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Post by owlorbs on Jan 7, 2014 11:51:23 GMT -6
Played Ancients today, we did a Saxons vs Vikings battle. Fun little game that includes a lot of different battles you can run. The version we played was mfg by 3W games in CA, I'm sure there are higher quality versions of the game published. Pic from today Yes! I love Ancients, that is one of my favorites. |
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skars
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 407
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Post by skars on Jan 8, 2014 6:08:51 GMT -6
Played Ancients today, we did a Saxons vs Vikings battle. Fun little game that includes a lot of different battles you can run. The version we played was mfg by 3W games in CA, I'm sure there are higher quality versions of the game published. Pic from today I am pretty sure that _is_ the "deluxe" version having combined Ancients I & II  I often use this as a gateway wargame and when my partner Kristi played it for the first time she was frustrated at its lack of complexity...I knew she was a keeper  ...we moved on to Great Battles of History for Ancients btw |
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Post by Falconer on Jan 8, 2014 10:21:28 GMT -6
I have been playing a lot of San Juan lately. I’m liking it a lot. I don’t think it will unseat The Settlers of Catan as the greatest gateway game, for me, but I expect it will join Seven Wonders, Pandemic, Ticket to Ride: Europe, and Carcassonne as a light staple.
I had Puerto Rico for years, and only ever played it once or twice, so I traded it for San Juan, which I have played half a dozen times last week. Good call, methinks.
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Post by angelicdoctor on Jan 8, 2014 12:59:42 GMT -6
Right! I forgot about Puerto Rico and Carcassonne. I've been playing them as well with the family. Great games.
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Post by scalydemon on Jan 8, 2014 18:57:45 GMT -6
owlorbs or skars -
Which of the battles/scenarios in Ancients did you find most enjoyable?
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skars
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 407
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Post by skars on Jan 9, 2014 11:19:01 GMT -6
owlorbs or skars - Which of the battles/scenarios in Ancients did you find most enjoyable? Well, I have not honestly played them all using Ancients, but I remember Scenario 30 (Indus?) being fun. I think due to the level of abstraction Ancients is a great fast play game. I don't know that any of the specific scenarios shine over the rest in that regard. |
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Post by scalydemon on Jan 9, 2014 20:12:39 GMT -6
Played some Avalon Hill 'Attack Sub' today on an extended lunch hour. We tried out a scenario with surface ships & helicopters. Fun. Cool list I stumbled on earlier -the 20 most valuable vintage board games, neat looking website will have to check out more later (purple pawn). www.purplepawn.com/2013/07/the-20-most-valuable-vintage-board-games/ |
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skars
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 407
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Post by skars on Jan 10, 2014 14:11:12 GMT -6
Played some Avalon Hill 'Attack Sub' today on an extended lunch hour. We tried out a scenario with surface ships & helicopters. Fun. Cool list I stumbled on earlier -the 20 most valuable vintage board games, neat looking website will have to check out more later (purple pawn). www.purplepawn.com/2013/07/the-20-most-valuable-vintage-board-games/Heh, I didn't realize Devil's Cauldron was on that list Scaly. Sorry for suggesting it P.S. no "Jati" on the list? I call foul. |
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Post by Zenopus on Jan 10, 2014 14:24:18 GMT -6
Since Xmas I've been playing lots of Heroica, which is basically Lego's take on the Dungeon boardgame. I'm impressed with it; easy to understand, very quick to play and extremely customizable - it's very easy to design new boards, character classes, monsters and treasures. The original release in 2011 consisted of four different games, each playable separately or linked together. Each set has different character classes with some overlap. One more set was released in 2012. Unfortunately this game (as most Lego games) was 'retired' by Lego last year so there won't be anymore official expansions, although it is easy enough to design your own. Copies of some of the sets are still available new so if you think you might like it I would get it now. We have Castle Fortaan, which is the largest set and retailed for $30 and is still available via Amazon for just over that price, which is where I got it. Below is a Castle Fortaan promo pic. The classes in this one are Barbarian, Druid, Wizard and Knight. The figures and board are "microfigure" scale as they are smaller than minifigures. It keeps the boards smaller and quicker to build. The monsters are goblins in three varieties. Treasures include potions and magic helmet, found on the board, and weapons that can be bought in a shop with gold you collect. Each character has a "hero pack" made of legos (not shown in the pic) where you keep your health (4 hits) and any treasure you find.  UPDATE: I should also have mentioned that Heroica has an option for one player to control the monsters: it's an introduction to DMing. |
