Board Games!

[Something_Smart]

Dominion is my favorite board game of all time, so I feel obligated to say something at least.

That said, (a) it's strategically deep but also has a lot of randomness, which is definitely not for everyone, (b) it only gets really great when you play with expansions, which is a lot of investment for something you might not like anyway, and (c) when you do play with expansions, there are a LOT of cards you have to memorize before you stop feeling lost every game.

The first edition of the base set especially did not do the game as a whole justice. And I guess it's reasonable to consider the first published edition to be the whole game and the expansions to be unnecessary things you can add if you really feel like it, but it still makes me sad to hear people dismiss it out of hand.

[dramonic]

(a) it's strategically deep.

[Something_Smart]

It is.

Again, all of this stuff is improved by expansions, but even the base game has a ton of nuance and complexity to it.

Out of curiosity, what don't you like about it?

[VP Baltar]

Strategically varied may be a better term than deep perhaps. The cards chosen tend to direct toward a clear winning strategy each game. Though my experience is limited to the base game (just put it on the table again last week actually!)

On a related note, what are the most fun expansions? I do enjoy that Dominion isn't a gigantic time sink if we just want to play something quick after dinner.

[Something_Smart]

The cards chosen tend to direct toward a clear winning strategy each game.

This is sometimes true, but even in games where the cards you want are pretty clear, there are a lot of things you have to figure out like what order to get them in, how many of each to get, which ones to play if you happen to not be able to play everything in your hand, and when to start buying victory cards. However this kind of stuff is pretty hard to figure out on your own; almost everything I know about Dominion strategy I learned from the online community (primarily the Discord). But the depth is definitely there.

In terms of expansions, the traditional answer for the first expansion you should get is Seaside; it adds one major new mechanic (duration cards that have an effect on your next turn) and is otherwise pretty simple. Renaissance is also a good one-- it's much more recent so the cards are more balanced, but it only adds a couple of new mechanics. Intrigue was an older one but it was updated to remove some of the really weak cards, so that's also a good pick.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you you're looking for ways to make the gameplay more complex, Dark Ages, Adventures, and Nocturne are the ones to look at, but they are a good bit more complicated.

[chamber]

Oh wait I'm thinking of dominion

I've played a fair number of deckbuilders. I don't think any come close to being as good as dominion is.

[brassherald]

Oh, I forgot to mention I played a D&D adventure board game, Temple of Elemental Evil, and I guess if you want to do D&D and do not have a DM available, its an okay alternative.

[dramonic]

Oh wait I'm thinking of dominion

I've played a fair number of deckbuilders. I don't think any come close to being as good as dominion is.

I find that very hard to believe

[Vi]

The cards chosen tend to direct toward a clear winning strategy each game.

basically this
70% of the gameplay is in setup, so if nothing else it's a good game to

think about

playing
(the other 30% is player order and whoever gets the first good draw)

Oh wait I'm thinking of dominion

I've played a fair number of deckbuilders. I don't think any come close to being as good as dominion is.

I find that very hard to believe

I don't; I may not like the genre but I'll acknowledge that it does its best to accommodate its target audience of reasonably serious strategists.

[zoraster]

I think Dominion was good, but it has some serious flaws. First and foremost, it pretends to be a 2-4 player game when it is only good as a 2 player game. The game just takes too long as a 3+ player game, but also the things that you do with dominion are okay in 2 player (e.g. cantrip-based engines) but are just boring to watch in a 3+ player game.

Second, what it had in replayable deckbuilding was the right balance of simplicity and complexity. But after an expansion or two (and it kind of doesn't matter which expansion) it gets to be unwieldy with the interactions between cards.

Because it was a great game as a filler game or if you wanted to be flexible with how much time to spend or whatever, but once you add more than one or two expansions it stops being that for anyone but the most experienced players of it. Not to mention fishing out cards from like 5-6 different expansions takes forever.

Online it could redeem itself somewhat, but then it becomes one of those games where people have to play just a ton of it to be any good, just like collectible card games. That's okay, but then it's in a very different category.

[Chickadee]

Dominion was my introduction to deck building games and it made me not want to play any deck building games ever again.

I was happy someone talked me into Aeons End though.

But man you've really lost me if you start to describe a game and say deck building.

[brassherald]

I'm looking into getting the Marvel Champions deck building game any opinions? Keep in mind that I am not allowed to buy any more games until after my birthday this year so no big rush

[Tatsuya Kaname]

I mean, eh... I'm neutral on Dominion since most of the time it's just play to play to buy and get cluttered up with useless point cards. /s

But to be honest, Dominion is still a good introduction to deckbuilding games without any extra mechanics. That said, once I moved on to games like Clank! or Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle (and knew almost nothing about the movie/novel lore), I stuck with those.

[Tatsuya Kaname]

New topic. I'm still waiting for my local board game cafe's Dice Throne: Adventures copy to arrive. So excited for this.

I mean Dice Throne is a really fun game (especially Season 2 with the revamped art). I know, some of the character balances are give-or-take but it's still fun rolling dice while pretending to play some kind of Trading Card Games like Yu-Gi-Oh or Cardfight Vanguard at the same time.

Also I'm into story-driven campaign games, so I'm gonna love this expansion.

[shaft.ed]

played Flamme Rogue for the first time today
It's a strange experience, the middle is really intriguing, the ending is very exciting. But the ending is also completely unfulfilling because you essentially have no decisions to make.
it's weird because while I'm playing the middle bits I really like it. I'm really excited at the end, but I don't like it because there is no agency since you already pretty much determined the end based on your past actions and a bit of luck.

my take away was this really weird mix of 'that was lots of fun' and 'meh'

[Cabd]

Dominion was my introduction to deck building games and it made me not want to play any deck building games ever again.

I was happy someone talked me into Aeons End though.

But man you've really lost me if you start to describe a game and say deck building.

This is my exact opinion and feelings about deckbuilders.

[chamber]

Oh, yeah dominion is a 2 player online game. It is way too slow in person or with 3+. If that is the experience most people have past an initial introduction I can understand disliking it.

[Ythan]

I am once again Baron of All thee Railes.

[VP Baltar]

Pandemic Season 0 is shipping shortly wheeeee

[xRECKONERx]

sameeee

[VP Baltar]

So much hype! Although, we need new partners for this season i think

[implosion]

I did 1 and 2 with the same group and don't think there's any way I'll be able to do 0 with them. Tis sad.

[VP Baltar]

Same. Our friends moved like 40 mins away, and that feels like a very long drive to make that many times. But at the same time, I feel weird finishing the trilogy without them. I also don't know how challenging it would be with just two players.

[brassherald]

Hey, got Ticket to Ride: Europe and Gloomhaven for my birthday like 2 weeks back. Good games, both, so far.

[xRECKONERx]

We did the intro game + the January month for S0

It seems fucking impossible to get both objectives completed. There's just not enough time before you're hitting too many incidents.