Board Games!

[PJ.]

pandemic is probably better with people. i liked playing legacy with 4 a lot.

[Chickadee]

So I kinda liked Pandemic on the first few playthroughs, but after a while it just feels like complicated Solitaire. Is it any better as a multiplayer game?

@DN, I've been watching a bunch of Table Top recently and one thing I would really like is to see what cards people are drawing. Maybe you can do the table cam like in televised poker games for when such a mechanic is relevant. Also I woiuld avoid roleplaying, it's just awkward and sad to watch.

Pandemic is better with multiple people. I actually like Pandemic Iberia a lot more than the base game. It's quite different. You still have all the same triggers (epidemics, outbreaks, stuff like that), but theres a historical element that changes things. The year is 1848, so theres no planes to fly around the board. Theres a train but you have to spend time building the tracks. It really feels like there are different stages of the game that take different strategies. Also the roles aren't as over powered/broken. I recommend trying it out, but again, with people.

Maybe it's just my gaming group but Pandemic becomes very formulaic after a while.

[PJ.]

it is. You just solve the puzzle. It's fine, but I'm not in a hurry to play it outside of the 12-20 games i'll play for each legacy version. other than that i'm like...no ty on versions of pandemic or either of the forbidden games.

[shaft.ed]

I guess I should get a bit more into why I'm asking. I usually get my nephew a board game or two around Xmas/his birthday and was thinking about Pandemic as it can be played with anywhere from 1,2,3 or 4 players. Also he doesn't have any cooperative games, so I thought it might be interesting for him to not have to lose all the time (his father and I are both too "competitive" to let him win). The things I'd be worried about is we'll just tell him what to do, so he's basically not playing at all, or it gets boring. I'm a little bit worried about the latter because once you've figured out optimal strategy you just follow it and hope your deck is in a favorable order.

Other alternative I was considering at this point is Castles of Mad King Ludwig, but that's mostly because his grandmother loves castles, so I think we might be able to get her interested in playing. As of now she basically only does Ticket to Ride and anything resembling Pictionary/charades.

[Chickadee]

I definitely think that cooperative games suffer from the quarterback effect.

Some cooperative games that don't: Hanabi (people either love this or hate this), Mysterium (it can, but it's so abstract that sometimes that is helpful), Mechs Vs Minions (it's an investment though and there's a lot to it. I don't think this would be a good game for your situation, though in other regards I highly recommend it), Dungeon Fighter (cooperative dexterity game).

Castles of Mad King Ludwig is pretty fun every once in a while.

[Chickadee]

Also look for semi co-op games, like Bang and Saboteur.

[Cabd]

I definitely think that cooperative games suffer from the quarterback effect.

Some cooperative games that don't: Hanabi (people either love this or hate this), Mysterium (it can, but it's so abstract that sometimes that is helpful), Mechs Vs Minions (it's an investment though and there's a lot to it. I don't think this would be a good game for your situation, though in other regards I highly recommend it), Dungeon Fighter (cooperative dexterity game).

Castles of Mad King Ludwig is pretty fun every once in a while.

Meteor is like Hanabi; no talking, but has mechanics to build communications that allow it.

[Chickadee]

I definitely think that cooperative games suffer from the quarterback effect.

Some cooperative games that don't: Hanabi (people either love this or hate this), Mysterium (it can, but it's so abstract that sometimes that is helpful), Mechs Vs Minions (it's an investment though and there's a lot to it. I don't think this would be a good game for your situation, though in other regards I highly recommend it), Dungeon Fighter (cooperative dexterity game).

Castles of Mad King Ludwig is pretty fun every once in a while.

Meteor is like Hanabi; no talking, but has mechanics to build communications that allow it.

I haven't played that. I'll look for it, since I happen to really like Hanabi.

Bandito is another Co-op game that you can't communicate about what you have. It's a quick little filler game. Very cute, very fun.

[Cabd]

I definitely think that cooperative games suffer from the quarterback effect.

Some cooperative games that don't: Hanabi (people either love this or hate this), Mysterium (it can, but it's so abstract that sometimes that is helpful), Mechs Vs Minions (it's an investment though and there's a lot to it. I don't think this would be a good game for your situation, though in other regards I highly recommend it), Dungeon Fighter (cooperative dexterity game).

Castles of Mad King Ludwig is pretty fun every once in a while.

Meteor is like Hanabi; no talking, but has mechanics to build communications that allow it.

I haven't played that. I'll look for it, since I happen to really like Hanabi.

Bandito is another Co-op game that you can't communicate about what you have. It's a quick little filler game. Very cute, very fun.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/166109/meteor

[Chickadee]

I just thought of the game I've been trying to remember!!

Magic Maze - this game also solves the quarterback effect. You start and theres no communication. And you play in real time. There's no time to boss everyone around, and the whole table is a frantic dash of hands moving things while you can't talk. It's great. You play in levels, so each level adds a new rule. It's pretty great.

[implosion]

Yeah I've heard very good things about magic maze and was gonna mention it. Ordered a copy along with my pandemic legacy s2 preorder.

It does have some ways to communicate, but avoids wuarrrrbacking (I refuse to retype that) by having the main way that you communicate being a placard that just says "do something!" That you can put in front of someone.

[Chickadee]

Yeah I've heard very good things about magic maze and was gonna mention it. Ordered a copy along with my pandemic legacy s2 preorder.

It does have some ways to communicate, but avoids wuarrrrbacking (I refuse to retype that) by having the main way that you communicate being a placard that just says "do something!" That you can put in front of someone.

I like how peacefully you described it. When I've played it, you take that placard and slam it in front of someone multiple times. And theres a lot of banging on the table and pointing and death glares.

