Board Games!

[Narninian]

playing battlestar galactica for the first time in years; I have all the expansions -- I'll be playing with people who have only played the base game a couple times or not at all.

Any recommendations for what to include?
I know for sure I'll be playing with Cylon leaders + Daybreak Agendas as an option
I'm kind of lukewarm on final five+personal agendas - if I include them I'm going to limit how many for sure.
I'll be using treachory from daybreak and mutineer depending on playing counts
I don't really like the idea of player elimination so am ruling out Ionian nebula.
My instinct to to *not* include the cylon fleet board, I like the panics and lulls from Cylon attack cards.

but I've really only played with cylon fleet board once, and pegasus once, daybreak zero times so would welcome advice.

[Narninian]

playing battlestar galactica for the first time in years; I have all the expansions -- I'll be playing with people who have only played the base game a couple times or not at all.

Any recommendations for what to include?
I know for sure I'll be playing with Cylon leaders + Daybreak Agendas as an option
I'm kind of lukewarm on final five+personal agendas - if I include them I'm going to limit how many for sure.
I'll be using treachory from daybreak and mutineer depending on playing counts
I don't really like the idea of player elimination so am ruling out Ionian nebula.
My instinct to to *not* include the cylon fleet board, I like the panics and lulls from Cylon attack cards.

but I've really only played with cylon fleet board once, and pegasus once, daybreak zero times so would welcome advice.

If you're playing with people with limited experience, then you probably want to avoid most of the non-mandatory expansion elements. I'd take Kobol as the destination, leave out the final fives and personal goals, use cylon attack crises rather than the fleet board. Between the Pegasus board, Mutiny, Daybreak Treachery, Cylon Leaders and a mountain of new skill cards and characters, they've got enough to which to acclimatise.

I actually played this yesterday and that is actually exactly what I did. We had 5 players so 1 mutineer and 1 cylon leader (the one guy who had played before wanted to try that option out) and 1 cylon card. I ended up picking cain (although thinking about now I'd rather pick mutiny zarek if I were in that situation again - cain is awesomly pro-human, but zarek sounds more interesting). My loyalty card from the start was 'cylon' which was a little disappointing as I don't feel cain's power is that good for a cylon her passive is sound I did save some high value brig cards. Mutiny cards are really cool WAY better than the sympathizer mechanic. The guy playing the Cylon Leader was playing very human the whole time. I soft revealed (After having scouted the next crisis through an action card that basically lets me play 2 actions) by attempting to brig/execute cally. I had a bunch of purple/green and everyone knew it so they piled on the cards -- I had nowhere close to what I needed but was able to brig cally anyway through a treachory card that gave out mutiny. The crisis gave me presidency so they had to arrest me the hard way. They again piled on the cards to get me arrested so cally could execute me on her turn. It worked - no super crisis/cylon reveal for me - but they wasted 2 actions and basically all of their cards doing it so I think it was a net win.

In the end I won by sapping their population with the jump track 3 away from victory, 3 damage on pegasus, 1 on galactica and all resources 1-3. The cylon player it turned out had 4 cylon agendas but had to help the humans the whole time to prevent the game from ending too early.

[Narninian]

After watching Dead of Winter on Tabletop, it feels like a subpar version of BSG, although still super thematic and super fun. It seems to be a bit fiddly with a lot going on(now, mind you, there's a

ton

going on in BSG all the time as well, so that's not necessarily a problem).

The concern I have is with having separate win conditions besides just surviving. With everything that you have to worry about, surviving seems hard enough anyway, let alone fulfilling an arbitrary objective. It feels like an inelegant way to incite conflict within the group.

I've often seen this comparison (always with people saying dead of winter is better); and if its true then it really doesn't sell me - I've seen a glut of zombie/surivor theme games and its really not a theme that sells me. I've only seen it play on 'watch it played' (rodney smith) so I'll definitely give it another look. For now battlestar galactica - daybreak expansion is all I need.

