Has anyone played or have an opinion about...?

Good point. LoV is more management, indeed. I dont consider Cyclades/Inis as one. Theyre hybridy enough.

I wouldnt ask for this if it’s not available here! :joy: It’s North America only. There was ONE shop here but they only had very limited stock

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Eschaton

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If co-op dungeon-ish crawl-esques are of interest…

  • Cthulhu: Death May Die (I think you’ve not played?)
  • The D&D Castle Ravenloft board game (or one of its numerous sequels)
  • Betrayal at House on the Hill (you probably have an opinion already)

When it comes to beating things up with dice, C:DMD is a pretty reliable good time.

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The “its never going to retail” Maxium Chrome Edition of Thunder Road Vendetta is available in retail in Germany because translated games…

In any case. I have been waffling about Thunder Road Vendetta since the SUSD review.

Has anyone played it since? More than once? I know it has been mentioned a couple times in the “Played” thread. But this thread seems to produce consolidated current opinions more consistently while Played often ends at first impressions :wink:

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I have played it once. It was quite fun but felt very like a slot machine: do anything at all, roll a bunch of dice, maybe your vehicle is destroyed, maybe it isn’t. Maybe there’s room for more complex play that I wasn’t seeing (one experienced player at the table, four other novices, and the experienced player came about fourth). But it certainly didn’t seem to offer anything on that first play to outweigh the bulk and expense.

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I have only had the one play of it so far, but it was a fun dice-chucker. There is a little bit of strategy but you are still at the mercy of the dice overall, so the best you can go for is some risk mitigation by trying to stay away from walls and the edges of the board to offset a bad slam roll should somebody crash into you.

I can’t personally speak for any of the expansions, though from my reading, most find the Choppe Shoppe good for adding the crews, giving players a special ability to use, and the Carnage at Devil’s Run for the added boards and hazards.

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I have played it a bunch. IMO, it’s my favourite racing game with a couple HEAVY caveats;

  1. Racing games are kinda my jam. I rarely encounter one that I outright dislike unless it is super light (Snail Race).
  2. It is high on the RNG, but thankfully the RNG is balanced by variable end game length. You can get very unlucky, but then the game usually ends very quickly.
  3. It has strategy, but it is light. More about positioning and using the dice you have as optimally as possible, but somebody who always rolls 6s will almost always beat somebody who only rolls 1s (although there are a lot of exceptions).

Choppe Shop is okay, Fatal Five and Big Rig is great, Carnival of Chaos is not as good as the regular game but it’s not bad. Game plays fantastic with 3 or 4, okay with 2 or 5 (I think it doesn’t actually have rules for 5, and I think that’s for a reason).

Oh, and I haven’t tried Joyride, but I suspect it is probably also my jam… can’t say if it’s better…

Alternatives:
HEAT is more strategic, and the multi-race format is real good. Flamme Rouge is more strategic for smaller player counts (2-3) and the Grand Prix is apparently sublime. Gravwell is faster and less violent (for players who don’t want direct conflict). Cubitos and Rallyman are more variable. And the “not race games but gambling games with races” opens up a whole can of options.

That stated: I will often suggest a closing game of Thunder Road after a solid session of something meatier. Big fan.

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I’ve also played it once. I enjoyed it and would happily play it again, but it’s not something I can imagine getting to the table much, so it’s not on my to-buy list. I’d call it a push-your-luck dice game which fits its racing theme pretty well. Most of the time you’re taking some kind of gamble, and you’ll be happy when it pays off, and groaning if you crash and burn. But you have multiple vehicles, so you can absorb a bit of bad luck. I remember trying to send one of my cars whooshing into the distance at the start of the game, and it went really well for a few turns… until the other players sent helicopters after me, and my fortunes changed abruptly :).

My comments at the time appear to have been:

  • “absolute carnage”
  • “good fun”
  • “sound effects were mandatory”
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So I have a bit of a dilemma. We received at Christmas a $100 gift card to our FLGS. Our first thought was to spend it on the newest Everdell iteration, Silverfrost. Does anyone know if it’s different enough to be worth it for people, like us, who have made Base+Newleaf+Bellfaire the new base game and own Farshore?

The other ideas we had were Fromage and Echoes of Time.

Thoughts are more than welcome! Encouraged, even! Asked for!

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I noped out of all the Everdell expansions by selling the big box and getting Farshore. So I have no info on Silverfrost.

But I am also interested if anyone has had a closer look at Echoes of Time :smiling_face:

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I would personally not bother with Fromage. It’s a really extreme variation of multiplayer solo but with even more heads down.

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I might buy Acquire 60th anniversary from a guy in Tokyo. I know @lalunaverde plays it, and has played that version. I’d be interested in any and all takes on whether it’s a good purchase.

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I really enjoyed my couple of plays - it was the first reprint I think, so not the fancy version.

I think there’s a lot you’ll like. Real opportunities to be clever, think ahead and make big moves in your favour.

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Thats because its name is Coriandrum sativum. Where did Cilantro come from? Presumably through another language. Spanish? French?

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I don’t know about that specific edition, but I do enjoy Acquire

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Depends on the price. I only took the 60th because it was half price from a closing shop. I do like the poker chips though over the paper money. And their chip set makes more sense because Acquire’s lowest denomination is 100’s. So, a 20 chip from my personal set would be 2K, which was confusing.

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Knowing how you like Everdell, Rococo, and Honey Buzz - the new printing of Manhattan Project Energy Empire is quite good. I think it’s up your alley.

I second the no on Fromage. It had a gimmick but I didn’t even play it after learning the rules, I was so uninterested.

Edit:
Formosa Tea was also reprinted last year and is fantastic.
And if you don’t have it, Castles of Burgundy plays great with couples.

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Nusfjord big box? Or base game?

I keep hearing “XYZ isn’t my favourite, but I’m keeping Nusfjord out of all of them”.

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Thanks! We wound up going with Echoes of Time after all, played three games, loved it. It’s quite the mind-bender!

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Nusfjord and Arler Erde are my favorite farming Uwes beating out Hallertau, Black Forest and even AffO. I have not played Agricola in a long time though as I don’t have a copy (yet, i backed the special edition). Personally I also like Kanal but it is industrial themed and so feels very different.

If you are interested in it go for the big box as it includes all the expansion decks. They are almost impossible to hunt down. I have heard that some components in the big box have lesser quality than base game but I don’t own the big box and had to hunt down the decks.

I have not played any of these games in Multiplayer.

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