Board Games!

[xRECKONERx]

I have switched over to Brute, she is a Scoundrel, since Tinkerer was not enough for me to help.

oof yeah, scoundrel/tinker sounds like a pretty squishy combo.

i always recommend that starting parties have at least one of brute or cragheart.
cragheart is my favorite class in the entire game, including what we've unlocked, followed closely by Three Spears

in terms of our party, it went (me/husband):
Cragheart/Brute
Sun/Brute
Sun/Circles
Two Mini/Circles
Three Spears/Circles
Three Spears/Cthulu

Not spoiling the actual class names, but uh... holy fucking shit did I get some of the most busted ass classes in the game.
Cragheart is a goddamn blast to play.
Sun was... fine. Not super engaging but like, fine.
Two Minis though? In a two player setup, it literally might just be the strongest class in the game. Not as strong at higher party counts. We completed some scenarios in two or three rounds thanks to a specific broken card.
Three Spears might be the most bonkers class in the game, though obviously we haven't played every class. This class feels like it's going to kick ass at all party sizes. Like, playing this class literally just feels like breaking the rules of Gloomhaven over and over again in absolutely disgusting ways. And the class's combat deck upgrades make it even more hilariously broken.

[brassherald]

I know my Brother in law wants to play, and he's expressed some interest in the Cragheart. I plan on filling in whatever they need when we finally do that 4 player campaign with him and his girlfriend.

Note, he's not my brother in law yet, but that's just easier since I dislike my actual brother in law and will never talk about him in a game thing since he won't play anything he decides is stupid, which is everything.

[brassherald]

I will also say one of my choices for unlocking in a two player game was to assist in 3 life goals and get the music notes. I basically said fuck that.

[VP Baltar]

Two Minis though? In a two player setup, it literally might just be the strongest class in the game.

You have to unlock Angry Face. Just as or more powerful!

My partner and I currently have Angry Face/Two minis as our party and it is a hilarious wrecking crew even in boss fights.

[brassherald]

I think my current goal either unlocks angry face or two minis.

[brassherald]

I confirmed, it is Angry Face. I needed to see the picture.

[VP Baltar]

I confirmed, it is Angry Face. I needed to see the picture.

Working toward that retirement like a boomer with three vacation homes.

[brassherald]

I know people probably don't call it this, but I kind of was hoping for triforce since I do love the Zelda series.

[VP Baltar]

They do call it Triforce on the Gloomhaven reddit I think

[brassherald]

Oh, good. I thought they'd just be like "Triangle structure"

[shaft.ed]

I found Sun/Moon to be a really good combo
also Sun/Scoundrel

Basically the card recovery/blessing power of Sun helps out classes with ridiculous OP attack cards

also,too
I'm playing very intermittently with brother and nephew
Brother is playing the Brute, but doesn't like taking damage
Nephew is playing the Tinkerer, but doesn't like burning cards

it doesn't always go well

[xRECKONERx]

Two Minis though? In a two player setup, it literally might just be the strongest class in the game.

You have to unlock Angry Face. Just as or more powerful!

My partner and I currently have Angry Face/Two minis as our party and it is a hilarious wrecking crew even in boss fights.

angry face i think one of us unlocks when we finish our quest? I don't remember, I think I have angry face and my partner has the Saw class
very curious at what Triforce is...

we've done SO MANY scenarios. probably 30+, and we're still not done yet.
i have the "kill 4 bosses" quest and it's a pain in the ass. might never finish it. might not want to bc three spears is so gd broken
for anyone who wants a light peek at what Three Spears is:

imagine a class entirely built around letting you break item usage rules. imagine never having to long rest bc your cards let you get back your stamina potions after you use them -- one minor and one major each means you recover 10 cards per scenario via items alone. imagine having advantage on every single attack because your eagle eye goggles reset every single fucking round. imagine a battle deck that's almost entirely beneficial shit PLUS draw more beneficial shit. that's three spears.

the build i'm running for 3 spears seriously feels like cheating.

anyway we are running out of time for gloomhaven... tainted grail is supposed to arrive in the next month, which fills a similar void, and then frosthaven is late 2021... so we need to wrap this shit up asap. we still have Forgotten Circles expansion we need to play through as well!

[Faraday]

stamina potions are broken anyway, the common house rule (and rule the digital game uses) is to reduce the amount of cards they bring back by 1. and even with that they're still super strong.

the moon class is probably the strongest class i think just because it doesn't really need anything from anyone, it has weaknessess admittedly but it can apparently solo most scenarios by itself if played well. i've only played it a bit at lower levels and even then, once you find the groove it's pretty much comboing into itself.

mindthief/lightning bolt/angry face/cthulhu are my four favourite classes though. tho honestly i've enjoyed every class i've played to some degree!

