result in that point of the hex being flat instead of pointed.

]]>

Next I cut out each card into a square, then I started trimming. This was the part that I was fearing the most.

]]>

I imagine the details are going to vary depending on what cutter you are using, but I managed to figure out the spacing after a few cards. Just go slow and start with some Empty Space cards rather than your Black Hole

I sleeved up the command cards with FFG sleeves. Blue for the Federation and red for the Klingons. I stored them in two FFG hard plastic deck boxes. My FLGS was out of red, so I went with a black box for the Klingons. I'll replace it with red someday.

]]>

I sleeved the mission cards with green Dragon Shield sleeves. The encounter cards got purple Ultra-Pro sleeves and the ship cards got black Ultra-Pro. I stored them all in a Ultra-Pro Pro-Dual Deck Box. This box comes with two dividers, which is perfect for separating the science, influence & combat mission cards.

]]>

Last was the surgery on the box. I cut out all of the card slots, leaving only the slot for the tokens. Everything fits together pretty well.

]]>

Thread: Borderlands:: General:: Five-Player and Six-Player Maps --- How do they play?

swandive78 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:07:23 +0000

by swandive78

I am impressed by the five-player and six-player maps created by BGG users. However, has anyone played with them? How does the increased size and number of players change playing time and quality?

Thread: 51st State:: General:: [POLL] What faction is your favorite to play?

Nap16 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:06:54 +0000

by Nap16

[poll=96059]

Thread: Bridge:: General:: Seeking advice about trick-taking games

reviewboy — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 23:04:06 +0000

by reviewboy

I apologize that this is not specifically a post about bridge, but I don't know of a way of posting a general card game question in BGG.

I'm interested in taking up a trick-taking card game and I'm looking for advice.

In the distant past, I've play Pitch and Hearts, and bridge-playing friends have given me an overview of bridge, although I have never played it.

What I'm looking for is not a description of rules or mechanics of trick-taking games, but rather: What types of people are attracted to the various types of trick-taking games. For example, which games are simple, complex, which appeal to competitive people, which are social games, etc.

I'm looking for a game that is social and which is more complicated than Pitch but not as complicated as bridge.

I would prefer a game that does encourage cut-through tactics, if that makes sense.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions!

Thread: Agricola:: General:: Would anyone be up for a series of 4p games on Boite_a_Jeux?

thatnerd — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 22:51:51 +0000

by thatnerd

What I would like to do is organize a series of half a dozen or so games with the same opponents. I would ask that whoever agrees to play will take notes on their thought process and move selections. I would like to explore strategy with a regular group of competitive players.

I am deep into my second game with MisterG, Zass, and Roja with a similar format.

Anyone up for deep nerdery?

Thread: Runebound (second edition):: Variants:: Faster Experience Levelling

eugelonely — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 22:34:03 +0000

by eugelonely

This variant promotes faster levelling.

In this variant, the cost to
purchase an experience counter equals the number of experience
counters on a single statistic (mind,body,spirit,fatigue,health) the Hero already has plus one.
For example, a player can pay for his Hero’s first experience
counter for just one experience point, the second experience
counter for two experience points, the third experience counter
for three experience. Any other level up after that will always cost a maximum of 4 exp.

EXAMPLE: Varikas The Undead has purchased 2 mind stat. power ups for a total cost of 3 exp ( 1 exp for the first and 2 for the second ). No other stat. has yet been increased except mind. On his next level up he can increase again for 1 exp. any other basic stat (body,spirit,fatigue,health), or mind for a third time paying three exp.

Thread: The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game:: Rules:: wolf rider shadow effect

Reager — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 22:29:02 +0000

by Reager

can A Light in the Dark (Core) be used against a Wolf Rider (Core) that came out as shadow card before his attack is resolved?
To make it clearer, I deal shadow cards, Wolf rider comes out as a shoadow card so he gets to attack you and gets a shadow card, I use a light in the dark to put him in the staging area and thus he doesn't attack and his shadow card gets discarded.
If this is legit, would he still go on top on the encounter deck after the combat phase? If this is not legit then you can't use Feint (Core) either to prevent him from attacking?

Thread: Locke & Key: The Game:: Rules:: Omega key and face up 2 random card stealing card.

Skullimari — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 22:19:58 +0000

by Skullimari

The Omega Key adds difficulty to challenge for any off color cards played that round and if the challenge is failed you Score it. Do you Score the total of all off color strength cards as well , or just the original Challenge card face value.?

Exact phrasing Omega Key

" You may reveal this key on your turn. If you do all Strength cards that don"t match the challenge add their value to the difficulty If this challenge is failed, you score it."

Now this strength card 2 "If this is the only card you play on this white challenge you may play if face up. If you do,steal a random strength card a foe has played and add it to your play"

Does this steal only apply to cards played by player before the person that played it, or is it one of any plays that is played that turn.

Review: Core Worlds:: Core Worlds: Intergalactic Deck Building!

KingKel — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 22:05:15 +0000

by KingKel

This review originally posted on BOP! Visit www.boardofplaying.com for more reviews like this one! Happy Gaming!

Details
Players: 2-5 (probably best with 3)
Actual Length: 60 to 90 minutes
Age: 10+

We’ve recently had the chance to play Core Worlds here on BOP and we’re now ready to give you the low down on this deck-building game of intergalactic conquest!

Like most deck building games, you can expect cards with a small amount of text you’ll need to read and become familiar with. And of course based off your choices throughout the course of the game, developing a deck of cards that outwits your opponents is way to win; very much like Dominion, Ascension, Race for the Galaxy, Magic: The Gathering and so on.

You start with a personal game matte that keeps track of your actions and energy level. Over the course of ten rounds your action level increases as well as your energy (hopefully!) which allows for bigger and better things to do. Each player starts as a faction with a base deck of mostly identical cards, as well as a few slightly different starting cards with varied special abilities. Some factions special starting cards are arguably more powerful than others but I don’t necessarily think it’s to the point of a balance issue.

The symbols on the cards are easy enough to decipher and are important to pay attention to throughout the game.

A central part of the game is card drafting from the “Central Zone” of cards that come out over the progression of the game. The cards that you draft are composed of units, worlds, and tactics. Units being your military and are the basis for “invading” i.e. drafting additional cards. Worlds generate your energy allotment at the beginning of each round which can be thought of as ‘currency’ and is absolutely imperative for deploying units, playing tactics, and drafting awesome cards. Tactics are action cards that ironically don’t necessarily always cost an action to play, but give bonuses during invasions amongst other things.

A simple explanation of how Core Worlds plays is at the beginning of each round you draw cards, mark your appropriate number of actions based on the round, and calculate your current energy generation from your worlds (also adding any bonuses from cards and such). You take turns playing actions which include :
- Drafting a new unit card or tactic card from the central pool paying the appropriate energy cost and placing your newly recruited card into your discard pile for use later on.
- Deploying as many units as you want from you current hand into your Warzone around your player matte, paying the appropriate energy cost and # of actions for each unit.
- Using those deployed units and/or any tactics cards from your hand to invade Worlds (also paying any appropriate energy costs on your tactics cards). All units and tactics used in invasion are discarded (unless you have a card that allows you to retain any of these units).
- “As an action” cards are cards you can play and then immediately must discard but allow for some cool things. (i.e. ‘Advanced Drones’ allows you to draft 1 card from the central zone at a cost of -4 energy)
In most deck building games, a good idea is to try and thin out your deck by eliminating weaker cards allowing for high reuse of your stronger cards. This can be done after conquering a world, allowing you to tuck one of your played cards, such as a weak starting military unit, underneath it.

During the first nine rounds there is a nice plethora of cards that come out. As the game progresses worlds get harder to conquer and tactics and units get more difficult to draft. Of course the benefits of those cards also get greater. In the last round Prestige cards appear and their only function is to add victory points to your final tally.

Things I liked:
- I thought the difficulty of acquiring cards throughout the progression of the game was challenging enough but not impossible.
- The abilities on the cards were pretty cool.
- Re-playability will be very high if expansions are added, which in Core Worlds case, will be very easy to add expansions to. Even in the base set there is quite a bit of re-playability, especially if your playing with only 2-3 people, which means a great deal of the cards you won’t even see.
- Theme fits

Thing I didn’t like:
- The game seems to end relatively abruptly with little chances to use your really cool cards that you acquired towards the end of the game. Some may see this as positive because it can make decisions at end game harder, but for me, I really want to play with my new cool card at least a few times!

Final Thoughts
How does it compare to other deck building games? Race for the Galaxy for me was a bit abstract for my taste and after many plays I just couldn’t get into it. Additionally I felt the iconography was much too complex which really turned me off after playing it 3 or 4 times and still finding myself struggling over what the different symbols were (although Bopper Scott Linde thought differently, read his review!) Thunderstone is another deck building game that I felt “meh” about, although I really can’t tell you why. Eminent Domain, while kind of fun for awhile, turned out to be sort of light and forgettable (read review). Dominion is a gateway game that many hardcore gamers are “sooo over,” but I still play on a regular basis. It’s an easy game to teach newer gamers and I continue to enjoy it quite regularly with all levels of gamers.

So where does Core Worlds fall? Somewhere in between Dominion and Eminent Domain for me. I don’t like it nearly as much as Dominion but I don’t think it’s forgettable like Eminent Domain.

I’m not sure if we’ll be adding Core Worlds to the permanent BOP collection, but I wouldn’t mind playing it with other gamers who own it whenever the opportunity arises.

Thread: Steam: Map Expansion #1:: Rules:: Brussels metro map setup - good cubes

tmgd — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:59:46 +0000

by tmgd

Hi,

Just to make sure, in the Brussels metro map, we start the game putting 2 goods in each one of the 5 City Hexes and a total of 6 goods in the 4 Town Hexes with numbers, that means, 16 goods at the board at the start of the game. Is this correct?

The map is here: ]]>

Thanks.

Session: Festung Budapest:: FB2 The Devil's Free to Have a Try

Rindis — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:58:11 +0000

by Rindis

Patch was over again last Sunday for another FtF from Festung Budapest. He wanted to be the defender this time, so he took the Hungarians in FB2, "The Devil's Free to Have a Try". Since he doesn't have a copy of his own, and the board's not available on Vassal yet, that meant working out the entire defense after he got here in the morning.

This took a bit longer than he'd hoped (like me, he had a hard time coming up with what he wanted to do with certain elements of his setup, like the trenches), so we got a late start. At least we didn't have a lot of struggle with the EmRR rules this time to distract us.

While he worked on that, I finished grabbing things like my rules (okay, so I wasn't entirely ready either when he got here), continued work on Smudge's new system, and sorted out approximately what I wanted to do for the Russian entry (organized the stacks and stacks of infantry, mostly).

]]>Patch's defense had some familiar elements to it (like a pair of '?' stacks in G36 and G37). And some things that were expected: the MTR on the roof of A26, and the roadblock at H37/G38, and the wire lining the end of the tramway in the orchards.

My entry didn't go all that well. I wish I could remember how Patch managed his, because it's the same entry area as in FB1, but my right flank got pretty well shot up. Rolling a '12' on a MC to lose my 7-0 leader straight off the bat did not help. I also had a squad go berserk on the fifth roll of the game. At that point, there was only one place to go, L29, thirteen hexes distant. He let the squad go charging up the Varosmajor until they ran out of movement, and then coolly killed them with an adjacent squad in L34. In all, all that made it through on that side was a couple of squads, a pinned HS, and two of the SU-76s, one of which came under MTR fire. (Among the broken units was a second leader who wounded on another '12' in the next RPh.) And the SU-76 that was tasked with covering the south side had driven into AT-mines in H38, which, thankfully, failed to go off.

The left side starts out in the shadow of a block of buildings, so it entered in much better order. Following some of Patch's general plan from the first scenario, the troops entered, and mostly ducked into the block of buildings east of the entry area. It also saw my first, and quite possibly biggest, mistake. The OT-34 threaded it's way through the buildings and stopped between two of them, across the street from some '?'. As Patch helpfully pointed out later, it should have then fired the FT with minimal negative modifiers and tried to root out the defenders before they could fire without Motion penalties. But, I didn't think of that (I'm pretty sure I knew that the last time I had a FT-equipped tank...), and waited for the AFPh. As it turned out, this was the only PF check of the day.

In DFPh, Patch revealed a German squad there, pulled out a panzerfaust and burned the tank. They broke from the backblast, but they had more than done their duty.

Meanwhile, the two SU-76s assigned to that area took up relatively sheltered positions, and started shelling the Hungarians.

In general, my die luck was poor all day, being plagued with a high number of '12's, that mostly CRed squads (though, as mentioned before, it also cost me a leader and wounded another), and malfunctioned the gun on one of the SU-76s.

Patch did not suffer as many high rolls, but thanks to Ammo Shortage, he suffered more for them. The MTR went under a Low Ammo counter early, and eventually malfunctioned, two squads were replaced fairly late in the day, and I think a MG malfunctioned from it eventually.

A lot of the rest of the game (the three further turns we got that day) doesn't stand out as clearly (really should have written this sooner), but it was a slow grind forward for the Soviet, loosing troops at every opportunity, more due to CR on MCs than to actual KIA/K results.

The push on the right ran into a lot of trouble. The main idea was to grab the block of buildings near the edge of the board, and then proceed east along the cogwheel line towards the F31 area. A squad made it into the little block on the first turn, and I eliminated the Dummy unit there only to find it was sitting on top of mines. The mines broke the squad going in, and reduced them on the way out. I eventually took the other two buildings, but broke the remaining unit there, and Patch counter-attacked with a squad. Thankfully, one shot from the SU-76 still parked there sent them running back, but he had taken a building, and I had nothing left to take it back with.

The push along the cogwheel line took a bit longer to develop, thanks to the wire along the tram line. With a lack of other targets available from C38, where an SU-76 had originally parked, I decided to take a chance to push it forward onto the tram line to start taking more area under fire. A minor mistake was that I did this after successfully advancing infantry under the wire. The SU-76 got very lucky, clearing two hexes of wire as it moved.

A bigger mistake was forgetting that LOS traced down the length of the track doesn't get any benefits from the orchard. Naturally, the AT Gun was stationed in E30, and it had a clear shot down the track to burn the SU-76, and destroy the one that had malfed its MA, which had taken shelter at the end of the track. That was after taking out one that was still jammed between two buildings on the north side of the map. About the only thing I had going for me was a good amount of high-caliber gunnery, and I lost most of it in two fire phases.

On the north side, things generally went a bit better, though crossing from the initial block to the mixed stone/wooden block took some time with the amount of fire that Patch could put the street under. At the end of the day, I had forced him up onto the level 3 hill where he had a Trench (abandoned) and a squad in A30. The plan was to force him back some more, so I could spend more effort reducing and taking C30.

However, that entire area had been hampered by a lot of troops in a small area, and the attendant problems of shuffling them around. Between that, and the extra -1 vulnerability helping with breaks, the FT-squad never got into action either.

By the end of the day, gusts had started some fires in uncomfortable positions from the burning tanks, and I was down to a small number of effectives. Technically, the scenario had another three turns to run, but I was just out of steam nearly everywhere, with none of the six victory conditions achieved (two partially done, but no real hope of finishing them).

Things would have been quite different with the OT-34 still in action, though it wouldn't have prevented the right flank from getting reduced to nothing. Still better would have been remembering the automatic Smoke OBA mission provided. I pulled out the AR counters at the beginning of turn 2 as a reminder... and then promptly forgot until midway through movement. And I forgot again on turn 3. It wasn't until turn 4 that I got a SR down, and by that point, there wasn't much to help with. I needed it to shut down a lot of his central fire position as moved closer to it. And while I won't say I was actually 'diced', I will say that they certainly hurt. Not blithely wandering into every location Patch mined would have helped, though he was very smart on his deployments, and it would be hard to avoid.

Patch and I plan to continue playing our way through the FB scenarios, next time through Vassal, as FB3 is a night scenario, and they work much better on Vassal with the night-time shading to help remind you what's lit up, and the use of invisible (to the opponent) counters to make Cloaking much easier to track.

Thread: AtomPunk:: General:: So...this is a co-op?

gamer667788 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:56:47 +0000

by gamer667788

I fail to see why you wouldn't tell people your mission. Do some of them contradict others?

Thread: CITY Alarm:: Rules:: Money bundles to win.

Jighm — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:55:27 +0000

by Jighm

How many money bundles do you set to win the game? The rules say "all 10," but there are 12. I think that it's a good place to insert a handicap for the game, if necessary.

Thread: Hansa Teutonica:: General:: Alternative Maps

oeste — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:44:06 +0000

by oeste

I love HT, and I have now bought the East Expansion, and am looking forward to playing that new board. This did make me think of a question though. I was at a game gathering last night, talking about the multitude of Power Grid expansions. Many games with network and engine building, besides HT, will have several maps players can acquire, like Steam, or else they might have a variable setup, like The Settlers of Catan. Could any HT fans see this game being enhanced by additional boards being released, or perhaps by there being some fan made maps that players could download and print? I would be intrigued by the variety added, personally.

Thread: StarCraft: The Board Game:: Rules:: I don't understand how do I pay for workers if I don't have any workers at the start of the game?

MasterTK — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:44:06 +0000

by MasterTK

Maybe a very stupid questions, but I don't understand how the paying systems works. Yes, I know that it cost one crystal, but how do I pay it, if I don't have any workers?

Thread: Tour: Cycle Free:: General:: Announcing the 2012 Tour de France PBEM, with Geek Gold in Prizes, Sign Up Now!

John Weber — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:41:16 +0000

by John Weber

Cycling game fans of the Geek: This is to announce a PBEM Tour de France, using a Tour: Cycle Free “Quick Play Variant” where participants can take on the role of a “Director Sportif” of a real-life Tour de France team. Can you lead your team to victory and the coveted yellow jersey? As a little added incentive, there will be some Geek Gold on offer to the top five teams overall as well as to the top three finishers on each stage.

Rules governing the “Quick Play” variant (one move per stage) are posted here:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/779364/quick-play-variant-fo...

For the Tour, stage profiles will be posted in the coming weeks. It will be based on the route for the real-life 2012 Tour de France, which will include, as usual, key climbing stages in the Alps and Pyrenees, as well as three individual time trials, plus some flat and hilly intermediate stages – a opportunity for different types of riders to shine.

The order of team selection will be based on a first-come, first-served basis. Anyone who has signed up to participate in the prior “Quick Play” races will have priority. None other than Tour: Cycle Free game designer Luke Morris will have first pick. There are a total of 19 different squads to choose from: all 18 teams from the real-life Pro Tour plus a selection of European Continental tour “All Stars.” These are based on the actual strengths and weakness of the best cyclists in the 2012 Pro peleton. Luke has posted the cyclist cards (14 per team) here:

http://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/75697/complete-teams-for-2...

Each team manager will be able to select six squad members to form their team for the Tour. Two of the six will be named as GC contenders, who will compete for the yellow jersey (lowest elapsed time) to earn points for the team. These and the remaining four team members will be eligible to score stage victories and also to help out the GC contenders.

At this point the order of selection is:

1st pick: Luke Morris
2d pick: Keiron Peskett
3d pick: Rainer Pick
4th pick: Dennis Frank
5th pick: Ken Sheffield
6th pick: Luca Revello

This post will be updated as selections are made and others join in. I plan to participate but will make my team selection last. Remaining spots in the field will be filled by teams that will be controlled by a solitaire system. The deadline for signing up and naming your team will be Thursday, June 21st, and the first stage will start the following Monday, June 25th, a few days before the actual Tour to get started a bit early to get the kinks out. Although we may move slow for the first week or so, there will be deadlines for submitting moves; teams not submitting moves in a timely manner will revert to solitaire control, and solitaire-controlled teams will not be eligible to receive GG in prizes.

Anyone interested in some hands-on experience with the game system before the Tour gets underway is invited to participate in the a pre-Tour stage race, the Dauphine-Libere, which will be starting up next week. At this time, there are four teams still available.

To sign up, simply send me an email at jcw222@comcast.net or shoot me a GeekMail here at BGG. Also, feel free to contact me with questions. This should be a great way to follow this year's Tour de France. (And in this game, all carded 2012 riders -- including Alberto Contador -- will be eligible to participate.)

More details, including stage profiles, team rosters, and results (once they become available) will be included in subsequent posts in this thread.

Thread: Stock Car Championship Racing Card Game:: Rules:: How do you make up a lap?

blueshawk999 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:25:53 +0000

by blueshawk999

If you wind up a lap down, how do you get back on the lead lap?

Thread: Town Center:: Rules:: Concept 5: Money

nabla — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:25:13 +0000

by nabla

Fifth and last concept: Money

Money is not the aim of the game. Like in Puerto Rico, Age of Steam and many others, money is extremely important at many crucial moments of the game in Town Center.

