Recent Boardgames (Your Last Played Game Volume 2)

[gmwhite999]

Some successful trials of recent purchases, staring with five solo games of Flash Point: Fire Rescue over a few nights. The first two games were with the easier “Family” setup and two “regular” firefighters, and pretty straightforward successes, one while rescuing all ten victims while getting used to the basic rules. Then I stepped up to try the Recruit level using the tougher board but without the Vehicles and Hotspots, and with the Rescue Specialist and the CAFS Firefighter. This game raced by to another easy win with the Rescue Specialist running through walls to move victims and hazmat counters and the CAFS Firefighter putting out all of the larger fires so the rescue was another total success. The fourth game less so, trying to bring in the vehicles and testing three other specialists quickly got out of hand after some terrible rolls with the Fire Engine hose and a few concentrated explosions triggered all sorts of structural havoc and the building collapsed after just five victims were rescued. A rerun for game five, this time using the Rescue Specialist and CAFS Firefighter among my trio was far more succcessful, only losing one victim. Next time to add in the hot spots to complete the main rules, and then build up to the harder difficulties. Good fun though - very thematic and engaging.

Last night saw the first playthrough of Final Girl with Laurie facing off against Hans in Camp Happy Trails. Hans got some quick kills in early and nasty Terror cards giving him extra minor Dark Powers while I was getting to grips with the action cards but I managed to rescue enough villans to give Laurie her special ability so when she found the axe in the last couple of rounds it was set up nicely for the finale. Some good rolls meant Hans never stood a chance at the end. Pretty good for the first run but more to try with the other Final Girl Reiko and ramping up the difficulty when ready. Already considering buying a few other feature films for it although ones from Season 2 appeal to me more than the others from Season 1. Two design observations from me: firstly, the pawns were a bit too small and fiddly I found, or maybe I was just being exceptionally clumsy last night. Secondly, as clever as the magnetic cover boards are, they really missed a packaging trick with this game - they should have put them in plastic VHS boxes and given the covers even more 80s “video nasty” style artwork.

[COMaestro]

Should have been called “Pigmoles” or “Boarfreckles” IMO.

[Number1TheLarch]

Having sat on a shelf unplayed for 7 years, I finally managed to play Dead of Winter (sort of) properly. We used Jon Gilmour’s prisoner’s dilemma variant for 2 players and it was great.

There was something genuinely great about turning from “We need food, I don’t have any, can you help?” (I had 3 food cards in my hand) to “We can do this, what do you need? I will get you some books and we can win together”.

[Acacia]

Notched a solo of Ark Nova.

So I can see clearly now why people push back on the Terraforming Mars comparison. Yeah, engine tableau thingy with cards and bad art, but I definitely got more of a janky Scythe meets janky Great Western Trail vibe. The Scythe comparison comes from how heavily the action pathing comes in. You have five basic actions, but a major thread of the game is figuring out what order to do those actions because when you do them changes their strength/efficacy. Great Western Trail comes in because it’s a solid engine euro with a lot of different paths. You want to do everything, but need to focus on just a few things to get the real engine acceleration. And the engine does accelerate in a satisfying way.

Janky because…that deck. SU&SD nailed it. The deck is huge, about the size of Race for the Galaxy with the full arc 1. But there are three completely distinct types of cards in there, cards are mostly niche and single use, and the velocity of draw and discard is reasonably low. All this adds up to a huge “mercy of the deck” problem where you only get a few cards at a time, those cards may not even be the type of card you need (e.g., you are looking for animals and you draw 2 sponsors and a conservation project), and bad draws are largely dead in your hand (no junk for effect, like Radlands, or discard for payment, like RFTG, or either/or, like Viticulture). If you are lucky enough to get some reptiles you can discard for money.