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Post by scalydemon on Jan 12, 2014 11:04:49 GMT -6
Played some Avalon Hill 'Attack Sub' today on an extended lunch hour. We tried out a scenario with surface ships & helicopters. Fun. Cool list I stumbled on earlier -the 20 most valuable vintage board games, neat looking website will have to check out more later (purple pawn). www.purplepawn.com/2013/07/the-20-most-valuable-vintage-board-games/Heh, I didn't realize Devil's Cauldron was on that list Scaly. Sorry for suggesting it P.S. no "Jati" on the list? I call foul. Only game I own on that list is Up Front (and the Banzai expansion), I play it often so I am sure I got my moneys worth on it. I don't know why you'd want to play sport boardgames, as you could just go out and actually play a sport (for the most part). You can't readily go out and play at war or fantasy so that is the need and fun in an abstracted game |
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skars
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 407
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Post by skars on Jan 13, 2014 10:17:17 GMT -6
Heh, I didn't realize Devil's Cauldron was on that list Scaly. Sorry for suggesting it P.S. no "Jati" on the list? I call foul. Only game I own on that list is Up Front (and the Banzai expansion), I play it often so I am sure I got my moneys worth on it. I don't know why you'd want to play sport boardgames, as you could just go out and actually play a sport (for the most part). You can't readily go out and play at war or fantasy so that is the need and fun in an abstracted game These days there aren't very many sports related boardgames and IMO that is why a bunch of these are becoming valuable. They have all gone to video game or "fantasy football" style online mediums. The old versions of games like statis pro baseball and such would provide updated stat cards for current players so you could essentially play manager with your own all-star team. Once Tecmo Bowl hit the NES in the 80's it was pretty much downhill from there and yahoo fantasy sports put the nail in the coffin. I happen to really enjoy sports related boardgames and Blood Bowl is probably my favorite game pairing tactical decisions with painted fantasy pieces. |
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Post by scalydemon on Jan 21, 2014 22:09:03 GMT -6
Short notice but - I have tomorrow (Wednesday) eve free.
Anyone up for a wargame via Vassal and skype?
I am in the PST time zone, Pac NW
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Post by stevemitchell on Jan 22, 2014 9:08:22 GMT -6
Loyaulte Me Lie from White Dog Games. This is a game on the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, incorporating new research on the location of the battlefield. A Yorkist artillery barrage put an end to the dynastic pretensions of Henry Tudor; all hail Richard III, rightful King of England!
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Post by oakesspalding on Jan 23, 2014 2:34:50 GMT -6
I second the recommendation for Agricola. When I was in my 20's, I worked a job where I did 12 hour days, 6 days out of the week for 2 years. Each year I would take 2 weeks off at the same time as my father. We would play World in Flames-the tremendously long, detailed and satisfying simulation of WWII. It was so large and so long that we never made it past 1942. But that's okay, my Germans had usually taken London by then (you could do it if you were really really clever and sneaky), or my Americans had already recaptured the Philippines and my Russians had already started moving into the Kuriles from Vladivostok (unless the Japanese player was really good, he was just a paper tiger). As a believing Christian, I'd like to think that in Heaven we'll have more time to do those things. Perhaps, finally I can get to 1945, or play D&D long enough to build a barony and start taxing the populace. But I know those odd desires are probably offensive to many believers and non-believers alike. |
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Post by Morandir on Jan 23, 2014 9:59:59 GMT -6
Ticket to Ride: Europe has been getting a lot of play with my group lately. Settlers of Catan, Arkham Horror, and Three-Dragon Ante (a D&D-themed card game published by WotC several years ago) are other favorites, though AH doesn't see as much play because of how long it can take to finish. I'm also a big Backgammon fan, and manage to squeeze a game or two in each week with one of the guys in my group.
I've also been dipping my toes into wargaming for the first time recently; Song of Blades and Heroes is a great little rules set for quick skirmish games that I'm slowly dragging my RPG players into.
