I just played a round of Machi Koro with a friend, and at a certain point, he was far behind. He didn't have many buildings that grant money on other people's turns, and the rest of us had also purchased a lot more red buildings than him.

I'm looking for ideas of house rules that make help provide some sort of catch-up mechanism if you're far behind. Do any of you have any tips?

If it matters, we usually play with the Harbor expansion, but are willing to play without it as well. We're already considering it because of how extreme the Tuna Boat can be.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/14292931

Source: https://comics.town/@rooniecomics/112168718393981365

hey All,

I love organizers and have been delaying for too long on some of my games.

what are some of your favorite organizers and accessories?

in addition finally got one for Spirit Island recently but the two I really would like and haven't done yet are dead of winter and mansions of madness. would love some advice

I've got every expansion for mansions and so right now they are in a crazy setup with a knitting crate that holds everything pretty well given all the minis, but if there is anything out there that you guys have found for quick setup I will be all over it.

Hey guys, the new instance feddit.org is online, actually still in the test phase, but everything is running smoothly, while we at feddit.de do not know how things will continue because the admin is not available and the website is down. The future of feddit.de is uncertain. Feddit.org is managed democratically by the non-profit organization fediverse.foundation in Vienna, where the servers are also located. The administration consists of 3 feddit.de people and one from the foundation. You can decide for yourself whether you want to move the community to feddit.org or stay here, but the option is there. Wanna move?

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3318143/nightfall-vs-unchained-whats-changed-and-why

Anything from Leader Games and illustrated by Kyle Ferrin (Root, Oath, Fort...) feels like cheating but still, I absolutely adore their art style

Everdell, Photosynthesis, Parks, look nice as well

I also bought an updated edition of Costa Ruana just because of the illustrations: https://www.pamwishbow.com/client-work/project-four-yjynj-pafyx

As soon as this game launched on Kickstarter, I backed it. I had discussed before with my friends that I would love for a good way to play Slay the Spire cooperatively. Yes, there are mods for the videogame which introduce co-op, but you're playing a multiplayer solitaire game. You aren't really interacting that much. The boardgame implements co-op in a really nice, interactive and meaningful way.

Context and bias

I think it's important to put a big disclaimer that I am heavily biased towards this game. I love the Slay the Spire videogame, I beat A20 with every character and have more than 500 hours playtime. I was extremely hyped to play the boardgame.

These initial thoughts were gathered from a ~~single play~~ two plays in Ascension 0 (no heart), all players were experienced StS gamers (A20 with at least 1 character) and each act took around 2 hours). Yeah, we played the game for more than 6h :P

TL;DR

First impressions score: 9/10

Positives:

• It really feels like Slay the Spire

• Basically zero downtime

• Upkeep is very low

• Randomness is VERY WELL implemented

• Really fun

• The box is very nice, included insert is just ok but gets the job done

Negatives:

• It takes like 2 hours for experienced players to play a single act, I can't imagine how long it would take for first timers

• Sleeving/Unsleeving cards to upgrade them is not great

• Sleeves are included, but they're very low quality

• The character miniatures are very low quality

The game loop

Slay the Spire is a deck builder game. You start with a very basic and weak deck of cards. Throughout the game you will acquire new cards, upgrade them, get relics, potions and hopefully remove a few of your basic cards. The goal of the game is to move through map and eventually defeat the final boss.

You start the game at the base of the map, where you'll fight some basic monsters. After beating the encounter you can navigate to one the 3 randomly generated map paths, whatever one you feel better suits your team needs.

Each player has a designated row and a monster (and possibly its minions) will be spawned in from of each player.

At the start of your turn you draw 5 cards and set your mana to 3. Each of your initial cards have a mana cost from 0 to 2 and you can play them however you like. There is no turn order, players can play or coordinate their actions as they please. Your attack cards can attack any monster, regardless of their row. Your defense cards usually target yourself, though some allow you to support your friends. After every player has player their cards, every remaining card is discarded and now the monsters will have their turn.

The monster turn is usually very simple, they just attack the player in front of them and it's done. The players can draw 5 cards and play again. If a player dies, it's game over. Otherwise, the game continues until all monsters are defeated.

Each monster awards a set of rewards to the player in front of them. Typically you get some coins and a new card. You reveal 3 new cards and you can add one of them to your deck. The new cards are generally better than your starter ones but you can choose to skip it altogether. You can also get potions (a 1 time effect) and relics (passive effects throughout the entire run).

After beating the initial encounter, you select one the map branches and move up. There are several types of encounters: shop, random events, regular monsters, elite monsters... It's cool to decide how to move up thoughout the map considering your current status. Low on health? Lets try to target a resting spot. Doing great? Lets kick some elite ass. Eventually you'll reach the boss and hopefully your deck is now strong enough to beat it.