Let’s see how to earn money first, and then how to spend it. As with the previous concepts, this last concept applies to all three games of the trilogy.

First of all, players automatically earn a small salary each round, regardless of what they've accomplished. This is a way to unblock players when they run out of money in the very early rounds of the game.

Cash can also be earned from parking lots.
Building black cubes on the ground floor is a very easy and fast way to earn money, but should be approached with caution since players won’t be allowed to build upon black cubes during the next rounds of the game (except for one black cube which will become the base of the player's elevator tower).

]]>

The black cube earns $2 since it has 2 neighbors. But the player won’t be allowed to build upon it (except black cubes). It could be a very profitable place, though, since this black cube may have 4 neighbors.

]]>

A classic two-cube electrified shop which earns $1+$2+$1 each turn.

Money can be spent throughout the course of the game. Office cubes cost $5. Remember that offices are useful to develop the apartments that generate victory points at the end of the game. Elevators and generators may be purchased during the income phase.

Their prices become more and more expensive as the game progresses. As they are very useful and sometimes scarce during the acquisition phase, paying for one of them could allow a player to escape from a bad situation.

But saving your money is also a good idea, since each $5 is worth 1 victory point at the end of the game and ties are broken with the remaining money.

The ways to earn money, to spend it and to score with it, unify the three games even if some of the particular details differ.

This concept will be more developped in the last game of the serie since it is the bigger one...

Thread: Dog Fight: Starship Edition:: General:: Eclectic or Combo deck?

charlestonjames — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:22:27 +0000

by charlestonjames

In an earlier thread a question was raised about Epic cards. A side issue also addressed in that thread mentioned what was termed "gimmick builds".

Apart from the Epic cards issue, (and if you'd like to chime in on that discussion, please feel free to do so) there is the question about building a combo deck vs. building what might be called an eclectic deck. In this sense, eclectic simply means a deck designed to stand its ground successfully against any situation and any other player.

In currently popular customizable card games you'll find a LOT of combo-based deck designs. This is not to say simply having a particularly powerful card combination as an option. In this sense, the combo deck treats that combo as almost the only option. Essentially, the deck is built around playing that combo successfully or bust. The eclectic deck, on the other hand, tends to work slower than a combo deck and may or may not be able to withstand a particular combo from a faster deck. Of course, a deck could combine both approaches or do something completely different.

What say you about an eclectic or combo deck, or something else? And why?

Thread: Monolith: the Strategy Game:: General:: Monolith is live on Kickstarter

dcall — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:21:28 +0000

by dcall

Monolith is now live on Kickstarter and I was the first backer. Yeah!!

Thread: 7 Wonders:: General:: New edition coins

Rust00 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 21:20:50 +0000

by Rust00

Hello fellow geeks
Wanted to know your knowledge and thoughts about the possibility of getting the new edition coins for my 1st printing 7 wonders with the wooden coins I like them better, any ideas to whom I could write and who could send me a pack for free or for a small fee?

Thank you in advance.

RZ

Thread: City of Guilds: The Dice Game:: Rules:: Meeple Movement & Dice Rolling Questions

ciggie — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 20:47:32 +0000

by ciggie

Just got my PnP copy from Print & Play Productions and had a question about the meeples. Many of the actions require a meeple to be on one of the cards in order to perform that action but the rules state that there is no cost to move the meeple and that action is unlimited so I can move the meeple wherever I want for free at any time.

Since the meeple doesn't factor in to end game scoring I am assuming the travel is a little bit more restricted than how I am interpreting from the rules. Perhaps the meeple can only travel once before a dice action has to be taken and then another travel action can be taken? That way the meeple can only move one space at a time as opposed to unlimited between dice actions?

Also with the dice rolling are you only permitted to roll the dice two times or can you roll them up to 5 times (keeping at least 1 die with each roll)?

Thread: Tumblin-Dice:: General:: Missing post

Thelonious77 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 20:43:17 +0000

by Thelonious77

I seem to be missing one of the posts on the end of the Tumblin dice board. This is probably from carrying it around to different events.

I contacted the company to see if I can get a replacement but the haven't responded. If I am correct, this may be out of print?

In any case I forget if this came with a spare piece? If it did, I don't have it anymore. If it did, would anyone be able to spare their spare?

Thanks!

Thread: Axis & Allies Europe 1940:: Rules:: AA gun fire under the Alpha 3 rules

Jan van der Laan — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 20:24:27 +0000

by Jan van der Laan

I am confused about the AA gun fire rule under the latest Alpha 3 ruleset. This confusion can be caused due to my poor knowledge of the English language (which is not my mother tongue). The rule is worded as follows: Each AA gun in the territory may fire up to three times, but only once per attacking air unit. In other words, the total number of air defense dice rolled is three times the number of AA guns, or the number of attacking air units, whichever is the lesser.

Suppose an area containing 3 AA guns is attacked by 5 aircraft. The sentence: Each AA gun in the territory may fire up to three times, but only once per attacking air unit. makes me suppose that AA gun 1 fires 5 times (the amount of attacking aircraft), AA gun 2 fires 5 times and AA gun 3 fires 5 times (totalling 15 dice and hitting on 1's).

The sentence: In other words, the total number of air defense dice rolled is three times the number of AA guns, or the number of attacking air units, whichever is the lesser. implies a throw of just 5 dice (according to the whichever is the lesser part of the sentence).

What is the right explanation of the rule?

Thread: Battle Masters:: General:: The 59 cards

tazorii — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 20:18:59 +0000

by tazorii

Dear BoardGameGeeks, new to this forum I wish to say hello to you all and hope that I can help some of you in the future.

But first I need some help with the following.

I have just picked up a incomplete BATTLE MASTERS game and need to know how many of each of the 59 battle cards there are.

I have an extra few from another set but cannot find anywhere the complete list. Hope that this makes sense and that somebody can help.

Away we go....

Graham

Thread: 1914: Twilight in the East:: General:: Seeking PBEM Opponent

GamerKnight624 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 20:13:31 +0000

by GamerKnight624

I am looking for someone who is interested in playing via VASSAL. I would like to start with the introductory Masurian Lakes scenario and then try one the larger scenarios. I have no preference with regards to which side to play.

Thread: Footy Manager:: Rules:: World ranking never changes?

Gelo88 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 20:10:52 +0000

by Gelo88

Hi, i would ask if the world ranking is always the same. For exemple, Catalonia is always at numer 1 also after two relegations? And Bucharest is always 31 (if i remeber well) also after two promotions?

Thread: Age of Napoleon:: Rules:: Understanding Insurrection

Gammer — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 20:05:27 +0000

by Gammer

Please help me understand the effect of insurrection of minor countries. Let me use the example of the French Dominion of Italia occupied by Messena's corps. In 1805 the coalition player plays an insurrection card on Italia. We place a insurrection marker permentally on the Italia area. Italia is occupied by only Messena thus the insurrection fails and Italia remains a French Dominion. In 1806 the French recruit Eugene's corps and place it in Italia under Messena. During the 1806 Campaign phase Messena and Eugene corps leave the Italia area. During the 1806 Insurrection Phase, does Italia change its alignment from French Dominion to Coalition because there is no French unit occuping it?

Thread: Twilight Imperium (third edition):: General:: TI3 Storage (pimped out)

atraangelis — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 19:51:48 +0000

by atraangelis

Hello TI community,

Just wanted to share my storage for my TI3 game and how i have it organized.
I created a custom insert 3/4 of an inch hihger to raise the box lid.

I then created custom holders for all cards , systems and Strategy cards

The fastest helper of setup is the racial boxes. they contain every technology, diplomat, leader , Flagship, and home planet for each race in one storage solution. So when a player chose a race he takes the appropriate box for that race containing all the necessary player items.

Thread: Days of Steam:: Rules:: Speeding around multiple curves

rogerramjet3361 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 19:49:49 +0000

by rogerramjet3361

What happens if a player moves 6 spaces and crosses 3 curves? Does he simply roll the speed die one time, or how does this work?

Thread: Fortune and Glory: The Cliffhanger Game:: Rules:: Can I use dynamite

Time 2 Roll — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 19:17:06 +0000

by Time 2 Roll

If I drew a Nazi enemy card as a result of the bar fight cliffhanger, can I use the card dynamite on those Nazis?

Thread: DungeonQuest:: Rules:: Tower Rooms

zombiegod — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 19:15:38 +0000

by zombiegod

Is it allowable for a player to block others from entering a Tower, by remaining there until the penultimate round?

We have had a few games where a player camps in there, in effect blocking off the escape for any other players wishing to exit the dungeon via that particular tower.

Now, the rulebook states the tower rooms should be treat like corridors, in as much as you immediately move again, so maybe pausing on a tower isn't allowable?

Any thoughts,
Rob

Thread: DungeonQuest:: Rules:: Cave In Room. Searchable?

zombiegod — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 19:12:21 +0000

by zombiegod

Is the Cave in Room searchable? Or is the only option retreat, or try and roll less than your Agility?

Session: Wings of Glory: WW1 Special Packs:: Over the Piave - Miles Gloriosus, Rome 1st of June 2012

angiolillo — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:52:41 +0000

by angiolillo

I opened my Caproni packs for the first time at the Miles Gloriosus, a famed Roman wargame club where several fond wargamers gather. A real wargamer's paradise. Some of the players were novices of the game, some veterans from a long Wings of War campaign held last year.

For novices' sake, Wings of Glory's standard rules were in use, with the difference that models had to be reached by the ruler to be hit instead than bases. Multiple hits on crew optional rule in use. Explosions were considered half the value of the plane (as an example, for an Albatros capable of bearing 15 points of damage an explosion was worth 8 damages).

12 victory points for every enemy fighter eliminated (shot down or gone out of the gaming field), 20 for each Caproni eliminated, 6 to Italians for each target fully hit, 3 for each target partially hit. Italians could exit from their own side without pemalty after the bombing.

The battle was held on three game mats, one besides the other. Four targets were scattered on one of them, in Austrian territory. Three German D.Va and two Austrian D.III were lined in defence between this and the central mat. At the opposite side of the third mat, two Caproni were placed each with two loads of bombs. An escort of two SPAD XIII and two Camel was with them.

]]>

Italian and British fighters went on toward the enemy fighters, with the Caproni coming slowly behind. Big clash at the center of the table, then the Austro-German were on the Caproni and under the fire of their frontal single machineguns: both Baracca and Jentsch were very soon wounded and on fire, while the huge bombers suffered much lead without apparent damage. But both the pilots survived and kept on fighting.

]]>

While the battle attracted new planes, a D.Va on the German side and a Camel on the Allied one (late players), most of the Germans went on quite behind Italian lines, soon reached by most of the escort. In the meantime, the Caproni split and went on against the two nearest targets. Two or three Albatros were still on them, with the Caproni gunners furiously defending the bombers against the twin machineguns of the fighters. While the first Albatros went down to the ground, the camouflaged Caproni (mine) tried to drop his first load of bombs. With more than some luck, it perfectly hit a bridge (it is easy to design bomnbing rules when you are at your desk, far harder to apply them successfully on the battlefield!).

]]>

The white Caproni did the same on his first target, but for a matter of very few millimeters (very few meters in 1:144 scale) it missed the center of the target and scored a partial hit. At the next movement phase, while the camouflaged Caproni turned against his second target, the white one dropped his second load too on the same target, scoring a second partial hit and so totally silencing the target.

The dogfight still raged, other planes with black crosses went down to the ground thanks both to the escort and to the unresting bombers gunners. While the white Caproni started to turn toward the home airfield, the quite damaged green one tried to do his best to fend the attacks of Udet's D.Va and to fly over the second target (hard to do a sideslip when you have to build it with two turns and a stall or straight...). But it went over it too on the right side. It dropped the bombs anyway with a partial hit, deciding that there was no time to try a second bomb run or to attack the fourth target, and then turned toward the homeland on the path of the white colleague. But Udet was still on his tail and managed to set the bomber on fire, while keeping it under the aim of his twin machineguns.

]]>

In the end Udet was shot down by the crossfire of Baracca's SPAD and the Caproni rear gunner, while the other last German planes was centred by the other Caproni's front gunner. The sky was cleared.

]]>

The green Gaproni had already suffered 22 points of damage, out of the 25 it could stand. No enemy was on the table any more. My poor bomber just had to draw a last A card from fire damage at the start of the next turn before the flames would be extinguished. Done and... a 4! Among the cries of joy of the Austrian troops on the ground, the green giant went down and become a smoking wreck on the Piave river's banks.

In the end: all German/Austrian planes destroyed, a SPAD and a Caproni lost by the Allied, two targets fully destroyed (one with a full center and one with two partial hits), a third target partially hit and the fourth target undamaged.
Great fun, if I may say it.

Thread: Empires of the Void:: Rules:: Neutral Ships

Donegal — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:50:10 +0000

by Donegal

Are neutral ships recruited in its natal world or in the home world of the player? I,m pretty sure that in the home world but it seems a bit unlogical

Thread: Corps Command: Dawn's Early Light:: Rules:: Reinforcements and Stacks

BrooklynMike — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:49:14 +0000

by BrooklynMike

We had our first face to face game of DEL today, really awesome. We got through 2 days of the first scenario. A few questions arose:

1) Say you get botched orders that don't allow Americans to activate and this is a turn American reinforcements arrive ... we assumed the reinforcements have to wait until next turn when (presumably) the Americans can activate. Is that correct?

1a) Same situation can apply when an asset chit is played ... say the Americans can't activate and it is time for the ACR to arrive because of asset chit play. We assume they have to wait until their formation can be activated.

2) Re-ordering stacks: Say three units in a stack all activate and attack. Can you then re-order that stack, say, to put an armor unit on top to avoid allowing Superior Arms? OR does activating consume those units opportunity to re-order?

Thanks.

Thread: World War II: Barbarossa to Berlin:: Strategy:: Stuck in North Africa

drmark64 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:39:38 +0000

by drmark64

So how do I get those British armies (LCU) out of North Africa after the Germans leave?

Thread: 1989: Dawn of Freedom:: Rules:: Perestroika + Tiananmen

Percy0715 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:26:11 +0000

by Percy0715

Question just came up: Communist has students dispersed modifier and Perestroika has been played this turn. If Commie plays a card with printed value of 1 OPS, what is the order of modifiers?

- Tiananmen then Perestroika for +1, +1 = 3 OPS
- or, Perestroika first, then Tiananmen cannot apply, for +1 = 2 OPS?

Thanks

Thread: Advanced Squad Leader:: General:: How much is this worth?

RecognizerHD — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:17:32 +0000

by RecognizerHD

I'm looking to sell my ASL collection as I just never had the time to get into it. I wish I could sell it seperately, but I had purchased this years ago used and everything has been punched out and there might have been some mixing. I don't think so, but I wouldn't know what goes with what anyway.

I'm currently just looking to get an idea of what the value of this is. I had purchased the collection for about $500 before shipping over 10 years ago. Just wondering if it's worth about the same or more, now. (or less)

As for editions, I'd imagine everything is first edition. Some boxes are a little worn, and while I don't think anything's missing, there is the possibility that there are a few pieces missing.

The list:
2 copies of Squad Leader
Cross of Iron
Panzer Leader
ASL modules 1-10
Deluxe ASL 1 & 2
ASL Historical modules 1 & 2.
3 Rulebooks.

I think there's also some other scenarios, but I can't confirm this.

An image to let you correct me in case anything is incorrect
]]>

Thread: Eurorails:: Rules:: ferry for 2 player

thisaliensean — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:12:42 +0000

by thisaliensean

I have noted the 2 player game for empire builder has modified small and medium city entry limit(reduced by 1; 2 for medium and 1 for small cities)). I wonder in a 2 player game in eurorails, the ferry entry limit of 2 should be reduced to 1?

sean

Thread: Nefarious:: Rules:: Secret Lair

Trevin — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:08:06 +0000

by Trevin

Secret Lair gives you "1 victory point per invention that you have built." The question is, does "have" refer to the past tense or present tense? In other words, does it increase as the player builds more inventions later on? Earlier in the rules it states that "Effects from an invention only matter st the time when an invention is built", but this modifier is not an effect.

The answer to this question will determine the winner of the game that we just played.

Review: Mage Knight: Board Game:: Mage Knight: A Box of Contradictions

davidlhsl — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:06:52 +0000

by davidlhsl

Mage Knight: the Board Game came to my attention when it hit the top of the Geek. There were two things that were fairly unanimous: this game had a monster learning curve, and it is one of the best solitaire games.

The first is a major deterrent for me. I used to play Avalon Hill wargames and was able to learn games up to the intermediate level. However, I’ve since gravitated towards easier games, so I wasn’t certain I would be able to grasp this. The second, however, is a major draw for me. I play mostly solo, so games that play well alone is important for me. I decided to take a chance on it when I found it (first edition) at a local toy/hobby store after it was sold out pretty much everywhere else.

I’m happy to report that this game is a peculiar bundle of contradictions.

Contradiction 1: This game is difficult to learn, but it isn’t complicated, but it’s freaking complex.

Learning the game came in several stages for me. First, I spent a week working through the walkthrough booklet. Then I became comfortable with it and was able to play, but had to constantly stop and look up things. Then I became comfortable with it and was able to play, only to realize in retrospect that I had made some errors in play where I had known the rules but had trouble juggling all the mechanics. Then I became comfortable with it and was able to play, only to realize from reading various threads that I had played certain aspects of it incorrectly where I had misunderstood the rules. My education with the game continues, but I’d like to think I’m making some progress.

There are several reasons for this game’s complexity. Most games are modular in the sense that you can learn parts of the game at a time. You can focus on movement, then you can focus on combat, then you can focus on unit stats, etc. Mage Knight is so tightly integrated that you can’t really learn any aspect of the game without understanding how everything else works. Once you’ve finally graduated in understanding how things tie together, then you can add in the rest of the elements that can be taken modularly. This is, in fact, how the walkthrough is structured and why it is so important in learning the game. But this tight integration is also the reason that finding what you need in the rule book is so problematic. I’ll go into more detail on this later.

Another reason for the complexity is that the different elements aren’t consistent with one another. You can’t really learn a universal rule that applies to everything, because each element introduces its own exceptions. For example, if you don’t defeat all the monsters in some locations, you leave the monster. Others require you to discard the monster and draw a fresh monster when the location is tackled again. There are several offers, but each is handled differently. The game is very procedural and has a lot of technical nuances that have to be learned.

Once you’ve conquered learning the game, you then confront the challenge in actually playing. This is a highly challenging game, and certain elements seem impossible when you dive into it. This is why it’s so important to learn by playing the First Reconnaissance scenario several times.

So Mage Knight is certainly a game that requires a lot of dedication to learn. So that means it’s complicated, right? Well, mostly yes, but not quite. There was a very peculiar part of my learning process where I felt like Dr. McCoy in the Star Trek episode, “Spock’s Brain.” I reached a point where I said to myself, “Oh, of course!” Everything just seemed to tie together at that moment. Once I reached that point, then I’ve been able to play without looking up things constantly, and I can play at a better pace. My current challenge is making certain I apply everything correctly. That is affecting the integrity of my final score, but it isn’t hampering my ability to play. But it doesn’t seem so complicated to me the way other complex games seem.

Contradiction 2: The rule book is very well organized, but it’s difficult to find what you need, but it’s right where it’s supposed to be.

Several have commented on this. If I had written this earlier, I would’ve put my request for an index. However, can this game really be indexed effectively? This goes to a point I made earlier about the tight integration of this design. Every element is pretty much integral to every other element. So if you have an index entry for mana, you’ll have references to pretty much every page anyway, wouldn’t you? Even if you had an item that directed you to one particular page, there’s so much text packed in each page that you’d have to spend a lot of time searching for it anyway. So I don’t think an index is effective.

This situation is pretty much a Catch-22. The time when you really need to research information is during the time where you’re getting acquainted with the game system. So you’re not really familiar enough with the way the game works where you’ll understand the rule book’s structure, Table of Contents or not. That’s the reason it’s so difficult to locate the answers to the questions that arise. When you finally reach the point where you understand the rule book’s structure, you won’t need to look up things as much anyway. But when you do need to look up something, you’ll find it easier to locate.

Contradiction 3: Mage Knight is a solitaire game that can be played by up to 4 players.
Contradiction 4: Mage Knight has 11 scenarios, but it really doesn’t.

The first isn’t an unusual contradiction if you have experience with other games, as there are several games where each player plays without much interaction with other players. There are several games that have rules for both solo and non-solo gaming. Cooperative games can toggle well between solo and non-solo, as one player can simply play several characters.