On that same front, has anyone tried FFG's X-Wing? I've been eyeballing it for a while, and got the starter set for Christmas. I then bought a second starter (Target has them on clearance right now if you're interested, anywhere from $12-$20 depending on the location), and have since added several more TIES, X-Wings, and naturally the Millenium Falcon - though I tend to prefer my TIE swarm. It's great fun.
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skars
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 407
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Post by skars on Jan 23, 2014 13:11:09 GMT -6
Ticket to Ride: Europe has been getting a lot of play with my group lately. Settlers of Catan, Arkham Horror, and Three-Dragon Ante (a D&D-themed card game published by WotC several years ago) are other favorites, though AH doesn't see as much play because of how long it can take to finish. I'm also a big Backgammon fan, and manage to squeeze a game or two in each week with one of the guys in my group. I've also been dipping my toes into wargaming for the first time recently; Song of Blades and Heroes is a great little rules set for quick skirmish games that I'm slowly dragging my RPG players into. On that same front, has anyone tried FFG's X-Wing? I've been eyeballing it for a while, and got the starter set for Christmas. I then bought a second starter (Target has them on clearance right now if you're interested, anywhere from $12-$20 depending on the location), and have since added several more TIES, X-Wings, and naturally the Millenium Falcon - though I tend to prefer my TIE swarm. It's great fun. Wings of War and it's prodigal son, X-wing can be great fun. My only complaint is setup can take forever for what amounts to a pretty simple game. If you like Arkham Horror, I would recommend Elder Sign. It's basically AH light. |
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Post by Falconer on Jan 23, 2014 14:57:50 GMT -6
Pandemic is sort of like a lite version of Arkham Horror (with a different theme). I do enjoy it… Although I much prefer a nice epic game of Arkham Horror. But Pandemic sees more play because of time constraints (and because the ladies often prefer lite games regardless of time constraints). I’ve got 7 players lined up for our first game of Diplomacy on Feb. 16. Super stoked!  I scored a beautiful old set on eBay:  
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Post by Morandir on Jan 23, 2014 15:29:08 GMT -6
Wings of War and it's prodigal son, X-wing can be great fun. My only complaint is setup can take forever for what amounts to a pretty simple game. If you like Arkham Horror, I would recommend Elder Sign. It's basically AH light. Interesting, I didn't know about Wings of War but you're right about setup for X-Wing, though I tend to run the same list any time I play so that's largely not an issue for me. I have the iOS version of Elder Sign, and love it; probably the best money I've ever spent on a mobile game. |
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Post by scalydemon on Mar 5, 2014 21:45:21 GMT -6
Picked this game up at a new bar/gaming store north of Seattle today. 1972 Conflict Games  |
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Post by scalydemon on Mar 6, 2014 23:05:52 GMT -6
Picking up a couple games I have had on my 'long term want list'. Divine Right and Dunkirk (Guidon games). Anyone own or play either of these? I really need to cool it after this wave of purchases or my wife is going to shoot me  |
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benoist
Level 5 Thaumaturgist
OD&D, AD&D, AS&SH
Posts: 346
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Post by benoist on Mar 6, 2014 23:31:04 GMT -6
Received this yesterday...  *jumps up and down with glee* |
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Post by makofan on Mar 7, 2014 13:16:46 GMT -6
Picking up a couple games I have had on my 'long term want list'. Divine Right and Dunkirk (Guidon games). Anyone own or play either of these? I really need to cool it after this wave of purchases or my wife is going to shoot me Here's a BGG session Report I wrote a few years ago: Long ago, in my teens, my friends and I would play interminable games of this. I remember it being luck-based and back-stabbing, which weren't to my taste, but my friends loved it. So when my friend picked it up on eBay last month and wanted me to come over and relearn the rules, I was a bit leery. Our gaming group normally plays History of the World and Railroad Tycoon, and he thought we could introduce this to the group. We decided to play the Basic game, so Special Reinforcements, Magic, Mercenaries, Barbarians, and a few countries (The Black Hand, the White Wizards) were not used. We dealt out the cards, and