What Board Game Are You Currently Playing?

[Gurei-Ornery]

Originally Posted by chas

My neighbor has MBP, and I call it "The game that is sort of like Heroscape."

It felt like that to me as well. Can't put my finger on why though.

[keglo]

Any Scythe players here play with the Invaders from Afar expansion? I am just wondering how the two new factions affect gameplay, as they both seem to have some pretty unfair advantages, especially Togawa. Neither faction has to worry about being initially blocked by rivers, plus the traps and flags and traps, all seem a little OP to me. I really want to order the expansion though because I can't stand seeing those extra spots on the map and not be able to play them. Besides, Togawa sounds awesome!

Thoughts?

[chas]

Well, MBP is a skirmish game with gods, monsters, heroes, and squads.

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by keglo

Any Scythe players here play with the Invaders from Afar expansion? I am just wondering how the two new factions affect gameplay, as they both seem to have some pretty unfair advantages, especially Togawa. Neither faction has to worry about being initially blocked by rivers, plus the traps and flags and traps, all seem a little OP to me. I really want to order the expansion though because I can't stand seeing those extra spots on the map and not be able to play them. Besides, Togawa sounds awesome!

Thoughts?

I've only played it once, but have read some stuff on BGG. Also, a friend I gamed with on Saturday mentioned that he won with Albion recently because he got all his flags out on areas he controlled, so each of those areas counted as 2 instead of 1.

I don't have all the mech stats handy here at work. But as far as not having the river to cross, I believe both of those factions are an extra area away from the factory. As far as Togawa, I believe they have a means to get across rivers, but I think they are limited to how many can move across a river during one move action.

You might want to check out BGG for more detailed info and opinions. I recall hearing that they are OP, but I haven't checked in awhile. Sometimes it depends on player count as well. For example, Polonia's faction ability is better with fewer players because they get 2 rewards when having an encounter instead of just 1. But with more players, there will be fewer encounters for them to get.

Crimea might also have a more useful ability with fewer players because of there being more empty starting zones for them to be able to teleport to and from.

The Norse one can get across rivers without Mechs, as their workers can swim, so then they can build mechs on the other side of rivers.

Rusviet being able to take the same action more than once in a row is pretty nice. Some I know of, get all their workers out quickly and then produce like crazy to have a ton of resources for things they need to pay for. Sure there is a penalty for producing with the more workers you have out, but if you only need to do it a few times, then you save time and can use that time to make up for those penalties.

Saxony is the toughest to play I think. It's not always going to be viable for them to be able to complete 2 objectives to get a second star where others can only get one. Being able to get more than 2 stars from combat isn't always helpful either, though if you have one star from combat early enough in the game, you might be able to pull off a 2 combat win on one turn later in the game when you already have 4 stars out and be able to end it immediately on your terms. Winning drives out the opponent and they lose control of that area and any resources there, and you gain both of those. So that could be a pretty cool swing when timed right. They also have a neat mech ability that allows you to basically teleport from a mountain space to any tunnel. So once you get the Speed mech out and can move 2 instead of 1, then you can move onto a mountain and then surprise someone on a tunnel with the 2nd space moved. Or if you start on a mountain, you could teleport to a tunnel for the first space moved and then move to an adjacent space from the tunnel to attack someone. So they can be sneaky, as people often will forget their threat range.

As far as Togawa dropping traps, that may also be better or worse depending on player count. They may not have a river, but like I mentioned before, their river crossing mech might be more limited than others. So it might be harder for them to get to some spaces with encounter tokens, which give nice rewards.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that there are different player boards. They are randomly handed out, so then part of your strategy, as well as strengths and weaknesses can be determined by which player board you get with which faction. Some boards may be more difficult to put out mechs, or recruit, or build or upgrade, and some of that depends on your faction's base because of the easiest resources to get are different for each faction.

[chas]

My neighbor and gaming pal just got his shipping notice for Rising Sun, which should be here this week! OBoyOBoyOBoy!!!

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by chas

My neighbor and gaming pal just got his shipping notice for Rising Sun, which should be here this week! OBoyOBoyOBoy!!!

Cool! I know there's going to be some Rising Sun going on in NY in the coming weeks

[TREX]

Havent heard a peep about mine. But dont usually get a notification from cmon until its sitting on my porch.

[Taeblewalker]

I will probably will get Cyclades to the table tonight.

