I played a few games of Liberation of Rietburg, and was pretty underwhelmed. I bought it based off of several reviews praising the puzzly nature of it, but the puzzle doesn’t feel satisfying to me. It isn’t the expansive combo-based puzzle of Marvel Champions, or the strategic push-and-pull of Aeon’s End, or even the brain-melting sequencing puzzle of The Lost Expedition; every turn is so slow and accomplishes so little that it feels like an endless slog to victory. There’s plenty of randomness, but the randomness is also slow and stolid, so you lose by a thousand cuts rather than one moment of tension. I’m also really bothered by the box size; it’s a weird complaint, but I don’t have much space in my apartment, and this is a game that could be in a box fit for The Crew, but is instead in a Carcassonne-sized box, and that’s annoying. On the plus side, I’ve re-discovered my love for another light and breezy puzzle game, The Lost Expedition! What a hidden gem this is, so much decision-making in such a rules-light game, and with such gorgeous artwork.
I also played some more of The Lost Expedition tonight, and managed another success – this time getting two of my explorers to the city, and feeling that I might even have lasted another day.
This admittedly followed an expedition where the whole team was in absolute tatters long before they ever made it out of the first sector : )
(I did cheat once in the successful game, having realised that the card-switch I’d just performed was going to result in me being forced to skip one of the only beneficial cards in the line-up, which very much wasn’t my intention… I allowed myself to re-think that sequence – although the story would have been more dramatic if my heroes’ downfall had been their own doing… this game is tough though, and I’m not sure I’m quite ready to let my own mistakes hurt me as badly as that! Maybe next time…)
Luck is definitely a significant factor in the game – but it makes every game different, and it’s fun figuring out how you can best mitigate it. I’m definitely thinking a bit more tactically now that I have a bit of experience under my belt, particularly in terms of which cards I’m willing to play in each phase, based on whether or not I’m likely to have any influence over where they end up in the sequence.
I’m not sure whether I want to even try playing this with additional players. It feels a bit like Space Hulk: Death Angel in that every player needs so much to be on the same page that having more than one is liable to be detrimental in one way or another.
(Or maybe it would be fine. My one multi-player experience with Death Angel was awful, but that was mostly on account of a friend-of-a-friend with whom I hope never again to play a co-operative game.)
I’m envious, I’ve never come remotely close to winning Lost Expedition. Even on the easiest mode.
We also played the first two scenarios of Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. Thought it was excellent. We got base GH in February and, having taken 45 minutes to set up only played the first room of the first scenario. Not seen our GH partner since.
JOFL teaches the game through the scenarios, adding rules and cards in each scenario. It’s lovely, it really holds your hand to learn the game. 27(?) scenarios doesn’t seem too much either, our eldest already has said he wants to complete it.
First two scenarios were pretty easy, my wife’s character can use other players which is a great mechanic. I can blow stuff up! Really looking forward to this hitting the table again. It’s great that the map is in a book, which you open up and play on. Tiles go into a Feast for Odin style tray which makes them very accessible.
Does anyone know if the monster app for the base game will work with this version?
I had to meditate a moment on this. I like it. The acronym that is. Is not extremely high up on my try list since we’re still in the middle of Big G and backed Frosty G… but I’m sure at some point this will join the local Gang
I’m not sure whether it would replace GH (certainly not these early scenarios). At this very early stage I see it as baby Gloomhaven, to make the game more accessible so more people buy the base game.
I’ve been waiting for JofL for months, but if it’s going to be £50 I might just buy Big GL for £100.
Please keep us updated with whether JofL feels meaty enough to be worth half the full price!
For what it’s worth, consider that Jaws of the Lion is (at least on US Amazon) about half the price of Descent 2nd Edition and has a similar (but deeper) set of playable characters, more monsters, and probably around twice as many scenarios? It’s darn good value. It’s just that Gloomhaven proper is an absolutely ridiculously monstrous amount of content for a bit more than twice the price. And that’s great! But might actually be more than you need.
I think it’s more about how much people need to have their fill. For a majority of people, JotL will give people a taste of the Gloomhaven hype without the big commitment, and by the end they would have had enough. The other big sell is how it smoothly eases people into the ruleset. Most won’t want/need 100 scenarios - many gamers have said they had their fill after 30 scenarios.
