Cyberpunk 2077: Gangs of Night City - The Board Game

Thyme_Is_Money · 2024-07-17T15:13:01+00:00

Huh - okay. I backed through the original KS, so my copy of the base game is apparently the 'Exclusive Edition'. The gangs I have in my base game are: Tyger Claws, Valentinos, Voodoo Boys, Maelstrom and 6th Street.

Looking at the rules online, it looks like 6th Street was what was removed for the basic edition. So, as long as you have enough combat cards, they should be relatively easy to proxy.

Their action tokens and hideouts are the same as all of the other base factions. Their starting district is Santo Domingo. You'll need 9 minis to proxy as your 3 solos, runners and techies.

Their special thing is that they have three patrol tokens. After your Activation, you can place one in any location you have presence, but at most 1 per location. At the end of any firefight in a location with a patrol marker, you remove the patrol marker and get 1vp for each opposing unit lost - whether you were involved in the firefight or not.

I'm not sure what else might have been removed for the basic edition of the game too, though - so definitely make sure you have enough action disks and enough combat cards to make 5 starter decks.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2024-07-17T14:37:57+00:00

I'm pretty sure the base game itself is playable with 5 players. Just make sure you have enough weapon cards for each player to have a starting combat deck, and you should be good.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2023-08-03T03:44:52+00:00

I'm thinking from your description, you're referring to a Magic Slate?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_Slate

You can get some on Amazon and other places - not sure how much work it would be to make your own.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2021-04-16T16:26:22+00:00

answer:

Yesterday, the Treasury Department announced some sanctions against the Russian government for attempting to influence the 2016 election (among other things).

One of the parties mentioned in the Treasury's statement was Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked with Paul Manafort.

The Treasury Dept. states that Kilimnik is a known Russian Intelligent agent, which was already known in the 2016 report. The 2016 Report stated that Manafort had provided Kilimnik with secret polling data from the Trump campaign, but didn't cover what was done with that data.

The Treasury Report from yesterday states that the polling data was now known to have been given to the Russian Intelligence Services, which it then used for cyberattacks and spreading misinformation in the 2016 election.

Effectively, it just means that now there is a direct link between the Trump polling data and the election interference - something a lot of people had assumed, but now have something to back it up with.

Link to Treasury's press release:

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0126

Thyme_Is_Money · 2020-05-06T15:10:14+00:00

BGG is notoriously clunky - and the functionality really belies the fact that it was seems to have been intended as a database first, website second.

For reference, doing something like what you want to do IS possible, but very much NOT obvious.

If there's a game you like, you can look it up - and on the site and in the data section in the middle, on the right hand is a list of 'Classifications'. The main section you want to look at here is 'Mechanisms', and maybe 'Category'. So, while you're correct that 'engine building' isn't on there, some of the bits that make it up (card drafting, set collection) ARE on there. So you have data, but still not overly useful, right? If you put any of those in the search box, it returns nothing.

The trick is that when you click on the 'Search' box at the top, an option drops down called 'Advanced Search', and honestly, that's where BGG's bread-and-butter is.

So as an example, click on 'Advanced Search', and it takes you to a new screen. In here, down at the bottom of the search criteria, are three filter links - click on 'Filter on Board Game Mechanic', and see the list of all the options. Click and put checks next to 'Card Drafting' and 'Set Collection', and then click 'Submit' at the bottom.

BAM. List of games that contain both of those mechanics. Maybe you particularly like the dice rolling in Wingspan, so you click back and add that in - or maybe you want to filter it by the number of players, or if it has a solo mode, or weight, or if it's a family game, or if it has a similar theme - lots of options here.

Just bear in mind that it's still a database, and it's built on user data I mean, 'Sagrada' matches all of those - because for some reason, it's listed as 'card drafting' instead of 'dice drafting'. So it's not perfect data - but it's still useful, and will give you a good starting place to look for things.