What would fix this? A bigger market where you can see and choose what you are drawing? Separate decks so you can decide if you want animals, sponsors, or conservation projects? An ordered deck like London with a shuffled ‘A’ section on top of a shuffled ‘B’ section, etc to gate power levels? A ‘Tailor’ type option like Mottainai where you can discard before drawing to increase your draw, and increase velocity through the deck? Alternate uses for cards?

Any of those or none of those. So here is where it is like Terraforming Mars - I had a good time playing it even as I grated against the design. Good game, though I have to marvel at its top 10 placement. I don’t have a good solution for the problem of the deck, each “solution” creates its own fiddliness or setup problems. But it did feel a bit like a McLaren filled with ethanol, great engine running on watery gas.

Yet I had fun. And with the zoo theme I know I’ll be able to play this. You’ve got to turn off your strategizer to play a bit because of that deck, which may deliver you an overpowered combo or may deliver you North American animals that don’t fit in your Asian zoo. That’s Ark, baby.

And, btw, the deck gave me a ridiculously overpowered card (archaeologists) and I ended the solo with 60 points. Wheee.

[COMaestro]

I think your description of the deck is exactly why the comparisons to TM are made. Because that’s how I often felt about the deck in TM when playing the app: I draw cards each round and none of them help with what I am trying to achieve.

[yashima]

@Acacia

What would fix this? A bigger market where you can see and choose what you are drawing? Separate decks so you can decide if you want animals, sponsors, or conservation projects? An ordered deck like London with a shuffled ‘A’ section on top of a shuffled ‘B’ section, etc to gate power levels? A ‘Tailor’ type option like Mottainai where you can discard before drawing to increase your draw, and increase velocity through the deck

You need to plant more birds.
Birds are where card drawing / milling happens.
I am not good at that (yet?). But my friends who play this like twice every week-end insist it’s birds you need.

But even so: huge deck issues. After playing so many TM solos I have come to an acceptance of “huge deck issues”… except for Wingspan: I haven’t forgiven the expansions the bloat they added to the deck and so ordered Asia obviously.

[yashima]

So I came here to talk about Turing Machine some more.

Last night I played game 5 and 6 and then lost my patience (insert surprise pikachu meme)…
Those first puzzles are too easy. So I skipped ahead to #20. Better.

Now I need to check out the online puzzles. I am done with what’s in the rulebook.

• What I still dislike is all the card sorting. Meh. Games that have this would be better as apps.
  This will not live forever in my collection I think.
• What I really like is how to get a good score or solve the more advanced puzzles I have to deduce between the lines. That is lovely. Later puzzles have me rely on the fact that I know there is a single solution to the puzzle.

[Captbnut]

We’re playing it co operatively. I like the puzzle, but I don’t enjoy it as a competitive experience

[Acacia]

As I’m mulling I’m thinking of two houserules that would most elegantly move Ark Nova into better territory:

1. When taking the cards action, discard X cards from your hand to increase the number of cards drawn by X
   (essentially, Tailor mechanic from Mottainai. If you get a dead card, you can shift your zoo toward it or replace it next draw)

2. Something Ethnos-y where the last X discards are available for other players to draw. Like, 8 discard slots, one of which is occupied by a marker (a la Patchwork). When you want to discard, remove card(s) to the right of the marker, move the marker over, and discard into the newly empty slot(s).

I’d also love to take all the conservation cards out of the deck and introduce them mid-game, plagiarizing Nusfjord, where each player gets a few cards after, say, the third break, and then after the 5th break they have to make any unplayed projects public. But now we’re getting into really fiddly, disruptive territory.

Maybe the best houserule is just to mentally move Ark Nova toward the “activity” side of the GAME <-> ACTIVITY spectrum because it is an awesome activity that still retains a lot of game

[lalunaverde]

MOAR Spirit Island. I played with the Stone spirit now. Proper brawler spirit with high defence and offense. Played 3 players with Prussia as our enemy.

Era: Medieval Age - good roll-and-build game. Very enjoyable with both gameplay and the tactile 3D buildings. But I don’t think I can fit it in my 4x4 Kallax. I have to put Oceans here somewhere.

