What Board Game Are You Currently Playing?

[Yodaking]

I played the Batman, Gotham City Strategy Game by Wizkids again tonight. It's like the 3rd time I've played in now in the last few weeks after not having played if for many months. Had a 4 player game tonight that ended when we ran out of crime cards. It was a good time, I really enjoy this game for what it is. We have fun with it and really battle back and forth over control of some blocks.

I don't know how well it sold, but I would be interested in purchasing some expansions for it. They could sell a box containing one or two new Clix figures or other Batman villains. Ventriloquist, Black Mask, Riddler, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, etc. along with all the threat markers, cards, & player screen. It shouldn't cost too much to produce and sell. Just don't overestimate how many you can really sell and produce a ton of them. I'm sure we are not the only one who like this game and would enjoy an expansion of it's fun factor with new criminals.

[1Mmirg]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

I played the Batman, Gotham City Strategy Game by Wizkids again tonight. It's like the 3rd time I've played in now in the last few weeks after not having played if for many months. Had a 4 player game tonight that ended when we ran out of crime cards. It was a good time, I really enjoy this game for what it is. We have fun with it and really battle back and forth over control of some blocks.

I don't know how well it sold, but I would be interested in purchasing some expansions for it. They could sell a box containing one or two new Clix figures or other Batman villains. Ventriloquist, Black Mask, Riddler, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, etc. along with all the threat markers, cards, & player screen. It shouldn't cost too much to produce and sell. Just don't overestimate how many you can really sell and produce a ton of them. I'm sure we are not the only one who like this game and would enjoy an expansion of it's fun factor with new criminals.

Sadly it didn't do well, but I exchanged some messages with Paolo about expansions. Which it had done better.

I also really like the game, but I'm the only one in my family who really does. It's got too much euro in it for my boys to get excited and is a bit longer than my wife/daughter like.

We did make a custom Riddler for the game, using cardstock and spare game parts (and the Heroclix figure). Also messed around with Mr. Frost and Poison Ivy, but never got them into playing shape. The Riddler worked really well, felt balanced and fun.

[Jormi_Boced]

Got some painting done this week.

The statue from the Garden of Morr set is a really cool piece. Actually the whole set is very nice. Hopefully I will be able to get a bit more done this week.


It was also fun to teach some new players Imperial Assault this week. It is especially fun to play and teach with the set being fully painted.

[Hahma]

Last night I played:

Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn - I played as Jessa with my opponent having Noah. It was his first time playing, so I let a couple things slide here and there, for while it's not really a difficult game, there are some subtle things that can be important. Jessa basically allows you to deal damage to an opponent's unit or Phoenixborn in interesting ways that don't involve her or her units directly attacking. When an opponent's unit leaves play, she can spend a low level die to give a unit or Phoenixborn a wound. Her Living Doll ally gives wounds when it takes any wounds, and not only can the opponent give her wounds, but so can Jessa.

So basically, my opponent's Phoenixborn was taking a lot of damage, so I didn't spend a die here and there to not put a wound on his Phoenixborn, and I "forgot" that you couldn't play more than one reaction spell on a turn, when he played 2 that brought out 4 spiders instead of only 2 when one of his units died.

I had him up to 19 damage with only 1 life left, with Jessa having 7 damage and 11 life left, when on the initiative switch and me not having any allies to block damage to my Phoenixborn, he attacked with all units he had out there for 11 damage directly to my Phoenixborn to kill her. It's cool. I don't mind losing so much, as I really like this game, but also it was nice for him to get the win because Jessa is frustrating to play against.


Viceroy - A friend brought this and I wanted to give it a try and we had a 4 player game of it. You are using cards to build up a pyramid. It has some minor 7 Wonders elements in there, though not the card drafting part. You use cards to build a pyramid and the higher level you place a card, the more it cost in gems of different colors, but when you place it, you get a better reward the higher level it is. There's various in game and endgame bonuses that make for some pretty tough choices. We got some rules wrong and that would have helped me a lot, as there were things that I could have done, having knowing these rules, that would have helped me not to have such a crappy score. I liked it enough, but it felt off a little. We were being too nice in bidding for cards and having some rules wrong made a difference. Will have to play again to get a better feel for it, but knowing the rules better will certainly help.

