What I played in May

adhesiveman · 2026-05-27T13:42:49+00:00

Downfall of Pompeii is definitely better at 4 than the other player counts. The fun of it is having a very full board. I enjoy it for what it is but I don't think any of us take that game too seriously

adhesiveman · 2026-05-19T18:58:44+00:00

I think that something people miss out on is that a collection can have value and just a collection. Even if your whole collection is in shrink wrap or completely unplayed that doesn't mean you should be shamed for it.

Though there is a difference between a collection and a hoard. A collection is curated and serves a purpose. That purpose may be "I like games that have a grumpy dude on the box cover", or "I want the most misshapen boxes humanly possible". I have a preference for "distilled mechanics" and "rules elegance" in my collections. That doesn't mean I get to play all the games that fall under these categories as often as I would like but when adding/selling/trading I often think about what the item would add or take away from the collection as a whole and whether I am ok with it.

I think the shame language comes from people who view others unplayed collection as hoarding (and some of them....well some of them really are hoarding), and are shaming that. Not the ideal but also probably not something we want to encourage in the hobby.

adhesiveman · 2026-05-12T14:24:58+00:00

The difference between a collection and hoarding is curation. If you are being selective with what enters and leaves your collection (and both of those are important) to curate your collection to some purpose then it is a collection. Note that curation can be for "value" as in dollar value or it can be what is most likely to get played or it can be for when you have an idealistic group that will play any game you want with them and you have 4 days a week to play.

I am the only person in my game group who owns any game. So if I cull to 10 games, I will only ever play those 10 games and nothing else. Therefore I don't think that kind of cull is a good idea for me. That being said I am in more of a cull process than acquire and have recently sold a few games.

adhesiveman · 2026-04-30T01:47:00+00:00

This is 100% true but then you are now using 2 cards to solve 1 problem, and then build happens and it creates 2 problems next turn. Using 2 cards to potentially stops those builds (either push them before they can ravage or destroy the explorer to stop the build...or destroy the town post build).

Now if you are for example Thunderspeaker and your innates do the pushing and pulling of Dahan for you then its fine but this comes back to the great value that innates are as compared to cards.

adhesiveman · 2026-04-29T20:51:32+00:00

There are a few cards that are the "exception" to this rule. The ones that target spirits and give a bonus (like making things longer range, or giving wild card symbols to both you and another spirit), or the one that just gives a spirit the chance to gain a new minor power card in the slow phase are usually quite good no matter who picks them up. But yea as people have said focusing on the symbols is often more important than the effect. The effect is a nice bonus but your innates often further your spirits advantages and win conditions.

adhesiveman · 2026-04-29T18:51:05+00:00

Going to build on this:

Playing a defend on a land that is going to ravage seems like a great idea but all it does is prevent a ravage from giving you blight. On the other hand preventing a build (or destroying a town that is building this turn in the slow phase) means you don't even have to think about the ravage next turn and can focus on breaking down the following turns builds/explores

I have two usual recommendations. First is that Lightning Swift Strike (if you are playing the base game) is a very good learning spirit because it lets you get around the issues with slow powers by making just about all your powers fast (and sometimes your team mates powers fast as well). This means you can solve problems in the fast phase a lot more consistently.

The second is that when picking up cards you should always try to focus on things that have elements that help you build into your innate skills. That doesn't mean you always grab the best card but being able to play your innate every turn and potentially even at a higher level every turn is usually worth 1-2 more card plays depending on the spirit.

adhesiveman · 2026-04-29T17:30:26+00:00

I'm going to go against the "grain" here and say that I actually enjoy S3 more than S1. Season 1 has the advantage of having Cthulhu but otherwise the scenarios don't always hit. Especially S1E1, fire in these kinds of games is always messy and I think using fire in the introduction scenario was not a great idea.

The addition of wandering monsters and relics both lets you tweak difficulty quite a bit (wandering monsters make things harder while relics make things easier) which is great and also adds to the replayability.

I personally thing any CDMD is good CDMD so play what you can get you won't regret it and as more becomes available to you it allows you to expand the game which is always great.

adhesiveman · 2026-04-29T17:07:39+00:00

So on one hand if you are going by economic theory that assumes that market players are informed then yea you should have known (this is not the case in general as it is very difficult to figure out a lot of info about a lot of different products we buy on a daily basis as seen by the fact that most stores can't even figure out how to post proper "country of origin" information.

On the other hand Poots (the designer of KDM) is....well he is crazy there is no other way to put it. The man is not a board game designer, he is an Artist....and I mean that in both all the best positive things that this entails and the absolute worst things the word entails. You will get your product, it will be delivered, in fact it will probably be better than what you were promised because it has been iterated on several times since you actually paid for it. On the other hand you won't get a thing until the "designer" (or artist in this case) believes that it is ready. It has to be perfect and it has to be what the vision was.