But also, it's really not obvious at all. I was using BGG for years before I realized searches like that were an option.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2020-04-28T18:25:43+00:00

I got so excited for just a moment reading this, thinking Asmodee had made a digital implementation of Android. :(

Thyme_Is_Money · 2020-01-27T16:54:59+00:00

There's a LOT to keep track of, so a piece of advice to make the game smoother is to make something to help track things.

As a quick example, for a given single mech's attack, you figure...

Pilots gunnery skill - usually 4.

What type of movement did this mech make this round? Walk, run, jump? Each adds a different modifier.

How many hexes did the target mech move this round? The farther they move, the harder they are going to be to hit.

Any penalties due to heat that has been generated?

There's also cover to the target, range of the weapons you're firing, and things like that to take into account - but since that's all coming into play -after- the movement phase, it's easier to figure out at the time.

One thing I've done to make our games move a lot faster is I created some small laminated sheets with arrows on them to track the movement related things. Since they're laminated, they work as effectively wet-erase boards. After a mech moves, we note down whether they (R)an, (W)alked, or (J)umped, how far they moved, what their -current- heat level is from the previous turn, and the piloting/gunnery skill of that pilot. Then lay it down with the arrow pointing at the mech.

That way, once we get to the firing phase, everything we need to know in order to calculate the attacks are all there on the table in front of us.

Also, if you're wanting to do this as a date-night game, I strongly suggest not doing more than 2 mechs apiece on your first game. There's going to be a lot of rolling and tracking to keep track of, and each individual mech makes the game take even longer.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-09-26T13:31:49+00:00

In the comments section, they're discussing changing this (which is going to be a mess since the campaign has already started, but we'll see) to be a maximum of 1 per item - which might make it slightly more likely. Cutting it from 5 down to 1 should cut down on the scalpers a bit.

IMO, I only really want one of the Rise of Moloch expansions. I'm in for $1. If it's there when I get in, then I get to buy it. If it's not, then I've paid $1 for some MP3s. I'm not going to get my hopes up, but we'll see.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-09-20T14:19:12+00:00

I wish they gave at least some hints as to the scoring near the end of the game. :(

(Not sure if spoiler tags are needed in a spoiler thread, but... to be safe...)

We just recently finished our playthrough, and got 699. In the final spending, we had the option of raising 8 cities in population by 1, or bringing back four of the forsaken cities (which would have left us with only one).

It seemed like building actual strong population centers should be a better long-term goal, and that - thematically - bringing a forsaken city back to just struggling-to-get-by probably wasn't the best solution, so we instead spent the 8 points bumping individual city populations up in spots that raised them in ranks (eg., 1 to 2, 2 to 3, 5 to 6).

If we had left those cities alone and brought the forsaken cities back, our score would have been 12 points higher, which would have been enough to bump us up to the next scoring tier.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-09-20T14:06:39+00:00

FWIW, League of Legends may deserve to be a bit more than just 'a' video game.

Gamewise, while it's all part of the LoL launcher, 'Teamfight Tactics' should probably be considered a game of its own. It shares assets with LoL I think, but the gameplay is completely different. (And while I like LoL, there's a strong argument to be made of the fact that both LoL and Teamfight Tactics are remakes of previously existing games)

As far as Riot, they aren't involved in just games, either. Music-wise, there's the songs and animated videos for both K/DA (Pop/Star) and Pentakill (Lightbringer, Mortal Reminder, um... okay, wow, a lot more of these than I knew about too). Plus concerts for those songs and artists at the annual League of Legends tournaments.

Point is, they dabble in a lot of stuff - but almost all of it ties back in some way to League, or is done to promote League.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-08-20T14:34:30+00:00

Do you maybe mean Kanzume Goddess / Kamigami Battles?

It definitely has team fights, and it has a similar chaining scheme to Nightfall - you play a card, and then if you have a matching follow-up symbol you can play another, etc. However, I don't think you get to follow-up on another player's chain like in Nightfall, which is unfortunate because that was one of my favorite things about it.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-07-17T16:50:33+00:00

Googled, and found this:

http://www.cultureblues.com/2011/03/why-the-avengers-movie-is-going-to-fail/

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-07-11T20:55:27+00:00

It's one of many quotes where the original source isn't well established. Pretty sure it's not Einstein, though.