Totally fun game. Love it.

[zoraster]

if you ever listen to wil wheaton talk about their selection process and how they produce it, it makes a lot of sense. Obviously there's room for a more serious board game podcast/video/etc. but I think a lot of the same things hold true even playing live. You could certainly talk to MoS though who literally is twitch.tv/boardgames.

To my eyes, for a successful broadcast of games you EITHER need to pick games that are quick to explain (even live doing a pre-cut explanation video is a good idea) OR you need to pick a game that a lot of people are familiar with and that has replayability OR you need to gloss over the nitty-gritty of the "game" aspect to get to a story aspect (for story-based games). I find Acquisitions Inc. and Harmonquest to be enjoyable even though I've never played D&D in my life in part because to differing levels they gloss past what I suspect to be a lot of mechanical stuff in the game (particularly true of Harmonquest).

That said, having a "hook" where games with celebrities (even or perhaps especially niche celebrities) play gives a lot more room to breathe on those things.

[Untrod Tripod]

getting hyped for NEW CATACOMBS

[Gammagooey]

Flying out to this for the weekend!

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/n ... ghts-2017/

I'm very very hyped for the new arkham horror LCG Labyrinth of Lunacy scenario (heard it's saw-esque with the big version being 3 different 'normal' 1-4 player playgroups playing side-by-side and helping/hurting each other to progress), hoping to try a 'normal' game of Eldritch Horror (probably just with the new expansion that adds personal stories) since I haven't tried that yet, and I might want to try the enormous arkham horror To the Barricades game but it seems like that'll have so much downtime so I'm not completely sure about that (it's basically just original arkham horror with custom rules to make it work with 9-18 players)

The new mansions of madness expansion looks fun to play through a scenario or two there but with only 3 new scenarios (and not liking the only 'outdoors' scenario in the base game and the new expansion being Streets of arkham) I really doubt I'll want to buy it, though I could be wrong given that they're based two of the 3 on the university campus and a speakeasy instead of the just 'wandering through some streets and buildings' theme that the base game scenario I didn't like was.

[hasdgfas]

Flying out to this for the weekend!

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/n ... ghts-2017/

I'm very very hyped for the new arkham horror LCG Labyrinth of Lunacy scenario (heard it's saw-esque with the big version being 3 different 'normal' 1-4 player playgroups playing side-by-side and helping/hurting each other to progress)

Have fun! Labyrinths of Lunacy is an incredible experience with the full 3 playgroups going side by side. (I had friends who picked up the scenario at GenCon, so they were able to host it at my LGS for a big group)

[Chickadee]

Dropmix just came in the mail and omg I’m so excited!

It’s more of a toy, and the game is pretty rudimentary but it’s absolutely amazing.

[xRECKONERx]

yeah dropmix is a seriously impressive feat

[Chickadee]

True story. It's straight up techromancy. I know the cards have chips in them and whatnot, but like.....HOW DOES IT WORK.
I don't think I'll ever really be able to wrap my head around it. I played a few times last week, and immediately bought it when I got home. I came out like a month or two ago, and has sold out twice since then. It's amazing.

And oddly, the song combinations always work, no matter what you have on the board. We had a reggae version of Down With The Sickness going the other night.


I really need to get some of the song packs.

[DeathNote]

I just looked it up and I want it.

[InflatablePie]

yass dropmix. watching this match (~15m) got me to pull the trigger on buying this and I have no regrets

I really need to get some of the song packs.

there's a spreadsheet of songs here ("secret cards" at the bottom by default sort) if you haven't seen it, the ones with a date of "November?" apparently have a release of "a couple months after game release" IIRC, but we don't know for sure. I have the 4 playlist packs out now (Ouroboros/Derby/Astro/Mirrors), got my eyes on the Discover packs once I find them at MSRP. Amazon has them up now I think, but you can't buy specific packs so I don't wanna risk getting dupes and dealing with returns.

but yeah I need that September wild and The Mother We Share vocals ASAP, thanks Harmonix for taking more of my money

I just looked it up and I want it.

I'll bring it to SurvivorMeet 2017 if it doesn't get cancelled!

and if you're able to swing it last minute somehow :(

also maybe I'll upload some mixes sometime when I'm not lazy/busy. DropMix thread?

[xRECKONERx]

pie that means you have to actually buy in to survivormeet

[InflatablePie]

I did

[e] are you mixing gamma and I up

again

<_<

[Chickadee]

yass dropmix. watching this match (~15m) got me to pull the trigger on buying this and I have no regrets

I really need to get some of the song packs.

there's a spreadsheet of songs here ("secret cards" at the bottom by default sort) if you haven't seen it, the ones with a date of "November?" apparently have a release of "a couple months after game release" IIRC, but we don't know for sure. I have the 4 playlist packs out now (Ouroboros/Derby/Astro/Mirrors), got my eyes on the Discover packs once I find them at MSRP. Amazon has them up now I think, but you can't buy specific packs so I don't wanna risk getting dupes and dealing with returns.

but yeah I need that September wild and The Mother We Share vocals ASAP, thanks Harmonix for taking more of my money

I just looked it up and I want it.

I'll bring it to SurvivorMeet 2017 if it doesn't get cancelled!

and if you're able to swing it last minute somehow

also maybe I'll upload some mixes sometime when I'm not lazy/busy. DropMix thread?

I have it on good authority they're coming out with new cards in February.

I'm just too broke right now to buy anymore cards. I spent way too much money this month, and this game was a huge contributor.

[hitogoroshi]

Yeah the game part of Dropmix looks like garbage but the tech looks outrageously cool so I just ordered it anyway