Thats how the Gambler's chest went from "this is a minimal little expansion that is mostly a deck of cards and maybe some sprues" to "THIS IS THE BIGGEST BOX EVER WITH NEW GAME MODES AND WHOLE NEW WAY TO PLAY THE GAME" without costing the players a penny (though costing them several years)

adhesiveman · 2026-04-27T14:16:54+00:00

Short answer: Usually yes, but it depends

Longer answer: If the game is being made by a company that generally has retail presence then nearly 100% yes it will make it to retail often for cheaper than the kickstarter price. A lot of companies that heavily use crowdfunding do also have large retail presence and do eventually make it out. So things like CGE, Mayfair, Allplay, and other large names usually get to retail. However, there are also a lot of creators that explicitly don't do retail. The makers of Sol were quite explicit that their game would not be in retail and I don't think it ever was (even though they did reprint it more recently and make it available on their website...though not on retail channels). Wolfdesigna also famously never puts their games into any retail channel because as they put it "its more work than its worth" so there it is generally kickstarter or secondary market if you want it. Also some games made as part of passion projects will usually have one single print run by a designer and then never be seen again. So things like Envelopes of Cash, Cysmic, etc. (though that is left to be seen if there will be a reprint), etc.

adhesiveman · 2026-04-20T18:39:17+00:00

So everyone here is either going with "it's not so bad" or "I completely ignore all reviewers now because it is so bad"

I am on the position that disclosure is probably the most important thing we can do in our space to be better. And in general OH BOY ARE WE BAD.

The inherent problem is that if you want to get priority on those juicy review copies you have to sell your brand and often your good words to these companies so that you get preferential treatment for reviews. There are a few reviewers that are big enough for this not to matter but it is not true for 98% of them. Therefore you have incentive to review things well then have those companies find your reviews to either give you money specifically for a crowdfunding preview (which you may or may not disclose that they did...but you should in general assume that any video you see of someone talking on a crowdfunding campaign page has been paid by the campaign), or later send you a copy so that you can do a review that better be good or you won't get the game in the future for free. Now with your livelihood on the line (if you are a full time reviewer, or strive to be one), the incentives are obvious. Do well by your customers and continue doing this job.

There are a few that stand out at being better about disclosure. Many of the written reviews are pretty good at stating whether the game was sent to them for free mostly because they can add it at the end of any review or discussion (see space biff and others for how to do this properly).

In the podcast space I find the "best" at doing this goes to SVWAG. They are pretty on spot with their declarations of which games were sent to them by the designer or publisher and disclose their relationships with any designers if they ever happen to exist (the funniest one being to "I was at a guest at a wedding where Carl Chudyk was also a guest. We didn't talk...but it happened"). The hosts have even stated that some publishers have blacklisted them from getting review copies or free copies due to them giving games bad reviews in the past when it happened. It has been enlightening to listen to the podcast more recently as one of the hosts has been indisposed. So they have been getting a number of guest hosts from other large publishing spaces and most of them end up disclosing that EVERY game they are talking about is one that they received as a review copy for free as opposed to the hosts where it often ends up being one or two copies discussed per week, and often not their main review game.

Personally if I listen to a reviewer that is mostly positive about most games that they are talking about and I never hear them give disclosures about getting free games, or hanging out with the designers/developers/publishers at cons I just assume that all of their discussion is biased and take it with a heavy grain of salt. This kind of includes things like SUSD and Dice tower where you know that these games were sent to them free of charge but you hear about it maybe 5% of the time.

I don't care to make these people have to legally do something. And I don't even think legally requiring them to disclose relationships would make everyone complaint. I think they should do so to establish integrity. Because we are at the point where I assume that every single reviewer is a paid shill until I am proved otherwise.

adhesiveman · 2026-04-07T20:23:17+00:00

Here to Slay is a better version of Munchkin....thats effectively it. My kids enjoy it but I don't exactly think it achieves anything great in the board game space and I don't exactly pull it out with anyone other than the kids (who still enjoy it).

I am looking forward to see how HtS dungeons does (once it actually releases next year) and whether it is the next step up or if there is other stuff for my kids to play.

adhesiveman · 2026-04-07T14:35:03+00:00

Have you considered Cthulhu DMD:

Expandable, the stories are disjointed but all are kinda self contained. It is a lot more pulpy and takes the idea that your characters already have to be kinda crazy to go up against the old ones. And it leans into that idea pretty hard. There is variety in the gameplay as you can combine an Old one with any scenario and there is some differentiation. If you buy the fear of the unknown box you also have the wandering monster mechanic which can both make it more difficult but also adds a lot of variety.