[Narninian]

Just played Dead of winter on Tabletop simulator. I see potential here, but I'm not sure I like the secret objectives. We played with 4 people - 3 people had objectives to have the most people (1 traitor, 2 non-traitors) and I had the objective to collect 3 medicine. I was a little unlucky - I rolled 3 exposure die during the course of the game (2 frostbite and 1 bite).; but I spent as many actions as I could searching for medicine, later in the game I was in the hospital and making noise. After we killed the zombies we needed; I added extra to the crisis because I know my place was going to get overrun with zombies and needed to cover for the morale loss as I searched 3 times for medicine and made 4 noise. Even with my farmer's ability early (drawing a lot of cards from grocery store) - and putting 5/6 cards on the bottom of the hospital deck and drawing as many. I wasn't able to get my 3 medicine, and I never used any (I was able to get some from other players when my guys were injured with frostbite)

I understand the concept behind the mutually exclusive objectives from the other players, I'm just not sure I like it to this extreme. One of the three others (that needed the most survivors) had a survivor that was able to scout the deck each turn to add survivors -- this made going after their objectives normally for the other 2 players impossible. I guess the idea is they needed to kill that guy early or get exiled, but it very difficult for new players to see that the need to immediately sabotage one of their own objectives on turn one to fulfill the other one. In my case, I was stalling and searching as much as I could - I had an ability to kill 3 zombies at once (with medicine so I had excuses for searching for medicine all the time) and was suggesting we pile up the zombies to kill in one last ditch effort on the last turn - unfortunately, lighters took out mass amounts of zombies at once and there was nothing I could do about it.

[Narninian]

We had 2 people play Regular catan last night in 20 minutes.

[Narninian]

Played Dead of Winter again; This time the the betrayer won - he happened to get a double turn right before the last round and it was trivial for him to tank our morale. He had multiple ways to do it and He didn't need both turns anyway, but since he was last we couldn't respond to anything he did and resources were tight enough that even though we accounted for the crisis and food without his actions (which were to be to assist in gathering food for next round), its was extremely easy for him to screw us.

In my 2 plays, I have to say while I enjoy the how the theme is integrated with the game, and streamlined mechanics (compared to say Battlestar galactica) I really don't like how luck driven the game seems. Exposure dice can be mitigated with guns+Fuel but there are simply not enough resources to avoid them entirely so getting bit multiple times in a game can easily happen. We had a scenario that required tons of food and one player lost the farmer first turn (Which helps gathering food). Personal objectives require specific items from decks and I actually like how this forces you to choose between helped the main objective and getting your personal objectives done but in practice this is another highly luck based activity. Even if you go somewhere where a good is common and make noise it may not be enough even with 5+ Searches, and requesting it doesn't let you put it in your hand. The rolls you get at the start of each round can limit you to barricading or taking out trash (The latter of which is not needed in excess, and the former only is needed sometimes). There are no ways to guarantee getting new survivors (there are uncommon in all decks) so anything requiring specific skills or more survivors again requires a lot of luck. Even player position it turns out can be a huge swing in the game (the betrayer getting a double turn on the last round in a scenario where we are trying to survive 5 rounds).

Both of our scenarios were "Short" scenarios (although its not like the duration was that short compared to other board games) so its possible some of this luck might be mitigated with the increased # of rounds a longer game would have -- but for me if I'm playing a longer game with a a coop w/ a traitor mechanic and resource management I'm going to stick with battlestar galactica.

[Narninian]

I'm in the camp that prefers C&K to the base game; I feel like there's more to do, and more in the way of viable strategies.

I'm in the same camp; although I prefer other games now entirely.

[Narninian]

would anybody be interested in playing games through 'Tabletop Simulator'?

[Narninian]

I knew it as mafia (and hadnt heard of werewolf) before coming here. That was 11 years ago though, and people are way more into boardgames now.

[Narninian]

on the same vein as cards against humanity:

Snake oil - I enjoy this one much more. Although both (CAH and Snake oil) are best off in small doses. I had the unfortunate case where we played CAH for like 4 hours at going away party last week so I feel your pain.
Telestrations is another good one.

My favorite game for lots of people at a party (that works with gamers and non-gamers alike) is resistance, but its not short enough that people can drop in and out at will.

[Narninian]

I'll second great dalmutti, although there is no real 'end of the game' and I find people drop out pretty fast if they don't like it.

[Narninian]

I've just seen BSG being played and by god it seems like a really awesome game...reminiscent to Shadows over Camelot.

I enjoy the traitor mechanic (and well.... the rest of the gameplay) way more in Battlestar Galactica.

Shadows of Camelot is

a) More Approachable (its pretty obvious what good moves are, whereas battlestar having knowledge of the decks is a pretty huge advantage)
B) Has a different theme- some people like King arthur a lot more than battlestar galactica

For me though, I find BSG much better

[Narninian]

So I recall seeing a kickstarter for a board game that used code words that were dropped in conversations to allow people to find their team mates

Does this ring a bell to anyone? I'm looking for more big group social games and the concept seems cool.