If you’re ready for the commitment and aren’t intimidated by the rulebook or price, then go straight for Gloomhaven. JotL is never going to be able to compete for value.
I played a solo of Ghost Stories today with the White Moon expansion. I think this was my first game in a couple of years so I had to relearn all the details fo the rules and made quite a few mistakes–more to my own detriment than to my advantage though. I did manage to get the master ghost in the end… but on easy mode with a single incarnation. Mostly I forgot to place Su Ling and for two rounds at the start I thought I had to execute each neutral board three times instead of once until it came back round to me. I probably made more mistakes so the win is a bit shaky. But it was fun to play again and I am sure to get in a few of more plays in the near future.
Later, I played another round of Obsession, this time the “Solo Estate Challenge” variant in which all the tiles are sorted into the market and one has to built up the estate against the clock, the earlier you finish the more bonus points you get. This is a variant without the courtship. I won by 2 points… and if I make it a hard game counting the monuments the AI snagged, I actually lost by 1 point. Definitely, a good variant that I’ll be trying again. Very puzzly and even the short game of 12 rounds is quite satisfying. The setup of the tiles takes a bit of time… but it’s fine becaue the tiles are very nice and because it’s a solo there are no other impatient players at the table who are waiting to begin 
Last night’s masked garden games:
Ghost Stories: first game for most of the players – second, and first “proper” game, for me, because I played Last Bastion when it came out and immediately bought GS second-hand because I loved the game but generic western fantasy does very little for me. Naturally, a thoroughgoing loss (actually we were doing moderately well on suppressing ghosts and staying alive, but too many haunts and then a random event gave us three haunted village tiles).
NMBR 9: I don’t want to get it out often, but I enjoy it when I do.
Rallyman GT: had to call it for time but much enjoyed.
Of course 
it’s one of the more difficult coops I’ve played… we’ve lost way more than we ever won which makes the few victories that much sweeter.
It is absolutely imperative to keep removing ghosts. There is no time for dawdling in this game at all. and the more players you have the more difficult it becomes. I hope you get to play again and get to win . I think the White Moon expansion makes the game easier because you have more options. If you manage to rescue just one or two people that can give you an edge and Su Ling being able to block ongoing powers is very helpful.
Whatever is the center of your village is also critical. is supposed to be random but if you want an easier game put something there that you want to use often like the Buddha Temple.
Played Bus, and it was alright. Cutthroat, of course, and full of tricky decisions, but still a worker placement game, and lacking a substantial arc - the end didn’t feel that far removed from the beginning - so by far the least enjoyable Splotter game I’ve tried.
Unfortunately, the owner was like “this is the only Splotter I’m really interested in, because it’s easy to get people to play it”, so I haven’t found a way to expand my pool of potential Splotter gamers.
We had the Circle of Prayer in the middle, which saw some heavy use, as indeed did the Buddhist Temple (for a while I, blue, was standing there and double-placing figurines).
(blue glow of earlier garden-games photos removed by shooting in raw and letting grown-up software determine the white balance)
Did you not enjoy Bus at all? Granted it isn’t the juicy spread of options and choices their bigger games offer, but I still look at it as “Splotter in an hour”, which is a massively good thing, IMO.
Gah. These posts makes me want to pick up my copy of Ghost Stories!
I grabbed Leaving Earth late last week, set it up, revealed a few of the unexplored tiles and packed it in due to being too tired to work through the logistics of dealing with the challenges the game was throwing at me.
Sunday Night, I set it up again and go through 1961 before “saving” my game and packing it away. Last night, I set it back up (without revealing any secrets) and finished:
Spoilers?
A brutal start! I opted for a variant I heard about where the (3) Easy missions start revealed but the (3) Medium and (2) Hard missions are hidden. When you complete an Easy mission, you reveal one of the Medium missions and when you complete a Medium mission, you reveal a Hard mission (if they are not already all revealed).
So, I started knowing about:
- Sounding Rocket (1)
- Man in Orbit (4)
- Mars Survey (5)
Uh oh, I thought… these are the exact same missions as available to me in my last, failed game.
Nevertheless, I had a job to do, so I got started on Mars Survey, since it would take a few years after launch.