Differences from the videogame

• Most stuff works exactly like the videogame

• Damage has been heavily re-scaled so the math is very easy. Each attack deals 1 damage, for instance. It was never hard to figure out how much damage you were going to deal or take.

• Several cards, potions and relics have been changed to reduce complexity and upkeep.

• Nothing ticks down at end of turn. Poison never ticks down, for instance. You don't lose focus at end of turn. Upkeep is minimal.

• Vulnerable works a bit differently. Your next attack deals double damage against a vulnerable foe, then you remove one vulnerable "token". If you applied 2x vulnerable, then your next 2 attacks deal double damage.

• Weak means you deal 1 less damage on your next attack.

• Defect (3rd character) orb order doesn't matter, you can evoke any orb you want. You can also target anything you want, it's not random.

• Dark orbs deal 3 damage + 1 damage for each power in play, to avoid upkeep

Randomness

Every randomness in the game is performed with a die roll. At the start of the turn you roll a die and every random effect for that round (your turn + monster turn) uses that die roll. You don't roll the die for every single effect. You roll once and apply it to everything.

Things that interact with the die:

• Some relics perform automatically on a die roll (eg: deal 4 damage when 4 is rolled)

• Some monster attack depends on the die roll (eg: monster might attack on roll 1-3 and buff up on roll 4-6)

• Some cards do different things depending on the die roll

The thing I like about this is that it's very low maintenance, you just roll the die once per round and you know exactly what is going to happen for the entire round. This is not something like "I'm going to attack, roll the die aaaaaand... I missed". At the start of the turn you know exactly how everything is going to pan out. I love that.

First impressions

Boardgames based on videogames are usually awful. I don't think I have ever enjoyed a boardgame adaptation. They're usually very fiddle, with tremendous amount of book keeping and upkeep effects. I was very hyped with Slay the Spire but also very concerned that this would be the case. The videogame takes care of a ton of stuff for you. I don't want to keep track of my dark orbs or to apply double damage after 10 attacks. That's just not fun to track.

I'm happy to say that Slay the Spire, the boardgame is amazing. I think the designer paid a tremendous amount of respect to videogame, it really does feel like Slay the Spire. All the monsters, their attacks, the relics, everything works like videogame. It does a really good job at making you feel at home. However, the designer also spent a tremendous amount of effort to reduce how much stuff you need to keep track off. Upkeep was usually just dealing poison damage and orb damage, that's it. No tickdowns, no doubling, no keeping track of attacks, claws or cards used.

The cooperative aspect of the game is very nice. You can really cooperate and complement your friend's turns. It's fun to coordinate which monster to kill first and managing everyone's defense. The game makes a good job at creating tension, especially in the act 2. You have that feeling you have no chance but then actually pull it off with minimal losses. And most importantly: it really does feel like a team effort. It doesn't feel solitaire.

Each act took us 2 hours but it didn't feel like 2 hours. The game felt fast paced. Since turns are simultaneous, the downtime between turns was basically non-existent. The monster's turns are VERY fast so you're back to the action really quickly.

So why is this game not instantly a 10/10? My biggest issue with the game is actually its length. 2+ hours per act is a lot. The game tells you that you can play a single act and also provides a way to start immediately from the second or third act, which is great. However, a full run is going to take you 6+ hours. Personally I don't really like to start/finish a run in the middle of the game, I'll have to get used to it.

Final thoughts

If you love the Slay the Spire videogame and are looking for a similar co-operative experience, this is an absolute no-brainer. Get this game. You need it in your life. I'm really glad I backed it and plan to continue enjoying it with friends.

I'm not big on playing boardgames solo and I honestly see no point on getting this game if you're just going to play solo. The videogame is probably 10x cheaper and you can play an entire run under 1 hour. I would just play the videogame, to be honest.

What if you've never played Slay the Spire? Honestly that's a tough one. I think a big part of the experience is that this feels pretty much like the videogame. While there are some progression aspects in the form of card unlocks and increased difficulties, there isn't much to look forward to. Maybe a game like Aeon's End, which has a campaign like feeling and a story would be something you'll enjoy more. I don't know. Your millage may vary and I'd love to hear the thoughts from someone who had no idea what Slay the Spire was!

Thought the community would appreciate this.

This has happened to me a few times. One I remember was the game Alchemist, where I just sat there confused as hell for 4 and a half hours while three guys were all talking about strategies. Tonight it was Terraforming Mars, where I was told it would be a 3 hour game, but by hour 4 we were halfway done. This time I said "it's 11pm, I have work in the morning, this will be my last hand" and the host got very passive aggressive with me. I just don't know what to do in these situations.