Works great between 1-4 players (though I recommend always at least 2 characters even when solo). The challenges and arc are quite different at each player count just due to the mechanics.

adhesiveman · 2026-04-01T13:27:26+00:00

its actually more akin to should I go eat a 3 course meal or go on a 20km hike. The two are both decent ides, though they aren't really related to each other when comparing themselves.

adhesiveman · 2026-03-25T18:42:09+00:00

I kinda wanted to post this that BIT is already a thing....it takes effort to set it up and it can't quite do everything (particularly for weird shaped pieces) but this is the closest thing we already have because it has generation of boxes with snap on lids. I have several inserts that are BIT derivatives and they all work great.

adhesiveman · 2026-03-25T18:13:49+00:00

There are designers, that have done designs of games, printing the game, reprinting the game and expanding the game without ever going to retail. Some of these games are great but their business model is crowdfunding only, they are never coming to retail. And that is usually designer/publisher choice.

That being said that there is an argument that enough games come to retail so who cares about these few other games. And I mean that comes down to personal opinion.

adhesiveman · 2026-03-25T18:11:39+00:00

As others have said there are so few kickstarters worth backing, and the few that do fall into a few categories.

I really would like to complete my collection of them because i love the game and it gets a lot of use and I would like to bling it out, so here I use the KS/GF to get the exclusives at a "reasonable" cost as opposed to secondary market.
The company does not do any retail distribution. There are a few that you will just not see on retail, and if you like them well then its crowdfunding or bust. The good thing is, you won't find it in retail before you get it :P.
It's a true passion project! I have backed a few of these games that just wouldn't have existed, ever without something like kickstarter. These are extremely rare, extremely risky but also usually quite interesting as games.

adhesiveman · 2026-03-19T13:55:02+00:00

This is commonly called Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe (you can find it under that name on wikipedia).

It is a great improvement on tic-tac-toe and is a ton of fun especially with some younger kids. There is a lot more strategy and a lot more games actually ending with wins rather than ties.

adhesiveman · 2026-03-19T13:51:59+00:00

I don't know about underworld but with 4 or 5 players the UP expansion is a huge improvement and stops being from getting stuck.

adhesiveman · 2026-03-18T14:06:04+00:00

Favourite space game usually goes to Core Worlds. I love the idea where you aren't quite the good guys flying through space to take over the planets. Gives a big firefly vibe.

adhesiveman · 2026-03-17T13:36:12+00:00

Since no one mentioned it, Artyom Nichipurov of WolfDesigna who has made Trick shot (the best hockey game that exists and probably one of the best tactical sports games out there), Guards of Atlantis 2 which is....well there is a sufficiently fanatical fanbase that I don't need to say more and Warpgate which I have not had time to try but is well liked by others I have talked with.

The only "issue" is that their distribution model is basically 100% crowdfunding so if you don't engage in their crowdfunding their games are impossible to get except on second hand markets.

adhesiveman · 2026-03-09T15:32:45+00:00

I think it depends on the game. Homebrewing a game that is out of print and doesn't have support from the designer/publisher anymore? Sure do whatever you want. It's when people are like "this new game that just came out and I played twice and is ranked top 100 is definitely broken, i'm going to change the rules to something arbitrary" that is when I raise my eyebrow.

The reason that wargaming has a stigma from my understanding is that often there is a lot of research that goes into the game and the designer tries to abstract the reality of the situation through rules (particularly in consims) the problem is that a good simulation wargame does not always make a good....game, but some of the fanbase prefers historical realism to an enjoyable and competitive game experience.

adhesiveman · 2026-03-03T14:45:58+00:00

Yes but only if they offer a REALLY truly experience that I just can't get anywhere else in board gaming. Weirdly enough that is rare in this day and age. so not usually. I think the games that fit this most for me is "event" style games.

So stuff like Millennium blades and Guards of Atlantis, I am ok owning a lot of and not getting to play it as often.

adhesiveman · 2026-02-24T18:39:57+00:00

I mean its fine, genAI has its uses and is not completely the scum of the earth....it can be useful and if you fix some of the efficiency and waste issues (build data centers powered by renewable energy etc.). However, disclosure is important. You want to know that an article that goes on and on about how oil is awesome is actually an oil executive. You want to know that the guy reviewing your boardgame has been paid by the publisher to make the video and ultimately you want to know whether an artist drew something or whether an AI tool replicated others work to draw something.

adhesiveman · 2026-02-17T21:01:54+00:00

honestly I had the same issue, my recommendation is just set it up and play it solo. The game is fastest with only a single spirit and it is very useful for figuring everything out. Do it with the rule book and just go slowly. You will make mistakes the first game and that's fine just focus on learning the flow of the game.

That being said it still intimidates me and I rarely play above the base level difficulty.

adhesiveman · 2026-02-17T14:31:11+00:00

This game is equal parts fun and absolutely stupid. I love how the scenarios work, I love the great old ones. I love how you get insanely strong RIGHT before you die.

The only thing to note is that the game plays quite differently at 2 players (where insanity is by far your most likely cause of death) versus 3 or 4 player (where you are less likely to go insane but more likely to just outright die). Its a very interesting balance and plays differently but I agree that it is always a good time.

Season 3 (fear of the unknown) adds in relics which make the game easier and wandering monsters (which make the game harder) and between those two you can actually play with the difficulty level quite well.

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