What games are you playing right now?

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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Sat Nov 09, 2013 1:27 am

Ok, time to plug a game I finally got to try. TALES OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS from ZMAN games. It's a little bit of Fiasco mixed with a lot of Choose Your Own Adventure and some good old fashioned quest completion. Steph and Bill invited me over to give it a go (and to see the new baby). I liked it so much I deliberately avoided ruturning to the center of the board to win the game in order to keep playing. Short version: you move to a spot and draw an encounter card. That generates a challenge with a list of options to respond (like attack, bribe, avoid, aid, open, etc) each response keys to a numbered response in a book that gives a result (2600 total events). These grant wealth, destiny and story points to win the game as well as possible treasures and skills to improve some results. If you find it, go buy it.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby svensven » Thu Dec 05, 2013 5:57 pm

Jen is wrapping up her 13 year 7th Sea campaign. To her credit she's been stingy with the XP so it's not like we all have 5 in stats and such. (I do get 6k5 on all drum rolls...)

Thats the only RPG we do anymore. I'm going to run a 5th edition Shadowrun one-shot (likely a 4 shot).

We play a TON of board games, though, which is what we did at Gen-Con when not 7th Sea-ing... Currently our faves include:

Sentinels of the Multiverse
Notre Dame
Macao
Merchants and Marauders
Lords of Waterdeep
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby smafdi » Fri Dec 06, 2013 8:03 am

We had a short 5th ed shadowrun game and it was kinda fun. Tho we were combat light and I did a ton of hacking. Always a fav Sentinels of the Multiverse. If you haven't seen yet they have 6 new promos (4 heros and 2 villans) if you order anything from their webstore during the month of december. There is also an errata pack out for 4 cards that got a clarifying update to their text if you have an older version of enhanced edition. The errata pack is only a penny. The only downside is shipping is like 10$ :/

I also cannot say enough good things about love letter. Sal introduced it to us at origins this past year and it's great. Nice and light, very quick zero setup. only downside is it only plays 4.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby svensven » Fri Dec 13, 2013 12:19 pm

You are my sort of gamer Smalf. We also love Love Letter and Sentinels
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Fri Dec 27, 2013 10:38 pm

So I have been on an indulgent buying spree for boardgames. Some old, some new (ish). I mentioned Tales of the arabian nights and still love it. Also picked up Asara from Ravensburger, some Carcassonne expansions, Hive, Cthulhu Gloom, and waiting on a back ordered Hanabi. But yesterday for a measly 5 bucks I got a gem. Complete in box (with one torn corner) a 1971 classic. STAY ALIVE. Slides, marbles, trap doors and Vincent Price.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Tue Jan 21, 2014 11:01 pm

Belated X-mas gifts were given yesterday. SMASH UP from AEG and MASQUES from Fantasy Flight. I've played smash up a couple times and it's ok but not epic. I keep seeing a flaw in that the guy that takes an early lead is near impossible to beat. Masques looks intriguing but it has some overly complicated descriptions and used cards for stuff that should have been boards. But I am now very officially declaring TAKENOKO my current favorite strategy game of the year. The play concepts are deceptively sneaky for such a light style game. The variety of win methods prevent one player from locking things down. Components are top notch and it's adorably cute. That's right, grumpy old Sal is gushing about how pretty the game is. Just go get a copy.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Wed Jan 29, 2014 4:03 pm

ok, I'm in debate mode for a new boardgame. I have this lovely gift certificate for Barnes and Noble that would go a pretty good way toward making some pricey game very reasonable. right now I'm thinking something epic and fun. So no plans for grand strategy with deep thinking and complex planning. (So Puerto Rico is out)

I was looking at Mice and Mystics and then I started looking at the Firefly boardgame. So if you are playing either feel free to jump in with comments on playability, replay value, limited play due to included number of quests included, etc.