[keglo]

Originally Posted by Hahma

I've only played it once, but have read some stuff on BGG. Also, a friend I gamed with on Saturday mentioned that he won with Albion recently because he got all his flags out on areas he controlled, so each of those areas counted as 2 instead of 1.

I don't have all the mech stats handy here at work. But as far as not having the river to cross, I believe both of those factions are an extra area away from the factory. As far as Togawa, I believe they have a means to get across rivers, but I think they are limited to how many can move across a river during one move action.

You might want to check out BGG for more detailed info and opinions. I recall hearing that they are OP, but I haven't checked in awhile. Sometimes it depends on player count as well. For example, Polonia's faction ability is better with fewer players because they get 2 rewards when having an encounter instead of just 1. But with more players, there will be fewer encounters for them to get.

Crimea might also have a more useful ability with fewer players because of there being more empty starting zones for them to be able to teleport to and from.

The Norse one can get across rivers without Mechs, as their workers can swim, so then they can build mechs on the other side of rivers.

Rusviet being able to take the same action more than once in a row is pretty nice. Some I know of, get all their workers out quickly and then produce like crazy to have a ton of resources for things they need to pay for. Sure there is a penalty for producing with the more workers you have out, but if you only need to do it a few times, then you save time and can use that time to make up for those penalties.

Saxony is the toughest to play I think. It's not always going to be viable for them to be able to complete 2 objectives to get a second star where others can only get one. Being able to get more than 2 stars from combat isn't always helpful either, though if you have one star from combat early enough in the game, you might be able to pull off a 2 combat win on one turn later in the game when you already have 4 stars out and be able to end it immediately on your terms. Winning drives out the opponent and they lose control of that area and any resources there, and you gain both of those. So that could be a pretty cool swing when timed right. They also have a neat mech ability that allows you to basically teleport from a mountain space to any tunnel. So once you get the Speed mech out and can move 2 instead of 1, then you can move onto a mountain and then surprise someone on a tunnel with the 2nd space moved. Or if you start on a mountain, you could teleport to a tunnel for the first space moved and then move to an adjacent space from the tunnel to attack someone. So they can be sneaky, as people often will forget their threat range.

As far as Togawa dropping traps, that may also be better or worse depending on player count. They may not have a river, but like I mentioned before, their river crossing mech might be more limited than others. So it might be harder for them to get to some spaces with encounter tokens, which give nice rewards.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that there are different player boards. They are randomly handed out, so then part of your strategy, as well as strengths and weaknesses can be determined by which player board you get with which faction. Some boards may be more difficult to put out mechs, or recruit, or build or upgrade, and some of that depends on your faction's base because of the easiest resources to get are different for each faction.

Thanks for all of the input Hahma. I will head over to BGG and see what I can find. For some reason I wasn't thinking of the traps and flags as their faction power, that is written on their faction mats. I was thinking of them as extra powers for some reason.

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by keglo

Thanks for all of the input Hahma. I will head over to BGG and see what I can find. For some reason I wasn't thinking of the traps and flags as their faction power, that is written on their faction mats. I was thinking of them as extra powers for some reason.

No problem Kegs!

Now that I'm home, I can see the faction abilities and mech abilities.

Albion's faction ability is called Exhalt, and it lets you place a flag token on a territory you end your "Character's" movement on, and after any battle is completed or encounter resolved. So this only allows the main character figure to do this, not mechs or workers, so it requires you to get your character out there a little bit, as they don't count as an extra territory if they are on a space adjacent to your home base. Also, once placed, Flags can't be removed or moved.

Albion starts with 3 power and 0 combat cards. So you may want to take the action to get more combat cards before planning a battle, as the combat cards are the only way for the opponent to not know how much total power you have available to spend in a combat, whereas if you don't have any cards, they know exactly what you have available from the track. Starting at 3, makes it easier to get that star placed for maxing out on the power track.

Now for their Mech abilities:

Burrow - Basically allows your mechs or character to cross a river where they are either leaving a tunnel space or entering a tunnel space. Nice for sure, though the need to be on or near a tunnel at the beginning or end of your move would potentially leave them open to being surprised attacked by an opponent that moves through a tunnel to get them. Also, their Mine building counts as a tunnel for this purpose, but needs to be adjacent to a river.

Sword - This is totally offensive. Before engaging in combat as the attacker, the defender loses 2 power on the power track, and they can't go below 0. This happens once per combat, not once per unit.