In 1956, I only spent money without any testing performed. 1957 saw 3 successful Juno tests, but also a mixed Soyuz test (1 Success, 1 major failure). We at NASA take our failures very seriously and invested $5 million into making sure we don’t suffer from the same failure again.
Since “Sounding Rocket” was completed, I then revealed “Man on the Moon (12)” which seems like a nice, easy mission, assuming the Moon cooperates.
1958
The budget for 1958 was spent rebuilding the rocket stack that exploded in 1957 (2 Soyuz, 2 Juno, 1 Probe). Unfortunately, another mixed bag with Soyuz (1 success, another Major Failure). Ouch. I guess I should have done Soyuz rocket tests… Still, $5 million later, Soyuz rockets have now been fully proven.
1959
1959’s budget, once again, rebuys the components for the same mission as was attempted in both previous years. In addition, research was made towards Re-Entry, looking ahead to manned space exploration.
No launches or maneuvers were performed in 1959
1960
The Martian probe project, code name “Martian Eyes”, launched it’s 3rd attempt in 1960. The Soyuz stages were (automatically) successful, but burn 1 of the 3x Juno phase experienced a minor failure, leaving one of the other Juno rockets in the craft damaged.
Quick thinking lead to research into Rendezvous technology and launching a recovery craft into orbit to deliver the necessary components to be replaced so that Martian Eyes III could continue its mission.
Rendezvous testing resulted in another damaged Juno rocket. Subsequent testing resulted in a third damaged Juno rocket (this time, the funds for the year had been exhausted, so we don’t know or care why the second rendezvous test occurred, apparently).
Along with the repair parts, a Vostok-class capsule was also delivered to Earth Orbit to commence re-entry testing. Due to budget limitations, no funds were available for telemetry, so no re-entry testing was carried out in 1961.
1962
With new funding available, Rendezvous testing resumed and revealed another Minor Failure ($5 million spent in after-action review). Rendezvous testing (finally) concluded with a successful test.
The 3 damaged Juno-class rockets were then space-bolted onto the Vostok capsule to be returned to Earth for repairs. The Vostok capsule then proceeded to its first re-entry test: Major Failure ($5)
1963
In 1963, a new Vostok capsule and sufficient Juno rockets were re-launched into Orbit to refit Martian Eyes III and continue re-entry testing. Martian Eyes III was successful and continued towards its Fly-By mission to Mars (revealing a break, at last: No significant radiation incurred during its long voyage to Mars).
The Vostok capsule also completed a successful re-entry test.
1964
With Martian Eyes III back on its long mission, a lunar probe was assembled and launched, quickly fulfilling its mission. The Moon, turns out, is: the moon. It, apparently, has no exceptional features.
Another successful test of re-entry was performed.
1965
In 1965, Alan Shepard was hired as the first (and only) professional astronaut in the world.
No missions were launched and no testing was performed.
1966
Martian Eyes III reaches its destination (9 years after the program began 
). There’s life on Mars! thus preempting the writing and recording of a David Bowie song (slated for 1971).
1967
Without having learned their lesson, NASA proceeded to launch a manned mission using new technology: Atlas Rockets.
There were no survivors.
The US Government pulled the plug on NASA immediately following the massive loss of life and equipment.
Absolutely brutal. Both the game and my impatience. My first game of Leaving Earth was so smooth with so few failures, it definitely affected my ability to calculate risk effectively. I took many risks and was punished for it. Perhaps I’ve learned something? (spoiler: it’s probably to cheat when no one is looking, which is often during solo play)
Note that if a component doesn’t have a re-entry symbol on it, it isn’t affected by re-entry. So you didn’t need to attach the rockets to the capsule.
Oh, good point! I probably knew that but was just making the game harder on myself. I likely, without realizing it, just assumed damaged components couldn’t travel on their own.
Have any of you who’ve played Ghost Stories also played Last Bastion? I’ve checked out a number of reviews and hard a hard time parsing whether the “meh”-ness in response to the latter is really wrapped up in the love for Ghost Stories or is if it’s more the tweaks and adjustments. Basically, trying to get an idea if it’s just plain better to seek out Ghost Stories or if I’ll get the same kind of enjoyment out of Last Bastion.