[Ariel]

According to our Records, these were the class combos we played in the main campaign:

Ariel	Faraday	Retired
Tinkerer	Cragheart	Cragheart, Level 6
Tinkerer	Lightning Bolt	Tinkerer, Level 6
Scoundrel	Lightning Bolt	Scoundrel, Level 5
Two Mini	Lightning Bolt	Lightning Bolt, Level 7
Two Mini	Music Note	Music Note, Level 8
Two Mini	Angry Face	Two Mini, Level 9
Sun	Angry Face	Sun, Level 9
Mindthief	Angry Face	Angry Face, Level 9
Mindthief	Spellweaver	Mindthief, Level 5
Moon	Spellweaver	Moon, Level 6
Three Spears	Spellweaver	Spellweaver, Level 8
Three Spears	Cthulhu	Three Spears, Level 4
Saw	Cthulhu	Quit playing Saw
Cragheart	Cthulhu	Cragheart, Level 7
Two Mini	Cthulhu	Cthulhu, Level 7

Two Mini is definitely my favorite class. Enjoyed Moon, Sun and Mindthief a lot too. Sun/Angry Face was my favorite party composition.

[xRECKONERx]

ok so go to april in pandemic s0 tonight

BIG QUESTION PLEASE HELP

are the extra assets you get at the end of each month only usable that month for purchase? or do they go into a "shop" of some kind? bc it just is like "open the door" and then nothing in the rulebook says anything about assets available for purchase

[VP Baltar]

ok so go to april in pandemic s0 tonight

BIG QUESTION PLEASE HELP

are the extra assets you get at the end of each month only usable that month for purchase? or do they go into a "shop" of some kind? bc it just is like "open the door" and then nothing in the rulebook says anything about assets available for purchase

It's like a shop, they build over time. Some months we felt like we didn't have much good to buy and just stuck with counter-surveillance. You'll unlock more as the game goes on.

[xRECKONERx]

ok, i had no idea i was supposed to keep them around between games. whoops

[VP Baltar]

Challenge mode engaged

[brassherald]

Question for you all, how long does a game of Dominion usually last? Basically trying to see if I should even think about pitching for an after work activity or if it's a weekend thing.

[shaft.ed]

depends on your random deck draw and how much banter and/or analysis your group goes through
but I'd guess 20 min(ish), maybe 30ish for newbs

[brassherald]

Okay, I'll have to see what the fiancee feels like tomorrow, she's having a minor procedure on her foot, so, that's one possibility now that I have it if she needs to just be resting.

I was a little disappointed when I got Marvel Munchkin and discovered it's another 3+ player game. We have so many that we haven't played. I got Cosmic Encounters last year from her brothers and it's apparently also super involved.

[shaft.ed]

you can test out Dominion on https://dominion.games/ if you've never played before to get a feel for game duration
you need to register, but playing the base game is free

[VP Baltar]

Dominion is a good "quick" game in our house. Azul is another one you might consider if you want some simple strategy that plays in 15-30 mins

[shaft.ed]

Played Inis last night in 3 player mode
Was quite interesting and definitely a unique experience
I would describe my first playthrough as playing Marco Polo in a room full of jello wearing ear muffs. Though that haziness may lessen with familiarity.

One thing that really surprised me was that looking at the game, with its 13 constantly the same cards and fighting rules that have no luck involved gives a really false sense of determinism. But every single turn ended up completely not how I expected it. Actually, I think I had one turn that worked out as I planned it. But that was because I was obviously in very last place that I was entirely ignored.

The minor issue I had with it was that the rules feel kind of clunky. They aren't really that complicated, but they are so far away from 'the norm' for standees on a map games that it takes quite some time to remember how everything works and then figure out the best strategy.

Other slightly minor issue is that while most games sort of speed up as you build your engine, Inis completely bogs down. You start the game with 4-5 cards in your hand. There aren't a ton of options and a few map pieces like sanctuaries and citadels. You end the game with hands of 6-10 cards depending on how many territories and Epic Tale cards you've accumulated. Many of which are reactionary with generous text and jargon, which bogs down the already unfamiliar game flow. Obviously some of this would be lessened with more playing time. But when early rounds would be done in 5-10 minutes, later rounds can run up to 30 minutes or more if someone is within reach of winning.

This brings up the major issue I had was the "everyone gang up on the person who is going to win!!" mechanic. You essentially HAVE to attack the player in the lead or lose the game. While this is a good 'balancing' mechanic it really feels like drawing out the game and if someone does overtake the leader, the win feels less deserved. We had a player that was obviously out in front. So two of us had to gang up on them for two rounds straight to keep them from winning. The last round we threw everything we had at them, but every time we thought we had stopped him, an Epic Tale card came out and thwarted our attempt. The hilarious part was that the other player unknowingly gained a win condition in just trying to stop the strongest player. However, I was the Brenn. So per the rules they were tied, which meant we had to play another round. At this point, no one was really up for it so we just called it a draw.

[brassherald]

Oh, I played Avalon last week, which is a version of the Resistance.

Well, I lost as a good aligned player, but it's because of my fiancee, which sounds meaner than it is but it was totally her fault.