And that really is a current pet peeve. I'm not a fan of games with 9 adventures you play and are then done with. Legends of Andor was particularly lousy for my play style due to that.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby smafdi » Thu Jan 30, 2014 8:17 am

While i have played neither based on what i've heard about both. Firefly is pretty darn good, has great thematics. There are limited number of scenarios but that's really only the victory condition you go for the actual playing of those (except the one they recommend you start with sucks don't do it) is alot of fun... so i hear. For mice and mystics is very much like descent if you've ever played that, not really alot to add on that one, i want to pick it up but price wise it's just not really attractive atm.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:57 am

Yeah that's what I was reading on both. And price is normally an issue but if I can invoke the gift card with a good in store coupon (which Barnes and Noble do drop my way on occassion). Mice could be around 30 bucks and Firefly possibly as cheap as 15. So right now it's just figuring out if I will have more fun AND 15 extra bucks in my pocket.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby CaitlinCallahan » Thu Jan 30, 2014 10:30 pm

Floyd and company are big fans of the Firefly game, but I'm not familiar with Mice and Mystics, so I can't really compare. I have not actually played Firefly yet (so far, it's only come out on guys' night), it looks like a lot of fun.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:42 pm

You need to pop that game out and make him let you play. If he balks, give him the look and say, "You can't take the sky from me."
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby svensven » Fri Jan 31, 2014 5:55 pm

Warning: Firefly is heavy, and each player you add beyond 3 ups the duration significantly. I'm not saying that to discourage you, as I rather enjoy Merchant of Venus and Firefly is a bit of a reskin of MoV, but you said you didn't want heavy.

Mice and Mystics is pretty light. Jen and I are about 4 chapters into it. Its got a lot of chits but setup is not too bad and it's got a running story.

I really enjoy Spirium if you like a light (as in actual weight) game with good strategy.
I'm curious to hear how you like Hanabi.
I got Suburbia and Francis Drake for Christmas and adore them both
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Fri Jan 31, 2014 7:53 pm

I played Hanabi once around thanksgiving. Since it's still not available here, I am actually printing out a temporary deck. i am also intrigued at trying Ikebana, the second game that was released with the same deck.

I like Hanabi a lot. I think it plays well with a focused group of players paying attention. However, I always end up with ADHD participants that can't keep track of the goal let alone what is in their hand.

I appreciate the reviews however. And I just got a 15% off coupon for the weekend so that makes it around $33 for Mice or $12.50 for Firefly. (after gift card) Both of which will be great deals.

It may come down to my choice in wanting to paint the minis and doing space ships or mice.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby Rebecca Iavelli » Tue Mar 11, 2014 5:38 pm

So, I was out at Saver's today, looking for a used pan for a project I'm working on, and had no luck but found their game section, and looked around and found a game called Castle Keep.

Looks like Carcassonne, in that it uses tiles, and you have to build a castle based on the shapes or colors. So I'm going to have to read the instructions to see how to play it. Saids its for 2 to 4 players.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Tue Apr 15, 2014 7:08 pm

Played Archipelago last night.

It's fun for what it is. lots of options to do different things. But it has some issues for my style of play.

1- bookkeeping. Every time somebody draws a new tile, buys some more workers to deploy or generally does anything, it means you need to adjust markers on 2 different tracking boards. (and moving those markers may well change the status of at least one of those boards a second time.)

2- A strong advantage if you are aware of the possible goals. Goals are kept hidden but in a finite set. if you know the possible choices, it's easy to see your opponents gunning for one of them and try to grab some extra points. But it requires the skill of counting a blackjack chute to track the goal and reward combos.

3- Murky advantages. I bought what I thought would be useful improvements that turned out to generate points for winning at the end but didn't do what I had hoped in game because they required other players build other items to be useful.

4- too many side boards for tracking. There are 2 market boards, 2 population boards, the game play area AND a disc to mark player actions.

5- speaking of actions: you get 3 and will get more later as the board grows. but there may be some things you can do as your action in turn that do not cost an action token so you may be allowed to take extra actions. And some actions are limited use per round where others can be repeated.