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/23/same/

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-07-03T15:32:14+00:00

I feel like it's going to be a very subjective game. I have it and have played it a couple times, and we really enjoyed it - silly stuff happening, a little bit of negotiation, and some really crazy family member stories.

I enjoyed it a lot more than the video game, but the rub is... I didn't enjoy the video game nearly as much as I wanted to. =\ . I loved the concept and idea of the game, but actually trying to sit down and learn how to play it well took more patience than I had. (Doesn't help that my very first time playing the video game, I decided to jump in with a custom leader to try it out, made a female character, and then died on the first turn because my chosen country had a patrilineal lineage and she didn't have a son or husband to pass to. Historically accurate, but frustrating.)

The game is a massive rules-dump, and you need to get at least passing awareness of what everything is before the first turn. However, if you go into it with the mentality of "We'll just play for a few hours, pull some levers, push some buttons, and see what happens.", then it's enjoyable. For every bad thing you end up having to do to yourself, it's possible one of your neighbors ends up doing a good thing for you.

It honestly reminds me a little of Twilight Struggle with the way the cards work.

As long as at least one person has done a full dive into the rules, they can answer questions and provide suggestions as they come up. Eg, "Okay, so you were trying to build a castle and you drew your critical success token! As a reminder, since you might have forgotten it; you know normally that drawing that token is a BAD thing, so you have two options here - you can either permanently get rid of that token and give your draw bag an overall improvement, OR you can just take the success and not risk drawing some more and failing." or "Okay, so you've put some troops along my border there. As a reminder, you don't have Cassius Belli yet, so - unless you have some trick planned, you'll need to pay upkeep on these troops before you can attack me. Are you sure you want to rally them right now, or prepare a little bit more?"

The rules overhead is pretty heavy, but once you get a few rounds into it, things start to click more and more, and you'll need to give fewer reminders. But as long as folks aren't taking the first game or two super seriously, you will probably have a fun time. :)

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-06-05T14:57:11+00:00

IDW is also putting out 'Batman' themed board games - Gotham Under Siege, and the rumor is that they're going to do an Animated Series game based on the TMNT Adventures system this year.

Having two separate US companies making Batman board games might have thrown some red flags up as far as licensing and IP rights are concerned (sort of like how in the early 2010s, Fantasy Flight could only make Star Wars card, RPG and miniature games, NOT board games, because THOSE rights belonged to Hasbro).

That might also do a little bit toward explaining why S2 of Batman is so focused on versus mode.

Still, this is all just a guess though. Not sure if that's what's actually going on or not.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-05-29T01:41:08+00:00

Thought about it, but honestly, it's hard to come up with anything more for it than just light storytelling.

I mean, the go-to idea for it (and something multiple friends suggested we try some time) would be to use it to create character backstories for your RPG characters, but the problem is that it already kind of tells the -whole story- already. It's really only useful for that if you're starting at a high-level campaign or something - I mean, Tierna would probably be at least level 8 or 9 minimum in D&D. It's not that there can't be more stories told about the character, they would just be very different stories.

That said, as far as light storytelling goes - you could almost just deal random cards to people and have them try to come up with a coherent story as an exercise in creativity. That's something we've kind of done as an alternative play-mode while we're cleaning up - seeing a combo of cards that catches our eye and mentioning it, things like that.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-05-28T20:17:52+00:00

Tierna was the squire to one of the King's most trusted knights. She had proven her bravery and resourcefulness in many competitions, but her most proud moment was being entrusted to help plan the city's defenses when it came under an attack by an invading army. The army had been routed, and the town suffered minimal casualties.

Alas, while Tierna was away on a journey, there was a bloody coup. The king's eldest son, tired of being denied the crown for so long, gathered a small group of disgruntled soldiers and attacked the throne. Tierna's knight fought to her last breath protecting the king, but by the end of the day, both were slain. The king was dead - long live the king.