I don't know this game but as fair as big social games

For 8 or less I recommend Spyfall.
For 7-12 I'd recommend Telestrations against humanity.
For more than that I got nothing. 2 rooms and a boom works, but its a real game not just a social game.

[Narninian]

So I recall seeing a kickstarter for a board game that used code words that were dropped in conversations to allow people to find their team mates

Does this ring a bell to anyone? I'm looking for more big group social games and the concept seems cool.

What you're describing sounds very similar to

Spyfall

. Even if it's not the game you're thinking of (I don't think Spyfall had a Kickstarter), it fits into the category you're looking for, and is worth checking out.

http://forum.mafiascum.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=61020

[Narninian]

I'm excited to try alchemists this thursday. It was on my shortlist for next game I'm buying (which won't be for a while) and then somebody bought it - looks like an interesting Euro game (like) with some deduction (love)

[Narninian]

sounds like a lot of fun.
for the odd player rule I get that he wins "with" the winning team if he ends up on a list
I would add a rule that He wins "solo" if he winds up on both lists.

Sounds a little bit like spyfall, a recent game I was introduced to.

[Narninian]

Too many for mafia? impossible.
My problem is not enough for mafia or noone ever wants to play it, so we stick to resistance and the occasional 2 rooms.

(or usually other games but for the large social deduction game fix its Restistance > One Night Wereworlf > Spyfall > 2 rooms > almost anything > Mafia )

[Narninian]

Another option is http://spyfall.meteor.com/ on everyone's smartphones. I did the print and play too, but that app just works better if its an option.
Dice duel is another game that I own, that not a lot of people like playing.

[Narninian]

ok...

A friend just mentioned MEGAGAMES to me, and talked about wanting to run one.
OMG
YES
THIS

I am slightly obessesed with it now, I think I'll be running watch the skies in my home town.

http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/ ... -megagame/
http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/po ... es-2-pt-1/

[Narninian]

I really love Keyflower - there can be some really decently divergent strategies.

I've had 2 games where I just went all out meeples (buy buildings that give you random meeples, spend 3 actions on those buildings) and had like 30+ in the last round.... This was fun for me. I did manage to win by a couple points but it was more just loving being able to do whatever I want on the last round and getting all the meeples back I invested on earlier rounds that was cool for me. Its not that effective a strategy because you *need* the meeple boat and a decent meeple bonus building to have a competitive score.

[Narninian]

I strongly disagree that the game is lacking strategy.
Yes, there is a good amount of tactical elements, there are also luck elements - but there are strong threads of strategy throughout.

[Narninian]

I've only played dead of winter online, but this is my initial impression as well.
I think if there somehow less luck in the game it could go a long way though.

[Narninian]

Won Dungeon Fighter at game night last night (Iello is local and sponsors it)..

I am pretty terrible at it, but seems like it could be fun.

[Narninian]

I've found battlestar to be less luck based than dead of winter in my admittedly small sample size. (of dead of winter - played lots of battlestar)
Battlestar has a lot of random elements, but because there are a lot more events/rolls it averages out

In my first game of dead of winter, I think it would have been literally impossible for me to win even if I knew exactly what cards and dice rolls where coming up. I rolled for exposure a total of 3 times in the game, got frostbite twice and regular bite once no regular damage or blanks. I did use and ask for medicine (I had a secret objective to collect medicine so I didn't use any of my own) and gas to travel, I picked characters specifically so I would have an excuse to go searching in places with a good amount of medicine. I spent most of my actions searching for medicine, while using what I needed to to make sure the crisis didn't kill us. The last turn before we would have lost from morale we finished our objective (samples) so I spent all my actions searching, even making lots of noise which risked making us lose the main objective (I managed to put extra food into the crisis so that morale loss wouldn't) still didn't get the medicine I needed for my secret objective. The other 3 players (including the traitor) all needed to have the most followers so obviously only one person won.

Second game was a last 5 rounds objective and the traitor just happen to have gotten the double turn on the second to last and last round. This made it trivial to tank our morale (like 3 or something) without us having any way to respond. This is like a 25% chance of happening with 4 players so its not like its an uncommon occurance.


EDIT: I think I already ranted about this on this thread ---- oh well.

[Narninian]

I have Tabletop simulator and its nice because its supports are larger number of games, and its very cheap.
My 2 games of Dead of winter were on there - I played with my friends from the other coast that actually own the game.