Mage Knight, however, offers several different ways of playing the game; and each offers varying levels of interaction. It’s really unusual the way the game system adapts so well in both solo and non-solo settings, and even more unusual with the varying levels of competitiveness in non-solo games. The game offers 11 scenarios, but most of these scenarios are simply variants of a main game system. Most games that provide multiple scenarios are ones where you want to work through all scenarios. Mage Knight’s scenarios can really be thought of as styles of gaming, and it’s likely you’ll gravitate towards only a few of them. I’m currently happy with just the Solo Conquest.

Contradiction 5: The game takes a long time to play, but it doesn’t feel like a long game.

Mage Knight is so immersive that the game won’t seem to last a long time. However, the game does take a long time to play. My current rate of play in Solo Conquest is approximately 2-1/2 to 3 hours, which is a bit long compared to what others are reporting. Since I haven’t played it with others, I can’t comment on that experience. Those of you with experience in playing others might disagree with this contradiction.

Contradiction 6: The game tells a story, but it doesn’t tell a story as such, but it does tell a story.

When I think of a game telling a story, I think of the story involving the experience external to the game’s mechanics. For example, I remember a game of Heroscape where I sent Sgt. Alexander grappling up a castle to hack at Jotun, but Jotun kept throwing him off the castle. So I had to keep sending him up the castle until he finally knocked him down.

Mage Knight’s story involves the game’s mechanics, which tends to break the “fourth wall” of my imagination a bit. For example, in my last game, I obtained an artifact that allowed me to exchange my basic actions for advanced actions. That’s a mechanical description, though you can always edit to make it sound more story-like. However, when I complete a game, step back, and look at the board; I can vividly recall the journey. Hey, I conquered a series of keeps, took a brief excursion into a couple of side-by-side monasteries to book up on advanced actions, then made my way to this dungeon where I obtained a really useful artifact. The mechanics still insert themselves into the story you’ve created, but you do feel a sense of the journey itself as well.

Contradiction 7: The game has a luck element, but it isn’t a game of luck.

I would respectfully disagree with a point Tom Vasal made in his review. This isn’t a game where you can do anything you really want. This game is about taking inventory of the resources you’ve gained and the resources you have available to you, and take the best course of action. I’m starting the game and I see a ruin nearby with a fantastic reward. However, I’m not yet equipped to tackle the creatures, so I’ll have to bypass it. I want to move over there, but I will lose valuable time as I still need to uncover those cities before the game ends.

The resources are random. You shuffle the various components, and you deal them as proscribed in the rules. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes the game slaps you down hard. However, you do have ways of mitigating things to work in your favor, and the fact that many of the resources have multiple uses only helps. Ok, so you can’t make it to that Mage Tower without going out of your way. However, there is a nearby Keep on the way that you can conquer to give you a boost to your hand size and a unit. Ok, so you don’t have any block cards for that Orc, but you can take a couple of wounds to get the experience to level up and gain a powerful card that provides both movement and healing.

Other items of note:

I could probably continue this fun contradiction theme, but I’ve already gone long. So I want to mention some other aspects that don’t fit into that format.

First, the replay value is simply off the scale. None of the games I’ve played so far felt identical, even after becoming familiar with the various components.

The pace of the game is phenomenal. The Dummy Player and game objective brilliantly and relentlessly push you forward. You really want to make that side journey to take that Mage Tower, but the sun is setting, and you really need to clear that forest ahead. You need to recruit more units, but you haven’t revealed any Core Tiles yet.

I also love the way your power escalates. You really feel the progression in your ability to conquer sites as you advance through the game. It’s also bizarre the way some of the spells and artifacts are so powerful as to seem almost too powerful, yet you find yourself facing other challenges which you barely escape in one piece where those “too powerful” items saved your bacon. But it never feels cheap, because you really have to earn those rewards.

As many have mentioned, this is a puzzle game at its heart. And it’s that puzzle aspect that keeps you focused, keeps you engaged, keeps you mentally stimulated, keeps you challenged, keeps you pushing forward and taking chances, and gives you that sense of real accomplishment throughout the game and upon completion. When you finish a game, whether you succeed or fail, you emerge with a sense of satisfaction that will make you want to immediately play another game. And each game is a new experience.

Time may alter my view, but I currently see myself playing this game for some time to come. This was definitely worth the effort I’ve put into learning it.

Review: Masters of Commerce:: Prime impressioni su Masters of Commerce (italiano)

dimarco70 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:06:40 +0000

by dimarco70

NOTA: Questo articolo è comparso la prima volta su ILSA (Informazione Ludica a Scatola Aperta), http://www.ilsa-magazine.net/

Opera prima pubblicata da una neonata casa editrice, Masters of Commerce tenta di mescolare due filoni di gioco solitamente molto distanti, il partygame e il gioco economico, sviluppando meccanismi di mercato fluttuante e di contrattazione in tempo reale in un gioco breve che può far sedere allo stesso tavolo fino ad 11 giocatori. I materiali sono spartani ma funzionali: delle tessere territorio (in quattro colori diversi, uno per classe di rischio), dei gettoni mercante, pennarelli cancellabili a secco, quattro dadi, segnalini, una plancia mercato (che tiene traccia delle rendite della quattro classi), una clessidra e l'immancabile denaro di carta (tutto sommato di buona qualità).

All'inizio del gioco la metà (arrotondata per difetto) dei giocatori assume il ruolo di poprietario terriero, mentre i rimanenti ricoprono quello di mercante. Alla fine della partita verranno identificati due vincitori: uno fra i locatari e l'altro fra i mercanti. Tutti i giocatori iniziano con la stessa somma di denaro; i proprietari terrieri ricevono tre appezzamenti di terreno, i mercanti i gettoni che li identificano.

Una partita dura 5 turni, ciascuno organizzato nelle seguenti fasi:
- Negoziazione. Questa fase dura due minuti, cronometrati dalla clessidra, e consiste nella negoziazione del canone di affitto dei terreni. Tutto avviene simultaneamente (e in modo solitamente concitato). Un "contratto" è valido quando su una tessera terreno è presente il segnalino di un mercante ed è scritto il costo dell'affitto. Finché c'è tempo, i proprietari terrieri possono rinegoziare (al rialzo) l'affitto dei terreni, a meno che non ci sia stato un accordo di bloccare il canone (fatto segnalato ponendo il segnalino mercante dal lato riportante la scritta closed). Finiti i due minuti ogni contrattazione viene interrotta, e quelle non concluse dichiarate nulle.
- Incassi dei mercanti. Vengono tirati i quattro dadi, e i valori di ciascuno delle quattro classi di terreno viene aggiornato. I terreni a minor rischio sono caratterizzati da una varianza del loro valore molto limitata, che cresce (potendo causare anche delle perdite) mentre ci si sposta verso investimenti sempre più rischiosi. I mercanti incassano/perdono, per ogni terreno su cui hanno un loro gettone, denaro pari al valore segnalato dall'indicatore.
- Pagamento degli affitti. Ogni mercante paga ai proprietari terrieri l'affitto concordato durante la fase di negoziazione.
- Pagamento tasse. Ogni proprietario terriero paga alla banca una tassa fissa per ogni terreno che possiede.
- Asta di nuovi terreni. Viene messo all'asta, per i proprietari, un numero di terreni pari al doppio del numero di padroni meno uno. Si tratta di una asta libera, i cui proventi vengono versati alla banca.
Il turno è così finito: ogni contratto concordato nel turno continua ad essere valido anche nel turno successivo, se non viene rinegoziato. Alla fine del quinto turno vincono il gioco il proprietario terriero e il mercante più ricchi.

Masters of Commerce è un gioco semplice, veloce e piuttosto divertente. Innovativa la scelta di dividere i giocatori in due gruppi, che lottano solo al loro interno, ottenendo però i profitti esclusivamente interagendo con i membri dell'altro gruppo. Mercanti e proprietari terrieri giocano in modo molto diverso: più legato all'azzardo il gioco del mercante, più deterministico e studiato quello del latifondista. Da provare, almeno una volta, anche se è sconsigliabile agli amanti del gioco riflessivo e privo di alea.

Thread: Twilight Imperium (third edition): Shards of the Throne:: Strategy:: Strategy guide some of the races

JohanCarstensen — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 18:00:54 +0000

by JohanCarstensen

THE YSSARIL TRIBES
------------------
Special abilities: may skip actions, draws 1 extra action card, have no hand size and may look at opponents action cards.
Home system: (2/3), (1/2) 3 resources, 5 influence
Trade agreement: 2 resources, 1 resource
Starting tech: Antimass Deflectors, XRD Transporters
Starting units: 1 sd, 5 gf, 1 pds, 2 carrier, 1 cruiser, 2 fighters
Special techs: Shuttle Logistics (3 Resources): Allows movment of ground forces in status phase, Mageon Implants (4 resources): Steal 1 action card each turn
Flag ship: May move throug systems with enemy ships

Positive: Can expand fast in the beginning of the game due to the 2 carriers and 5 ground forces and given that Yssaril have XRD Transporters this can give them some good planets right from the start of the game.
Yssarils special ability to skip an action gives them the advange of timing.

Negative: Low production in the home system and weak trade agreements.

Strategy: Yssarils sould be played very sneacky, skip a lot and then suddendly strike hard to scoure 5 VP in one round ending the game. Building huge carrier fleets seams to be a good idea givven that you probably will get cybernetics.
Tech Strategy: You will want to have Gravity drive, Mageon Implants and cybernetics

THE EMBERS OF MUAAT
------------------
Special abilities: May spend 1 CC to build 2 fighters or 1 destroyer.
Home system: (4/1), 4 resources, 1 influence
Trade agreement: 2 resources, 2 resources
Starting tech: Enviro Compensator, Sarween Tools, War Sun
Starting units: 1 sd, 4 gf, 1 war sun
Special techs: Magmus reactor (5 Resources): War suns get +1 movement, Nova Seed (4 resources): May transform a system to a supernova.
Flag ship: May spend 1 CC to build 1 cruiser.

Positive: Good trade agreements that can give you a good income in combination with Micro technology.

Negative: You don't have any carriers in the beginning so you will have a slow start. Quite bad special technologies. Almost no influence from the start.

Strategy: Pick leadership often to recive 3-6 CC, you will need them to build fighters around the war sun. Remember that your hope lies in the fear of your war sun so keep it well defended with fighters. If you have resources build a second War Sun.
Tech Strategy: You want to aim for Nano Technolgy so start by researching micro technology to be able to pick it on the secound research opportunity then aim for Deep Space Cannon to improve the speed of war suns.

THE MENTAK COALITION
------------------
Special abilities: +1 CC, may fire before battle with 2 cruisers or destroyers, may steal trade goods.
Home system: (4/1), 4 resources, 1 influence
Trade agreement: 1 resources, 1 resources
Starting tech: Hylar V Assault Laser, Enviro Compensator
Starting units: 1 sd, 4 gf, 1 pds, 1 carrier, 3 cruisers
Special techs: Mirror computing (4 Resources): each trade goods counts as twice as much, Salvage operations (4 resources): Gain 2 trade goods in each space battle and build one ship.
Flag ship: Opposing ships may not use the sustain damage ability in this system.

Positive: They have strong special abilities and special techs.

Negative: Mentak have very weak trade agreements and only 1 carrier, this can give them a slow start.

Strategy: Build cruisers, research stasis capsules to improve mobility and mirror computing to get the economy running.
Tech Strategy: Stasis capsules, Mirror computing, Transfabrication, Salvage operations

Thread: Formula D:: Variants:: I played Forumla D today and I have some varients of my own

Boardgamefreak2geek — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:48:00 +0000

by Boardgamefreak2geek

The Black Die varient;

Usually when a car goes up side by side to another car a collision can occur and you have to roll a result of 1-4 for 1WP. but what happens is that you roll higher numbers and you don't get damage. So what I did was I set up the die like this

1-5 = 1WP
6-10 = 2WP
11-15 = 3WP
16-20 = 4WP

at the corners varient;

Normally you have to stop in every corner before you can move on, but that means that you have to shift and slow down to avoid penalties. I decided to ignore all DQ rules if you overshoot a 2 or a 3 corner stop and did the following; you can stop only once in *any* corner. This way you can keep going faster and not having to shift down so much, so you can roll the higher dices. I find that shifting down too much is tedious because you want to roll the big die

Who goes next varient;

Say that a player catches up and is side by side with another player and they take their fowllowing turn but they don't know who goes next. I let the player who caught up go next.

Thread: Up Front:: General:: Official Re-print, possible hope?

DiploGuy — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:29:53 +0000

by DiploGuy

Last night I was at my local gaming/comic store playing Up Front. One of the workers walked by our table and expressed excitement that we were playing Up Front. He then told me the company (he gave the name but I don't remember what it was) that currently holds the rights to the game gave it up because they aren't going to do anything with it.

So maybe that brings a little hope to the game finding a new home and a re-print.

Thread: Lancaster:: Rules:: Deployed knights: does the castle count?

stevepop — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:24:03 +0000

by stevepop

A couple of the laws refer to 'deployed' knights. On our first play there was some question about whether this included knights in your castle (that were placed there from your court).I assume that it means deployed to a county, to a conflict or to your castle. What do others think or know?

Thread: Carson City:: Variants:: Two Player Carson City

mikecl — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:23:56 +0000

by mikecl

I'm about to play a two player game of Carson City and notice that the riverside variant is recommended with two. Someone here also recommended not using the outer grid in addition.

Sound about right...or is that enough room?

Thread: Sedition Wars: Battle for Alabaster:: General:: Example gameplay video in latest Kickstarter update

Withnails liver — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:22:15 +0000

by Withnails liver

The latest Kickstarter update (number 10) has some example game play. I really like what I've seen so far. Particularly like the look of The Strain 'nano-cloud' and evolution mechanics.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/sedition-w...

I really hope that wounds won't be tracked using a paperclip along the bottom of the stat card though. I would also love to see some minis for the nano-cloud and the nano-creator/fan thing (sorry can't remember it's proper name!)

Thread: Mage Knight: Board Game:: General:: End Game Achievements Don't Make Sense Thematically

dachsy — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:20:44 +0000

by dachsy

My fiance, Michelle, and I just finished a five hour conquest game. We had a lot of fun until we did the achievements at the end of the game.

The objective given by the scenario was to conquer both cities in the game. Michelle was actively trying to do that (which is not an easy task). She spent many turns/cards just trying to move in that area of the board which had much more difficult terrain to get to and attack a city. Meanwhile I was wondering around the countryside on the ealier half of the board with easy terrain taking keeps, mage towers, dungeons, pretty much terrorizing the citizens of the empire and doing whatever I felt like (which was extremely easy once I was powerful enough). I was nowhere near the cities and made no progress towards completing our objective.

At the end of the third day the game ended and Michelle had three shields on the white city which she had taken all in one turn. She had one one on the green city where she had managed to destroy the most difficult of the three monsters and get out with only one wound (from not completely conquering the city). I had two shields on the green city because I was able to sweep in at the last second and attack after Michelle weakened the city. Since taking the cities was our objective it seems like Michelle should win because she did more to help with that.

Before achievements were given out our fame scores were:
Michelle: 67
Chris: 60
After achievements the fame scores were:
Michelle: 110
Chris: 118
A swing of 15 points mostly due my fortified sites, adventure sites, and the rewards from taking those sites like artifacts.

Thematically the achievements don't make much sense. I get the impression that the Council of the Void only cares about results and as such should only reward players for completing the mission. It would have made more sense at the end of the game to only get the city based achievements giving Michelle the win.

The achievements really just encourage deviant behavior. Taking fortified sites and adventure sites on the board give rewards and fame which help the whole game. Then at the end of the game these sites give even more fame. On the other hand, having a positive repuation at the end of the game and killing the orcs and dragons that are terrorizing the countryside give you no rewards at the end of the game. Michelle killed the majority of orcs and was the only one who killed a dragon and did get some fame and positive reputation from this but Chris got fame and rewards plus tons of points at the end of the game for taking the fortified sites and adventure sites. There's an achievment for greatest conquerer and greatest adventurer and if you earn one or both of those you'll probably also have the biggest loot. There's no reward for being the "countryside savior" for killing orcs and dragons and/or having a positive reputation at the end of the game. All having a positive reputation can do is maybe give you the ability to get the greatest leader achievement.

The rewards for the cities don't seem to be high enough compared to the rewards you can get for doing other things. Michelle found both of the cities, slowly drudged through the difficult terrain killing orcs and dragons on the way and made the first attack on both cities taking over one on the first attack and severly weakening the second by taking out the strongest monster. I realized it was almost the end of the game and decided to wander to the cities at the last minute to sweep in and kill the last two monsters that were about as easy as all of the other little stuff I fought all game. I got 7 points from the cities and Michelle got 11 + 4 + 5 extra points for doing all of the work. There should probably be more points awarded for actually trying to complete the mission. The scenario describes the game ending after the third night if the cities haven't been conquered and the players still get rewards. Didn't the Mage Knights fail to complete the objective at this point? If so, all players should lose.

We did try some variant scoring to see if anything made sense. The best we could come up with that still gives out the awards at the end is to only give out the three fame prize and not all the +1, +2, etc. points.

We're curious if anyone else has had any issues with the scoring at the end of the game. I looked through pages and pages of forums on here and it is barely mentioned. I was surprised the rulebook didn't have any variants for scoring considering how many variants were in there. Are there any variants people like in this regard?

Review: Jäger und Sammler:: Hey, That's my Mammoth

Futsie — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:16:36 +0000

by Futsie

Despite gaining recognition at the 2010 Spiel Des Jahres, Jäger und Sammler (translated into English as Hunters and Gatherers) remains one of Reiner Knizia's lesser known creations. The game gets almost universally compared to Hey, That's My Fish! and indeed it is a very apt comparison, as in both games players move around the diminishing board, grabbing resources and isolating opponents.

Set in the Stone Age, each player moves four prehistoric hunter-gatherers around the board hunting mammoths and (surprise, surprise) gathering food and artefacts. The game is played over two distinct seasons, with a different set of tiles laid out dependent upon whether it is summer or winter. Each turn players have two movement points which are used to move their hunters, when a player moves from one tile to another they claim the vacated tile and take it from the board. Once a tile is removed no one can enter the empty space, as soon as the players have collected all the tiles available the phase ends

There are several different types of tiles;

Food tiles consist of berries, roots and herbs and score between 1 and 3 points
Artefact tiles add a set collection element, in that scoring is dependent on the number of identical tiles collected
Spears tiles are used to hunt mammoths, you can only land on and subsequently claim a mammoth tile by discarding a spear tile from your collection, but they score big points
Paths tiles remain on the board throughout the game and so reduce the chances of becoming completely isolated
Cave entrance tiles form part of an underground network allowing players to quickly move large distances by moving from one entrance to any other on the board

Jäger und Sammler is one of knizia's more thematic games, the wonderful artwork and interesting shift from season to season really helps set the scene. Players can visit four camps during the summer to store supplies for the upcoming winter, and if a player is unable leave supplies at all four then they will have fewer hunters in the following winter phase. During the summer mammoths are rare but there are more spears available to collect in preparation for the mammoth-rich winter phase. You really get a feeling of having to prepare for the inhospitable winter season, although it is a shame that the berries, roots and herbs remain the same regardless of the season.

The key to the game is to prioritise which resources you need to grab before someone else comes along and snaffles them all up. With this in mind, it can be argued that the first player has a bit of an unfair advantage, but allowing the youngest or least experienced player to start the game seems to work fine for us.

Jäger und Sammler doesn’t do anything new and setting up, sorting and scoring the numerous tiles soon gets a little tiresome. However, if you are looking for an easy to learn family game that scales well, and relies on judgement rather than luck then it is definitely worth considering. Initial impressions are that that Knizia has created a weightier version oh Hey, That's My Fish! but on the other hand his is a more forgiving game. The paths and cave teleport system make it easier to avoid getting isolated. Hey, That’s my Fish may have the more family friendly theme but Jäger und Sammler feels much less cut throat and confrontational.

I don’t think that the game got an English release, but it is completely language independent. If you love Zombies then you may wish to consider Zombiegeddon, which is a game based on the same prototype. Apart from the re-theme and that paths are replaced by barriers it plays exactly the same. However, aesthetically it is like comparing Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC with, well with a shambling rotten corpse, so unless you actually must have everything Zombie then I suggest you stick the Stone Age setting.

Session: Risk Legacy:: Earth #10094 Game 7: player 2 wins on first turn (Unhidden spoilers for 3-Missile pack)

Ecosmith — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:16:11 +0000

by Ecosmith

Game 7.

Player 1, Enclave of the Bear, Peru, 6 troops, 2 missiles
Player 2 (Me), Khan Industries, Alberta, 10 troops, 1 missile
Player 3, Saharan Republic, Central America, 8 Troops, 1 starting red star token

Turn 1. Player 1 expands with 8 tropps into Venezuela. Attacks Central America. Player 3 uses Missile. Player 1 uses Missile. Player 3 uses missile.

Ka-Boom, nuclear war!

