Board Games!

[Sudo_Nym]

The problem with 2.30 pm GMT is that it is 6.30 AM PST. We would prefer going somewhat later so that we'll be actually awake.

[Nexus]

Well no-one else was suggesting a time, to be fair.

[Sudo_Nym]

Understood, it is merely time zones which are causing an issue. Would 4.30 PM GMT work?

[Nexus]

Depends on how long we're wanting to go on for, because that cuts into my foodtime

CDB says it's fine - dunno about Patrick.

[Nexus]

Genuinely didn't realise it was an eight hour time difference, to be fair.

Also 6.30 is a completely reasonable time to wake up

[Patrick]

4.30pm is fine for me

[Sudo_Nym]

Which expansions did we want to use? All minus the pursuit board? And what's our destination?

[ChannelDelibird]

Which expansions did we want to use? All minus the pursuit board?

Think so. I don't have time to re-learn the fleet board rules between now and then, but if we plan a bit more in advance next time we can have a go at that next.

And what's our destination?

We could possibly try Earth if people fancy, or have another go at the Ionian Nebula with the trauma rules. I'm fine with either (especially as I've since learned that poor old Baltar should not have exploded in that land mine last time we went there).

[Sudo_Nym]

I also think that we should have been drawing trauma every time Galatica was damaged, which may be why we had so little trauma flying around. Would need to re-read, though.

[ChannelDelibird]

Let's go with the Nebula, just to actually do it properly this time.

Have had a reread while explaining trauma to Nexus. There's a new basestar damage token that can make revealed Cylons draw trauma but none for humans if Galactica is hit.

[Nexus]

He didn't actually explain trauma to me, he just told me to suck it up and read. CDB is mean

[ChannelDelibird]

You volunteered to read

[Sudo_Nym]

And true valor is on display, as the Battle of the Ionian Nebula ends in total victory! Huzzah!

[ChannelDelibird]

No session report because I'm really really tired but Cylons Boomer-Sudo and Cally-LLD beat humans Gaeta-Nexus, Ellen-CDB and PolitiZarek->PilotHelo-Patrick on population after a tense game. Thanks all involved for a lot of fun.

[mykonian]

aww, your writeups are the best part of that game.

[xRECKONERx]

so I got Sheriff of Nottingham in finally, and it's p great. The social manipulation is just delectable. Pretty easy game (and why the fuck are there so many coins when it's a ZERO SUM GAME) and I can't wait to replay it.

UMMM. Also. I got Mage Wars for my birthday.
What... the fuck... am I looking at...

[quadz08]

Sheriff of Nottingham was great, can confirm.

I half-watched reck and singer try to learn Mage Wars. Was pretty funny.

[Sudo_Nym]

We've played a bit of Mage Wars, and it seems like a great strategy game, if you're capable of getting into it. Getting into it is an ordeal, though.

[Faraday]

Try the arcane wonders website? They have a video thing for it, I think?

[GreyICE]

Mage Wars is actually fairly simple, it's just got more overhead in the rulebook than MTG (rather than on the cards). I'd set up the apprentice books, then roll.Basic idea is that your mage is actually a unit on the field (rather than an abstract planeswalker) and you are summoning on to a physical battlefield. You hand unit orders back and forth for the round. So if you want to think about it like MTG, you have the following:

Untap

- Gain Mana Phase

Draw

- Select spells you can cast this turn

Upkeep

- Development phase (used for certain cards that let you cast stuff before the turn starts). Comes after Draw here.

First main phase

- Quickcast phase (can cast the spells with the yellow lightning bolt icon here). Flip your quickcast marker if you do this.

Combat Phase

- Trade activation of creature orders. Creatures can either move+quick action (lightning bolt) or full action (hourglass). Mage acts like a creature, for the most part. You can use your quickcast marker to cast before or after any creature's activation.

Second Main Phase

- Second quickcast phase. If you haven't used your marker yet, you can flip it to do something.

Cleanup Phase

- Cleanup!

The game is fairly built on the structure of magic, with more emphasis on creatures and combat (creatures are a LOT more than a bundle of stats), which leads to enchant creatures being a lot more valuable. In addition you can enchant spaces and stuff, and walls actually act like walls, because there's a physical battlefield.

In the same way:

Instant

- Yellow Lightning bolt icon

Sorcery

- Purple Hourglass Icon

Enchantment

- Zones

Aura

- "Enchantment"

Creature

- Creature

Equipment acts very little like MTG equipment, it turns your mage from fragile squishy into, potentially, front line destroyer who can tank nearly infinite damage. At the cost of a lot of mana, of course.

Anyway,

Mage Wars

is clearly inspired by someone loving magic's ideas, and hating how decks generally play out.

[Sudo_Nym]

Analysis Paralysis has certainly been a problem in my games- because you can grab any spell from your book instead of drawing random cards from the top, and because recycling spells you've used is harder (impossible?), there's a lot of downtime where people try to figure out what to cast at any given time.

[GreyICE]

Oh definitely a possibility, but as long as people don't tank for 20 minutes, it's usually okay. As soon as people realize that very few things will outright win/lose the game for them unless they've made huge strategic blunders (grouping a bunch of creatures for a firestorm, letting your mage get pushed into a deathball, etc.) then it tends to speed up. You can definitely play reactive and proactive at the same time.

But for learning, it gets a lot easier if you've played M:tG, as long as you realize it has M:tG's structure.

[xRECKONERx]

What does the quickcast button do?

[Sudo_Nym]

Lets you cast at instant speed.

[xRECKONERx]

So spells/enchants/creatures are all summoned by the mage?

And once I've summoned something, I've taken my mage's "action" for the turn?

SO why are there two cards prepared at the start of the turn if you can only cast one?