[Jim]

Over the past week we had several game sessions: Tuesday night game night, my nephew's place on Thursday, my wife's cousin's place on Friday, and a game day at my house on Sunday.

Tuesday we played Viceroy (see post above mine). None of us had played it before. I thought it was good, but not great. I'll have to play it a couple more times with different people to see how it goes with them.

Thursday we started with Machi Koro, with just the base game and the standard rules, which my nephew's wife won. I still enjoy this game, though I prefer the setup from the expansion where you have a variable marketplace.

After that we played Dead of Winter. After barely surviving the betrayerless scenario (place three zombies at each non-colony location, and have a combined total of three or fewer zombies at those locations for the main goal), it ended up with just my wife Celina and myself having fulfilled our personal goals. We still love this game!

Friday, Celina's cousin and his family had just recently discovered boardgames (his way to try to get his kids from just playing video games), so we had been introducing them to different games. He has since ordered about $300 worth of games that I'm sure I'll be helping him with. We played:
Tsuro (x3), Snake Oil, Dixit, and Splendor. Snake Oil was their least favorite, as it involves a lot of spontaneous creativity.
Description from BGG:

Spoiler Alert!

In the Old West, the wily snake oil salesman had a special talent, getting the most skeptical customers to buy the most dubious products. Now it's your turn! Invent your own zany two-word products – Rumor Mirror! Burp Balloon! – and sell them to all types of wacky customers. If the round's customer buys your product, you win!
To set up Snake Oil, each player takes six purple word cards. The customer for the round draws a customer card and announces it. Inventors quickly combine two purple word cards from their hand to form a crazy new product to sell to that customer. When ready, each inventor quickly pitches his or her product directly to the customer. The customer can end any pitch that goes longer than thirty seconds. The customer decides which product to buy and gives the inventor of that product the round's customer card as the prize. Inventors discard all used word cards and take two new word cards each. The player to the left of the customer becomes the next round's customer. Play repeats until each player has been the customer once.
Whoever collects the most customer cards wins.

Finally, on Sunday, we had eight or nine people at my house. I started with Valley of the Kings: Afterlife, with the first guy to arrive. This is the stand alone expansion to Valley of the Kings, an Egyptian themed deckbuilder. The cool part of this game is that, unlike most other deckbuilders, the good cards in your deck (or any of the cards in your deck for that matter) aren't worth any points at the end of the game. Only cards that you have removed from your deck and placed into your tomb will score. It is a fine line to try to find when deciding if you want to keep the really nice card that does cool things or remove it for points. I lost, 33-32.

Then, I got to finally play Flick 'em Up! We played just the introductory scenario, which doesn't involve any of the buildings or extra items. Four players, two outlaws and two lawmen. A fifth player was deputized and joined our side a turn into the game. After much flickiness and bad accents, the outlaws lost their third gang member, and also the game, though it was close (with two downed good guys™). It went over very well, though unfortunately not with people who are in my usual game groups.


Six player 7 Wonders came out next, and I came in third. Another game that always seems to go over well, especially when everyone already knows how to play!


Three of us played Tesla vs. Edison: War of Currents
BGG description:

Spoiler Alert!

Tesla vs. Edison: War of Currents is a fast-playing, route building, economic and worker placement game focused on invention and industry in the roaring 1880's. It is easy-to-learn and appropriate for all gamers aged 14 and up.
Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and three other important inventors of the time struggle to determine who will be most remembered as the man who brought light to the masses. Contributing innovations in power generation, delivery, and illumination, you also choose to invest in Direct Current (DC) technology or the superior but later developing AC technology.
Players control a small group of legendary figures from the War of Currents, each rated in Invention, Engineering, Finance and Public Relations. Each turn these legends are allocated to help research, commercialize or patent technology; influence the public's perception about the inventors and AC or DC technology; bid on and hopefully secure either residential, exhibition or power generation projects in cities around the 1880's United States. Money is tight and players may need to sell shares of their company in order to do everything they need to succeed. But be careful: other companies can buy stock you release, and the winner is the player whose company's stock is worth the most at the end of the game!