6- TOO MANY RESOURCES: Fruit, fish, livestock, wood, ore, stone it's more than the game needs.

overall we seemed to spend more time adjusting tracks than playing.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Wed Apr 16, 2014 11:07 am

So I've been holding back discussing this game because I'm not sure how difficult it is to find, but it was awesomely fun and I just can't hold it in anymore. The game is called Mail Order Mutants (here's the Board Game Geek synopsis) Anyone tried it? If not, should I bring it to Origins this year and let you all try it out?
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby smafdi » Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:59 am

Bring it! haven't even read anything about it sounds awesome
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Thu Apr 17, 2014 1:27 pm

smafdi wrote:Bring it! haven't even read anything about it sounds awesome

Will do!
smafdi wrote:STOP BEING SO DARN POPULAR GUYZ SRSLY I NEEDZ MEH GAMEZ TIHS YAER!!!

kenderleech wrote:If the cows were not meant to be ridden, why would they be so close to the chase scenes?
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Sun Jun 22, 2014 10:59 pm

I got in a handful of games this evening. Learned to play GRAVWELL which is interesting but not deep. (important lesson, do NOT let Jeremy teach rules. Turns out the game actually requires several rounds not 1). Also taught players 7 Wonders, learned to play Forbidden Desert, Alhambra, and Bang dice game all in under 5 hours.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby svensven » Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:37 pm

We are weeks away from Gencon and I plan to board game my eyes off. If only Gencon had the quality of game library that Origins (CABS) has. I have a hard time thinking of a game I'd want to play that isn't in the CABS library.

If you like fun, interactive card games look no further than Guildhall or Guildhall: Job Faire. Both are a ton of fun (and both by AEG, a company who needs to get their poop in a group and issue some board games in the 7th Sea world...)

Matt
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby Black Jack Rackham » Mon Jul 14, 2014 5:01 pm

Heya Matt! Will I be seeing you and your wife for more than just Ep. 5?
smafdi wrote:STOP BEING SO DARN POPULAR GUYZ SRSLY I NEEDZ MEH GAMEZ TIHS YAER!!!

kenderleech wrote:If the cows were not meant to be ridden, why would they be so close to the chase scenes?
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Mon Jul 14, 2014 9:25 pm

Ok, played Francis Drake last week and love it. I am also a convert to Alhambra. (may become an all time close second to Carcassone). Spent yesterday sitting in the dirt teaching Gluckshaus and Landsknecht to renn cast members. Tomorrow we play Fortune and Glory!. The game includes a CD of original inspirational music that totally misses the mark. It's too slow, too baroque and just not good. I would much prefer no music and a slightly less expensive game.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Wed Jul 16, 2014 12:34 am

Review for Fortune and Glory:. Played standard every man for himself version tonight. It plays well but takes some effort getting used to play order with everyone moving then resolving actions. Also had some clunkiness with a few specific rules. But we like the game and it's play style. Jeremy wants a mechanic to adjust rolls because he did not take advantage of gear and allies which do that very thing. For my part, I just chose the wrong character for the random challenges I faced so I spent a lot of time getting beat up. I am certain next time when I select a combat character I will face lots of thinking challenges and fail those instead. It plays well and I think it's worth the hefty price tag. NOTES ON COMPONENTS:. The minis are nice but a touch too similar and will need paint to differentiate them. Same goes for the bad guys. Shifting some poses would have helped. The plastic coins are awesome but come in two size denominations and need a better design to identify them easier. (sizes were too close when they are crammed in a bag and table space makes it a hassle to just spread them out. The cards are great in terms of stock but layout needs some help. Very important info is about 3 fonts too small on several card types like target numbers and special effects. There are also large wasted areas on some cards that could accomodate that information. Now for the one huge glitch...they include an inspirational CD of "period style inspiring music to add to your sense of adventure". It's not only lousy music, it's not close to adventure film style theme music and the songs are so similar, you need to watch the track list to see when they change. It's worse than the Schumacher Batman movie.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby Sister Sonya » Wed Jul 16, 2014 3:10 am

salamanca wrote: It plays well and I think it's worth the hefty price tag.

List price $80; On Amazon for $40. Interesting.
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Re: What games are you playing right now?

Postby salamanca » Wed Jul 16, 2014 12:33 pm

Watch that, it may be an expansion priced at that.
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