What Board Game Are You Currently Playing?

[MegaSilver]

Having also been playing Dominion on the app recently, it really cements how much more I enjoy Ascension as a deckbuilder than Dominion.

[caps]

Originally Posted by MegaSilver

Having also been playing Dominion on the app recently, it really cements how much more I enjoy Ascension as a deckbuilder than Dominion.

I think the state of the art in the "market deck" deck builders is Shards of Infinity. Unfortunately the app doesn't have any of the expansions (yet). I would love to have more partners to play that app with if anyone else plays it. The runner-up for me is Hero Realms, followed by Star Realms. I do like Ascension.

But the problem with all the market deck games is that you're at the mercy of what comes up in the Market Deck. I really appreciate the way that Dominion lets you choose a strategy from the beginning of the game. There's still some luck-of-the-draw involved, but I'd argue it is strongly mitigated compared to market deck games.

[MegaSilver]

Originally Posted by caps

I think the state of the art in the "market deck" deck builders is Shards of Infinity. Unfortunately the app doesn't have any of the expansions (yet). I would love to have more partners to play that app with if anyone else plays it. The runner-up for me is Hero Realms, followed by Star Realms. I do like Ascension.

But the problem with all the market deck games is that you're at the mercy of what comes up in the Market Deck. I really appreciate the way that Dominion lets you choose a strategy from the beginning of the game. There's still some luck-of-the-draw involved, but I'd argue it is strongly mitigated compared to market deck games.

I've yet to try Shards of Infinity.

I do like Star and Hero Realms as well.

[chas]

Got my notice that my Undaunted Stalingrad is shipping. I've played all the other games in the series: Undaunted Normandy, North Africa, and Reinforcements (an expansion and Solo Mode for the previous two titles).

This game has a "soft" Legacy campaign, in that it can be rebooted from the beginning; no components are destroyed or changed. It takes 15 short scenarios to play through the entire thing, but there are many variant scenarios in addition, so the replay value should be high.

This is a two player deck building WWII tactical combat series. Its even simpler than my favorite Commands and Colors Memoir 44. Unfortunately my main Undaunted opponent moved upstate, and the new game is not on TTS or BGA. So I may end up having to solitaire it first, as I do most games.

This will expose all the surprises packed into the game. In fact, each side has their own scenario book, and you're not supposed to look at the other player's book. However, I think I'll enjoy it that way as well.

If anyone in the NYC area would like to try it out with me, let me know! Then you can check out this relatively expensive game out for free.

[Matthias Maccabeus]

Originally Posted by chas

Got my notice that my Undaunted Stalingrad is shipping. I've played all the other games in the series: Undaunted Normandy, North Africa, and Reinforcements (an expansion and Solo Mode for the previous two titles).

This game has a "soft" Legacy campaign, in that it can be rebooted from the beginning; no components are destroyed or changed. It takes 15 short scenarios to play through the entire thing, but there are many variant scenarios in addition, so the replay value should be high.

This is a two player deck building WWII tactical combat series. Its even simpler than my favorite Commands and Colors Memoir 44. Unfortunately my main Undaunted opponent moved upstate, and the new game is not on TTS or BGA. So I may end up having to solitaire it first, as I do most games.

This will expose all the surprises packed into the game. In fact, each side has their own scenario book, and you're not supposed to look at the other player's book. However, I think I'll enjoy it that way as well.

If anyone in the NYC area would like to try it out with me, let me know! Then you can check out this relatively expensive game out for free.

I also have Normandy and North Africa. The price tag on this one scared me a bit. Plus I wasn’t super impressed with the solo mode either.

[chas]

MM,

I haven't even tried the solo mode for the older games, even after getting all the revised cards! I'm not big on AIs, with a few notable exceptions. I like to play both sides, but some don't like to do that. Which I'll probably have to do with this one too.