Player 3 chooses Venezuela as Fallout territory.

Player 1 loses all 8 troops in Venezuela and remsining troop in Peru. Player 3 loses 2 defending troops, rolls 4 and is down to 2 troops in Central America.

Turn 2.

Player 2 (me) expands into W. US. with 12 troops. Attacks Central Am with 11 troops. Player 4 uses 2 missiles to no avail. 2nd HQ obtained. Player 2 xpands into Venezuela with 10 troops. Loses 5 to radiation. Expands into Peru. 3rd HQ obtained.

Player 2 (me) wins!

Quality session, that lol. None of us knew what was in the 3 missile pack.

Eco

Thread: Hawaii:: Rules:: Question Concerning Fish Tiles

jmpugh — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 17:08:19 +0000

by jmpugh

Just tried out Hawaii and everyone really liked it! We did have one question concerning the fish tiles...

I understand how if the sum of price values exceed the pre-printed value, the token goes number face down as a "fish" token in the bay.

What I had Some confusion on is why the back of the fish tokens have varying numbers of fish pictured. Are these fish tokens suppose to be shuffled so it's a random selection when fishing?

The rules didn't say to shuffle the tokens so I'm assuming it's just a player's responsibility to remember what value is where? Several rounds everyone knew that the single fish token was a 6 while the 3 fish token was a 2. Just seemed an odd "memorization" mechanic in an otherwise interesting game.

Thanks!

Thread: Dust Tactics:: General:: Cheap/free storage using Dust boxes

TallDwarf — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:54:41 +0000

by TallDwarf

If you are like me and your wife (or perhaps your mother, depending on how old you are) does not want games stored in the dining room and you need to transport your pieces around but do not want to buy a storage system then you may want to see what I have done.

After trying out different way to store my DT miniatures I have settled on the following. Cutting out the front side of the squad boxes and then putting 4 of them inside of a heavy walker box. I left a lip around the edge so they stack easily.

4 boxes can fit inside

Then I put in the unit cards

I have used the amazon shipping boxes for storing my 2 light walkers and 1 medium walker per faction. I cut the tops off and then taped them inside for dividing walls. I also have a side "pocket" for the unit cards.

Here is everything stacked together to be carried up to the second floor after an evening of gaming.

Now I need some better storage for my 2 x heavy walkers per faction, any ideas?

Thread: Twilight Imperium (third edition):: General:: Normal vs Long War

asmeus — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:52:05 +0000

by asmeus

My gaming group played few games 2-3 with the Normal variant till 10 VP's.
We all felt, that the ending was too abrupt.
Usually bubble victory.

I can't imagine playing now without Long war + self made Bureaucracy. (Can't get my hands on first expansion)

The games this way are just way more epic.
Fleets of 8-12 fleet supply clashing.
Almost everybody having at least 1-2 High Tier techs.

Since game lasts 10-14 turns, you don't have to rush your secret, you can wait for the right time to strike, prepare, not depend mostly on luck, for example to destroy neighbor's last space dock.

What mode do you prefer?

Thread: The Twelve Doctors: Doctor Who Card Game:: Rules:: Some rules questions

ironJames — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:50:29 +0000

by ironJames

First, I'd like to thank you for all the time and effort you have put into this. Excellent job!

So, here are the questions. Some of these may seem pretty obvious, but I wanted to make sure I don't get anything wrong.

1. The rules imply that tech cards are always played into a column (and therefore need at least one available slot to be played). However, I suspect that the one-shot tech cards, such as the screwdrivers, go directly to the discard pile, without ever being in a column. Is this correct, and if so, is there any functional difference between such cards and clever effects/cunning ploys (except for when their card type is referenced by other cards)?

2. Cards that cancel other cards (such as Bessie, Long Scarf, Forcefield cancelling E-Space etc): If you cancel a "permanent" (a card that would stay in a column), do you a) only cancel the immediate effect, b) cancel the whole card, discarding it, c) cancel the whole card, returning it to the opponent's hand or d) something else?

3. Mr Sin: I assume it's supposed to read "Discard Mr Sin if column becomes unpopulated"?

4. Nexus Points with tokens on them: Can these abilites be used multiple times the same turn (multiple discounts from Torchwood HQ, multiple preventions from Logopolis, Eye of Orion, Eye of Harmony etc)? If the answer is yes, must Nerva Beacon be used to it's full extent (e.g. if the opposing attack causes 4 points of disruption and Nerva Beacon has 3 tokens left, do you have to destroy it?)?

5. Interstellar War: Which side is the "bottom" of a column, and does it count against the 4-card limit?

6. Reverse the Polarity of the Neutron Flow: How does the timing of this card work in combination with Nerva Beacon (which effect goes first, and what are the "first 10 points" of disruption in this case)? More generally, do the attacks happen one timeline at a time or all at once?

7. Davros' disrupt cost is only on the Master's turns, right?

8. The rules say "Any card that could target or affect a companion card, may also affect the Doctor's current regeneration". Does this include Cyber Conversion? If so, what happens when the current Doctor is blanked? What about Sisters of the Water or Sontaran Robot? Warriors of the Deep?

9. River Song: What happens if there is no available slot when she gains her third token?

10. The Castellan: What does "Each time you do not draw a card" mean? Is it "For each card you avoid drawing in the draw phase"?

Cheers!

Session: Dominion:: Dominioned !

pratchettfan777 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:38:04 +0000

by pratchettfan777

]]>

I never thought of playing the game dominion.

This was for 1 reason primarily - because I hate shuffling cards. I generally hate it. But I recently attended a local board game group and played a game of Taluva and when that game ended the guy sitting across from us said, "hey - you want to try Dominion?" He looked like a nice guy so what was I to say? No? Well that's not me.

So we sat across from him as he explained the rules and told us more than once that the game was simple, we would enjoy it and that "it's no big deal". He did this real well because, come to find out, he is also a teacher. So he taught us the basics of the game and then explained that we will be shuffling our decks over and over throughout the game.

I could have hemorrhaged right there on the spot. He did not know what he was saying or to whom since I have always veered away from card games and those games that require shuffling - I designate a shuffler!

]]>

Well we did play Dominion and I have to admit that I L O V E D it. The game plays very fast after just a few games and the game can be different every time due to the various optional cards that can be used. What a great design! Add to that the 2-4 player game plays well with 2 and that the game is very inexpensive and - ding ding of the bell - we have a winner!

But the reason I was glad for the instruction most is that he showed us how he shuffles. He said that, "I just do it like this" as he took the full deck of his cards in one hand and proceeded to make 3 smaller decks in front of him on the table. He placed the cards at random on the decks, the stacked the 3 on one another to once again have the large one and it was over before I knew it.

It was like a dentist drilling on my teeth, but with very close to zero pain. I could have hugged the guy. Of course, this was not rocket science but I truly felt like our host just solved one of life's great mysteries for me personally

Later on there was an announcement that there would be a local Dominion tournament for the state of Michigan and that the winner would win a free trip to Chicago to play in the Nationals. The announcer then passed the speaking baton (this is figurative in case some of you get weird ideas) to the fellow who was teaching us and he stood up and rattled off the rest of the announcement.

Our game of Dominion was great and fun even though I did not win. But it turns out that a friend of mine had a like-new copy of the base game there for sale for $20. Of course, we snatched it up :-)

Well I'm HIGH on Dominion and want a couple of the expansions for sure. The game is gravy to teach and I have played it with an 11 year old who also loves it and wants to play it regularly. It's a great and simple game to play with even new gamers.

And I jumped for joy literally that Board Game Arena has online play for free in real time for this game. I tried to play once on my iPad, but the game crawled and was more than annoying. But then I played a game on the PC and it was outstanding!

Thread: Valor & Victory:: General:: Official size of VnV component

mcsiaw — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:35:29 +0000

by mcsiaw

i couldn't find any legal size labeling sticker at my local store, therefore i m printing the counter on A4 size sticker.

what is the official size for the VnV counter? such as infantry? is it 1.9cm? or 2.5 cm?

how about vehicle counter? what is the counter size?

hope to hear from ur guys soon!

Thread: Tammany Hall:: General:: Anyone interested in forming a Canadian group?

weishaupt — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:23:59 +0000

by weishaupt

Anyone? Bueller?

Thread: UNITY:: Play By Forum:: Want to play?

n_r_a — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:21:56 +0000

by n_r_a

Hi,

If you wish to play here just ask and I will upload the needed images in PNG format.

Thx!

Thread: The Lord of the Rings: Nazgul:: General:: Putting it back in the box?

Kaworu17 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:17:20 +0000

by Kaworu17

So, dumb question - what is the best way to do it? The insert is certainly large, but the box is larger, and it's not quite big enough for all the cubes without stuffing them every which way. Paul, what's the way you end up putting it away?

Thread: Goa:: Rules:: Expedition and extra action cards: Hand limit

marioymia — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 16:13:20 +0000

by marioymia

How do you establish the hand limit:

1) Expedition cards only
2) Expedition cards + extra action cards

In other words: extra action cards count to determine your hand limit???

Sorry if somebody have asked this before (I didn' t see it)

Review: Carcassonne:: Carcassonne Review

vmp0514 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:57:26 +0000

by vmp0514

Those wishing to see the full review (pictures included) can do so at the following page:

http://vincentpaone.wordpress.com/2012/06/02/carcassonne/

A full list of my board game reviews can be found on the same site here:

http://vincentpaone.wordpress.com/board-game-reviews/

---
Carcassonne, named after a well fortified town in southern France, is a tile laying game that is a lot more strategic than I initially gave it credit for. I have to admit that this was the first tile laying game that I ever played…in fact…this game is what inspired me to take a look into the board game, Acquire, which I reviewed here: Acquire Review.

Carcassonne: 2-5 Players, Ages 8+, Average Play Time = 60 Minutes

Carcassonne tasks players with building a landscape of epic proportions. This landscape will start as a single tile and gradually grow to include cities, roads, cloisters, and fields. Each player will be placing these tiles in ways that would most benefit them so that they can score points. The person with the most points at the end of the game wins. Before I get ahead of myself, let’s take a quick look at the components and rules before heading into the review.

Components

Tiles – All of the tiles are square-shaped, but their contents can change from tile to tile. There is one starter tile that has a different colored back so that it can be easily identified.

Followers - Your followers are represented by meeples. Meeples are short for, “my people”, and serve as the way players earn points. They also double as a score marker for the score track.

Score Track – Players will be earning points throughout the game. As they do, they’ll be moving their colored follower along the track. You’ll more than likely pass the maximum point value of “50″, so you may want to create your own ways to keep track of what “pass” you are on. You could, for example, lay down your follower rather than stand him up, to indicate that you are on your second pass.

Setup

1) Place the starter tile in the middle of the table, face up.

2) Each player picks a color and gets all of the followers of that color.

3) Each player places one follower on the score track.

4) All the remaining tiles are shuffled and placed into stacks, face down.

Gameplay

Players take turns drawing a tile and placing it next to an existing tile on the board. The sides / borders of the tiles must match…that is…roads must connect to roads, cities must connect to cities, and etc.

After placing a tile, that player has the option of placing one of their followers on that tile in an attempt to score. There are four ways followers can score, based on what feature they are placed on.

Knight – When a follower is placed on the city portion of a tile, it is called a knight. When a city is completed, the follower is removed and given back to the player, and that player earns two points per tile that the city occupies plus two points per pennant icon. Scoring is immediate.

Thief – When a follower is placed on the road portion of a tile, it is called a thief. When a road is completed, or goes from point to point, the follower is removed and given back to the player. That player earns one point per tile that contains that stretch of road. Scoring is immediate.

Monk – When a follower is placed on the cloister portion of a tile, it is called a monk. When a cloister is completed, or surrounded by one tile in all eight directions, that follower is removed and given back to the player. That player earns nine points, one point per tile. Scoring is immediate.

Farmer – When a follower is placed on the field portion of a tile, it is called a farmer. That farmer stays there, laying down, until the end of the game. For each completed city the farmer’s field touches, they earn three points. Again, scoring is NOT immediate and only occurs at game end.

During the game, there are a few rules to keep in mind when placing followers. The main one is that you can’t assign a follower on a feature that someone else already has claimed. You couldn’t place a thief onto a road already occupied by another thief, for example.

There are instances where two separate segments of a feature occupied by different colored followers end up connecting. In this case, the person with the MOST followers on that completed feature earns the points. In case of a tie, all players get the points.

You can also only place one follower per turn and you cannot take followers back until they are scored…so place your followers wisely!

The game ends when all of the facedown tiles have been used. Additional scoring takes place at this point, which allows players to score the followers on the features that were not completed. Players also score their farmers and finally compare their final scores. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

I know I skimmed the rules a bit, but the above should give you an idea of what you would be in for. You can check out the full rules here: Carcassonne Rules.

The Review

As I mentioned above, I was very surprised by how much this game grew on me. At first, I was skeptical by the fact that you didn’t have a hand and were at the mercy of whatever tile you drew. In the beginning of the game, you won’t have that many choices in terms of placement, but towards the end, you’ll be trying to screw up your opponent’s scoring chances while trying to resolve your own.

Keeping along those lines, I personally enjoyed how strategic the game turned out to be. I was constantly thinking of ways to extend my son’s city (the one he had a follower on) so that he’d never be able to complete it. He’d still earn one point per city tile at game end, but that was significantly less than the two points per tile he could have earned.

Resisting the urge to place all of my followers in the beginning became a real challenge. I saw a lot of potential fields that future cities might connect to, but I had to make sure I had enough in reserve to score on the more immediate opportunities. Since you and your opponent are limited to how many followers you have, it becomes a battle of wits to see who claims what first and who is able to save enough for when it counts.

Out of all of the game mechanics, the scoring was the hardest for me to pick up on. At times, I was scratching my head on how farmers scored and what fields were considered theirs. Once you overcome this initial learning curve, play is relatively fluid. Luckily, the manual is fairly easy to understand when trying to put it all together.

I should also mention that this game has a TON of expansions, which shoots up this game’s replay value tenfold. It seems like there is always something new to keep the game fresh and interesting. Not all of the expansions will appeal to everyone, but having the option alone is a plus in my book.

Carcassonne is a great game to introduce to players that are new to the wonderful world of board games, especially if you have an experienced player on hand to help with the scoring and flow of play. It’s also a great game for players of all ages (within reason), so if you are in the market for something relatively easy that provides a fair amount of depth, then you may want to look into this game further.

Thread: Where Eagles Dare:: General:: 6 Player TDC/WED combo game!! pics inside

dude163 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:53:16 +0000

by dude163

http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@@.ee6f82c/16942

TDC+WED at the 4ème Zouave Convention near Paris

Thread: What's My Word?:: General:: I downloaded the iOS version and right away I don't know how to play or tell if I'm guessing the letters right

Boardgamefreak2geek — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:45:18 +0000

by Boardgamefreak2geek

let me tell you I find this game to be difficult. When I type in the word clues to guess the right letters, I'm not sure if I picked the right letters, the game doesn't tell you. it only tells you by the score (1,000, 250...etc) and I don't know how it keeps score. another things is that the board display gives you a certain letter-word (mostly a 3 letter word, then 4 or 5) and you have to expand your mind and think of words that are not in your vocabulary. Now that's where I am having a problem. I can't think of a word that only intellegent people can know and to make it more diffult, it spontaniously changes as a grid. sometimes, the 3-letter word begins on the left side of the grid, then sometimes the middle and the right side

Thread: Twilight Struggle:: General:: are their any english fan made cards?

vecnalives — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:35:01 +0000

by vecnalives

are their any english fan made cards posted on Artscow? i see many pdfs but has anyone made them available for artscow?

Thread: Twilight Imperium (third edition):: General:: First session - configuration and options

Rob Doupe — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:22:47 +0000

by Rob Doupe

We're playing our first game of TI3 next weekend. There will be 4-6 of us, all newbies. And we're using Shattered Empires.

After reading several threads and polls on suggested options for first games, I've come up with a configuration.

Setup:

Fixed

Races:

Hacan, L1Z1X, Sol, Mentak, Muaat, Winnu

These seem to all be fairly straightforward.

Strategy Cards:

Initiative, Diplomacy, Political, Logistics, Trade II, Warfare II, Technology, Imperial II

Some of the SE Strategy cards seem a bit fiddly. I wanted to keep things simple for the first game. Warfare I seems too powerful. Considered Technology II, but is ramping up the pace of technology advances a good idea in a first game?

Objective Cards:

Still uncertain on this. The SE Objectives definitely reward aggression. But maybe too much? Is it possible to mix Objectives from Core and SE?

Secret Objectives:

Might skip them for the first game. Some comments suggest they're swingy and imbalanced, and since nobody knows what the Secret Objectives are, I'm worried the game winner after 8 hours will come completely out of the blue (I didn't know he'd win if he did that!).

Age of Empires:

Yes

Racial Technologies:

Maybe. They look cool, but maybe a bit too much for first game. Also, isn't there an issue with Hacan's technology that can be imbalanced if players aren't aware of it?

Guardians of Mercatol:

Yes

Artifacts:

Yes

Wormhole Nexus:

Yes

I'd welcome any comments or suggestions.

Thread: 1960: The Making of the President:: General:: Are the State Seals a waste of time?

MolsonMan — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:15:09 +0000

by MolsonMan

Hey guys, correct me if I'm wrong as I currently only have one play under my belt, but I'm thinking that placing all the State Seals out during game setup is completely unecessary.

We did it for our first game but at the final scoring we both decided to count the points on the board without actually removing the State Seals from the board. It seemed easier just to tally everything up on the board as opposed to collecting all the seals that you had won first and then counting those up instead.

After counting the scores this way we had a discussion about eliminating the State Seals from the game entirely. Not only would this save on setup and final scoring time, but it also makes it easier to stack the cubes and candidate tokens on the board, and gives the game a cleaner look.

Anyways, this is how we plan on playing our next game. Any discussion on this would be appreciated!

Thread: A Game of Thrones: The Card Game:: Rules:: Kneeling to Pay vs Response

RickDintheAM — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:14:37 +0000

by RickDintheAM

Hi all, ran into this issue last night. Opponent played a Bowl of Brown on Maester Murenmure, who had a tin link and a lead link on him. According to my understanding bowl of brown would prevent maester Murenmure from using his character ability and the lead link, because lead link requires the cost of kneeling. The tin link however, is a response that says after he kneels he gets to choose and discard attachment. My interpretation is that since he is kneeling to say, participate in an intrigue challenge, and that would trigger the response, bowl of brown doesn't apply in this case. Am I correct in my interpretation?

(I conceded the point to my opponent, cause I could see his argument, and acknowledged that there would be no point of playing bowl in that case. An Alford Plea, if you will. )

Thread: Among the Stars:: General:: Are the cards readable?

KAndrw — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 15:00:48 +0000

by KAndrw

This game looks gorgeous, but the card text seems very small. I scaled one of the images until it was 7x7cm on my monitor, and the game text wound up only be 2-3mm tall.

I know that a lot of people I play with would really stuggle with that. Are there any plans to embiggen the text, or to augment the cards with icons instead/as well?

Thread: Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game:: Rules:: Question about Ancient One

beagle757 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:56:40 +0000

by beagle757

This may sound silly, but I have this nagging feeling that I remember reading that ancient ones cannot have items attachments. Is this true? (I couldn't find it in the rules or FAQ).
Thanks!
-Peter

Thread: The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game:: Strategy:: What's your best (true) solo deck?

joelmiller2002 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:50:39 +0000

by joelmiller2002

I haven't built a true solo deck in so long I'm curious to hear what everyone's best deck is. Two handed is the way to go IMO, but some of the quests are becoming too easy and I'm considering making a go of it solo once more.

What heroes do you use? Is Bilbo any good yet? Can you actually beat the tougher quests?

Thread: Empires of the Void:: General:: Damaged pieces...its a compliment, trust me

thebobymon — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:48:32 +0000

by thebobymon

Just wanted to say that although some parts were crunched in shipping, I reported them to Ryan and received full replacement of each part. I am extremely happy with the game and the level of customer service I received.

Keep up the great work, and I am already excited to see you have a small expansion in the works.

Happy Gaming!

Thread: Field of Glory Napoleonic:: General:: Anybody given this a test play yet?

trouvere — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:46:56 +0000

by trouvere

I've got hold of a copy and it looks very nice indeed. It seems a bit complex, but not impossible.

I was wondering if anybody else has given it a whirl. Perhaps you might have some advice for new learners - the sorts of things you might easily miss when trying to pick up a new rule-set.

Once I've played it, I'll try and find time to post up a review.