^Also is there a word for this? My girlfriend said I was "held game hostage" but I don't see that used in my searches.^

Update: I sent an apology for leaving early, and he wasn't too frustrated about it and understood my frustration which was nice. I told him I didn't think it was my cup of tea since it was so dense, but he kept trying to sell me on the game.

I just gotta learn how to decline with this guy, he is a bit of a "won't take no for an answer" person, but I'm still learning to be firm with boundaries.

I'm really a 45 minute or less person, and prefer games with like... 5 rules. I have communicated that before, but he really wants me to play the games he loves which I take as a compliment.

He did have me playing Dominion for a while, and that was a time when I just would suck it up and play for his sake since he was going through a divorce. We literally had the parks and rec sketch where I said "I don't really like Dominion" and he said "what do you mean? You've played all the games!"

He housed me when I was homeless, so it's hard for me to decline things with him since he showed me that huge kindness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llnIP6haDh0

It’s a fun, more complex, dragon-themed game built on the foundations of Wingspan — familiar, but very different.

It’s a lot of fun seeing the victory point-generating system you’ve built kick into gear, though once you start chaining things together turns can take forever. This, unfortunately, kind of sucks for the non-active player(s), as there’s nothing to do but sit and wait between turns.

Playing this game with four players must take forever.

More info about Wyrmspan: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/410201/wyrmspan

I've finally played all the modules in Kittens + Beasts.

Kittens - A good addition that add incentive to be first

Beasts - I found this to be kinda meh. I didn't like that you can only get beasts on the first day which makes it really easy to just skip the whole module.

Events - I really enjoyed this module. The events really add additional layers of strategy and time sensitive ways to score points.

@boardgames #boardgames #IsleOfCats

“My personal point of view as a designer,” Lang told me in a recent interview, “is to prove that the lines between what we call ‘mass market’ and ‘hobby market’ are mostly illusion — illusion and artificial. People are people. Fun is fun. Depth is depth. Of course, everybody has different tolerances, or [wants] different amounts of depth in the game, but there’s no one, weird, single, dividing line between what is in the mass market and what’s not. That’s all been decided by buyers at retail.”

My wife and I just finished playing the last month of Pandemic Legacy Season 0. OMG, that was a great ride.

We'd played Season 1 with our son at the start of COVID, which gave us a sense of agency. This version is a prequel that takes place in 1962. You're playing doctors recruited to the CIA. Instead of disease cubes, you're trying to fight off Soviet agents. However, since an outbreak would send disease to neighboring cities, and Soviet agents don't work that way (that we know of), there's a new mechanic for bad stuff that happens instead. Each player has a passport for their character. Each passport has pages for 3 different aliases you can take (Allied, Neutral, and Soviet). You'll need to create and direct teams to complete objectives.

Highly recommended. If you're interested, here's the Shut Up & Sit Down review.

Hello boardgame community! About a year ago I briefly came across a PnP Ruleset that I found very intruiging, but I cannot find it anymore. Also not on google withaforementioned keywords, so I hope you'll be able to help me out.

Here's what I (think I) remember:

• It's set in a Victorian era-
• The players are under the command of the queen and have to fight the supernatural
• They party has a shared resource pool that the have to assemble beforehand
• If the players prepared wrong they have to abort the mission and try again in the next session
• Maybe there was something about magic corruption?

That's all I can remember, I hope you guys can help me out on this one! All hints are welcome!

P.S.: I'm quite sure it is not candela obscura, as this has not been made public at that time.

Sounds like it's going to be a legacy game:

During the co-op game for one to four players, the group can experience a narrative-driven campaign that will enable players to explore different storylines and outcomes depending on their choices. As their chosen characters, players can upgrade their unique abilities by spending the experience points they gain, as well as unlock new powers through optional loyalty missions. The group can also improve their various pieces of equipment and weapons as they advance through the campaign.

According to the game’s publisher, Modiphius, the narrative choices made by players will have consequences further down the line, with there being potential for multiple playthroughs resulting in never-before-seen experiences.

I just got the Kittens + Beasts Expansion for Isle of Cats and played the Kitten module. The small size of the kittens and being able to rescue two for one basket makes it easier to fill out those smaller spaces that used to require treasures. It definitely adds incentive to be first for the round.

#boardgames #IsleOfCats @boardgames

Meeple Mountain has a great article on trick taking games. I want to try Sail, as my wife and I love cooperative games.

Hope you won't be put off by the fantastic french accent, this channel is a goldmine if you're into "heavy" games as Jean Michel calls them