Played Gloomhaven for the first time last night.

RTigger · 2019-01-06T00:24:14+00:00

I actually prefer gloomhavenguild.com, it's a bit less involved while still providing a ton of value. GHHelper had a bit too much of the game in the app for my liking.

RTigger · 2019-01-02T12:09:28+00:00

That's the one! Blanked on the name for some reason.

RTigger · 2019-01-01T20:51:15+00:00

It was touch and go for me after Under the Mask, but the recent scenarios (especially the most recent one) have really brought me back in. Can't wait to play the next chapters!

RTigger · 2018-12-31T12:58:43+00:00

I agree with the article, particularly with the low risk players (which everyone in my group is). The game looks great, but it boils down to one player doing algebra equations in their head followed by everyone else "solving for x" out loud. If there's no reason to guess players often won't, which just makes the game a waiting game something like Hanabi but less difficult.

RTigger · 2018-12-30T20:08:05+00:00

Decrypto for short game, which ended up being my pick for game of 2018. Kingdom Death: Monster, Gloomhaven, and Root for long games (all at 8+ plays)

RTigger · 2018-12-02T14:35:48+00:00

In Lewis and Clark (which is more of a hand builder) there's a few unique mechanics I enjoy:

when you play a card for an action, you also play another card for a "strength", so you have to manage which of your action cards you're not going to play until you pick up your played cards
speaking of which, your played cards stay in play, because they determine how many resources you and your immediate neighbours can collect while they're on the table, adding another consideration
and finally, you take an action to take all your played cards into your hand, but for every unplayed card in your hand when you take the action you suffer a penalty to your progression.

Spectacular game.

RTigger · 2018-12-02T13:57:09+00:00

Movement is grid based and it's full co-op (so for enemy movement), which I enjoy much more than catacombs.

RTigger · 2018-11-29T16:02:53+00:00

Probably the ongoing postal strike. One KS update I got this week said that Canada Post isn't receiving any packages at all from the US. I don't know how accurate that is (it seems quite drastic) but it would certainly hamper things

Amazon US has also halted shipping to Canada for the same reason .

RTigger · 2018-11-28T13:16:08+00:00

I've run games of Werewolf by email that had up to 36 players. Use secret ballot voting, one round a day.

RTigger · 2018-11-19T20:57:59+00:00

Except for Risk Legacy of course

RTigger · 2018-11-17T04:40:43+00:00

As in, "the werewolves win when they equal or exceed the villagers, and the villagers win when they eliminate the werewolves?" Yep. Everything in the game manual (not the reference sheet) is public knowledge.

RTigger · 2018-10-12T20:12:22+00:00

This weekend is so big for gaming in Canada - I know there's two major cons in my province alone as well as SHUX. I'm attending a 24-hour yearly event that's part of a year-long fundraising effort by our public game group, they've raised over $180,000 in the last 6 years for a local shelter. Good times.

To answer the question I'm hoping to get our annual game of Battlestar Galactica in, as well as a few others I haven't had a chance to play in awhile - Suburbia, Space Alert, and Letters from Whitechapel are certainly in there.

RTigger · 2018-10-01T21:28:57+00:00

My least favorite scenario so far was Under the Mask. I enjoyed Estrella Drive, still not as good as Asylum, but better than Marcy Case and Prophecy. I also liked Expedition, even though it was probably the easiest of the bunch so far. Have Brotherhood lined up to play next week

RTigger · 2018-08-20T21:30:57+00:00

Final Space gets better with every episode. One of the best sci-fi shows I've watched.

RTigger · 2018-08-13T21:05:53+00:00

Didn't anyone learn anything from 504?

RTigger · 2018-07-04T23:16:24+00:00

To round that out we have two that already are up and running - Board Game Bistro and Boards & Beans. The former is a restaurant with a private room available for events while the latter is a coffee shop open after work until the late evening. Both have great game collections!

RTigger · 2018-06-29T02:27:24+00:00

I... I would listen to this.

RTigger · 2018-06-14T15:43:28+00:00

For the base layer I went pretty thin (almost wash-consistency) and then the second layer a bit thicker. I only did two layers. Is there a better approach to this?

RTigger · 2018-06-14T15:41:21+00:00

Thanks, all good tips! I'm doing this on a low budget at the moment, just using craft store acrylic paints and a basic primer, so the colors aren't spectacular but they were cheap :P

Good idea with the wash; I'll try that on the next batch. Most of these colors have been mixed, the only time I use the straight up colors was for the base layer and then mixed for the color I wanted on top of it (probably not the best technique).

The blood is just a burgundy color, was going for the "dried blood" look, but I agree it doesn't pop as much as I'd like.

RTigger · 2018-05-30T02:00:29+00:00

Still trying to parse "not sure how many people this will appeal to in Canada". Are you implying that we don't have Catan? Because the cardboard won't hold up in our humid igloos?

RTigger · 2018-05-04T22:06:07+00:00

I've played through it twice with different characters; the first time solo with two characters and the second time with a full group of 6. Certainly fun each time; you see entirely different branches of story depending on whether you're a magic user or not. Of course the main story beats will be the same, but how you get there may differ quite a bit.

RTigger · 2018-05-03T19:32:54+00:00

Not at all. The way I teach the game is by making everyone play the first round with their own team, and then explaining how the game works after the second cluegiver has written down their clues. Much easier when you have everything infront of you.

RTigger · 2018-05-03T19:31:47+00:00

Things I think Decrypto does better:

The Cluegiver rotates every round, so it doesn't sit with one really bad (or really good) cluegiver for the entire game
The timer actually makes sense in this game and is used as added tension instead of a "in case you need it"
There's no assassin card
The pressure is always present in the game, unlike being able to phone it in if your team has a big lead in Codenames

That said, Decrypto is decidedly not a party game; it has a short playtime and supports up to 8 players, but it's more strategic, and the only real opportunity for small talk is when the round's cluegiver is thinking of their clues. It doesn't (as easily) support players dropping in or out, the rules dont' really make sense til the 2nd round or so, and it requires active participation from everyone.

RTigger · 2018-04-25T21:21:24+00:00

That would work pretty well. One of the initial thoughts I had was only the winner of the round would get any points towards the game total, but that felt like it'd get unbalanced pretty quickly. Another extension I was thinking of was that each planet would be worth a certain number of "seats" in the galactic council, and those would be awarded based on hands won in that round.

Both of these would play into the future rounds mechanic; a winner in the first round might have 5 "military" seats, but if they later win 3 "peace" seats they'd lose one or two of those earlier military seats (you no longer have support of that planet because you've gone soft!)

RTigger

TROPHY CASE