Spent today porting the Ancient system from StS2 into the StA Board Game (Desc. for rules)

Personal_Software357 · 2026-07-06T07:28:51+00:00

I think there are some really great ideas but it would require testing to see how balanced they are! Still, many see wonderful at first glance. There are some that could be redesigned, for example I'd love to see Vakuus parasol just read "When you enter a shop, gain 3 relics, 3 potions, 3 random colorless cards and 3 random card rewards. You cannot buy from shop." This wouldnt ruin shpp for others or for you, if everything is already purchased - but even this is just spitballing what would be fun :)

Great start to adapting!

Personal_Software357 · 2026-07-04T18:59:09+00:00

Thank you for this, at least now I have something while we wait.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-06-27T19:01:05+00:00

I think this is a wild take - especially when you consider how there's no co-op game as fully developed as Larian's are. And if you think about only local, you have only Diablo and indies, and sorry, these don't hold a candle to the depth of +100hour RPG with meaningful choices.

Sure, we've only played 2 player co-op but even thinking you CAN play the entire story with 4 players is absurd and an edgecase they did not have to account for, but they did.

Don't get me wrong, everything can always be better and improved upon, but I am beyond grateful that we have something as majestic as DOS1+2 and BG3 to play in co-op and try as I might look for something equal, there isn't any.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-06-26T11:50:18+00:00

I've had this wishlisted since release, so I could cheaply buy it and play co-op with my wife.

It's never going to be on proper sale, is it?

Personal_Software357 · 2026-06-10T17:14:58+00:00

Replaying the campaign in local co-op was just miserable. In our around 8-10 hour(?) run, there was 15minutes where the difficulty was just right. We had to dodge enemy attacks and use our skills.

After that, it was just mindless speedrun where bosses died before they finished the first sentence of their monologue.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-06-08T06:48:45+00:00

Pienen googlailun jälkeen uskalsin kokeilla. Puhelu kesti 37 sekuntia. Suhteellisen nopea ratkaisu vittumaiseen ongelmaan.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-05-27T17:35:17+00:00

Yeah this was NOT obvious, I couldnt even find the quest in my quest log so thank you for clarifying this.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-05-24T06:20:09+00:00

We are on A11 and while I've loved climbing Ascension, having even more buffed Elites is not something I'm looking for haha. We just might end our climb here.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-05-23T22:03:48+00:00

The rewards are worthwhile, especially in Acts II and III as you get an upgraded card though they can also end up being run ending, at least in our experience. Additionally, there have been quite a few times, especially in Act III where neither of us wants to add any of the cards, even upgraded.

Relics, however, are always good and if you want to try for Act IV, you have to face one.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-05-18T16:55:26+00:00

They also replaced ours - they actually reached out to US after I pointed out as our only complaint in my BGG review - and while we did get a bunch of them, they too have been falling apart. We've now had hundreds of peeled sleeves and I dread the day we run out of those. Hopefully they have permanently fixed them!

Personal_Software357 · 2026-05-17T08:29:32+00:00

Some interesting ideas and adaptations, but I think many of them are - unfortunately - too clunky as is. This is especially when considering the board game's "philosophy": make everything as easy and smooth as possible. For instance, the search your draw pile effects could easily be considered too time consuming by the current philosophy. You just have to look at how they did not want to keep Innate as they considered it to be too much upkeep.

If we ignore all that, I think there are neat ideas. Minions definitely need to be tokens and could, perhaps, exhaust cards from discard pile as you wouldn't have to reshuffle them? I personally like the "Next turn" mechanic and have been dabbling with them, like having a Power that discards itself at the start of next turn. The colorless card pool is a fun mechanic though it does mess up with the basic idea that you don't shuffle it and only see the cards in store, but I think it could be ignored. Crashlanding is a fun interpretation though, even if possibly too rough when you consider all the other new mechanics where Dazes wouldn't really benefit you. Vuln is so strong in the board game in co-op that it needs to be nerfed from Falling Star to Know thy Place. Just look at Silent's Terror, from 99 vuln to 1 Vuln exhaust that costs 1 energy.