Thread: Risk Legacy:: General:: What should I do if I seem to be winning too much (no spoilers)

arevan — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:41:15 +0000

by arevan

We just finished our 4th game and I just won my 4th game in a row. It's not like the other players are bad at all, I just seem to keep winning (though the last game all came down to one roll to decide the winner). The thing is I have put all my rewards in Australia. I flat out told them that if they want to win, they need to keep me out of there. So the next game if I get to pick locations first should I try to win the game by going into Australia or since I am the game owner should I move somewhere else to even the game out a bit?

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Adding Pegasus/Exodus Crisis Cards into the Base Game

gunslinger81 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:33:23 +0000

by gunslinger81

Galactica is one of my favorite games, but I can only ever get people together to play 2-3 times a year. Since it's so infrequent, the rules always need to be re-explained and I'm hesitant to throw in stuff from the expansions.

However, I have a game this afternoon and I'm considering including some of the Pegasus & Exodus crisis cards just to add something different. At the very least I think I want a few new Cylon Attack cards to keep the board a little busier. Of course, I wouldn't be using anything that involves new mechanics and I don't want to do anything that would unbalance the game.

Does anybody have any experience with trying this? Was it a good idea, in your opinion? Or am I messing with something I shouldn't be?

Thread: Pirate Dice: Voyage on the Rolling Seas:: General:: Dice Tower Video Preview of Pirate Dice Now Available

oldschoolgamr — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:32:19 +0000

by oldschoolgamr

Ryan Metzler of the Dice Tower previews Pirate Dice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyhxgGF92Ec&list=UUiwBbXQlljG...

This wiil certainly help the Kickstarter campaign move right along!

Lot's of things seem to be following in place for our all grown up RoboDerby: Express, huh?

Keep up the good work Clint!

FYI - Kickstarer page is here: http://www.tinyurl.com/piratedice

Thread: Discworld: Ankh-Morpork:: Rules:: What does 'adjacent area' to Dimwell or Dolly Sisters include?

tcwan — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:31:41 +0000

by tcwan

Hi,

I've been playing Ankh-Morpork several times and am a little confused by the text on the Dimwell/Dolly Sisters cards.

When it mentions 'adjacent area', does it mean physically adjacent, or does the normal 'place a minion' adjacency rule apply (i.e., as long as you have a minion in an area, the areas next to them are adjacent)?

For example, with Dolly Sisters, am I limited to placing minions on:
Dolly Sisters, Unreal Estates, Nap Hill and Dragon's Landing, or can I place new minions using the card beyond those areas if I have minions on one or more of the above places?

Secondly, if I don't have any minions in any of the 4 areas, can I place them in any of the 4 areas, not necessarily on Dolly Sisters first?

Thread: Virgin Queen:: Rules:: What happens when Spain controls Lisbon and Oporto, despite English intervention?

Kinley — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:27:52 +0000

by Kinley

In game terms, is Spain now an ally of Portugal?

Or at war with Portugal until at peace with England?

Is there such a thing as a conquered minor in this game?

When is the new status effective--immediately or beginning of next turn?

Can Portugese Attack be played against the Spanish in the Phillipines despite Spanish occuption of Portugal?

Can Portugal be swiped from Spain by Dip. Status Check?

Thread: The Shadowstone Saga:: Rules:: Twelve new scenarios

MannyFandango — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:25:27 +0000

by MannyFandango

The Shadowstone Saga -

Being a collection of twelve scenarios, providing generals with unique challenges to overcome...

The Portals

It seems the attacker has their prey in sight. All that remains is one final push to victory and-
But what is this? Those stone circles are whirring into life.
Blast it! The enemy casters have managed to activate their nodeportals and reinforcements are going to be streaming onto the battlefield. This gives the attacker a limited amount of time to capture the enemy mages and prevent this area from being reinforced.

Army Composition -

4000 point battle.

Attacker- No restrictions

Defender - Starts with half points but gets D6X100 extra points per turn which must arrive at any one portal on the battlefiel
- Must have at least one Magic Node regiment.
- Nominate one Magic Node regiment in the defenders army. This is a vital regiment.

Special rules -

Portals - The defender and the attacker take turns placing down portals. No two portals may be placed directly next to each other. Only four portals may be placed on the battlefield overall.

Nullification - If the attacker has a Magic Node regiment next to a portal, then that portal may not be used to bring reinforcements into the battle.

Objectives -

Attacker + Defender - Destroy / Protect the vital regiment. The game will continue until the attacker is overwhelmed or the vital regiment destroyed.

Aerial Assault

The canny defender has held the ground troops at bay, skillfully utilizing terrain to bottleneck the attacker and harrass them into retreat after retreat.
As the attacker is slowly ground down in blunt battles of attrition, the generals must change to a bolder strategy.
Tiring of these dishonourable antics, the attacker gathers her aerial forces into one place and prepares for one all-or-nothing annihilation mission.

Army composition -

Attacker - Up to 50% of your army may consist of regiments with flying movement.

Special rules -

Attacker - Any regiment with flying movement that is destroyed must be returned to the board from the attackers board edge on the roll of a '4' down at the beginning of their next turn. They may operate normally.

Objectives -

The attackers must annihilate all enemy presence in six turns. Any other result is a Defender victory.

Traitors!

The attacking army seemed to swell as turncoats flooded into their ranks.
Yet many among their number were spies, and many more infiltrators.
As the battle began, the attacking general started to realize something was amiss.

Army Composition -

4'000 point battle

Attacker - Starts with an additional 500 points.

Special rules -

Defender - At the end of the first turn, the Defender may choose an enemy regiment and roll a D6. On the roll of a '6' that enemy regiment turns traitor and is replaced by a Defenders counters of the same type (provided she has sufficient counters). The defender may choose the order in which she rolls against the enemy,and if no enemy regiments turn traitor, may try again at the end of the next turn. Once an enemy regiment has turned traitor, she may no longer utilize this special ability.

Objectives -

A standard destroy one another in fierce contest affair

Headhunters

The skill of the enemy officers and elite troops has proven itself far more powerful a force than their superior numbers.
All regiments are now ordered to target the masters of battle opposed to them - the sheep will fly when the lions are slain!

Army composition -

4'000 points

Defender - Must take three regiments costing over 500 points each.

Special rules -

Defender: The three most expensive regiments on your side contain a great number of officers and veterans, and are therefore vital regiments.

Objectives -

Attacker - Victory points are only scored for the destruction of defenders vital regiments. If the attacker scores 750 of such victory points, they are victorious.

Envoy

The royal ambassador from another land has been well looked after, visiting all of the familiar landmarks and staying in luxurious keeps.
Yet now the aristocratic vanity must come to an end as the envoy must be returned safely to his land.
Lo and behold, right at the border an ambush lies in wait! Failing to escort the envoy away from danger could result in war on another front.

Army Composition -

X points

Attacker - Gets a free company of Hearth Guard Cavalry for every 1000 points of troops in your army (i.e. if the attacker has 4'000 points, 4 Hearth Guard cavalry)

Defender - May only take one flying regiments or regiments with the catapult ability - any more would spoil the fun!

Objectives -

If the attacker gets half of the Hearth Guard Cavalry off the board then the game is a draw. Any less than this is a Defender victory. Any more than this is an Attacker victory.

Out-flanked

Large numbers of deserters have fled the enemy lines - pah.
They melt like butter before flame! All that remains now is to ride over these paltry resisters and stick their heads upon pikes.
What do you mean they are coming from behind? Confound it - we have fallen into an ambush! (again)

Army Composition

Defender - Has 10% less forces
May put up to 50% of their forces into their flanking forces

Special rules -

Outflanking - After the second turn, the defender may roll to bring regiments in the flanking forces onto the board. This is done at the start of the turn. On the roll of a '5'down, a regiment may be placed upon the enemies table edge. They may only move with half of its movement points this turn, but may engage in combat or fire missiles (at -1 to hit) if possible.

Objective -

Standard victory points. 6 turn battle.

Final assault

It is time for the final push.
Our artillery is in place, set to blast the enemy from their cowardly fortifications.
Onwards, and worry not about the artillery, it probably won't hit you in the back!

Army Composition -

6'000 points

Special Rules -

Catapult bombardment - At the start of every shooting phase, before any one else may shoot, D6 Missile X / 3 NO SAVE attacks will be made. The first of these attacks may be allocated by the defender against the attacker. The remainder will then be made by the attacker against the defender. These attacks have unlimited range - they are really big catapults after all!

Defender barricades - The defender must place a continuous line of fortifications across her entire deployment zone. These must be occupied before other parts of the deployment zone may be utilized.

Objective -

Standard victory points. 6 turn battle.

The hall of Champions -

A warhost of champions and casters from all across the realms has amassed, sent out to vanquish the shadow from its subterreanean caverns.

Army Composition -

5'000 points

Attacker - The entirety of this army must be composed of Champions Circle, Sorcerous/Evokers Circle, Storm Mage, Legendary Champions or Cosmic Emissaries. Up to one regiment of Draykigh or Wyverns may be taken. No Shadow units may be present, nor Phoenix Knights (they haven't been formed yet!)

Defender - May only take one regiment of Champions and may not take any Legendary Champions. May most certainly NOT take any Phoenix Knights!

Objective -

Standard VPs.

Battle of the beasts -

The oracle spoke of great plunder in the bestial caverns.
Perhaps it was a metaphor - the treasure of the soul, the value of the journey, or some such.
Regardless, your enemy has also gone on this vain quest. Coincidentally, both expeditions clash at the mouth of a monstrous cavern...

Army Composition -

3'000 points

Attacker + Defender - May not use any 'Berserk!' regiments

Special Rules -

Cavern - No regiments may utilize flying movement

Monstrous lair - Roused from their slumber, the sentinels of the cavern and their worshippers will fight to defend their ancestral home. Roll a D6 each turn to generate random monsters. Players alternate between placing the monsters, starting with the player who won the initiative. Monsters give victory points as normal whomever slays them.

D6:
1) 5 Drakehounds in one regiment
2) 5 Berserks in one regiment
3) 5 Drakehounds in one regiment, 3 Wild Wyverns in one regiment
4) 5 Drakehounds in one regiment, 5 Berserks in one regiment
5) 5 Wild Wyverns in one regiment
6) 1 Wyrmh in one regiment

Objectives -

At the end of a 6 turn battle, add up the number of troops remaining in each army, and add to it the number of beasts slain. The highest scorer is the winner.

The Aura Mines -

Aura crystals are ambivalent things. On the one hand they power the economy of every realm in the world, on the other they are highly toxic.
They must be captured at all costs.

Army Composition -

4'000 points

Attacker + Defender: No restrictions

Special Rules -

Aura Mines - Place three aura mines horizontally along the centre of the battlefield. They may not be placed directly next to each other.

Shards - A player may shoot into the mines - a very harsh tactic indeed. For every missile hit that strikes the mines, make an armour roll. On a 3 down the hit is deflected. If this roll is failed one counter in base-to-base contact must take an Arcanity save or be destroyed (chosen by the player whose counter it is).

Objectives -

For each turn a regiment is in base contact with an aura mine, that side gains one victory point. If an aura mine is contested, the side with the most companies in contact gets the point. The game lasts 6 turns.

Vanguard -

The forests surrounding the attacking troops induce dread and a primitive fear of natures darkness. Far from their homes, the weary warriors prepare to turn back, so close to completing their objective.
Eager to set an example, the general orders troops to form a wedge formation (a historically valourous, but somewhat obsolescent tactic) to march into hostile territory, drums beating and horns a'blaring.

Army Composition -

5'000 points

Attacker - The Attacker must deploy in a massive wedge, with the most expensive regiment at its very front - this is the generals retinue and counts as a vital regiment.

Special rules -

Vainglorious march - Any attacking regiment in orthogonal base-to-base contact with an ally may re-roll any failed morale test.

Enchanted Forests - Any attacking regiment passing through a forest square must make a morale check or fail back.

Magi-flux - The tides of possibility in this conflux of magic are fickle. Roll a D6 every turn, before magic is generated. On a 1-3 no magic is generated. On a 4-6 twice as much magic is generated.

Objective -

Standard victory points. In addition if the Attackers vital regiment is destroyed it gives up double victory points - if this regiment survives the Attacker may add its remaining points to the victory points she gained from destroying the enemy.

Sentries -

A Light brigade marches by the tenebrous light of the moon.
The enemy camp is just ahead - now they must pounce!
Yet first, there is the matter of dispatching the sentries.

Army Composition -

4'000 points

Attacker - The entirety of the attacking force must consist of Light regiments; infantry or cavalry. The attacker has an additional 500 points in her army, which must be spent on light regiments with the 'Ambush' ability.

Defender - Around 1'000 points must be spent on sentries. These are placed along the centre of the battlefield, in one horizontal line. No two regiments of sentries may be directly next to each other. The remaining forces deploy as normal

Special Rules -

Night battle - Regiments may only see up to 3 squares. They may not charge, or shoot at anyone beyond this sight range, although they may move their full movement allowance provided they do not end their turn in combat (a charge requires sighting your enemy and gathering momentum).

Objective -

The game lasts 6 turns. Attackers only score victory points for enemies slain from the bulk of their army - sentries provide no points.

Thread: The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game:: Strategy:: Stock in one deck!

LucasQuik — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:24:16 +0000

by LucasQuik

Hi there!
I'm having a little problem, I got stuck with one deck(Aragon, frodo and eowyn), and I can't do another one, because I got use to steward of gondor and the power to low your treat By the spirit deck, plus the power of eowyn committed to a quest, and the ability of frodo to defend everything.
Can you guys give me a little tip on how can a mix up things?
Thanks

Thread: Earth Reborn:: Rules:: 4-player SAGS?

ianpwilliams — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:22:30 +0000

by ianpwilliams

We are trying to do 4-player SAGS. We are supposed to start placing tiles, and some tiles add MP to the constructor, or subtract points from the other players. So why would each of us choose any tiles that don't do either of these things? I know the idea is that tiles have bonuses because they benefit certain factions, but we haven't chosen characters or factions yet in our 4 player game

Thread: Warhammer: Invasion:: Rules:: Amount of players?

TrueLolzor — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:22:28 +0000

by TrueLolzor

Sorry for such stupid questions, but is the game completely restricted to 2 players?
I'm thinking on buying it, but my gaming group is usually is more than 2.
Can it be played in like 1v1v1v1 or 2v2 fashion?
Thank you.

Session: Cobra:: Bocage, bocage and more bocage... (Session report and an overview of the game)

DJ Skeeve — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:21:31 +0000

by DJ Skeeve

I played this game with an old gaming buddy two days ago.
I played the Allies and lost badly.
We played the basic game, even though the copy we played was the expanded TSR edition.

It's a very interesting situation. The British have to take Caen and are up against the strongest part of the German line.
The Americans have to punch through in the bocage and then race down to the SW corner of the map and exit to grab Cherbourg. The Germans try to tie down the Allies as much as possible before exiting.

The game reproduces the hard fighting in the bocage and in Caen very well.
Bocage gives the defender a column shift and the Germans get column shifts for units in the command radius of their headquarters.
The combat results are a bit favored to the defenders and are given as a -/-.
The number to the left of the slash is the effect on the attacker and the number to the right of the slash is the effect on the defender.
You can either take the number as a step loss or you can retreat that number of hexes.
It's really frustrating for the Allies to get a good odds and the Germans just go back a hex.

Weather determines the air and also German movement.
Clear weather reduces all German movement to one-third, due to air interdiction.
Overcast reduces all German movement to two-thirds, and Storms allow full German movement.
In addition, the weather determines Allied air support points, which are column shifts for them
and they are allowed one carpet-bombing attack, for the game, against one hex during clear weather.

Allied logistics are handled with command points.
These command points allow an attack. If you've used all your command points, you can't attack.
The one exception to that is overrun attacks.
If you have all 3 elements of a mechanized or armor division in a hex, you make make an overrun attack in the movement phase.
You can't use air to help the overrun odds, but it does help the Americans greatly.
The Germans also have the ability to make overruns as well.

Finally, each side can move their mechanized and armored units in a movement phase after the combat phase.
It allows you to exploit those holes you manage to punch through the enemy's line.

Looking back on the game I played, I spent too much time taking Caen and trying to destroy Germans with the Americans.
I think I had a couple bad die rolls at critical times, but thoroughly enjoyed it.

All in all, this is an excellent wargame and am looking forward to playing it again.
I'm kicking myself a bit for not buying it all those years ago.
If your looking for a really good wargame on the Normandy breakout,
find a copy of this old SPI gem.

Thread: Commands & Colors: Ancients:: General:: C&C Ancients online

GamePlayer — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:18:23 +0000

by GamePlayer

Any online tournaments planned?

Which online version gets the most play? I know of Vassal, Wargameroom, Zuntzu.

Thanks

Thread: Morels:: Rules:: One time through the deck

Futza — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:16:52 +0000

by Futza

It's not explicitly stated in the rules, so I checked with the designer of the game.

You go through the forest deck once, then the game ends. You do not reshuffle the discard pile and continue playing.

Thread: Risk Legacy:: Play By Forum:: Digital Earth #0002 - Game 3 [SPOILERS - Pack 3]

JediPearce — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:07:09 +0000

by JediPearce

Click here for the discussion thread.
Click here for game 2.

Packet Opened: Pack 3 - Open when a person gets to sign the board for the second time.

WIP

Thread: Morels:: Variants:: Being dealt Destroying Angels (DAs)

matthew.marquand — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:01:52 +0000

by matthew.marquand

The rules state that when this happens you have to just play the rest of the game with a dead card in your hand or, look for taking another destroying angel at some point later in the game and when you are forced to discard some cards, then discard the one you were given at the beginning of the game.

This seems a bit harsh to start the game with an unplayable card in your hand and the only way to get rid of it is to take more punishment. The rules feel a bit clunky to describe how to handle the situation so we've house ruled it.

Before the game starts, everybody puts down baskets and DAs they've been dealt. For each DA, you draw another card (continuing until you get something other than a DA) and then all DAs are shuffled back into the deck.

In a two-player game where it feels like every card counts, this feels like you're starting the game on an equal footing and it also covers the case where you've been dealt two (or more!) DAs from the start.

Thread: Virgin Queen:: General:: VASSAL Module Issue - Protestant/Catholic Spaces Count Being Out of Whack for Religious Struggle

cmontgo2 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 14:01:34 +0000

by cmontgo2

I just wanted a searchable answer to this question on the game page.

In both of my games to date, within the first turn of the game, the Protestant spaces count in the Vassal Module did not reflect the on-board position. I was not smart enough to figure it out, but other players were, and so this thread is just a notice on what happens in Vassal and how to avoid it.

When a marker is placed on the map, regardless of what religious side it is on, Vassal does not track it. However, once placed, markers that are flipped on the map will record the changes on the religious struggle. So - if a marker is placed on the map that does not match the religious struggle of a space, and then a player FLIPS it after placing it, the module will record another space in that religion's favor, even though no net space was actually added.

To avoid this problem, always, always, always flip any political control markers, key markers, etc. to the matching religion of the space where it is being played BEFORE placing it on the map.

If you develop a problem in a game, don't panic. To bring the count back into line, on the map, just flip a marker to its other side to bring the count down or up to its proper number. Then those markers that were flipped should be REMOVED from the map in that condition, flipped back to their proper (actual, in game) religious side, then placed back on the map.

EXAMPLE wrote:

Here's an example (from one of my games): The Prot player during Turn 1 captured two keys from Rebellions. These keys, per the rules, had to be Prot to use rebellion, and so they were. But the Prot player placed the two keys on the map on their Catholic side. Doing this did not reduce the number of Prot spaces recorded on the religious struggle track. At that moment, technically, two Prot spaces were just converted to Catholic, but it was not recorded. Then the Prot player right clicked those Catholic keys to flips them onto their correct Protestant side. This added two additional Protestant spaces on the religious struggle track without actually adding two new Prot spaces on the map.

The fix - reverse the process. The Prot player flips those two keys BACK to the Catholic side while the marker is still on the map. This reduces the Prot spaces to their proper number. Then those markers are moved off-map, flipped to the correct Prot side, and placed on the map again. The map and the religious struggle table now match the correct number of spaces.

Sorry for the long explanation, but it is a "problem" in the sense that it is very important for players who are placing markers in the religious struggle areas (Scotland, England, Netherlands, France) to make sure that ANY markers are on their proper religious side for the space in which they are being placed. Otherwise, every game is going to have this problem.

I have to say, though - I am VERY impressed with the Vassal module. This post is not a complaint, it is meant to be informative for players who use Vassal.

Cheers!

Thread: Virgin Queen:: Strategy:: A begining ...

certain death — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:58:16 +0000

by certain death

Thanks to the current Queen Elizabeth we all get the day off on Tuesday, so we've lined up our first 6-player game of VQ. By the time we play that game we will all have read the rules and played the tutorial scenario at least once.