I think I bought like 12 copies for friends during the steam winter sale

[Narninian]

Tabletop simulator is basically a physics simulation.
Unlike Vassal, it doesn't have any enforcement of rules.
It does look prettier though.

It has good tools for playing with cards, boards, tables and dice.

The downsides are
A) in order to play well you need to learn some basic controls --- trying to play without knowing some of the good shortcuts makes it not a good experience ----once you learn those, though, it plays pretty smoothly.
B) No built-in rules encforcement like vassal -you have to make sure the game is played properly - just like in real life. (it has all the tools to shuffle, keep cards secret, etc.. though)
c) of course it costs money --- its well worth the $10 though, imo. Cheaper than a digital versions of Sentinels of the Multiverse, Catan, Talisman, etc..
D) Some Games are taken down from the Steam workshop. you can still play them, whoever is hosting has to get the files -- either by contacting somebody who got it from the workshop before it was taken down or by scanning in art yourself.

[Narninian]

I'd play with scummers.

Some of the games I've played on it:
Dead of Winter,
Battlestar galactica,
Eldritch horror,
Cards against humanity,
Lords of Waterdeep,
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Legendary Encounters
Pandemic: The Cure


My library is much larger. Considering that content is user submitted and can be used even if they've been taken down, the library of games is pretty vast.

[Narninian]

Not sure this link will work:

http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/browse?appid=286160

It uses the steam workshop which is user generated so the content is constantly changing -- I'm sure I have several games thare are no longer available, but I could share the files or host.

[Narninian]

yeah, the ability to play hundreds of board games for a lower price than a digital version of just one of them is pretty absurd.

[Narninian]

I mean -- I guess if it cost $50 I might see your point.
I personally would probably still buy it, if any of my friends had it -- that's how much fun its been for me. (I also use it to play solo games especially if I want to play over multiple sessions, learn rules to games I haven't played yet, try out new variants, etc..)

You can't honestly say you're getting "nothing" for $15 when there are built in games and hundreds and hundreds of mods that are extremely easy to install (literally just hitting the + button)
The fact that you can join a game and the host can pick games at will without everyone joining having to grab the modules and install them ahead of time is gravy.


Now you can personally say paying the relatively low price of $10-15 is not worth it for you, and thats something nobody can dispute. Calling it absurb, however, in my opinion is absurd.

[Narninian]

Tabletop simulator has no possiblity of getting DCMA'd .

Some mods might, but that just means you can't get them anymore.
Once you have the files you have them for good, and they don't cost anything.

I personally don't see it as against my principles to load up a mod thats not available anymore, especially when one of the people Im playing with or myself owns the physical board game.
One cool thing that I like is getting player created expansions for games.
Sentinels of the multiverse, for example, has some awesome fan created content that you can't purchase in a store.

[Narninian]

I've mostly played tabletop simulator with people in alabama, and I live California -- I've had no network issues. Your mileage may vary.

[Narninian]

solid game

[Narninian]

Just ordered mass drop for 'Doomtown Reloaded' It looks like a lot of fun and should hopefully be a nice holdover until game of thrones card game 2nd edition is released.

[Narninian]

Yeah, Gamma has Doomtown Reloaded, it's NEEDLESSLY complex though

hmmm didn't seem that way from video playthroughs, but I suppose its more of a CCG than a board game which tend to have more complexity as a baseline.

It certainly seemed less complex than the Game of thrones Card game, which I loved.

[Narninian]

It's more that the little keywords they use are so niche and specific that there's a TON of rulebook hopping since no helptext is written on cards. Plus, movement around the board is not really intuitive, and what you can/can't move to/from is ridiculously specific

I've played a lot of doomtown solo now, only a couple times with friends. The people Im hoping will like Ill get to play with tonight.
The movement rules make a lot of sense to me, though. It makes town square a valuable location, the deeds next to your home easier protect and prevents rounds from just going on forever because you run out of moves.

The complexity is on par with others in the genre: Netrunner, game of thrones lcg, etc.. but certainly more complex than most board games admittedly. Still, I wouldn't call it 'needless' its just a product of the genre.

[Narninian]

I'm playing it;
I got a copy from gencon and have printed off proxy cards while waiting for it to ship.

[Narninian]

Pandemic legacy is getting good reviews and might be an interesting alternative if you mostly play with the same people.
I personally found Pandemic + Forbidden Desert+ Forbidden island somewhat similar and don't really find myself craving different flavors of the same basic formula.

[Narninian]

I just played through T.I.M.E stories;
was a lot of fun.