I thought it was OK, as the different characters you could get in the game didn't have a lot of differences, just a minor variation on their stat numbers. I came in second, and probably won't play it again.


Finally, there were four of us left, so Celina and I taught the others Castles of Mad King Ludwig.
BGG description:

Spoiler Alert!

In the tile-laying game Castles of Mad King Ludwig, players are tasked with building an amazing, extravagant castle for King Ludwig II of Bavaria...one room at a time. You see, the King loves castles, having built Neuschwanstein (the castle that inspired the Disney theme park castles) and others, but now he's commissioned you to build the biggest, best castle ever — subject, of course, to his ever-changing whims. Each player acts as a building contractor who is adding rooms to the castle he's building while also selling his services to other players.
In the game, each player starts with a simple foyer. One player takes on the role of the Master Builder, and that player sets prices for a set of rooms that can be purchased by the other players, with him getting to pick from the leftovers after the other players have paid him for their rooms. When a room is added to a castle, the player who built it gains castle points based on the size and type of room constructed, as well as bonus points based on the location of the room. When a room is completed, with all entranceways leading to other rooms in the castle, the player receives one of seven special rewards.
After each purchasing round, a new player becomes the Master Builder who sets prices for a new set of rooms. After several rounds, the game ends, then additional points are awarded for achieving bonus goals, having the most popular rooms, and being the most responsive to the King's demands, which change each game. Whoever ends up with the most castle points wins.

This one went over well also, with some pretty interestingly designed castles. I managed to win because I had some bonus cards that gave me points for all of the food rooms that I had built, as well as getting a point for every two external doorways to the castle, of which I had a lot. I can't wait to get the expansion in a couple of months so I can make a moat!

[Dad_Scaper]

Jim, I hope Celina's cousin is local. Don't forget, if they have the right demographic, to show off your Heroscape collection.

GrandpaScaper was around this weekend, which as some of you old timers will remember, means a lot of gaming at my house.

He is willing to try anything, but there are some types of games he definitely prefers to others. His first - and perhaps greatest - love was Ticket to Ride. Over the years he has also been a big fan of (in order) Power Grid, Guildhall, and (currently) Splendor. We played a *lot* of those two games, two player.

KidScaper has whatever brain chemistry it is that a person needs to plot out a winning course in Splendor, and he ordinarily is the winner. We played a couple games with him, 3 player, and I managed to win one of them anyway. I didn't even realize he was about to win on his turn, by completing two sets with a single stroke, when I scored my 15th point. He took care of business the other times we played 3 player, and when I played with my dad I won all but one. Which is all he really needed to be satisfied.

We also blew the dust off Ticket to Ride, to play his old favorite. I believe I won all 3 games we played, though it's possible he won one of them. I hope he did. I set a personal high score in our last game, when my dad got a respectable 126, but I almost lapped him with a 223. I had nine completed missions, with the longest track and several cross-continental tickets completed.

We played one 4 player game of Bohnanza, which Sisterscaper won. On the last turn, GS had some cheap bean trash that he couldn't use so he gave it as a gift to SisterScaper, who had made puppy eyes at him to obtain the gift, which earned her an extra coin for her Blue Beans. Then, in the final tabulation, KS and I got whomped, and GS lost by *one point* to SS.

I was also very pleased that GrandpaScaper liked Colt Express. It's not really his type of game at all, except that the positive energy it brings to the table just overwhelms everybody involved so it's irresistible. He actually won the first game, overcoming KS's ace shooting - his strategy is to anticipate where people will be and empty his barrel, claiming the $1,000 bonus for best shot in the West - by picking up piles and piles of treasure and winning with the most money. We played this a few other times: KS won another 4-player game, IIRC; SS got her hands on the strongbox and secured a commanding 3-player win against GS and myself; and I won the last game, a 4-player circus of a game, with a strongbox and best shot and a combined $4,100. A princely sum for Belle, who could retire to a life of leisure in whatever scrubby town was the next stop for the train. I realized that there is a *lot* of fun in the narration of the deck as the cards are revealed: "Tuco sees something shiny on the roof of the train, hoping for treasure, attempts to pick it up. Alas, it is only the reflected sunlight; there is nothing there. Doc, on the roof of the caboose, sees Tuco kneeling down and shoots him." And so on.