Everyone playing has played Civilization, so we're used to lengthy games. The chaps that are playing (4 of us) have all played Twilight Imperium (third edition) and Twilight Struggle so style and depth is not an issue there. However the ladies have not played these last two and our group normally plays things like Battlestar Galactica, Caylus, Brass, Dominant Species and Agricola to name a few.

Clearly VQ is a deep game, with lots to remember and strategies that doubtless will take many plays to master. I'm not normally one for reading strategy guides prefering to master the game myself, and this is no different, but what would be really useful is if someone might provide me with a brief (literally a handful of bullet points) key aims and pitfalls to avoid for each nation, so that each of us can at least have a few things in mind at the begining of the game other than the 44 pages of rules!

Cheers,
James

Thread: Virgin Queen:: Rules:: Can "Portugese Attack" be played against Spanish Phillipines?

Kinley — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:50:13 +0000

by Kinley

Or is the control marker not a 'colony'?

Thread: Mage Knight: Board Game:: General:: Norowas is a monster!

Konzik — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:50:05 +0000

by Konzik

He is

I've beaten solo conquest in 5,1 rounds with him and now I've gotten 246 Fame in recent game.

First time since my 30+ solo plays!

He ownz with his unit-combos and influence

Session: Champions 2020:: EURO2012 all matches

cwali — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:39:53 +0000

by cwali

I currently play the EURO2012 matches, all. Most games together with FC Gerard'91 (StreetSoccer fans know him as winner of the LittleGolem.net Championship once and 6 times the Monthly Cup). Let me know if you want to play a match and are not far from Maastricht.
Hereunder you see the results of the 8 group phase first round matches. Currently more is played, I will soon update it with the 8 second matches, then the final group matches and then the knock-out phase.
Squad stats I have per team in excel files, to see all player's minutes played and goals and assists and yellow/red cards and suspensions and injuries. I will show that later too. I tried to keep track of stats without slowing down the speed. Works fine. Next tournament I will add number of shots on target, and saves stats for the goalies.
All stats look realistic for soccer. And it gets more spectacular in later group matches, you will see that in Poland and Ukrain this month too.
- How I allocated minutes to the stats: When the timer is on a '6-minutes-space' on the time track, for example on the start space "0", everything that happens before the timer shifts to the '6-space' happens in minute 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. I roll the die to determine that. If for example a goal gets scored in minute 3, and the timer doesn't shift further before a substitute is brought in, then the substitution happens in minute 4, 5 or 6, rolling a die to determine that. And so on. With the timer on the '90' spot, all things happen in minute 90+.
- Suspensions and injuries: I use the tournament rules as suggested in the rulebook.

The first matches were already exciting, with one interesting 0-0 and a spectaculair 3-3!

The 8 first round match stats, with photos of end situation:

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#M1 Poland - Greece 1-0
58: 1-0 Lewandowski (F) no assist

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#M2 Russia - Czechia 1-1
52: 0-1 Necid (F) no assist
64: 1-1 Arshavin (F) assist Dzagoev (M)

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#M3 Netherlands - Denmark 1-1
70: 0-1 Schøne (F) assist Agger (D)
84: 1-1 van Persie (F) assist N. de Jong (M)

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#M4 Germany - Portugal 3-1
46: 1-0 Khedira (M) assist Klose (F)
65: 2-0 Müller (F) penalty
78: 2-1 Almeide (F) no assist
85: 3-1 Podolski (F) assist Müller (F)

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#M5 Spain - Italy 3-3
34: 0-1 Cassano (F) assist Giovinco (F)
38: 1-1 Xavi Hernández (M) no assist
50: 1-2 Cassano (F) assist Montolivo (M)
65: 2-2 Xavi Hernández (M) assist Cazorla (M)
67: 3-2 Xavi Hernández (M) no assist
90: 3-3 Marchisio (M) no assist
(Balzaretti (Italy) missed penalty in extra time.)

]]>
#M6 Ireland - Croatia 0-0

]]>
#M7 France - England 0-1
44: 0-1 Young (F) assist: Cole (D)

]]>
#M8 Ukrain - Sweden 1-2
red card: 43: Voronin (F)
54: 0-1 Ibrahimovic (F) assist Källström (M)
59: 1-1 Yarmolenko (F) assist Konoplyanka (M)
85: 1-2 Elm (M) assist Wernbloom (M)

Standings after 1 match each:

Group A:
1. Poland 3 (1-0)
2. Russia 1 (1-1)
2. Czechia 1 (1-1)
4. Greece 0 (0-1

Group B:
1. Germany 3 (3-1)
2. Netherlands 1 (1-1)
3. Denmark 1 (1-1)
4. Portugal 0 (1-3)

Group C:
1. Spain 1 (3-3)
1. Italy 1 (3-3)
3. Ireland 1 (0-0)
3. Croatia 1 (0-0)

Group D:
1. Sweden 3 (2-1)
2. England 3 (1-0)
3. Ukrain 0 (1-2)
4. France 0 (0-1)

((If all tie-break rules bring no winner, the fair-play points are the tiebreaker, according to UEFA rules. I look at the number of yellow/red cards for that.))

23 yellow cards in the first round, and 1 red card.

Topscorers (D=Defender/M=Midfielder/F=Forward)
--- 3 goals
Xavi Hernández (M/Spain)
--- 2 goals
Cassano (F/Italy)
--- 1 goal
Lewandowski (F/Poland)
Necid (F/Czechia)
Arshavin (F/Russia)
Schøne (F/Denmark)
van Persie (F/Netherlands)
Khedira (M/Germany)
Müller (F/Germany) (penalty)
Podolski (F/Germany)
Almeide (F/Portugal)
Marchisio (M/Italy)
Young (F/England)
Ibrahimovic (F/Sweden)
Elm (M/Sweden)
Yarmolenko (F/Ukrain)

Assists:
--- 1 assist
Dzagoev (M/Russia)
Agger (D/Denmark)
N. de Jong (M/Netherlands)
Klose (F/Germany)
Müller (F/Germany)
Giovinco (F/Italy)
Montolivo (M/Italy)
Cazorla (M/Spain)
Cole (D/England)
Källström (M/Sweden)
Wernbloom (M/Sweden)
Konoplyanka (M/Ukrain)

update for the second 8 matches within a few days probably.

Thread: Morels:: Variants:: Alternative to the conveyor belt layout

matthew.marquand — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:39:24 +0000

by matthew.marquand

My wife and I like to sit on the same side of the table rather than across from each other (our table is very wide) and we found that the recommended line layout caused a lot of card shifting during play.

We, instead, switched to a Glen More style layout using a stick to indicate the head from the tail. The two cards "at your feet" are at the head. If a player takes a card, the card at the head nearest the stick decays, the head (and the stick) collapses around the circle towards the tail, and new cards are placed at the tail to complete the circle of 8 cards again.

It's easy to tell if you have the right number of cards (2 per side of the square/circle) and you won't wear out your cards constantly sliding them on the table after every turn (we sleeved ours anyway).

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Review: Arkham Horror:: I'm not Batman: An arkham Horror Review

Wahoffelmadenga — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:39:02 +0000

by Wahoffelmadenga

Nyarlathotep, Shub-Niggurath, Cthulhu, Azathoth, if you recognize any of these words with more consonants than a Welsh village you will know they are the names of the Ancient Ones; god-like aliens who look upon humanity as we look upon insects. You will also know that this game has nothing to do with Batman. Arkham is the name of the fictional town in Massachusetts in which HP Lovecraft based many of his horror stories. In Arkham Horror the fabric of space and time is falling apart and portals to other worlds are opening, spitting strange creatures onto the streets and one to eight players take on the role of investigators who must battle these monsters, close the gates and prevent the Ancient One from ripping a hole in the space time continuum and destroying the world.

The first thing you notice when you pick up a box of Arkham Horror is how heavy it is. This is a game crammed full of counters, cards, character sheets, Ancient One sheets and a huge board. Each one of these components is of the superior quality you expect from Fantasy Flight Games and the artwork is second to none. With all these bits and pieces you are going to need some time to set up. There are several decks of cards all of which need shuffling and setting up and then there are tokens for health, sanity, money and clues that need distributing.

Once you have finally set up the game players have to choose an investigator to play. There are 16 different characters in the base game and all covering various Lovecraft and 1920’s archetypes. There are artists, writers, mobsters, hobos and even an Indiana Jones inspired archaeologist complete with bull-whip and fedora. Each one has their own back-story and unique characteristics and abilities. These characteristics are represented by the skill sliders. Each of the character’s six statistics is grouped into one of three pairings. These statistics govern your character’s ability to complete various actions such as fighting, casting spells and sneaking past monsters. At the beginning of each turn, players can adjust their statistics based on these pairings. There is always a trade-off; as you raise one skill its opposing skill lowers. For example, the speed and sneak characteristics are linked so if you want to move further across the board you need to reduce your ability to sneak past monsters. This forces players to make careful decisions about their skills and to plan what they are attempting to achieve each turn. Skill checks are based on a dice pool mechanic, players role a number of dice equal to their skill level, minus any penalties for the skill check. Success requires a five or a six on a dice and some checks will require more than one success.

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A fully set up Arkham Horror takes up a lot of space (image from tpancoast)

To explain all the rules and mechanics in the game would take a long time. To put it succinctly the game is broken up into 5 stages. The first is an upkeep phase where players can adjust their investigators’ statistics as described above. Player then move around the board in the second phase, fighting or trying to avoid the monsters. The third and fourth faces are the Arkham and Other world encounter phases; here players resolve the action on the space they currently standing on. This typically involves drawing a random card based on their current location and resolving the instructions on the card. The final phase is the mythos phase where all the nasty stuff happens; monsters move, clues appear and a new gate opens.

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Skill sliders allow you to adjust your skills ready for the turn ahead, even then a University Professor isn't much use in a a fight.

The rules of Arkham Horror aren’t too complicated; as long as you adhere to the phase structure then the game flows relatively smoothly. The issue is the sheer quantity of rules to remember and layers of rules coming from various effects. Once you’ve learnt the basics you will then have to apply effects based on the Ancient One chosen, the mythos cards in play and spells and equipment that the players hold making it easy to forget about something. The rulebook isn’t quite as maddening as the dreaded Necronomicon but still isn’t an example of a well written rulebook. The order in which rules are quoted is sometimes nonsensical and the format of the rulebook itself makes it difficult to reference during a game (and during the first few games you will be referencing it a lot). A big oversight is the lack of a summary or crib sheet. Before playing the game I suggest printing out one of the third party summary sheets such as the excellent Headless Hollow game sheet, not only are they a handy reference to use during the game they also present the rules in a no-nonsense fashion making them easier to comprehend.

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Azathoth stands ready to devour the world.

With Arkham Horror being a co-op game these problems with the rules don’t cause as many issues as they could in a competitive game. Unfortunately there are very few co-op mechanics built into the game. Players can swap equipment and spells if they share the same spot but they can’t gang up on monsters or combine their skills when attempting to close a gate. The other big issue is that players cannot swap clue tokens. Clue tokens are the major currency of the game; they take the form of little green magnifying glasses and represent knowledge of the occult and Cthulhu mythos. They can be picked up from the board, where they appear randomly throughout the game, or they can be gained via various encounters. They are used in one of two ways; players can spend one clue to re-roll a failed skill check or spend five tokens to seal a gate. Sealed gates mean that a gate cannot re-open in the same location and help slow down the onset of the Ancient One which is key strategy in the game.

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Mini cards are used for items and skills your investigators can acquire during the game.

Within a few turns gates and monsters are popping up everywhere and players have to start managing the game. Arkham Horror is a game that plays you. A lot of the game is random and there’s no way that you can prepare for every eventuality. This can also make it extremely difficult, especially if the players don’t work together. These issues nicely fit in with the theme and can make the game more interesting and more rewarding when you do actually beat the old one. However, some players will find the randomness frustrating and may not get on with the games difficulty. Arkham Horror also has some issues with momentum. It typically takes three turns for a player to go through the requirements of closing a gate. That’s three chances for more gates to open. With this many gates opening quickly the initial part of the game always seems very hectic. As players start sealing gates locations the rate at which they appear slow, this means that the middle of the game can feel a bit of a drag and the pace lessons as players feel they’ve managed to control the game. Its only when the doom track, the mechanism for controlling the when the Ancient One awakens, nears its end that the pressure is ramped up again.

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There are tokens for health, wealth, sanity and clues.

If players don’t close the gates quickly enough then the Ancient One will rip a hole in space and time and the players will have to battle it. In the majority of cases this is an extremely difficult fight as the Ancient Ones are incredibly tough adversaries. Most investigators won’t be able to accomplish this task and it often feels like a futile effort and adds extra time to an already long game. If Azathoth is the Ancient One then this fight doesn’t happen as the game is automatically lost when he awakens and one speculates whether all of the Ancient Ones should be treated this way.

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Flying monsters can swoop down and antagonise your investigator if you're daft enough to stand in the street.

If you’re going to play Arkham Horror make sure you set aside plenty of time. Fantasy Flight suggests this game takes two to four hours but a rough guide of over one hour per player is more appropriate. However, the random nature of the game means that this value can vary widely, sometimes the game can be set against you and it takes six hours for a four player game, other times you may be lucky and finish a game in as little as 30 minutes! This randomness, although often frustrating is what gives Arkham Horror its uniqueness. The game is a story that you are creating and its shared adventures will bring you together as players. It will also create unique moments that you will find yourself discussing long after the game has finished.

It is worth pointing out that Arkham Horror is based on the Cthulhu mythos as seen from the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game. This means that it is not just based on Lovecraft’s writings but also those of writers such as August Derleth and Zealia Bishop. The game is subsequently full of theme. Allies are based on characters from Lovecraft’s stories, the Ancient Ones are taken direct from his writings, every monster in the game can be traced back to a particular story and even the dreaded Necronomicon makes an appearance. Readers of Lovecraft’s writing will love to find all the little nods. However, if you’ve not read a Lovecraft story many of aspects of the setting are left unexplained. This doesn’t exactly hinder the game, in fact knowing nothing about the other worlds or indescribable monsters that emerge from them fits nicely with theme but it would be nice to have some of the thematic elements explained in more detail.

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Encounters in the other worlds are generally bad.

Arkham Horror is a lot of fun but it is also a game that doesn’t hold up well to critical analysis. If you take apart the concepts of the game you are left with a series of random events held together by theme. It’s a like a beautiful looking garment of clothing that, when you pick at the loose threads falls apart and you’re left with some random squares of cloth; you’ve ruined the item and it’s your own damn fault for picking at it. The same is true of Arkham Horror, looking too deep at the mechanics or peeling away at the corners of the theme and you’re going to spoil that enjoyment you could have had.

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If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise.

Arkham Horror is a beast of a game, it’s unforgiving, its rulebook is messy and badly written and it takes a lot of investment to play, in understanding the rules, in setting up the game and play time. It’s a cruel game that throws everything it can at you to confound, disorientate and cripple your will. Which is what makes this game so rewarding, when you do defeat the Ancient One you’ve experienced a shared victory and mutual struggle. It’s definitely not a game for the faint hearted and those players who love mechanics over theme will hate this game. However, if you are a fan of theme driven games then this is the very definition of its genre and even with its difficulty and frustration you can’t deny just how much fun this game is.

Pros
• Great fun, in-spite of all its flaws
• RPG -like rewarding gameplay
• Plenty of variation in characters, adversaries and events
• Dripping with theme

Cons
• Lots of rules and no summary sheet
• Difficult and unfair
• Playtime fluctuates and can take anything from 30 minutes to 8 hours.

This review can also be found at my blog: http://polyhedroncollider.blogspot.com/

Thread: War of the Ring:: General:: Alternate miniatures

isaacc — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:26:36 +0000

by isaacc

I'm aware of Games Workshop's (GW) Lord of the Rings miniatures line. Does GW have an exclusive license? Does anyone know if there are other LotR minis lines from other companies, because I can't seem to find any?
.

Thread: Twilight Imperium (third edition): Shards of the Throne:: Variants:: Voting solution

Nimor — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:17:07 +0000

by Nimor

There seem to be some issues regarding the loosing of all your representatives and no longer beiong able to vote on politics. I propose removing a rule completely, so that even if you loose all of your representatives, you can still vote. You just lost the benefit of having the representative bonus. I read somewhere on these forums that some have house ruled that you can get half of your influence as votes, but that just does not feel right. It takes away to much. Its the representatives that are special, but you should not be excluded from the fun of voting or have it weakend by having 1/2 influence to vote with, because it takes away to much of what you enjoy. I say, full influence counts even if you have lost your representatives. The only loss, should be those representatives.

Who else will support this change?

Thread: Memoir '44:: General:: Shorter games and fewer medals?

TimothyP — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:11:55 +0000

by TimothyP

Background: When I first started playing M44, I really liked how the game could be played in an hour (since my gaming is limited to the lunch hour at work).

Problem: Almost all of the later scenarios in the Air Pack and Campaign Book are 6 (and sometimes 7!) medals. So now, games always take too long, and we can't finish in the lunch hour. We don't want to keep playing the few 4-5 medal battles.

Question: What tips do you have for making the game shorter? Is it okay to just play each scenario with a lower medal goal?

Thread: Twilight Struggle:: Rules:: Realignment roll modified beyond 6?

Figo3434 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:04:36 +0000

by Figo3434

If you roll a six, is your roll modified to eight if you control two adjacent countries?

Thread: Maria:: General:: Mario Rossi, please contact me

rsivel — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:56:30 +0000

by rsivel

Hello,

I hope Mario Rossi is reading this Please contact me via geek-mail.

Thanks

Review: Mansions of Madness: House of Fears:: Not without issues, but still worth checking out.

salty53 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:54:15 +0000

by salty53

If you're considering picking up a Print-On-Demand expansion, you've obviously played Mansions of Madness before, so I'm going to assume in this review that you are familiar with the base game, and perhaps with some of the previous expansions. I will be going out of my way to avoid major spoilers for House of Fears (though minor spoilers are fair, so if for some reason you really don't want to hear whether or not this scenario contains Startling Evidence, stop reading), but I will mention a few objectives from previously-released scenarios when they are relevant.

The major gimmick here is the Lost Souls, which are... pesudo-monsters, you could say. They cause Horror tests, they can "attack" (a pop-up monster appears, makes one attack, and then vanishes), and they can move. They're not exactly like normal monsters, though. They inhabit rooms instead of spaces, and move one room at a time, so how fast they pursue you varies based on the size of the rooms you're running through. Their manner of spawning is unusual (and something I'm not going to spoil). Also, you can't attack them - the only way you can directly influence them once they've appeared is with Unreflecting Mirror, an item you get at the very start that pushes them away a room. They're a cool element, and the fact that they pursue you with irregular movement and can't be directly killed makes them interesting.

Thematically, they represent... something.

I don't usually talk about the storylines in Mansions of Madness very much because they're almost always "passable" - very rudimentary, but still enough to set the stage and get the players somewhat involved. The plot of The Fall of House Lynch is hardly outstanding - a guy wanted to bring back his dead wife, turned to dark arts, went crazy and created some zombies - but it's understandable and it's all the game needs. In the Inner Sanctum, a cult can summon otherworldly monsters and is going to conduct some really bad ritual tonight that needs to be stopped; that story isn't going to be winning any awards anytime soon, but it does exactly what the game needs it to do.

Here, the story is that your agent calls you to a mansion where they're doing a first screening of a movie based on you and your fellow Mythos investigators. When you get there... something bad has happened, I guess? The guests are missing or acting oddly or whatever a "Lost Soul" is supposed to be, the director is missing or dead, and... there are monsters for some reason? (And quite a variety - of the base game monster types, only Cult Leaders, Zombies, and Chthonians are absent.) At least two of the "Investigators Win" ending texts note that the other guests don't realize what horrible fate they only narrowly avoided - and I don't blame them, since I never had any idea what was supposed to be going on here either. At least in other scenarios where it's not clear what's going on, like the Green-Eyed Boy, the Clues and Events are about an active investigation process; here, the Clues consist primarily of you randomly overhearing small talk by party guests / lost souls? / someone??? telling you where to go next. It's especially jarring because I get the sense that the game thinks I know what's going on and what the Lost Souls are (and my character certainly seems to know how an Unreflecting Mirror can move them around), but... I don't. It's the first time that not understanding the plot has actually broken my immersion in this game.

Presumably, making a movie based on your Mythos adventures caused something bad to happen, but I haven't a clue what the Bad Thing was other than that Lost Souls and a weird variety of monsters appeared. Nor do I know why it happened - the Story So Far (which is actually really fun and flavorful if you have someone who can read it in the right voice - and Iammars certainly can!) mentions using some items from your adventures as props, but since no such items are ever plot-relevant, I assumed that was just an explanation for why certain exploration cards are present - why else would this director have a Symbol of the Elder Light in her house? (And even if Cult Robes isn't all that useful here with almost no cultist presence, of course a cultist costume would be needed for the movie!)