Cat in the Box

Scythe - I used to enjoy this, but now, there’s just some things that aren’t cool any more. The efficiency puzzle is fine in isolation but is encased in a mid-weight rule set that is heavier than the decision-weight that the game gives. For efficiency-types, I’d rather play Res Arcana. Much lighter with rules and it runs for just an hour max.

[mistercrayon]

The cards are such a bore to flick through and choose.

An app would be so cool.

[EnterTheWyvern]

Played Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun, 3 player first play all round. Was tough to learn and teach as it’s fairly bitty and strongly interleaved between the separate actions and balances.

I think I enjoyed it. The strategy and action efficiency was kind of opaque. All of us will definitely play again so looking forward to trying to get to grips with what’s going on. I can’t say much because I don’t think I understand enough yet. I did see enough to know @lalunaverde should definitely never play it.

[yashima]

@EnterTheWyvern

I did see enough to know @lalunaverde should definitely never play it.

What? Old Egypt didn‘t have any trains?
No God of Tricks?

[yashima]

So this surely ranks among one of my shortest „game arrived“ to „game got played“ turn-arounds (I haven‘t even changed the BBG state from Preordered to Owned). It really helps that 51st State for me is likely going to remain a pure solo-game (I sold Imperial Settlers after a few games with my partner who hated it). I completely blame Zee Garcia that I bought this iteration.

I certainly recognize the gameplay. (I regretted that sale a little later when I turned to more solo gaming). Take a faction board, draft 4 of 6 cards and start playing. It is really nice that the game comes with a functional insert and a resource tray you can put on the table (and yes the tray comes with a lid).

The rulebook could be a little… more streamlined and I generally wish rulebooks were DinA4 or Letter format and not „square box“ format. Square box format is meh. In any case it is nicely written and has some really snarky comments in it that makes learning the game a bit more fun (Unlike Stationfall there is also a current PDF on the game‘s BGG page, yay for that! Providing digital rulebooks is a bonus but again: appreciated)

So… I am kind of assuming that most everyone here has played some iteration on Ignacy Trzewiczek‘s grand oeuvre. (any 51st State or Imperial Settlers variation really). If not: these are tableau builders with a few unique player powers and a ton of resource conversion and a bit of light interaction: some card drafting and you can plunder cards of your opponents for resources or send a worker to their open productions. The take that aspect of plundering has been mitigated here in that you can build over ruins more easily than other buildings…

On your turn you can take any of a number of actions

• build a location with help of some engineers
• plunder a location (possibly from your hand) with your gangs of punks
• make a deal with your trades (also uses a card from your hand)
• use a card or faction action
• use an open production from an opponent
• take or play a contact card

Initially the amount of information on the cards looks a bit daunting but it quickly sorted itself out.

There is an automa now but the original solo mode doesn‘t need one and is really easy to handle with extremely little upkeep. As the bot you just draft and play contact cards until you can‘t. Then you try to attack 3 times on your turn. That‘s it.

I made a couple of mistakes. The worst one was that most faction actions can be used once and not an endless amount of times—I realized when I thought I had discovered a perpetuum mobile (also known as a broken combo) and realizing this was unlikely went back to the rulebook.

I still want to share my score because … 51 points on my first game of 51st State is just too nice not to…

Update: 2nd game went with only a couple minor possible mis-countings or such. 54 points (I considered not playing more buildings to get another 51 score but… alas I couldn‘t keep myself from winning just a little more). My partner came by and said „I would like to try that.“ „You played this and hated it.“ „Did I?“ „Yes…“ … „so with the changes you mentioned I might give it a go…“

Forgot to mention in the above: the speed of setup and teardown is incredible as this is just a big card-game with resources

I am a very happy backer.