Shield - This is kind of the reverse, as before you engage in combat as the defender, you gain 2 power.

Rally - When taking a Move action, your character and mechs can move to any territory that contains at least one of your workers or a Flag token, regardless of the distance. So this is really neat later on after you get some flags out. So if someone takes control of one of your territories with a Flag on it, you can basically teleport there from anywhere to battle them and kick them out.

I have to take a break for a while, as my daughters are ready to catch up on the Agents of SHIELD that we missed on Friday.

Okay, I'm back. And AoS was great!

On to the Togawa Shogunate:

They start with 0 power and 2 combat cards. So you may want to take some bolster actions in order to get some power up. But you don't need power on the track to win a combat if you have enough good combat cards and have enough units in combat to take advantage of playing multiple cards. Though 0 starting on the track makes it that much harder to max out on the track to get that star placed.

Their faction ability is Maifuku - Similar to Albion, where at the end of their character's movement etc. you can place an armed trap token of your choice, even if the territory has an opponent's building on it. Can't be moved or removed once placed. So if an opponent moves a unit into a territory with an armed trap, it is triggered and you flip the token over to reveal the penalty (-2 popularity, -3 power, -$4 or discard 2 combat cards at random). The penalty happens immediately, even before combat or an encounter. A player can build a structure on a territory with a trap (assuming it was triggered already and they were able to get a worker in there to build it), and if only the structure and the trap token are there at the end of the game, the player with the structure controls that territory. At the end of the game, an armed trap token would be enough to control a territory.

Mech abilities:

Toka - This basically allows you to once per turn, to move either your character or 1 mech across a river. If it's a mech, it's allowed to carry workers. So this allows them to cross into other territories surrounded by rivers, but it's limited to 1 of those units because there are no restrictions as to what terrain types they can move from or to.

Suiton - This allows your character and mechs to move onto lakes. If they have a combat on a lake with one of the other factions that is allowed to occupy a lake space, you bet to play 1 additional combat card. Normal rules apply for lakes with regards to workers and resources and buildings, but you can place a trap on a lake.

Ronin - Before combat where you have exactly 1 unit (either your character or 1 mech, but 0 workers), you may gain 2 power on the power track.

Shinobi - This is like the ability that allows Albion's character and mechs to move to a territory with a flag, but you can do it with a trap token from anywhere on the board. If you move to a trap that is disarmed, you can arm it. But if there is a combat there when you move there, you must win the combat in order to stay there and arm the trap.

[keglo]

Originally Posted by Hahma

No problem Kegs!

Now that I'm home, I can see the faction abilities and mech abilities.

Albion's faction ability is called Exhalt, and it lets you place a flag token on a territory you end your "Character's" movement on, and after any battle is completed or encounter resolved. So this only allows the main character figure to do this, not mechs or workers, so it requires you to get your character out there a little bit, as they don't count as an extra territory if they are on a space adjacent to your home base. Also, once placed, Flags can't be removed or moved.

Albion starts with 3 power and 0 combat cards. So you may want to take the action to get more combat cards before planning a battle, as the combat cards are the only way for the opponent to not know how much total power you have available to spend in a combat, whereas if you don't have any cards, they know exactly what you have available from the track. Starting at 3, makes it easier to get that star placed for maxing out on the power track.

Now for their Mech abilities:

Burrow - Basically allows your mechs or character to cross a river where they are either leaving a tunnel space or entering a tunnel space. Nice for sure, though the need to be on or near a tunnel at the beginning or end of your move would potentially leave them open to being surprised attacked by an opponent that moves through a tunnel to get them. Also, their Mine building counts as a tunnel for this purpose, but needs to be adjacent to a river.

Sword - This is totally offensive. Before engaging in combat as the attacker, the defender loses 2 power on the power track, and they can't go below 0. This happens once per combat, not once per unit.

Shield - This is kind of the reverse, as before you engage in combat as the defender, you gain 2 power.

Rally - When taking a Move action, your character and mechs can move to any territory that contains at least one of your workers or a Flag token, regardless of the distance. So this is really neat later on after you get some flags out. So if someone takes control of one of your territories with a Flag on it, you can basically teleport there from anywhere to battle them and kick them out.

I have to take a break for a while, as my daughters are ready to catch up on the Agents of SHIELD that we missed on Friday.