I'm really surprised that this problem is in this of all scenarios, since one of its other gimmicks is that the backs of the Event deck contain extra flavor text - you can have the keeper read it out to you by going to the central Chapel (where the film is being screened) and asking what part of the movie is currently playing. While this could have been really cool, the opportunity is squandered - the flavor text doesn't give any plot details at all, it just tells you where one of the Clues is. And the Clues already do that, so the Event deck's hints are redundant. And even if they weren't redundant, they'd still be too slow to be useful - Event 3 points at Clue 3, Event 4 points at Clue 2, Event 5 points at Clue 1, and so on. After the very start of the game (where you actually need the text to point you at Clue 5), this text is utterly useless. It's a cool mechanic, and I'd like to see it used again in future scenarios, but squandering it on "Hey if you bought a POD expansion and yet you still haven't learned to interpret Mansions of Madness's extremely straightforward Clues yet, here's a bonus hint" is disappointing.

The Keeper Actions are Evil Presence, Command Minion, Darkness, and two new ones that basically let the Lost Souls move and attack. Notably, none of these let the keeper actually summon monsters (well, the one that lets Lost Souls attack does so by dropping temporary monsters that only last for one attack), so the keeper is dependent on Clues and Events to get proper monsters. Between that and the presence of Darkness, it's tempting to call this a fixed version of Classroom Curses. The primary difference is that this isn't a boring piece of garbage, and is actually very well-balanced... mostly.

1C, unfortunately, is a Save Up Threat And Win (let's call it SUTAW for short) objective.

SUTAW objectives are basically what the name implies. They're objectives where the keeper can win by sitting back, doing nothing, saving up Threat the entire game (tapping Evil Presence once per turn and playing any Mythos or Trauma cards drawn that can be played and cost no Threat), then spending all of the Threat in one turn to win. The SUTAW strategy, in the appropriate objectives, is extremely non-interactive, gives the investigators no chance to respond (since they don't get any turns between the keeper doing all of this and the game ending), and is pretty much an autowin for the keeper. This is one of the easier types of problems that can occur when writing scenarios, and it shows up distressingly often in official scenarios; this isn't the first time we've seen one:

* One Inner Sanctum objective basically requires the keeper to drive an investigator insane and surround them with cultists. Getting Clue 1 will eventually require an investigator to go up to an Altar. When they enter a room with an Altar, the keeper activates Summon Worshippers over and over again (depending on the target's Willpower, perhaps mixing Summon Worshippers with Summoning for Shoggoths); by that stage in the game, the keeper has enough leftover Threat to drive the victim insane this way. Congratulations, someone is now insane and surrounded by cultists. (It may be worth tapping Dark Ritual a couple of times beforehand, grabbing nothing but Trauma, with the intent of grabbing Spectrophobia.)

* I haven't tried it out personally, but I have been told that Pyromaniac can easily do this for the default "kill everyone" win condition in Blood Ties by suddenly lighting up the whole board, and I believe it.

* I think Season of the Witch had one involving the Altar endgame but I can't remember what it is off the top of my head, so I may just be confusing it with the Inner Sanctum.

* Return of the Reanimator has Pyromaniac doing this again (which I have actually seen firsthand). It's even worse this time because the awkward Campfire location makes it almost impossible for Pyromaniac to be used for anything else. It's especially bad in 1A, where the boss can hide behind a Sealed Door while the helpless investigators burn.

* Yellow Matter has the "someone has more mutation tokens than health" objective. Since the Keeper Action that gives investigators mutation tokens isn't once-per-turn, it's easy to wait for someone to go for Clue 1 (which is always at an Altar), then summon cultists, drop 10 Mutation tokens on the victim, and knock out the last few relevant health points with a 6 Cultist + 2 Byakhee army if the victim's health is higher than 10.

Now, some of these are abusive strategies in otherwise-fine objectives that can be played enjoyably by ignoring these exploits - you can play Blood Ties and just not activate Pyromaniac more than a couple of times per game. 1C here, sadly, is not like that. Even without using the SUTAW strategy, the objective is still effectively "The keeper spends 16 Threat"; SUTAW just lets the keeper do that all in one turn.

So 1C is unplayable, which makes House of Fears a 2-objective scenario. But that's not so bad - most Mansions of Madness scenarios are at best 2-objective scenarios (I think the Fall of House Lynch might be the only exception). Unfortunately, House of Fears needs 1C to exist. The investigators have... a very simple potential strategy in this scenario (which I won't be stating) that could make life quite difficult for the keeper, due to the way the scenario's mechanics work. One of the big deterrents against this strategy is 1C, which ends up being easier for the keeper if the investigators have been employing this strategy. But "easier" here just means "spend 4 Threat instead of 16 Threat"; it's an autowin either way, so it makes no difference. So if you pretend 1C doesn't exist, this strategy becomes much more viable, which helps the investigators a lot.

There's a cascade effect - 1C being bad hurts 1A and 1B in turn.

Because of that, I would recommend repairing 1C instead of scrapping it altogether. While revealed, Objective 1C lets the keeper do something involving a monster; my current recommendation (which I confess has not been tested) is to make that "something" once per turn, and to require that "monster" to not be a cultist or a witch.

On the other hand, while 1C sucks, 1A and 1B seem very well-balanced and made for tense, enjoyable games. One hinged on Joe Diamond killing a Shoggoth bare-handed; another hinged in Michael McGlen solving a puzzle in a single turn. (Considering how much work seems to have gone into those two, 1C's obvious lack of testing - or even reading, given that Iammars noticed the problem while first sleeving the expansion before even playing it once - is surprising.) So if you can forgive the need to repair one of the objectives, this scenario is definitely worth your while, and is by far the best of the POD scenarios (it's one of the best MoM scenarios released so far in general, really).

The items include a lot of classics that you'll recognize from other POD's. There's Capsules of Tranquility, Smith & Wesson, Symbol of the Elder Light, Brass Knuckles... it's like they want the POD's to collectively feel like a single expansion, so they all share a bunch of items that would have been included in that expansion if it actually existed. Actually, what's surprising is how few new items there are. Aside from Unreflecting Mirror, the only new ones are Keys, and even then they're basically just "a Key that gives +1 Willpower" and "an Axe that is also a Key". But I'm not complaining. (Actually, what I'd really like to see is Symbol of the Elder Light included in a scenario without the Darkness Keeper Action. Its Action isn't usually worth using when the darkness token can be so easily replaced at will, but if darkness tokens were spawned off of Events or from some new Keeper Action that limited where the darkness token could be placed, it might be more interesting? But I digress.)

The event deck provides a good example of why the keeper should be allowed to read the Event cards before the game starts. Here, some Events give the keeper the one-time-only option of paying Threat to buy permanent monsters, which are some of the only permanent monsters the keeper can possibly get in the game. But if the keeper doesn't know this, and spends all their Threat during their Keeper Action Step are normal, they can be screwed out of their monsters. It's a newbie trap, and a particularly mean-spirited and unthematic one at that, and one that will make the game less interesting for all concerned if it's fallen into.

While it's not without its flaws, House of Fears is still one of the best Mansions of Madness scenarios that has been officially published so far, and if you already have Forbidden Alchemy and are looking to pick up a POD, this is definitely the one to go for.

Review: Virgin Queen:: First Impressions

Jfuller — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:54:11 +0000

by Jfuller

The Virgin Queen
Our group is a big fan of Here I Stand, and The Virgin Queen was P500’d immediately. It arrived last week, and since then we’ve had the opportunity to play two games. In terms of components, the board and units are excellent, and the cards are themed perfectly. The game has quite a few chits, but storage was not too much of a problem as GMT always provides ample baggies.
For the first game we managed to get six people together. Needless to say, the game was interrupted constantly by players learning the rules and by nightfall we had only done three turns. We all agreed we enjoyed the game. It does a mighty good job of making you feel like the leaders of a major power. A major sea war between the Ottomans and Spanish dominated the Mediterranean, while the Spanish had their hands full dealing with English raiding of the New World and the Protestant Rebellion. France took an isolationist policy and focused on the arts and sciences, causing the Holy Roman Empire to declare war. Not much else was achieved.
The second game was played the following day, with three players instead of six. We decided to play the Tournament scenario, and it went very smoothly and was quite enjoyable. Spain lost, having failed in her war with France and the Netherlands even with the Holy Roman Empire’s help, and French narrowly beat the Protestants, coming down to a successful marriages vs. a failed rebellion. The following is what I can say about the additions of the Virgin Queen.
It’s Detailed: Like Here I Stand, there are a lot of one-time events and chits. Game-play was stopped constantly the first game to recheck rules. The second game was much faster, but there was also half the number of players. The Player Aid Cards do a good job, and I’m sure this delay will pass in time, just like it did in Here I Stand. In my opinion, the level of detail is what makes the game so sweet.
Arts & Sciences: This new addition allows for powers to invest in VP-awards in the form of artistic and scientific achievements. It felt similar to the colonies of the previous game, in that you spent CP on the action and then waited to the end of the turn. Science also brings with it the ability to obtain ‘bonuses’, which is like investing in a new technology. The VP awarded from such endeavours seemed to add up fast, especially with France (who also gets bonuses from Marriages and keeping Paris Catholic). Some of the sciences look like they could aid a power very well, but most people focused on the Arts as it brought with it greater VP rewards.
The New World: The extra-level of detail in the new world leads to a new theatre of war. Spain receives treasure (extra CP, VP, or card) unless it is pirated by opposing players. France, the Netherlands, and England were all active the first game and Spain did not receive much treasure. The second game, patrol boats succeeded in eliminating a very unlucky Drake (who causes hell for the Spanish). We enjoyed the addition of trade winds and dangerous zones, and a Dutch explorer was lost going around South America. Ottoman Explorers remained inactive in both games, so we have yet to see how they play out. Regardless, the New World is a chance for all sides to gain VP, CP, and cards, and remained a contentious area throughout both games.
Religious Conversion: The streamlined rules in our opinion really better the game. Gone are the painstakingly long turns of the Protestant vs. Papacy. Religious conversion is fast, with sides often switching back and forth in a fury. The ‘super 6’ is an easy way for players to feel satisfied that they truly are the better side. All in all, I feel there is less conversion in this game – there seemed to be more war for the Protestants, which suited us just fine.
Rebellion: The Protestants have the ability to rebel, which leads to a France and Spain having to deal with armies popping up all around their lands. It’s done quite well, with the Protestants having the ability to target Catholic units or not, in exchange for potentially failing. The rebellions are small, but we found them to be a frequent thorn in the side of France and Spain, and are unable to be fully put down. These are the Wars of Religion, after all.
Inactive Powers - I thought the game did this very well. Diplomatic Status would be checked through card events. A status check would see if the powers would activate/deactivate based on a die roll. A player’s current diplomacy – CP spent through the Diplomatic Influence action – would form the modifier on a dice off between the powers applicable to effect the inactive power. The Ottomans, Holy Roman Empire, and Venice saw themselves fought over. The major powers never seemed too powerful. They indeed cause reasons for concern, but in practice the Ottomans were checked by the Spanish and the Holy Roman Empire proved ineffective against the Dutch. Still, their entry was a strain on their opponents.
Espionage – Espionage wasn’t in the first game, but was rife with the second. The French and English have home cards involving these activities. The French were performing assassinations all game. An attempt against Elizabeth failed to kill her but resulted in the loss of cards for England. The Spanish felt the worst of assassination, with the Duke of Guise, head a large Spanish Army, was struck down in France. Without a leader, the army fell apart. Indeed, killing enemy army leaders is a good way to prevent them from marching on you! However, when they fail it is truly horrible, as the Spanish’s botch attempt against Henry of Navarre proved, leading to revealing his hand and losing a card. Finally, informants were placed and neutralized throughout the game. There were no Catholic Rebellion attempts.
Marriage - Marriages are a nice addition. A dowry is often appreciated and we saw cards being traded for good wives. A marriage is truly a random act, though with high eligibility something nice should come of it. The French, aided by their home card, had spectacular weddings. Since they get VP for marrying off their women, it was this act of marrying that won them the game. It was hard to convince people not to marry with them if they were guaranteed a VP! Marriages were even performed to be followed by war. However, marriages can be sour – William of Orange met his death through his ill-fated marriage with Louise of Lorraine.

All in all, we had a terrific time playing Virgin Queen. It definitely makes you feel like a leader of a major European power. Combat and movement have been left untouched from Here I Stand, and battles are often bloody affairs, with leaders marching their army of mercenaries to some new hot-spot and hoping for the best. The addition of assassination makes going to war a bit more chaotic, but it didn’t prevent us from doing so! All the powers are embroiled together, more so I believe than Here I Stand, and there was always overlapping wars and alliances at play. France and the Netherlands proved to be the main battlegrounds, with France winning despite having a large Huguenot presence in the South and Brest and the Northeast Spanish. The Holy Roman Empire and the Ottomans clashed frequently, but that didn’t stop them from allying to go to war with Spain! Diplomacy is also enhanced with the addition of marriages, and there is a bit of competition for wives. True to form, Elizabeth was fickle as ever, and people tended to attempt to wed her as they did kill her.

Thread: Twilight Imperium (third edition):: Variants:: Balancing game play

Nimor — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:50:12 +0000

by Nimor

Ok, we played a a few games of Twilight Imperiuim 3 with a lot of fun and a few problems arrised.

Facility issue - There are to few facilities: The problem is that the first player will build as many refineries they can ASAP. There are 8 refineries and 8 colonies. During the first game round 1 player will hog as many as 5 refineries as soon as they can. That leaves 3 refineries for the remaining 4 players.

Solution options:

1 Raise the cost of facilities to 2 or 3. This way, one player cannot afford to hog the resource boost in the beginning.

2 OR, limit the amount of facilities available for each player to purchase to 2. This way recources are divided fairly.

3 OR, only allow facilities to be built on systems that contain star docks.

You could still get lucky if you can get 2 systems with 3 planets each in round 1, but this is rare, and appeals more to the randomness that creates the board. This will always be differences.

4 OR, only allow facilities to be built on already tapped planets.

I feel that the third option is the best, or possibly the second. The first and fourth are to much of a change from the rules wordings.

One player felt that everyone would have to have facilities using the current rules. Making it a MUST for everyone, or else you will loose out on a lot of vital resources in the long run.

Transfabrication Issue:
Now comes problem number 2. The Mentak racial Tech combo with Transfabrication. I constructed 7 destroyers at the cost of 7 resources and one comand counter. Later that same game round I scuttled those destroyers gaining 7 trade goods that I could spend at a a rate of 2 for 1 because of my racial tech. This gave me:

trade goods 8 + 16 (had one from before)
sarween tools + 1
planetary resources + 3

TOTAL RESOURCE VALUE 20 and 1 more command counter

This was a nice boost to built capital ships with. Naturally my two neighbors turned against me. All of the other 4 players thought this a BROKEN tactic and would not allow the combo ever again for future games.

It took me 1 action, 1 command counter and 7 resources(could be up up 8) to built the 7 destroyers, and 1 more command counter + resources and trade goods to produce units again. Depending on how many command counters I have and other variables (started with a trade station next to my home system), I had 3 reasonable fleets. I might possibly have been able to scuttle 2 times and produse units 2 times in one game round.

I have heard that the Mentaks are critisized much because of this, but I am going to stretch out on a limb here and make a defence of the tech combo. When this happens it will cost you a lot of pain since almost everyone turns against you. Everyone will perceive you as too powerfull and ally against you. Even when you are the lowest on the victory track.
You also spend command counters, which are a valuable asset to do this. Anyway, maybe I am wrong about the combo but I would like to hear other peoples opinions on this. Each race has an edge. Is the Mentaks really that unbalanced?

Solution options:

1 - Allow Destroyers to be scuttled at a rate of 2 destroyers for 1 trade good.
2 - Allow this combo to be only played once each game round.
3 - Require the scuttling to be a seperate action requiring a command counter. (This will cost you, but also function as a stalling method, so maybe its not such a good compromise).
4 - Allow the Transfabrication tech to be used only once per game round.

This all feels a little off, because you are spending command tokens on your systems that could have been spent otherwise. You build up the fleet capacity and the necissary space docks.
Option 4 seems the best because your production boost is only improved by 8 each game round at the cost of 2 command counters. If you could pull off a double scuttle production (+16 resources) it would just be silly. 8 production at the cost of 2 command counters and possibly 2 more from your reinforcements for transfer actions and production, that are activating your systems and not other systems at the time, does not sound that bad.

Im hoping that others will agree with me that the use of Transfabrication should only be alound once per game round. Its a nice boost for the Mentak, has a nice price, is powerfull, but not completely out of control, IMHO.

Please give feedback.

Thread: Chicken Caesar:: General:: New Version of Kremlin announced

GameMasterX0 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:43:44 +0000

by GameMasterX0

Over on the Kremlin page, they've announced a new version with updated, streamlined rules.

I thought that was interesting, since the designers of Chicken Caesar cited Kremlin as a major inspiration for their game.

But I am still quite satisfied with my coop-themed backstabbing. Can't wait till the Kickstarters ship!

Thread: Virgin Queen:: Rules:: 2 Player Game & Catholic League- Going To War With Oneself?

Arcturus2006 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:29:39 +0000

by Arcturus2006

Hi there,
I noticed that in the 2 player game, one side plays as England and Protestants the other, Spain and France.

The formation of the Catholic League causes Spain to go to war with France - how is this resolved in a 2 player game?

Can you effectively go to war with yourself?

Many Thanks

Ewan

Thread: Thunderstone:: Rules:: Can you buy "leveled" heroes?

matzi1 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:10:48 +0000

by matzi1

Hi!

I just got the game, read the rules and now I have a question:

The rulebook states that you can level up heroes with experience points, and you cannot skip a level.
But on the hero-cards there is a number for how many gold can you buy it.
So... can you buy experienced heroes, or you have to start from level 1?

Thread: Omen: A Reign of War:: Strategy:: Which Soldiers will you use to be your deck?

brighknight_216 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 12:08:00 +0000

by brighknight_216

I've recently gotten Omen the second edition and am curious with regards to the deck building aspect of this game. If you were given the choice (as in the Pure Deck Building variant), which soldiers will you considered to be your top 6 to build your deck.

Here is my take on the deck building which I thought of making them to suits certain strategy. Do give me your comments and share your ideas.

DISCARD AND CONTROL
This deck will have soldiers that force the opponents to discard his cards either in hands or on the board and prevent the opponents of having cards to play or have them active.
- Fervent Seductress
- Scent Stalker
- Mistress of the Wilds
- The Scorned
- The Dreaded
- Keeper of the Tide

"BOUNCING" FUN
This deck allows players to move their soldiers in many different ways.
-Grizzled Veteran
-Lady of Glory
-High Tactician
-Keeper of the Lost
-Grand Commander
-Any other soldier units

"SURPRISE" DECK
This deck is build to focus on strategy of surprising your opponent by removing their cards in play
- Mistress of the Wild
- The Scorned
- The Dreaded
- Grand Commander
- Keeper of the Tide
- Seaside Guardian

CHEAP SOLDIERS
As per the title, all the below soldier units have low cost which allows the player to quickly put them in play for a rush capability.
- Grizzled Veteran
- Fervent Seductress
- Lady of the Glory
- Mistress of the Wilds
- Scent Stalker
- The Scorned

Thread: Guns of Galicia:: General:: Play time compared to Guns of August

ScottH — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:58:11 +0000

by ScottH

I know it has shorter scenarios, but what about the full campaign?
How long will it take to play?
How many scenarios are coming in the box?
Really looking forward to this one since we had such a good time playing Guns of August.

Now about Red Poppies Campaign game.....

Session: Tide of Iron:: The Bunker on the Hill (soloplay)

freddieyu — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:51:27 +0000

by freddieyu

Yesterday I managed to get in another solo game of Tide of Iron, this time with a Scenario I made called “The Bunker on the Hill”. It is based on a Meeting Engagement scenario using a buy point system, with 450 points worth of units (please check out the files section for details). The Germans had 2 powerful Tiger tanks and 7 squad bases (4 officers, 3 veterans, 15 regulars, 2 MGs, 1 mortar, 1 flamethrower and 1 antitank counter), while the Americans had 3 Shermans and 8 squad bases (2 officers, 6 veterans, 18 regulars, 2 mortars, 1 MG, 2 bazooka counters). The Germans though has the use of the Supply 1 (missing a few cards) and Command 1 decks, while the US only has the Morale 1 deck.
As I was playing alone, I decided to have the victory conditions simple by using the Seize Ground objective. Here the Command Objective pointage on the counter also corresponds to VP. By the end of 6 turns the player with more VPs from controlled objectives win, pure and simple.
The Germans win the roll for inititative, and the fight is on!!!