[Taeblewalker]

Today:
Star Wars Pandemic
Unmatched
My Lil Everdell
Marvel United
Some game about nacho chips (I forget the name)
Elder Sign
Flash Point: Fire Rescue
King of New York
Dungeon Scroll
Unspeakable Words x2

[chas]

Just played my first game of Undaunted Stalingrad with a live opponent, who wants to stick in for the campaign. Hooray! It was lots of fun, and we enjoyed Replacing and Upgrading units after the game for the next one. Now I have one weaker Replacement unit and one stronger Elite unit in my Supply. My pal beat me as the Germans and even took fewer casualties to boot.

Also did a three player Star Trek Ascendancy, using the separate Gamma Quadrant for The Dominion faction for the first time.

Coming up, a fourth session of Heroscape: Age of Annihilation. For my AOA Proxy Project using every aspect revealed in the Haslab Offering--First Scenario, Display Photo Battlefield, Cards, Glyphs, and even Illusory Walls, see my signature thread...I've now run all of the regular army cards and even the 5 SOTM Heroes. Still to come: the 7 Kyrie Warriors!

Now coming in February/March: Spring and Autumn: Story of China, The Great Wall Update Kit, and The Russian Campaign 5th Edition-- Happy Chinese New Year to all.

Also coming in 2023: Bretwalda (June) and Dune: War For Arrakis (September).

[Captain Stupendous]

Originally Posted by caps

I think the state of the art in the "market deck" deck builders is Shards of Infinity. Unfortunately the app doesn't have any of the expansions (yet). I would love to have more partners to play that app with if anyone else plays it. The runner-up for me is Hero Realms, followed by Star Realms. I do like Ascension.

But the problem with all the market deck games is that you're at the mercy of what comes up in the Market Deck. I really appreciate the way that Dominion lets you choose a strategy from the beginning of the game. There's still some luck-of-the-draw involved, but I'd argue it is strongly mitigated compared to market deck games.

Dominion is my favorite deck builder, largely because of how low-luck there is. You pick a strategy at the start of the game, but then at high levels of play there’s also room for a surprisingly large amount of tactics in how you respond to what your opponent does (talking about 2p dominion, other player counts are significantly more random).

[caps]

Originally Posted by Captain Stupendous

Dominion is my favorite deck builder, largely because of how low-luck there is. You pick a strategy at the start of the game, but then at high levels of play there’s also room for a surprisingly large amount of tactics in how you respond to what your opponent does (talking about 2p dominion, other player counts are significantly more random).

Yeah, I would agree with this.

I've been playing Shard of Infinity with @Dad_Scaper via the app. It's fun--one of the best Market Deck deck builders out there--but the luck-of-the-draw really stands out. I went on a streak of 3-4 games where all/most of the trash/scrap/exile type cards came out in the deck when I could buy them, before DS got a chance to. Those were usually decisive in who won the game. This is a running problem in all market deck based deck builders.

[Captain Stupendous]

Originally Posted by caps

Yeah, I would agree with this.

I've been playing Shard of Infinity with @Dad_Scaper via the app. It's fun--one of the best Market Deck deck builders out there--but the luck-of-the-draw really stands out. I went on a streak of 3-4 games where all/most of the trash/scrap/exile type cards came out in the deck when I could buy them, before DS got a chance to. Those were usually decisive in who won the game. This is a running problem in all market deck based deck builders.

Yeah, I could see that being an issue with market deck based deck builders, although the two I'm most familiar with are Ascension and Star Realms.

The other issue with those two games that I've felt is that the relatively limited number of purchase options on any given turn means that often there's only one obvious "best" purchase.

The same is often true on any given turn of Dominion, but in Dominion this is balanced by the fact that you're able to make an informed choice of strategy at the beginning of the game, and then spend later turns building into the direction chosen at the start. Whereas in market deck based games, you can't really pick a direction at the start as easily, so the whole thing feels more reactive and random, and "easier" to play optimally.

[MegaSilver]

My main issue with dominion is that what's not that difficult to tell who's in the lead when someone starts buying the victory point cards. With Ascension, you have a pool of points that you're pulling from and there are points on the cards on you buy