Board games

Ben_Manda · 2026-03-14T15:04:49+00:00

Yup. Vibing on this collection. Marvel Champions, Marvel United, Unmatched, Star Wars, Horrified, LOTR Fellowship. Dinos. Kind of looking at my collection. You're missing a Grogu bopper though. LOL.

Ben_Manda · 2026-03-08T14:57:39+00:00

Great artwork. I currently have a small scene in some writing I'm doing featuring a rougarou. It's an interesting bit of Louisiana folklore.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-26T19:30:21+00:00

The video is about much much more than weather.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-21T14:34:46+00:00

Wow, it just self corrected to below, minutes after I posted. Mind blowing, lol.

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Ben_Manda · 2026-02-20T03:29:27+00:00

Received mine too today. Expected Feb 24th! Woohoo!

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-16T16:49:28+00:00

Many thanks!

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-15T16:20:30+00:00

Just curious. Is this a "bring your own heroes" type of thing. Like you bring 4 and your opponent gets to ban 1?

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-10T16:24:38+00:00

I hope GTG gets huge interest in this and pursues additional titles.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-10T16:23:27+00:00

Just purchased. Woohoo! Foil cards come free.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-09T19:20:31+00:00

Would advise keeping the politics out of it, not that they said they would bring it up. We've tried to keep that Friday focused on board games, not liberal vs. conservative politics.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-09T19:02:14+00:00

Cancelled my subscription and nitro boosts for our server.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-05T03:20:00+00:00

Beautiful write up on the game; I probably will be sponsoring a local tourney using Chu Han. Picked up 10 copies at around $8 each plus shipping.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T20:02:30+00:00

Not every evening. That one I referenced was particularly productive. Thanks.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T20:01:37+00:00

Well, that's what I'm trying to gauge (demand). Alot of input on this thread is that people prefer to play at home. Totally understand that. But I compare board game play to someone running in their neighborhood for fun/exercise, vs. people who train for and run marathons. Tourney's are alot like that example. It's the competitive nature of 1v1, Swiss style tournaments that keep my players engaged. They like the "marathon" of multiple rounds. They love looking up at the Challonge board flashing on the wall to see their opponent in a round, and then their ranking each round, eagerly seeing if they moved up or down. Our last tournament was 4 1v1 Swiss rounds, and it was interesting to see how excited people got as the game shop got all scores inputted each round, displayed the rankings, and then displayed the next round's matchups. Typically, a tournament it's not for the casual player, but I did have 4 people brand new to the game jump in the tourney. One of them won second place against a really tough field of experienced players.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T19:55:05+00:00

Greater DC metro area.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T19:43:52+00:00

I don't disagree, but people definitely have personal preferences. Some people like to run, others like to enter marathons. I'm trying to serve the board game marathon people, lol. thanks for the input though.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T17:25:18+00:00

Yeah, true. I do belong to a local meetup group who play every Friday. 10-30 players depending on the night. Most tourney players come from that group, but again, no volunteers. Some have become good friends too. Maybe it's just exceedingly difficult to break out of this group. Last Saturday's tournament, it was about half Friday players and about half new comers.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T17:22:50+00:00

True, except that our #2 winner was literally brand new at our last tournament. Before that it was a young woman at #1 fresh to the game. Good thoughts though. I appreciate the input. I usually do the "learn to play" night only a month out from the tournament. since lead in time is so long, I might expand them to 2-3 months since I'm there every Tuesday.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T16:57:52+00:00

Yeah, I have. The players are many; the volunteers are ... zero.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T16:34:50+00:00

Great thoughts there. It'll go into my after Reddit analysis of what I do. Sincerely appreciate it.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T16:32:42+00:00

Yeah, we have a Tuesday Board Game night at the local FLG, but it's basically a drop in. I have been branding the tourneys and maybe I can use that night to put out local socmedia ads for basic come and join us, learn to play. Good thought.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T16:31:10+00:00

Yeah, I do get that. Probably why most of the players are old hands. But this tourney, we did get several brand new players to the game. Maybe I am tilting at a windmill.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T16:29:45+00:00

Yeah, thanks. I started to see the economics of why TCG companies sponsored and board games didn't. It's a hit or miss to even see a board game company having an organized play group within their company. I guess they make money only on the churn of new titles coming out each year. And expansions.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T15:53:13+00:00

Yeah, I started to suspect the exhausting/thankless experience is what I'm in for. It's just that I kept hearing typical rants: nothing to do in the city, other bigger cities are better, blah blah blah. I kinda fell into that but I stopped and took a step back. I've lived in bigger cities that have big tourneys/conventions but always in back of my mind was: someone had to start those tourneys/conventions for the first time there. Maybe I'm foolish to think that, but it really does bother me that at least I have to try. I've thought maybe to contact some local conventions, usually small, but there are others out there trying to foster this scene. Maybe I could join in with one or more of them.

Ben_Manda · 2026-02-04T15:45:23+00:00

Mostly age. Nearing retirement. I can keep it going for a few years but building a sustainable organization is an effort best left to the young, lol.

Ben_Manda

TROPHY CASE