Tom got Immer and I got Zorn. Since these are neighbours, we knew it would get bloody very quickly. The neutrals with their personality cards were dealt out, we plopped down are units, and just followed the sequence of play. It didn't take us long to learn - Dice for player order, then Random Events - Diplomacy - Siege - Movement - Combat. Muetar was obviously the key ally, as it had the largest army and was directly adjacent to both our countries. Muetar's troops turned out to be elite, so they were extra important. However, neither of us could get our diplomacy to work in the first three turns. I went first, consolidated my mountaineers, and mobilized The Pits, sending them to the front. I attacked The Gap castle on the mountain pass on the border, and he retreated inside. Next turn I besieged it while he hastened to reinforce or break the siege. To make a long story short, the first 10 turns of the game were fought in and around this castle. I kept failing my siege roll, then he would break the siege, we would fight , siege, break etc. None of us had troops to spare for anything else - it was sort of like World War 1 in the trenches! On turn 4 he managed to mobilize Muetar, and I knew that without allies I would be crushed. I decided to enlist Elfland to take him in the rear. The monarch was a loyal-to-death type, so I spent a few turns trying to mobilize him, while Tom snagged the Trolls. Finally, getting nowhere, and having Muetar in my country, I risked my one-time-only assassination and killed the King of Muetar, throwing his kingdom into disarray for 5 turns. While Tom was seething, I then enlisted Elfland and it looked like my game, but the Elvish monarch also fell to an assassin's blade. Tom was just using the few troll units as castle garrisons, and we were still locked in the border stalemate, so we went looking for fresh allies. As an aside, I went first every game turn except two, and my Random Events were feeding reinforcements to me faster than my friend was getting his, so the dice were in my favor and making him desperate. Shucassam was our next target, as we did not have to worry about Meutar, but the king was under a curse, and we both ran out of White Magic trying to heal him. The King of Pon was a coward, who would only release half his troops, so he was unappetizing. Tom decided to now pursue the Dwarves, who's leader was a military genius, but the key came when I blackmailed the paranoid monarch of Mivior into joining me and I sacked the Trollish capital - 10 VP to me! Then I took advantage of a turn flip flop to besiege a minor castle in north Immer and plunder it before he could react - another 10 VP. Muetar was finally reorganized, but the new king was treacherous. Desperate, Tom managed to grab him, but I waited till he was mobilized and then persuaded him to betray Tom and join my side. With three countries bearing down on him, and no real allies, Tom resigned on turn 16. The basic game system was cleaner than I remembered, and while luck was important, in a two-player game strategy was equally so. The game took less than two hours, and we both had a lot of fun - easy rules, colorful map, quick play, lots of backstabbing, and plenty of luck. Next time we are going to explore the advanced rules, but I think a five-player basic game of this with just the basic rules would be a hoot |
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Post by owlorbs on Mar 10, 2014 12:08:19 GMT -6
Divine Right is great. I've not played Dunkirk. Recently I played a custom scenario for Donald Featherstone's Skirmish Wargaming (1975). I decided to track the game states with markers so the board got kind of crazy, but it worked.  |
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Koren n'Rhys
Level 6 Magician
Got your mirrorshades?
Posts: 355
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Post by Koren n'Rhys on Mar 10, 2014 13:08:03 GMT -6
I have the iOS version of Elder Sign, and love it; probably the best money I've ever spent on a mobile game. I ended up buying the Android version after playing the boardgame at Gencon '12. Only played a couple of times - I do a great job of buying apps adn games and not ever really playing them - a lot like I buy RPG material! I've bought Elder Sign, Settlers of Catan, Shadowrun Returns and who know what else over the last few years. Once Cyberpunk 2077 hits, I'll buy that too and not play it, I'm sure... |
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Post by rsdean on Mar 11, 2014 6:38:46 GMT -6
We had the Cold Wars historical miniature gaming convention this last weekend. I was hosting a couple of sessions of a Viking/Saxon skirmish using the old Heritage Knigts and Magick rules. My older son (24) was running home rules Bronze Age chariots, Egyptians vs. Hittites.