GS, SS and I also, while out at a restaurant, played a few rounds of Love Letter. It's not GS's favorite, but SS is normally in charge, so we played. Each of us won a couple times.

And that's the weekend's gaming news.

[Jim]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Jim, I hope Celina's cousin is local. Don't forget, if they have the right demographic, to show off your Heroscape collection.

They live about eight minutes away (unless there is a train crossing the road ). The biggest problem with them is that, on average, there will usually be a minimum of five players if only I go. There could be up to seven or eight if ex-wife/oldest child's girlfriend/Celina also go over.


He did get creative though, and he ordered a second set of Splendor. He had analysed the cards, then split the second set into four sets of cards and gems; each set is used to add another player to the base game. I was skepical that someone so new to gaming could pull something like this off, but the game of Splendor that we played last week was with six players. It worked well, except I found that the minimum number of chips in a pile to allow a player to take two of the same chip should probably be increased with more than four players, as it potentially allows players to grab up a lot of the same color sooner (which happened).

[Dad_Scaper]

Surely he also widened the grid from four?

[Jim]

Originally Posted by Dad_Scaper

Surely he also widened the grid from four?

Nope. I thought about suggesting an extra card column, but the game didn't seem to go on any longer than usual...

[Dad_Scaper]

It would just be harder to plan, I think, with more players but without more columns. The goal, as Donald X. says, is to have fun, and if that was achieved then you did it right.

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by Jim

Over the past week we had several game sessions: Tuesday night game night, my nephew's place on Thursday, my wife's cousin's place on Friday, and a game day at my house on Sunday.

Tuesday we played Viceroy (see post above mine). None of us had played it before. I thought it was good, but not great. I'll have to play it a couple more times with different people to see how it goes with them.

Thursday we started with Machi Koro, with just the base game and the standard rules, which my nephew's wife won. I still enjoy this game, though I prefer the setup from the expansion where you have a variable marketplace.

After that we played Dead of Winter. After barely surviving the betrayerless scenario (place three zombies at each non-colony location, and have a combined total of three or fewer zombies at those locations for the main goal), it ended up with just my wife Celina and myself having fulfilled our personal goals. We still love this game!

Friday, Celina's cousin and his family had just recently discovered boardgames (his way to try to get his kids from just playing video games), so we had been introducing them to different games. He has since ordered about $300 worth of games that I'm sure I'll be helping him with. We played:
Tsuro (x3), Snake Oil, Dixit, and Splendor. Snake Oil was their least favorite, as it involves a lot of spontaneous creativity.
Description from BGG:

Spoiler Alert!

In the Old West, the wily snake oil salesman had a special talent, getting the most skeptical customers to buy the most dubious products. Now it's your turn! Invent your own zany two-word products – Rumor Mirror! Burp Balloon! – and sell them to all types of wacky customers. If the round's customer buys your product, you win!
To set up Snake Oil, each player takes six purple word cards. The customer for the round draws a customer card and announces it. Inventors quickly combine two purple word cards from their hand to form a crazy new product to sell to that customer. When ready, each inventor quickly pitches his or her product directly to the customer. The customer can end any pitch that goes longer than thirty seconds. The customer decides which product to buy and gives the inventor of that product the round's customer card as the prize. Inventors discard all used word cards and take two new word cards each. The player to the left of the customer becomes the next round's customer. Play repeats until each player has been the customer once.
Whoever collects the most customer cards wins.

Finally, on Sunday, we had eight or nine people at my house. I started with Valley of the Kings: Afterlife, with the first guy to arrive. This is the stand alone expansion to Valley of the Kings, an Egyptian themed deckbuilder. The cool part of this game is that, unlike most other deckbuilders, the good cards in your deck (or any of the cards in your deck for that matter) aren't worth any points at the end of the game. Only cards that you have removed from your deck and placed into your tomb will score. It is a fine line to try to find when deciding if you want to keep the really nice card that does cool things or remove it for points. I lost, 33-32.

