Board Games!

[xRECKONERx]

Jesus. Sounds complicated.

[gorckat]

Don't let my disdain for the company that I sunk a couple hudnred high school bucks into for nothing because they released a revised sourcebook for my army and discontinued half my models and I wasn't allowed to use them in games come through too strong

It's really not complicated- the core mechanic GW uses (iirc: roll a d6, add a stat, 7 or higher = success) makes it play easy.

[Zorblag]

If you want to try blood bowl electronically you can do so with for $8 right now from amazon for the digital download of the legendary edition: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Bowl-Legend ... blood+bowl

Troll easily got far more than $8 of entertainment from the game with solo play and there be some here who would play online. That might be the easiest way to become familiar with the rules (just play on the classic setting and Troll thinks it be pretty close to what you would do with the physical version.)

There be another version coming out before too long if Troll's memory serves which will add a couple extra races, but the legendary edition already has many many options.

There also be strategy/tactic guides online which might be handy for reading. Sudo_Nym recommends http://bbtactics.com/ which Troll has found to be handy; there be lots of others out there though.

Past that Troll will keep the blood bowl talk out of this thread as we've mostly done electronic stuff with it rather than physical gaming with it here so far as Troll be aware.

@gorckat, how much do you personally know about DreadBall? The kickstarter looks fascinating but Troll be slightly leery of games with minatures in general just because of the bother of collecting/keeping up with rules changes and what not.

-Zorblag R`Lyeh

[gorckat]

@gorckat, how much do you personally know about DreadBall? The kickstarter looks fascinating but Troll be slightly leery of games with minatures in general just because of the bother of collecting/keeping up with rules changes and what not.

Not a lot. I just saw it linked on No High Scores today.

The guys doing it are local to Baltimore, and its possible they worked for Games Workshop. One of the guys mentions working with model sculptors and GW is right up the street from their Halethorpe address (Halethorpe is just outside Baltimore and the stomping grounds I was a high school wanna be miscreant in).

Actually, a little Googling says Ronnie was the GW Global Marketing Director at some point.

ADD: One of the guys on their team, McVey, had done minis for GW and WotC, as well.

ADD2: the other two guys on the team also have GW and other design credentials. Whole team looks solid.

ADD3: And much more at one of the guys blogs about rules: http://quirkworthy.com/

[Sudo_Nym]

Blood Bowl is pretty awesome. The basic concept is that an NFL rule book fell through a dimensional portal to the Warhammer universe, and the people there thought that NFL was a god who was commanding them to play this game, except they replaced all the parts they couldn't understand with violence.

Like the Troll says, BB Tactics is a fantastic resource for both getting a flavor of the game, and getting good strategy tips. The official rule book is available online from Games Workshop, as well. Blood Bowl Legendary Edition is available cheap on Steam; The Chaos Edition is supposed to be coming out soon, and is said to include the Demons of Khorne and Chaos Dwarves teams; I think rumors were that Hobgoblins and Underworld were being included, too, but I haven't checked in a while. Legendary Edition already contains all the "official" GW teams except the Chaos Dwarves, and there's a reasonable player base for it. We could even try firing up the MS league again, if there's interest.

[xRECKONERx]

The electronic version is $40. Is there a cheaper way to play the game and get started?

[Sudo_Nym]

Holy shit, it is 40 bucks. That's pretty ridiculous. Couldn't tell you why. Blood Bowl is available online; there's a program called FUMBL or something like that for Blood Bowl, but you'd have to google it.

[Sudo_Nym]

So, anyone familiar with Twilight Struggle? I'm trying to gauge it, since it's listed as #1 on BoardGameGeek, and seems really interesting, but I can't seem to find anyone around here who plays it. So I'm kinda looking for somebody willing to play a game of it with me online, or I could even mod a game between two other people on the forums, just to get a view of how the game unfolds. Kind of an odd request, I know, but it's better than spending cash blindly...

[hitogoroshi]

Twilight Struggle is my favorite game ever. I haven't played it online. Would be willing to play if you modded, but don't feel like learning VASSAL right now.

[Xalxe]

Shameless bump, but at least it's a relevant bump.

Looking for some new games because goddammit I need new games. Preferrably stuff that's easy to teach my parents and/or my friends who I'm living with next year, so nothing too crazy. Suggestions?

[Shmugen]

7 Wonders has become the modern day gateway game, replacing Catan. It's simple enough to teach, easy to learn and deep enough that it doesn't wear out too fast. If you're living with folks, Descent 2nd Edition might tickle your fancy, if you're ticklish that way.

[Vi]

7 Wonders has become the modern day gateway game, replacing Catan.

I can vouch for this.

(That and I'm told Catan is less interesting.)

Of the board games I've been introduced to 7 Wonders is probably still my favorite. The major problem is that you have to spend your first five games asking "so what does THIS symbol do again".

[Shmugen]

It takes a bit, and the expansions add so much that I refuse to go back to not using them, but it's a good one. If even Vi can like it, you know you have a winner.

[zoraster]

I think 7 wonders is okay. I've never thought much of catan, honestly. Ticket to Ride has always seemed a far superior gateway game.

[Shmugen]

It never really pulled me in, plus it leads you down the path to becoming a Train Game person.

[zoraster]

not really. It's not like I've ever said to myself, "gosh. I'd like to play Steam now that I've played TTR"

[xRECKONERx]

Ticket to Ride is endlessly boring to me.

[zoraster]

you're endlessly boring

[Shmugen]

The concept of Train Game people has turned me against them instinctively. My local store has an entire wall of 18xx games/train games.

[hitogoroshi]

The best gateway board games are Kingsburg for competitive and Space Alert for co-op.

[zoraster]

ew.

[Shmugen]

Space Alert is insanity in a box.

[Sudo_Nym]

I think the base TtR is good as a gateway, but the 1912 expansion is awesome for actual competitive play.

[hasdgfas]

It takes a bit, and the expansions add so much that I refuse to go back to not using them, but it's a good one. If even Vi can like it, you know you have a winner.

I wasn't a huge fan of the one game of Leaders I played. It didn't really seem to add that much.

Space Alert is insanity in a box.

I tried it once, but it was way too loud to tell what was happening, and the person whose phone the mission app was on had an important phone call halfway through, so momentum was killed. It seemed like a fun game, just bad circumstances.

[xRECKONERx]

Never heard of Space Alert.

I think my biggest problem with Ticket to Ride comes from downtime. You only do one thing, really, on your turn... so turns go by quick, but downtime takes a long ass time. Putting down the train pieces, flipping and shuffling new cards, waiting for people to select tickets... there's just not a lot of constant shit to be paying attention to. You know where you're going to put down your train, so I always feel like my turn comes and goes and then there's this massive amount of time in between where nothing interesting happens.