Setup
TURN 1
Both sides advance and claim the closest command objectives. The Germans capture all of theirs, while the Americans fall short of the green Objective 2 hex. (note that while I was looking at the pics, it seems I had both the German and US squad mistakenly move an extra point, as they should have not reach the control 3 counters..oh well)..
The Tiger on the Eastern side (on the top of the map) misses a long range shot at the Sherman in the wood, but this is Ok since I forgot that moving units cannot do long range shooting anyway!!
The command phase has the Germans upgrading the mortar base to have another mortar (due to a supply card). Other cards are placed in the play area by both sides, as they can be used in succeeding turns, and 1 CP each is spent for control of initiative, which swings over to the US side.
VP: Germans 6 US 4

Opening moves
TURN 2
1 US squad gets left behind in order to occupy the Green Objective 2 counter, while the rest make their moves towards the bunker on the hill. The Germans also move forward and 1 squad makes it way to rough ground at the Eastern base of the hill. 2 Shermans and 3 squads crest the Western side, and with some lucky shots manage to eliminate the German MG unit on the Grey Objective 3 building! The German Tigers respond by redeploying westwards along the tree line (moving quickly with the help of the cards), but shooting on the move clearly is not their forte as a Sherman gets only lightly damaged as a result!
The command phase sees the US side invest a lot of CPs in order to gain the initiative, while the German squad in the rough hex gains an MG through a supply card!
VP: Germans 6 US 6

First blood!!!
TURN 3
The Americans start off by rushing into the Bunker (supported by 1 Sherman on the eastern side), surviving fire from over-watching units. The Germans respond by massing more troops in the rough terrain, who manage to kill a regular US infantry from a bunker squad. The Shermans (supported by the bazooka squads) duel the Tigers, but get badly mauled despite help from Take Cover cards. The Tiger in open ground does get lightly damaged however. Another German squad then advances into the Grey Objective 3 hex.
The Germans then play a card which neutralizes all CPs spent for initiative, and with more CPs they regain the initiative from the Americans!!
VP: US 10 Germans 6

The US gains the bunker, but can they survive the inevitable German counterattack?
TURN 4
The Germans know that they must deal with the occupying US squads in the bunker quickly, and they start off by using the mortar teams and then combining MG fire into the complex. The +4 cover proves tough to break as most hits are deflected. The Germans then advance the elite Flamethrower squad which proceeds to burn 1 officer, veteran, and regular infantry from their squad.
The undamaged Sherman decides to neutralize the remaining counterattack force by overrunning and pinning them, before moving beside the German MG in the forest! The US mortar then adds to the damage by disrupting both squads!!
The 2 damaged Shermans attempt to destroy the damaged Tiger, but yet again the Thick armor deflects most shells and the Tiger survives, albeit heavily damaged! The Shermans are then destroyed by the Tigers, while the Kraut squad in the building snipes off 1 figure from the advancing bazooka squad. The Americans then play a Morale card which makes the mortar active again, and it manages to route the disrupted Germans in the rough hex!! The US squads in the bunker then close assault the elite Flamethrower unit, and in bloody hand to hand combat the entire German squad is destroyed, while the US lose 3 figures in the process. Finally, the 2 US squads in the building whittle off 2 german infantry figures from the base in the building across the road.
In the command phase the Germans play a card and repair the Tiger back to light damage status. The US has a lot of CP’s and because of this regains the initiative!!!
VP: US 10 Germans 6

A bloody turn 4!!! The Tigers win the tank duel but the German infantry counterattack force is decisively gutted!!!
TURN 5
The Americans finish off the Germans in the building and also manage to wipe out the MG squad in the forest, making it close to impossible for the Germans to win since it is only infantry who can enter and thus claim objectives in building hexes!! A damaged US squad is then destroyed, and the undamaged Tiger moves into the forest besides the Sherman, but fails to harm it as the play of 2 Take Cover cards plus the Sherman’s armour saves deflect the shells. The other Tiger is then heavily damaged again as a bazooka team leapfrogs forward towards the vacant Objective building. The German mortar is disrupted, and another US squad moves into the Bunker objective.
Realizing that the battle is lost, the Tigers go into Opfire mode, with the hope of supressing the bazooka team’s advance into the building objective.
VP: US 10 Germans 6

Mopping Up
TURN 6
The last turn sees the damaged Tiger finally destroyed by the Sherman and a bazooka team (with the help of a Take Down the Beast card). The German mortar is also routed. The last Tiger does manage to pin the Bazooka squad as it advanced, thus denying that objective to the Americans.
AMERICAN VICTORY 10-6

The Americans carry the field, and only 1 Tiger tank survives!!!

ANALYSIS:
While the American side had very lucky rolls (especially with Saves!!) and the Germans shot poorly, I felt that I could have definitely played the German side better. With 4 officers and the Command deck (with a lot of bonus move cards) it was a mistake to have massed the German infantry in the rough terrain, as it was not good defensive terrain. It would have been better to stage the attack from the building and woods hex North of the hill. In addition, the Tigers got distracted by the Shermans, and spent too much time trying to destroy them. They should have used the concussive firepower of their main guns in thinning down the occupying Americans in the bunker, which could have swung the odds towards the German’s favour. As such, the advancing German infantry was caught in the open and were cut down, which realistically reflects what happens when you attack piecemeal.

I again had great fun playing this solo, and I believe the scenario I created is more or less balanced. I will test this when I play versus my brother. The scenario itself has good replayeability since there are 3 different victory conditions to choose from, and you can also switch deployment zones and try again.

Thread: Omen: A Reign of War:: Rules:: Questions on Cloudcall Pegasus and Grizzled Veteran

brighknight_216 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:49:07 +0000

by brighknight_216

Dear all,

I have some questions that I would like to clarify. Hope you guys can help.

CLOUDCALL PEGASUS
For Cloudcall Pegasus, its ability state "Gift of Hope: Pay this beast cost and discard it. Reveal the Top 6 cards of the deck and choose any 3 of the revealed." I would like to ask after we reveal the top 6 cards, do we take the card into our hands to choose the 3 cards or when choosing the cards, they need to be in a revealed state meaning the opponent will know which cards we have chosen.

I think this is important to know because it may undermine the utility of Cloudcall Pegasus if we chose our cards in a reveal form as the opponent will know what cards in our hands. This can easily allow the opponent to play cards that can force us to discard cards in our hands like Fervent Seductress, Scent Stalker , and Scarred Minotaur.

GRIZZLED VETERAN
When Grizzled Veteran use his "Intimidate" ability, as it moves a soldier from the city he is in to another city, will the 'other' soldier which is moved activate its ability.

Thread: Army Group Narwa:: News:: Army Group Narwa is here!

leffesteff — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:48:50 +0000

by leffesteff

All pieces have arrived and we are busy packing. All you guys that pre-ordered: Keep an eye at your e-mail. Within the next 48 hours you will receive the possibility to buy the game before any other gamers.

For the rest of you all: we have good news: we have printed 100 copies this time so there is a larger chance to get a copy (not much, but we have done what we could). The official release has been postponed to Sunday, June 10th 2012.

Thread: Fresco:: Strategy:: Leonardo

diceman56 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:37:01 +0000

by diceman56

When playing with 2 players, and of course Leonardo, why would we want to give Leonardo points by giving him the Bishops favour from mixing paints. Is there a strategy from doing this. I play with most of the modules (glass, bishops favour, portraits, all colours).

Thread: The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game - The Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill:: News:: More information about the three quests...

SimboSmith — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:28:20 +0000

by SimboSmith

Someone posted this link in another thread, but i think its worthy of its own topic because it's got a bit more info about the three different quests
http://www.gametrademagazine.com/Home/1/1/58/591?articleID=1...

Here is what they said about the quests...

We Must Away, Ere Break of Day

Once you journey out of the Shire, you’ll encounter terrible trolls in We Must Away, Ere Break of Day. It’s up to Bilbo to sneak past the trolls and rescue the Dwarves before they’re roasted or boiled.

[This one sounds a bit similar to Conflict at the Carrock]

Over the Misty Mountains Grim

Your heroes must then find their way past storms and Stone-giants in Over the Misty Mountains Grim. The stormy skies rumble with thunder and crackle with lightning, but the mountain caves in which your heroes can seek refuge may be just as deadly. Hordes of Goblins crowd the caverns along your passage through the Misty Mountains.

[This one sounds like the Road to Rivendell]

Dungeons Deep and Caverns Grim

Things go from difficult to dire in the final scenario! Bilbo Baggins becomes split from the rest of his party in Dungeons Deep and Caverns Grim. Your heroes must simultaneously win a ferocious clash with Goblins and a deadly battle of wits.

i also like this bit about the treasures...

ou have to work to find your treasures, though; you don’t gain them just for defeating a scenario.

it seems like we wont be able to just steam through the quests and complete them, we will really have to explore all the locations and rooms, or hunt down and defeat a lone enemey, on top of completing the quests to get the rewards.

Thread: Appletters:: General:: Tile size

merc007 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:26:28 +0000

by merc007

Hi
I was wondering if anyone knew the size of these tiles? If they were bigger than bananagrams?

Thread: Sergeants Miniatures Game:: General:: Convention Calendar - Warstore Weekend

Banor58 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 11:18:21 +0000

by Banor58

Would it be possible to get a listing of the events you currently are commited to and/or thinking about.

Any chance of seeing the team at the Warstore Weekend at the Meadowlands, NJ? I think that with all of the miniature gaming going on, SMG would be big hit.

Thread: Virgin Queen:: Rules:: Army Mutiny question

Simon_le_Bon — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 10:37:37 +0000

by Simon_le_Bon

Does a power lose all regulars on the board or only the regulars in the targeted stack?

Thread: Shifting Sands:: Rules:: AXIS RD TO TUNIS AND BIZERTE

grognard62 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 10:36:15 +0000

by grognard62

is possible for the Axis units made RD from controlled ports (Sicily included)to BIZERTE and Tunis?

I ask this because I don't understand the rule 12.71. In the bottom of that rules says (reporting to Bizerte and Tunis): "In such a case, these ports cannot be used by eighter the Axis or the Allied for RD".

Thanks Stefano

Thread: RattleSnake:: General:: Lost the board :(

baba44713 — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 10:33:01 +0000

by baba44713

We just came back from the holiday and realized we lost the board for this game. It is one of my daughter's favorite games so this is kinda an emergency situation.

I wanted to find the replacement copy but this game seems to be completely unavailable in my country (Croatia), and the shipping costs from ordering from abroad are ridicilous. Anyone know is there a possibility of ordering just a board from somewhere? I kinda feel stupid for not simply scanning the damn thing before, hindsight 20/20 and all....

Session: Space Hulk: Death Angel - The Card Game - Tyranid Enemy Pack:: Expanding the SH:DA Game: Six Session Highlights with the Death Angel Expansions - No Hive Lords Allowed!

oldschoolgamr — Sat, 02 Jun 2012 10:20:49 +0000

by oldschoolgamr

Introduction

I just couldn't resist documenting my sessions with the SH:DA expansions. Having discovered the gave first via Vassal (See: Try Before You Buy: Lorenzo and Claudio - My New Best Friends (Solo Game)), I was estatic when the cardboard version of the game showed up on my doorstep along with all four of the expansions. The Tyranids add even more challenge, while the Death Angel squad ramps up the variety. The extra two "regular" Space Marines are a great add and the locations from Mission Pack 1 build the game up more, even if they tend to make it a bit, dare I say "easier".

The Hive Lord cards are the icing on the cake - switching up the endgame conditions for that final taste of challenge variation. How can you not like all this expansion goodness? I am hoping the sales of these print on demand expansions keep steady, enough to the point that FFG decides to put out some more. This is likely a dreamers goal, but you just won't stop me thinking of new locations or special abilities. Maybe the fanbase will mature enough to get some homebrew content out there - one can dream, right?

In the meantime, I continue to constantly mix it up with the existing expansions and am in the process of developing a structured campaign mission set - and yes, you can bet there will be a session report on that gem when completed as well. If these little ditties get even just one person to check out the game and purchase the expansion then my job is done... Enjoy.

Session 1: "I Think I Can, I Think I Can... Pass the Locomotivus"

Cards Used: Space Marine Pack 1/Mission Pack 1
Teams Used: Orange/Gray/Blue
Locations Used:Void Lock/Locomotivus/Crew Reclamaton Facility/Librarium Vault
Survivors: Adron [Orange] Lorenzo [Blue]

With new space marines in tow, I set out from the void lock excited to encounter brand new locations and complete my mission in the Space Hulk. Weirdly, the Locomotivus location was the first time the game actually moved slowly... Since the spore chimney was destroyed on the first action phase, there was no RED level spawn location. The event cards drawn while there - a good number - were low number spawns at the remaning colors. So it took a while to work though the blip piles. I didn't even really use the location special abilities that much.

Now, that break was very useful as the endgame in the Librarium Vault was difficult - but totally fun. The GS cycling that went on at the new Hull Breach terrain card was awesome and I was cued up to win with the Orange special ability of Adron - but rolled a "0". Then the defense ability of Lorenzo was no use. Moved/activated the Hull Breach again (after spawning 3 to 4 GSs in each location - surely to die on the next turn - and managed to kill enough to win... Crazy how you have to in efffect "free-up" in-use support tokens to make them available for the Librarium Vault win condition.

I thought the new marine special abilities were OK - but not too memorable, and that the locations were creative, but in the case of Locomotivus, a bit too "easy"? I hate using that word since I only finished the game with two marines left. I guess it was just that I had down time at that location that made it seem strange. Still totally loved this first "expanded" romp though the Space Hulk. I may consider mixing in Mission Pack 1 cards with the original location cards for the games to come...

Session 2: "If No One Survives Does a Falling Support Token Make a Sound?"

Cards Used: Space Marine Pack 1/Tyranid Enemy Pack + The Hive Lords
Teams Used: Green/Purple/Blue
Locations Used:Void Lock/Black Holds/Wrath of Baal Chapel/The Hive Tyrant
Survivors: None

The Terminators have been called to duty - this time to thwart an infestation that has grown to Hive Lord proportions. The Tyranid Genestealers are leathal (especially the double attacking one: Ravener). There are four different types of these Elite Tyranids and they each have specific deadly abilities. Just getting out of the Void Lock and the second room was almost more than half the game. The Chapel was realtively quick, but could have used more door activations. The Tyranid deck was nearly cycled twice during the game.

By the time the formation reached the final location, there were only three left: Lorenzo (who did manage to pickup the artifact in the chapel); Zael, and Omnio. The endgame win condition required marines to skip attacking to roll - if a skull was rolled a support token went to the Hive Tyrant - 5 token there and the marines win! The GSs piled up insanely fast - even with the extra save from the artifact there just wasn't enough time. Managed to get 3 of 5 tokens in play, but no one will ever know how close we came...

Session 3: "Scipio Steps Up"

Cards Used: Space Marine Pack 1/Mission Pack 1/Tyranid Enemy Pack + The Hive Lords
Teams Used: Orange/Black/Green
Locations Used:Void Lock/Diseased Arbour/Tenebro Maze/Deathleaper
Survivors: Adron/Raphael [Orange] Calistarius/Scipio [Black] Noctis [Green]

Death to the Hive Lords! The Tryanid expansion is officially quite good… Was nervous with this group, especially since the Green squad never really impresses me… Add to that the fact that Gideon fell in the Void Lock AFTER drawing the card that returns a slain marine to the formation. However, after the Void Lock was cleared the Orange and Black special abilities really synced up well.

The Diseased Arbour location was realtively smooth, as the spore chimney was taken out early. The blip pile with 5 cards was worked on by the "Stealth Tatics" of Black and there were "Full Scan" event cards draw in this location and the next (discard top card of a blip pile...).

The Tenebro Maze was also relatively low key - as the previous door blocked all the potential following Genestealers and the blip piles are only 5 cards each - again was able to get significant door activations so that no GSs were following into the Hive Lair.

The Lair, of course, held the Deathleaper - which was only accompanied by its two additional Genestealers - Kill the DL and were are good to go home: "Mission Accomplished". Unfortunately, I wasn't facing the group and couldn't attack - I could however stall with Black's "Power Field" - which keeps a swarm from attacking or being attacked that round.

The following spawn draw added an additional three GSs to the original swarm, for a total of 5... Both Black (only Scipio had the facing) and Orange (both with the facing) attacked... Raphael hits: 4 GS remain (the DL has to be the last killed); Adron uses "Cyclonic Volley" and now only the DeathLeaper remains - the fate of the group is in Scipio's hands... He rolls - a ZERO - miss! He spends a support token and rerolls - a 1/Skull! - the Deathleaper is dead and the marines have won the game!

Let's play again...!

Session 4: "Don't Mess with the Deathwing Squad... Seriously"

Cards Used: Deathwing Squad/Tyranid Enemy Pack + The Hive Lords
Teams Used: Red/Black/Purple
Locations Used:Void Lock/Teleportarium/Generatorium/Trygon
Survivors: Charon/Uriel [Purple] Menelauis [Black] Raphean [Red]

The Deathwing special abilities are POW-ER-FUL. The combo of the Librarian's "HellFire" and the Purple's "Deathwing Attack" can really clear the board (especially as both of these abilities disregard facing). This does take a lot of the strategy out of the equation, but the Hive Lord at the endgame usually gives the squad trouble, so it is never a sure win.

Actually, my die rolls were the trouble - took three attempts to get the skull roll required to win once the formation was Genestealer free... Interestingly, I read that the Brothers of the Imperial Terminator squads are initiated with cermonies that include gene alteration and the addition of the ability to spit venom - which I am assuming is where the "Hellfire" attack is derived from - especially given the card art (a fire breathing brother-at-arms).

The abilities seem more complex (read: more explaination text) than the traditional marines, so there is a bit more work required to maintain/not miss actions... I kinda perfer the simplicity of the base space marines... Still, I had some major "fist-pumping" roll outcomes in the earlier locations. Menelauis rolled a "Hellfire" attack result of 5 - and was able to slay 5 tyranids... Charon had a "Deathwing Assult" roll result of "4" versus a swarm of three Genestealers (two of which were Elites).

The Teleportarium and the Generatorium both remained unused - just too afraid of losing major firepower. As the endgame room took so many attempts, both blip piles had been completely cleared before finally getting Raphean to roll the skull... Still, I am curious to see how the other marines play and will go a head and keep the Deathwing squad in the roation.

Session 5: "That's One Heck of a Tree!"

Cards Used: Deathwing Squad/Mission Pack 1/Tyranid Enemy Pack + The Hive Lords
Teams Used: Blue/Yellow/Green
Locations Used: Void Lock/Diseased Arbour/Wrath of Baal Chapel
Survivors: None

Felt like a horrible random draw as far as Deathwing marines go - none of them had ANY multiple attacks (without requiring support tokens) or "free" attacks (potential kills during support/move+activate actions). It was tough, but the squad did make it out of the Void Lock - lost Zaltys there, and Nestor had to heal Jericho... but what lay beyond was even worse: the Diseased Arbour and both a Brood Lord and an Adrenal Genestealer - bad news with the ~5 Genestealers already present.

The swarms combined and attacked and soon it was completely over... Brother Gabriel limped into the Chapel alone and was cut down my a swarm of 12... Likely one of the tougher combinations of Deathwing abilities - we shall see... Going again with no Mission Pack 1, but using the Hive Lord end locations.

Session 6: "The Squad was Hotter than a Burning Promethium Tank!"

Cards Used: Deathwing Squad/Tyranid Enemy Pack + The Hive Lords
Teams Used: Blue/Purple/Red
Locations Used:Void Lock/Black Holds/Hibernation Cluster/The Hive Tyrant
Survivors: Zaltys [Blue] Charon [Purple]

Crazy game - losing - winning - losing - then won… The Space Marines took a beating in the first two locations. Did manage to move Jericho into position to pull the promethium tank switch - blew 5 Gs sky high, then went up in flames himself (rolled a "0", wah, wha, whaaa).

Then, with only three marines in the next location - the Hibernation Cluster - the blip piles were small (thankfully). I pulled lots of GSs there and then then had to travel into The Hive Tyrant. As mentioned on BGG, it is often easier to just empty the blip piles rather than going for 5 tokens on the Tyrant card... I managed to do this (kill all the GSs from the blip piles - during which time I was down to two marines, then reserected one as the piles were empty.

I realized I was technically still required to draw Event cards as I rolled for my skulls during attacks and actually drew "The Swarm" which added to GSs to the then empty blip piles - the fight was back on! I lost Hephaestus then (which was OK during the game with the extra activation flexibility) and was on the ropes again.

Some decent defensive high rolling and lots of support tokens later I managed to pull off the win. I required quite a bit of rule look-ups on the Geek - all related to the Deathwing and Tyranids expansions. Still not used to the new squad - the special abilities of the original Blood Angels are just sweet when combined in the formation...

Thanks for reading.