Then, I got to finally play Flick 'em Up! We played just the introductory scenario, which doesn't involve any of the buildings or extra items. Four players, two outlaws and two lawmen. A fifth player was deputized and joined our side a turn into the game. After much flickiness and bad accents, the outlaws lost their third gang member, and also the game, though it was close (with two downed good guys™). It went over very well, though unfortunately not with people who are in my usual game groups.


Six player 7 Wonders came out next, and I came in third. Another game that always seems to go over well, especially when everyone already knows how to play!


Three of us played Tesla vs. Edison: War of Currents
BGG description:

Spoiler Alert!

Tesla vs. Edison: War of Currents is a fast-playing, route building, economic and worker placement game focused on invention and industry in the roaring 1880's. It is easy-to-learn and appropriate for all gamers aged 14 and up.
Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and three other important inventors of the time struggle to determine who will be most remembered as the man who brought light to the masses. Contributing innovations in power generation, delivery, and illumination, you also choose to invest in Direct Current (DC) technology or the superior but later developing AC technology.
Players control a small group of legendary figures from the War of Currents, each rated in Invention, Engineering, Finance and Public Relations. Each turn these legends are allocated to help research, commercialize or patent technology; influence the public's perception about the inventors and AC or DC technology; bid on and hopefully secure either residential, exhibition or power generation projects in cities around the 1880's United States. Money is tight and players may need to sell shares of their company in order to do everything they need to succeed. But be careful: other companies can buy stock you release, and the winner is the player whose company's stock is worth the most at the end of the game!

I thought it was OK, as the different characters you could get in the game didn't have a lot of differences, just a minor variation on their stat numbers. I came in second, and probably won't play it again.


Finally, there were four of us left, so Celina and I taught the others Castles of Mad King Ludwig.
BGG description:

Spoiler Alert!

In the tile-laying game Castles of Mad King Ludwig, players are tasked with building an amazing, extravagant castle for King Ludwig II of Bavaria...one room at a time. You see, the King loves castles, having built Neuschwanstein (the castle that inspired the Disney theme park castles) and others, but now he's commissioned you to build the biggest, best castle ever — subject, of course, to his ever-changing whims. Each player acts as a building contractor who is adding rooms to the castle he's building while also selling his services to other players.
In the game, each player starts with a simple foyer. One player takes on the role of the Master Builder, and that player sets prices for a set of rooms that can be purchased by the other players, with him getting to pick from the leftovers after the other players have paid him for their rooms. When a room is added to a castle, the player who built it gains castle points based on the size and type of room constructed, as well as bonus points based on the location of the room. When a room is completed, with all entranceways leading to other rooms in the castle, the player receives one of seven special rewards.
After each purchasing round, a new player becomes the Master Builder who sets prices for a new set of rooms. After several rounds, the game ends, then additional points are awarded for achieving bonus goals, having the most popular rooms, and being the most responsive to the King's demands, which change each game. Whoever ends up with the most castle points wins.

This one went over well also, with some pretty interestingly designed castles. I managed to win because I had some bonus cards that gave me points for all of the food rooms that I had built, as well as getting a point for every two external doorways to the castle, of which I had a lot. I can't wait to get the expansion in a couple of months so I can make a moat!

Sounds like new game groups are needed for Flick 'em Up

Great week of gaming Jim. Kind of had the same feeling about Viceroy and want to give it another try sometime.

Dead of Winter, Splendor, Tsuro and Dixit are always fun.

So you didn't like Tesla vs Edison?

[Jim]

Originally Posted by Hahma

Sounds like new game groups are needed for Flick 'em Up

Heh heh...

Originally Posted by Hahma

So you didn't like Tesla vs Edison?

It didn't help that games with stock markets are not my thing. I may be backed up on that opinion of the game though, as one of the other players with me in that game thought pretty much the same, and he is a multi-published game designer whose name comes up around this particular site a lot.