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Post by Morandir on Mar 11, 2014 19:03:28 GMT -6
I have the iOS version of Elder Sign, and love it; probably the best money I've ever spent on a mobile game. I ended up buying the Android version after playing the boardgame at Gencon '12. Only played a couple of times - I do a great job of buying apps adn games and not ever really playing them - a lot like I buy RPG material! I've bought Elder Sign, Settlers of Catan, Shadowrun Returns and who know what else over the last few years. Once Cyberpunk 2077 hits, I'll buy that too and not play it, I'm sure... If you have an Android device, I highly suggest Pixel Dungeon. It's a roguelike that's amazingly addicting. And it's free! I've been playing it incessantly lately. |
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Koren n'Rhys
Level 6 Magician
Got your mirrorshades?
Posts: 355
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Post by Koren n'Rhys on Mar 12, 2014 8:01:40 GMT -6
If you have an Android device, I highly suggest Pixel Dungeon. It's a roguelike that's amazingly addicting. And it's free! I've been playing it incessantly lately. I'll do that - thanks for the tip! |
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Post by sepulchre on Mar 12, 2014 22:15:45 GMT -6
joseph wrote: Cool, it's a great game, and there are some fantastic homebrew versions of investigators, monsters, scenarios, heralds and ancient ones that are floating around the internet. As have I, Arkham aesthetically really catches something Lovecraftian, and the mechanics really work well with keeping to the atmosphere. Impressed - it's a tough game. Our whole group usually gets wasted before the Ancient One comes to plow us under, but then again I like to play with lots of boards and expansions at the same time
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Post by scalydemon on Mar 13, 2014 22:54:24 GMT -6
Didn't really 'need' a new game, but trying to help support a new FLGS that opened in town today - so I picked up Battle Line by GMT. It looks incredibly simple, yet cerebral and potentially fun to try with Mrs. Scaly boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/760/battle-lineIt's a 2 player Ancient era card game Two opponents face off across a 'battle line' and attempt to win the battle by taking 5 of 9 flags or 3 adjacent flags. Flags are decided by placing cards into 3 card poker-type hands on either side of the flag (similar to straight flush, 3 of a kind, straight, flush, etc). The side with the highest 'formation' of cards wins the flag. This is a rethemed version of Schotten-Totten with different graphics and wooden flag bits in place of the boundary stone cards. Game play is identical, except the cards run from 1 to 10 (not 9), you hold seven cards in your hand (not 6), and the rule that stones may only be claimed at the start of your turn is presented as an "advanced variant". Also the tactics cards were introduced by Battle Line; these cards were only added to later editions of Schotten-Totten. Some have reported that the production quality of the cards is inferior to the Schotten-Totten cards, however, for most readers Battle Line will be much easier to find in stores. In the second edition of GMT's Battle Line the card quality is higher. |
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skars
Level 6 Magician
Posts: 407
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Post by skars on Mar 14, 2014 15:12:50 GMT -6
Didn't really 'need' a new game, but trying to help support a new FLGS that opened in town today - so I picked up Battle Line by GMT. It looks incredibly simple, yet cerebral and potentially fun to try with Mrs. Scaly boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/760/battle-lineIt's a 2 player Ancient era card game Two opponents face off across a 'battle line' and attempt to win the battle by taking 5 of 9 flags or 3 adjacent flags. Flags are decided by placing cards into 3 card poker-type hands on either side of the flag (similar to straight flush, 3 of a kind, straight, flush, etc). The side with the highest 'formation' of cards wins the flag. This is a rethemed version of Schotten-Totten with different graphics and wooden flag bits in place of the boundary stone cards. Game play is identical, except the cards run from 1 to 10 (not 9), you hold seven cards in your hand (not 6), and the rule that stones may only be claimed at the start of your turn is presented as an "advanced variant". Also the tactics cards were introduced by Battle Line; these cards were only added to later editions of Schotten-Totten. Some have reported that the production quality of the cards is inferior to the Schotten-Totten cards, however, for most readers Battle Line will be much easier to find in stores. In the second edition of GMT's Battle Line the card quality is higher. I own both and actually, Battle Line is easier to read and play. As for production quality they are hardly different and Battle Line comes with wooden pawns that make marking the flags that much easier on a smaller table. P.S. I have owned my Battle Line set since 2000 when it was published and it has been around the world with me played dozens of times( if not hundreds) and the cards are still standing up pretty well |
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