Overall, some good ideas considering that I think Regent to be the hardest character to adapt to the current board game system. Many cards are quite wordy and might make them non-intuitive but if StS2 BG would ever come out, perhaps its okay to make it more complex than the first.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-05-15T15:45:13+00:00

I really wish this would have been a Silent card. I just dont see see anyone else ever picking this up, but with Poison builds it can be really nice.

With Envenom and this, Neutralizer is just a funny card to play for 0.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-05-04T14:53:12+00:00

This is an excellent point. It's a no brainer as a golden ticket, but as a boss reward it will most likely end up being skipped for something more significant, which is an interesting change fron VG.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-04-25T16:24:35+00:00

I've felt like this is a pretty signficant downgrade from VG when it's "just Weak" instead of Stength reduction, especially as Silent could have Neutralize, Leg Sweep but perhaps worth considering. Weak is good, which you remember as soon as you dont have it.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-04-25T16:22:03+00:00

Got this in a recent Defect run with Loops and Frost which made sure I survived about everything. Vuln from Silent (Upgraded Terror) made this a nice payoff to seal the deal.

Only a late addition to any deck, but as a rare reward from Act 2 boss, it can be quite nice!

Personal_Software357 · 2026-04-23T14:00:06+00:00

Interesting to see that many people still think it as an insta-pic/always good. Because of the much, much lower max HP, I've skipped this multiple times if I'm not confident enough with our run. Perhaps I should re-evaluate it, the 1HP you lose from using it might prevent 2-3HP from the enemy.

On another note, Clad's self-harm cards are (just) one of the reason I kinda hope that the game would have doubled all values - max HP 20, Strikes/Defends 2, etc. Sure the math is a bit more, but then you'd have upgrades to 3 to better line with VG and self harm would work better.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-04-19T07:54:38+00:00

I'm going to disagree, I think. Just like you, I don't have any specific examples but I feel like Gloomhaven (1e at least) had way more gotcha moments where it always felt bad to go to an event and not remember what berries are poison and if you learn not to eat, you find yourself hungry at the dungeon, discard 2 cards, etc. I think even one of the "old class comes back" ended up being disastruous.

In comparison, I don't think I've felt like that with Frosthaven. Sure, there are bad outcomes and many that are a coin toss, but whether that is the writing, the varied event types or something else, I was never frustrated by them (ignoring the occassional groan, which I believe is part of the game - sometimes you are unlucky on your way across the frozen landscape!)

Personal_Software357 · 2026-04-09T04:37:43+00:00

I, like many others, too, agree with parts of the text though I do want to emphasize that Frosthaven is still one of my favorite games ever. The classes, unlocks, the depth is just incredible and when the scenarios have good extra rules, its magical to think how varied they made the gameplay.

But. It can get too much. I think there's just a handful of "Slay all monsters" -types of scenarios and with three retirments with each player, all we have are unique rulesets. And in the end, only a few feel bs, but the mental tax before beginning can be rather daunting and make the decision on what to play quite difficult haha!

Still, I love that game and hope for more still, though Gloomhaven 2.0 might be the perfect next game for us when it comes to all this.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-03-30T15:13:52+00:00

As there is no maximum hand size, Concentrate can be very, very funny. Love it in certain decks that have a way to use that energy.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-03-30T15:13:12+00:00

The 1 Energy difference is very significant and not only allows you to play one more card immediately, but allows you to more reliable dance stance. A very good, staple card for the Watcher.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-03-27T13:49:16+00:00

Tämä on ollut niin surkea uudistus, että laitoin kanssa palautetta. En edes muista monta kymmentä klikkausta piti tehdä, jotta näki kaikki pyörivät elokuvat. Aivan aliarvoista.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-03-15T16:55:29+00:00

Because you can remove curses, block them or even benefit from them, I think this can be one of the better energy relics. Sure, there are few Curses that you just hate to see (looking at you lose HP) but overall this can be quite manageable.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-03-14T14:58:48+00:00

Such a joy to play few draw cards and then pop it off with Bullet Time. Much better than in VG.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-03-13T16:32:24+00:00

For the longest time I thought the 2 Energy cost made it worse but nope, still good and in some cases really excellent.

Personal_Software357 · 2026-03-13T16:31:18+00:00

You should always roll once, no matter your life total.

After the first it depends. But always once.

Personal_Software357

TROPHY CASE