[pillbox]

You joke, but:

Cleopatra's Caboose

[yashima]

Played another game of 51st State with New Era. I am ready to check out the next expansion that is just „more cards“ → Winter. 75 points this time and I caught one more (minor I hope) rules error: when your own cards get plundered you get the „deal“ resources not the „plunder resources“.

The factions feel somewhat different because the 3 I have played each focused on a different game aspect. The traders get to make lots of trades… (really?) and the Appalachian Federation people are focused on rebuilding and especially building over existing buildings which made my last turn in today‘s game… interesting.

The Mutant Union is focussed on plundering—who would have thought. And it turns out that with each of the factions playing into their strengths (despite the difference really just being the start production and the default conversions they get) is pretty much what I do at this point.

Another note: the game goes to just 25 points. But I make twice or triple that in a solo (this is surely different in a multiplayer setting). I tend to try and not make too many VP during the first 3-4 rounds, try not to go „over“ the 25 „limit“ before I am ready to make a monster-last-turn. This is akin to what happens with later turns of Arnak, Terra Mystica … the drawing out and making as many points as possible after you hit 25. It is definitely an interesting conundrum to figure out which cards to keep for that final point-explosion and which resources you need on hand to make it happen.

[mistercrayon]

Does anyone know the game Orleans? Does anyone know what its most famous feature is? bag building! What is Orleans if you take out bag building? Find out with Joan of Arc: Orleans!

The short answer and perhaps the most interesting answer is that by removing the engine bit from the game and put it into the most “do your own thing” formats (roll and write) you get something that weirdly has a really intense competition feel. There’s interaction and competition on the map (like orleans), races in the benefits area (like orleans), fights for special powers (is that in orleans?) but stitching that all together is an action draft (which replaces the bag building) which increases the direct competitiveness even further.

In a lot of roll and writes you get the occasional bonus for doing x first but this just lays it in all aspects of the game and i think it might be great.

It’s such a weird weird thing that some how pulls out what might have been the secret genius of Orleans which was hidden behind its most famous feature, the sort of knife fight that you perform in the game along side your curated engine.

We had a couple of games of it and had a really good time with it.

[Captbnut]

Need to get you to bring this over. I thought after the start you were going to say it was rubbish!

[Simfers]

Well, Maryse and I have finally gotten over the flu and we felt good enough to play some games today!

First, the losing streak continued in Brass: Birmingham. 122-114. This is, along with Space Base, the only game I have NEVER won. Unlike in SB, though, where I just get curb-stomped, I am always competitive in BB. I’ve never lost by more than 10 points, and it’s never blindingly obvious I’m gonna lose. It’s such a fantastic game.

Then, we did some curb-stomping of our own with Pandemic. Cleared board, no outbreaks, you love to see it. It did help that we managed to get the blue cure and eradicate the disease in the first two character turns (lucky draw with the researcher and a close initial spread with a medic), only for the next three epidemic cards to be blue. Things went in that fashion for the next 40 minutes with no worries.

Finally, we played a trio of games ofPatchwork, with an interesting house rule Maryse suggested: The first three pieces you buy are placed on your board by your opponent. Changes the game quite a bit! Very interesting. I wound up winning two of the three games.

Now, part of my evening will be spent learning Khôra: Rise of an Empire. Let’s see what we have here…

[Simfers]

So I wound up losing that learning game against the stuffed monkey, 84-71. I don’t know if that’s a wide margin or not, LOL. I had a very nice time though.

I think I’d compare it to Tzolk’in, complexity/decision space-wise, even though gameplay-wise they’re nothing alike. Lots of options, but with relatively simple rules. This one’s very asymetric, but there’s no real interaction between the players. I could see a runaway leader problem developing, since there’s no way to stop someone once they get going.

Visually, it looks very good, but you need to be excited by the idea of moving a marker up a track, LOL. It doesn’t have the flair of, say, Arnak or Rococo. Or Tzolk’in, with those ever-so-satisfying gears.

Now for the next challenge: The teach and the actual game. This afternoon, likely!