If you aren’t in the running for the win, that scintillating end-game may fall flat for you.
Reports say there is a broken strategy, I think along the lines of the first person to build a city loses, it’s more efficient to conquer than build. 2e addressed this. I haven’t reached that level of play that it was an issue. I don’t recall the rules change but it’s likely house-rule-able.
The game can run long, like 3 hours, if people are choosing not to build cities (or just not focused on it).
What gods show up, and what order they show up in, each round can determine who is in a strong or weak position each round. I call this reactive gameplay, but some might feel constrained by uncontrollable elements.
Edit: oh right - OG cyclades, city components cost 2 coins and optional. New cyclades, city components are free but compulsory. I don’t think you can easily houserule it as they adjusted the prices for everything else on the god(dess) cards to balance the free bit. But it’s doable if people are committed (and finding a problem with RAW).
Long Shot: The Dice Game. Is it worth it? I bought it cos Quinns made it sound fun but setting it up to try and learn it, I just gave up because it seemed too much for what appears to be a silly racing game.
Mine got a couple of solo plays. But it is essentially a R&W if you play solo. I have better ones.
Whenever I had more people to play it just didn’t make the cut above other games. I think I am not big on race games and my guess is I’d probably take Heat these days. It think that one is harder to travel but easier to table.
I don’t think it is forever in my collection. For now it is in. But not being played.
That was also my take-away from the SUSD review. I’ve not played it, but never saw anything to change my impression that Camel Up strikes a better balance for this type of game.
I have hesitated to jump on Ready Set Bet because these games NEVER work with my locals anymore. I used to have some people around who would have made these into good fun. But if you don’t have right players for it… it does seem to be a game that requires the people to bring something to it… I might be wrong though.
And there’s Downforce as well in the “none of us controls a racer, we all have cards that affect them” stakes. And Ticket Gagnant, which is on BGA but barely in print—I plan to buy a copy off the designer (JC Bouvier of Rallyman fame) at Essen.
I go the opposite way slightly on ready set bet. My family are not gamers by any means or gregarious but I think they got invested in it because it’s so simple.
We played with none of the special powers and the game on the TV which I think does make it feel more realistic.
The fun comes partly because sometimes the wrong things happen (long shots win, guaranteed wins somehow collapse) and everyone can see this.
I haven’t played it with gamers so it might be the case that it works better with non gamers in a weird way; because it’s just about chucking chips on a board and see what happens which can be ruined by overthinking and analysis. (You know the kind of feelings that meant Catan gets a dice roll deck, or how games must have dice mitigation nowadays).
My locals are the kind of people who like thinky stuff. They have great fun with things like Just One. But Cryptid or Harmonies are what they want to play for a “relaxed” filler.
Stuff that could and should be a hilarious experience sometimes simply falls flat.
F.e. Dixit: “ugh don’t like it, I have to be so creative”
It’s entirely down to the group. I played it once, and it was essentially the game I play with school children to teach them basic probability. A few of us got into it which brought everyone else along, but it’s the most group dependant game since Blood on the Clocktwoer.
I’m quite glad to have my opinion of LS:TDG confirmed, from the reviews I was expecting everyone to be stood up and chanting and shouting at the race but there was none of that.
I really want a race game to hit the spot, I’m very hopeful for Ready Set Bet (and very interested that @mistercrayon owns it!)
Having watched For All Mankind and suggestions on a near future space exploration game that fits my preferences. Having sold SpaceCorp: 2035-2300 AD I don’t know where to go without going all the way to Leaving Earth/High Frontier
I played Long Shot (Dice) at Expo with the 1PG and… oh, is that it? With all the backward movement it seemed that 2/3 of the game was in the last few spaces.
Here’s a question I’ve been unable to answer for myself: can someone articulate the difference in feel between Brass and Brass? And between Steam and Age of? Following on my heretical comments on another thread…
Here’s the thing - I’ve played a lot of Agricola. When I played Caverna I could instantly feel the difference. Played a lot of T&E. Yellow & Yangtze looked the same on paper but felt very different. I can articulate how the changes in a) food generation and b) scoring alter the feel of Caverna to make it a different game. Or with Y&Y, how the difference in war resolution and monument building/destruction, again, make it a different game. I can even articulate pretty well the difference between Star Realms and Colony Wars, that are almost the same thing.
Most importantly, how each of these pairs demand a different approach and strategy to be effective.
Now I’ve played a lot of Lancashire. Birm maybe three times. I can articulate the difference in rules. I don’t get a meaningfully different feel from the games, compared to the above examples. And I pursue the two with similar strategy with similar effectiveness.
I haven’t played Age of Steam. I’m aware of all the differences but the key ones seem to be a) how and when cubes are added to the map and b) the income track. Steam caps how much you can make in a single round, but always gives you room to make back your income when in debt. Age-of caps your income to debt delta, but allows you to make much more round-to-round in the middle of the game. How and how drastically does this change the game? Do you have to play the games meaningfully differently to be successful?
I’m asking because I’ve researched heavily, made my bed, but I continue to be restless lying in it.