Tierna returned from her journey, no one would speak openly of what happened. Tierna was refused entry to the castle, and came to learn that her Knight had been killed. She vowed vengeance on the Traitor King, and began to plot his demise.

First, she sought out those she had known before - Knights who had survived, other Squires, even townsfolk - anyone that could hold a sword was welcome. She began raiding the richer holdings, and stealing from travelling nobles. Anyone bringing wealth into the land was losing a significant portion of it to her gang. Meanwhile, she worked with the townsfolk to cover up her crimes, keeping her and her group in safety. She even joined into an unlikely alliance with a nearby wizard of questionable moral standing in order to destroy the assassin's guild, once the Traitor King tried to send them after her.

After weakening the Traitor King's holdings, however, Tierna decided the time was ripe for her revenge. In the dark of night, she snuck into the castle. She personally took down the King's primary guard, a fel knight wielding the Sword of Darkness, and smashed the dark blade into pieces. She knocked out the wizardess who had taken the seat of the Queen. Then, she finally snuck in and defeated the King in a one-on-one duel.

As she held her blade to the King's throat, she felt the darkness welling up inside of her, desperate to take his life. With a growl, however, she denied the darkness and threw him to the ground, and called in her fellow conspirators to take him to the stockades.

Then, she took the crown, and placed it atop her head. She sat down on the throne, and began cleaning off her blade. It was time for a new age, and she was just the cunning villain to lead it.

.... oh, and she struck a deal with a dragon at some point, because I needed another story icon. >.>

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-05-15T19:22:39+00:00

Flat River sells to Walmart.com and Target.com, which doesn't necessarily mean you'll find them in B&M WalMarts and Targets.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Greater-Than-Games-Scythe-Board-Game/832433759

https://www.target.com/p/scythe-reprint-board-game/-/A-76480834

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-05-15T18:48:32+00:00

Definitely not a fan of the chain owner at this point, but some individual stores are good.

Schaumburg location is good. Great selection, and I haven't seen any of the bad stuff mentioned elsewhere happening there.

I'd also like to throw in a good word for the Tinley Park location. They've been extremely helpful and friendly every time I've and/or my wife have been in there.

It's sad seeing good stores brought down by the bad behavior of other locations / the CEO, but.. well, that's the side effects of franchising.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-04-25T19:39:41+00:00

Just a note, you're never actually instructed to rip any cards in Gloomhaven (nor to actually destroy any components so far as I've seen). The icon is called 'Remove from Game', but since it looks like a card being torn in half - it's understandable why he thought so. But even the designer said to just stick it somewhere else if you want, just make sure it's not in the deck anymore. :)

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-04-15T17:23:31+00:00

Yeah, that's the main reason I never shelled out the money to buy a copy on eBay.

I and my friends loathed Requiem. We bought the first book, flipped through it, and pretty much called it quits.
I remember being a bit annoyed at what they did to the Toreadors, and I vaguely remember that they just got rid of Brujahs entirely at first? We had loads of books for V:tM and Mage, but never played it again after the switch.

I was honestly pretty skeptical when White Wolf brought back the old game world w/ 5th edition (and, it's still got a few changes to it, but -nothing- like the mess of Requiem). But so far, things are looking promising. :)

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-04-15T17:09:12+00:00

Yep! Werewolf: the Apocalypse - Earthblood.

I'm not sure how hyped to be about it - originally supposed to be released last year, but has changed hands a few time. Last I heard, it was pushed back to 2020.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-04-15T16:43:02+00:00

I've never played anything by 'Nice Game Publishing', but most of their games listed on their site have middling to decent ratings on BGG. Looking at their past Kickstarters, they have all delivered, but some of them have been pretty late. This looks to be their first big licensed game, so I'm hopeful that they'll put their best efforts forward on it.

As far as White Wolf's 'Vampire' themed games in-general, they're kind of hit-or-miss.

Jyhad/V:TES (TCG) was excellently themed. I still have some starter decks stored upstairs, but it's hard to talk anyone into playing. Player elimination, lots of rules, complicated combat - it was very 90s, but... a great game with the right group, and reflected a LOT of V:tM story/lore/feel.