Okay, I'm back. And AoS was great!

On to the Togawa Shogunate:

They start with 0 power and 2 combat cards. So you may want to take some bolster actions in order to get some power up. But you don't need power on the track to win a combat if you have enough good combat cards and have enough units in combat to take advantage of playing multiple cards. Though 0 starting on the track makes it that much harder to max out on the track to get that star placed.

Their faction ability is Maifuku - Similar to Albion, where at the end of their character's movement etc. you can place an armed trap token of your choice, even if the territory has an opponent's building on it. Can't be moved or removed once placed. So if an opponent moves a unit into a territory with an armed trap, it is triggered and you flip the token over to reveal the penalty (-2 popularity, -3 power, -$4 or discard 2 combat cards at random). The penalty happens immediately, even before combat or an encounter. A player can build a structure on a territory with a trap (assuming it was triggered already and they were able to get a worker in there to build it), and if only the structure and the trap token are there at the end of the game, the player with the structure controls that territory. At the end of the game, an armed trap token would be enough to control a territory.

Mech abilities:

Toka - This basically allows you to once per turn, to move either your character or 1 mech across a river. If it's a mech, it's allowed to carry workers. So this allows them to cross into other territories surrounded by rivers, but it's limited to 1 of those units because there are no restrictions as to what terrain types they can move from or to.

Suiton - This allows your character and mechs to move onto lakes. If they have a combat on a lake with one of the other factions that is allowed to occupy a lake space, you bet to play 1 additional combat card. Normal rules apply for lakes with regards to workers and resources and buildings, but you can place a trap on a lake.

Ronin - Before combat where you have exactly 1 unit (either your character or 1 mech, but 0 workers), you may gain 2 power on the power track.

Shinobi - This is like the ability that allows Albion's character and mechs to move to a territory with a flag, but you can do it with a trap token from anywhere on the board. If you move to a trap that is disarmed, you can arm it. But if there is a combat there when you move there, you must win the combat in order to stay there and arm the trap.

Wow, thanks again Hahma!

After reading this post I went an read a couple of BGG threads on each faction. If I can judge anything by just those two threads, they seem to indicate that Togawa and Albion are both actually harder to play than the others, especially Togawa. Neither faction gets a +1 mech like the others, as you mentioned, and that combined with Togawa's 0 starting power, among other things, apparently makes playing Togawa pretty difficult. And it looks like one of Albions biggest weaknesses is being so far from a village, and the possibility of another faction denying them access to the closest one.

I think it is enough to put my fears to rest about them being OP. It sounds like the developer has done a really nice job of keeping all of these factions relatively balanced. I was going to order the expansion anyway but its nice to have the facts before I do.

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by keglo

Wow, thanks again Hahma!

After reading this post I went an read a couple of BGG threads on each faction. If I can judge anything by just those two threads, they seem to indicate that Togawa and Albion are both actually harder to play than the others, especially Togawa. Neither faction gets a +1 mech like the others, as you mentioned, and that combined with Togawa's 0 starting power, among other things, apparently makes playing Togawa pretty difficult. And it looks like one of Albions biggest weaknesses is being so far from a village, and the possibility of another faction denying them access to the closest one.

I think it is enough to put my fears to rest about them being OP. It sounds like the developer has done a really nice job of keeping all of these factions relatively balanced. I was going to order the expansion anyway but its nice to have the facts before I do.

Yeah, it seems balanced for the most part. However, like I said before, sometimes player count can affect a certain faction's difficulty level, as well as the player board they get dealt. But that's fine to me, as it makes the factions not feel samey to themselves every game, sometimes you have more or less of a challenge. Also, other player play styles will affect things too.

I have found Saxony the most difficult of the starting 5 factions. But then I read on BGG that one thing they may thrive at is ending the game early. So if you can get yourself high enough on the popularity track and control a decent amount of territories, then being able to end it before others get their engine really going could help them. Ways they can end early is getting early star for combat and later on after getting 3 more stars from other things, plan to have a 2 combat turn where you are in good shape to win both. Bam! Game over and leave others saying, "but I just needed a few more turns!"

The Wind Gambit is a neat expansion as well, as the airshipscan add some new things to the game, as well as there being a lot of different ending condition tiles you can use to randomly draw at the start of the game to change up the ending condition when you want to mix things up once in a while. Will add a lot of replayability. Though, you need to get it played initially first