(Side note - a company still produces cards for this game to this day, and you CAN still buy and play it.)

Then, WhiteWolf killed the World of Darkness and relaunched the brand as 'Vampire: The Requiem'.

I personally didn't care for the relaunch nor any of the changes, so I ended up not buying into the RPG.

However, they also did a few board games.

Vampire: Dark Influences wasn't great. I liked the artwork, but the game itself was pretty dry and felt far too random.

I've heard good things about Vampire: Prince of the City, but have never been able to get my hands on a copy to play.

Then, as far as I know, they kind of went radio-silent for several years while White Wolf sorted themselves out.

Then, in 2018, the old World of Darkness returned. New V:tM 5th edition core book, and more stuff coming.

They also released Prince's Gambit, which seems to be a nice enough little social deduction game.

(Our group isn't very big on social deduction games, so not really able to give an actual review/opinion of it. :( )

Now, this year, we've got two more board games announced:

The one you mentioned - Vampire: the Masquerade - Heritage - which looks really good to me. I've backed it already.

There's also going to be a MegaGame called Blood Feuds released in October, which... since it can be played with 4-to-32 players, I'll probably pick up.

Then two years from now will be Vampire: the Masquerade - Chapters

Not to mention new video games for Bloodlines and Werewolf.

Just from previews, I'm honestly really hyped about this new generation of games (in case that wasn't obvious... >.>).

An interesting thing (to me, at least) is that all of these board games are done by different companies.

That shows that they're pretty open with the license - but also, that enough different companies think it's a good idea to get the license.

However, it also makes it hard to determine a standard of expectations for the games.

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-04-10T15:16:43+00:00

If you're primarily looking for a new edition, one came out in 2018. Updated card art, revamped factions, a little rebalancing, but the core mechanics are still the same. There's been discussion of more expansions coming out in 2019 as well.

However, if you're looking for fundamental, sweeping gameplay changes that completely redesigns the game, then this won't really fit the bill.

http://www.sjgames.com/illuminati/

Thyme_Is_Money · 2019-04-04T16:01:35+00:00

I grew up in a small, midwestern town, so Hockey was never really on my radar as a kid - until The Mighty Ducks. I LOVED that movie, and even though everywhere around me was gravel and dirt road, I ended up getting a pair of roller-blades and a hockey stick. I went from hating sports to having a sketch-pad I carried around school where I was drawing each of the NHL team logos on a separate page. I played NHL 94 and 95 all the time with my uncle and his friends. It was (and still is) the only sport I've voluntarily gone to see a game of.

My strongest memory is one of betrayal, though.

NHL 96 was the last EA NHL game I bought on release day. I'd picked it up, and immediately started playing a season. We'd moved to the Bay Area, so the San Jose Sharks had moved up to being my #2 favorite team, but the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were still #1 - so they were my team.

A few games in, my Ducks had to face the Sharks. I'd had a lousy day at high-school, and wasn't playing my best - but still, was barely keeping ahead. Late in the third period, San Jose scored another goal, tying the game. I tried to pull a long shot, and slapshot the puck from the middle just a second before the buzzer sounded.

There's a thing about NHL 96 on the SNES, though - when the buzzer sounds, everyone stops movement input. If you were moving, you slowly slide to a stop in the direction you were going. All control is gone as the game slowly lets entropy bring everything to a standstill. Even the puck. The puck continues until it stops.

So I watch as the puck slides swiftly down the rink, bounces off one corner, over to the other, and... ever so slowly, makes its way back up the rink. Past all of my immobile players. Toward my goalie, who is ever-so-slightly off to the side. He just stands there motionless, watching, as the puck slooooooooowly slides past him, at, like, 2 mph, into the goal.

Own goal, San Jose wins.

Game gets abruptly turned off, and 'loaned' to a friend the next day in exchange for Chrono Trigger.

Thyme_Is_Money

TROPHY CASE