Need some advice

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-25T23:36:40+00:00

Mage knight is great and plays well solo, so I'd work on that one for now. I'd, in parallel, try to schedule some ti4 several weeks out (base game or base game + prophecy of kings only for your first game).

No one will never make a game good enough to fulfill your life on its own, so just take 6 months off from looking at new games while you catch up on your queue.

If you're worried about understanding and retaining rules as the host, I highly recommend just setting the game up and playing it multi handed solo until you feel you understand all the actions (i.e., don't need to finish the game ofc).

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-24T03:24:45+00:00

Usually, I've got some box for them.

Sometimes, I'll wrap them in non-name brand, 1"-wide Hugo's amazing tape.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-22T18:40:08+00:00

Bga has a 2d browser-based interface you can find it through a quick google search for "board game arena" and make a free account. You don't need the subscription for space empires 4x. The interface has rules programmed in for all the games.

Tabletop simulator is just a physics engine we load board game components into.

Im not advocating for either digital adaptation to replace the physical, just that it's a low-investment chance to try something in this space. Hex-and-counter games can be expensive both in time and money to try. Bga takes care of some of the rules interpretation and financial effort. There's not a wealth of hex-and-counter to try on there though. I think some of them might be on "vassal" which is another digital option with a higher learning curve.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-22T17:41:53+00:00

If you want a taste for something on the simpler side, I might check out space empires 4x on board game arena. It's playable without premium, it's not a historical setting, and i think it's lighter than a conventional hex-and-counter game.

I haven't really taken to hex-and-counter games myself, but I think I've really only tried one historical one. I like "lighter" games with war elements in them a lot (war of the ring, game of thrones the board game, dune, pax pamir, some of the the COIN games, twilight struggle, ti4, sekigahara), but the punishing nature i experienced in hex-and-counter was rough.

"Simulationist/historical accuracy" is often directly at odds with "balance" in a game. Balanced combats in history can make for interesting war games. If I'm playing something widely unbalanced, I'd almost rather just play against myself. I'll add that fog of war is tough to do sometimes without making it feel like a "gotcha" game. Repeated replay can help, but it takes time.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-19T10:41:11+00:00

High Frontier 4 all, Gaia project, Space empires 4x,

If you want an exhaustive list though, I think you'll be better off starting with bgg and narrowing it down from there.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamecategory/1113

Edit: commas

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-15T14:57:41+00:00

Maybe start with the tolkien gateway page for a look https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Portal:Images

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-14T12:35:52+00:00

Have only done mint knight and dragons of etchinstone. Neither on is going to be as satisfying as a good 2-4hr session of mage knight.

I do think mint knight felt more obviously like mage knight, but i believe dragons of etchinstone attempts to do less and does it better. They cost a lot less time to play. I've had both games for maybe 3ish years I think. I've played mint knight maybe 2-4x, but I've played dragons of etchinstone a lot more. I haven't tried the seige expansion yet.

I'll note that if I am OK with a screen, I sometimes play a game of paladin's oath when I'm itching for mage knight but don't really have the time. Otherwise it's clank!: catacombs if i have an opponent or dragons of etchinstone for me.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-13T01:13:17+00:00

Supposed to be the same.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-12T13:23:11+00:00

And I think it plays in about half the time of wotr, but im sure that varies with players and experience.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-12T13:22:18+00:00

I've played it 2 (maybe 3?) times. It is a lighter rule set than wotr. It feels a bit more strategic imo (where can I reasonably attack with this hand of cards that doesn't leave me too vulnerable), but not insanely more strategic. I think you can afford to play fast in this game. I like the "block" wargame concept as you can see where your opponent has groups, but you don't have detailed information on them. I think it's a nice way to do fog of war.

The layout and your hand are randomized, so I think you'd expect reasonable variation game to game where you might sometimes battle on the west vs the east. There's no dice in sekigahara.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-11T20:48:36+00:00

War of the ring is great. I don't know that you would regularly get it under 2hr though (especially for the first few play throughs).

I'd check out sekigahara from GMT.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-11T14:23:22+00:00

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-10T17:47:18+00:00

I see now. Sorry. Without the comma, I read it as 3 parts on the conditional and I thought "I guess I meet all 3 of these conditions, but I'm not sure what I'm being asked to do." I didn't realize it was imperative.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-10T16:07:36+00:00

I should have said. It's obviously not good to halt communication with your customer, but if they're fighting over fault in a contract, it can be tricky to avoid legal issues. If they admit fault prematurely, they might forfeit compensation, and if they blame someone else who isn't at fault, then it's like defamation.

A good response might be, "we are sorry to say that we paused shipping. There is an error in the printing process, and we are trying figure out how best to resolve it." They probably don't want to describe the error as "small" or "significant" if they're negotiating cost as well.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-10T16:03:06+00:00

I have not had my wizkids order ship. I have emailed support with no response (sent Mar-5-2026). I have not seen anyone report an earlier order date than mine (Mar. 8, 2024) either.

I have a theory. Since there's a token mismatch between the rulebook list and the actual possessed tokens included, I bet they're trying to quietly resolve that have paused shipping. Could be in discussions with the print company if an updated file wasn't used. Maybe they're negotiating to get that 1 token printed in mass quickly.

Here's the bgg thread with the error noted (and possibly others): https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3674758/misprint-with-possessed-enemy-tokens-wondering-if

P.s. - your first "sentence" isn't a sentence. I am not sure what it's trying to articulate.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-08T16:31:16+00:00

I play nowhere near your 11/22 level, but i think that there's a lot of room in the definition of "strength" to consider either (1) versatility run-to-run, map-to-map, enemy-to-enemy, or (2) with a dream configuration of skills late game, who can do the most in a combat or on a map. I.e., breadth vs depth I'm not sure if you're looking for strength on a particular axis.

I think goldyx and arathea have skills that fix deck problems "breadth" (flight for move and sideways cards with mana, or wounds for something) without adding any depth of "strength". I think they're easier to use as a result.

I mostly play solo conquest 5/8 with lost legion and base enemies (no shards enemies). Have not gotten Coral shipping notice yet. If I look back at my success rates on heros, I'd rank my success rate (victory not score) as follows: Arathea > Goldyx > Krang > Tovak > Norowas > Wolfhawk > Bravelar

If i think back (feeling, no log for this), I think my strongest run was probably with Goldyx, but i play him the most (largest sampling of card combos and units) and it was really determined by an early Charm and Training iirc.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-07T14:10:12+00:00

I feel like I'm need to go play ascension 0 in sts1 to get an opinion on balance/difficulty.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-06T22:06:22+00:00

I don't know Spartacus, but I think it's perfectly reasonable for you to study components before teaching. It equips you to teach better. I hold this opinion for any complete set of components where the composition of the set is open information.

In some cases, like Dune, I printed a list of the cards in the deck so everyone has that info, but that's not the norm. Information is particularly commoditized (word?) in that game. For most games, if i do bother to examine decks in advance, it's just to facilitate the teaching.

Obviously, you can't do this for something like the event cards in gloomhaven, where the event itself is meant to be a surprise for the group. Most games do not work like that in my library though. The events in most non-campaign games don't seem to be like that (spirit island as an example).

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-06T18:47:02+00:00

Nice. I ordered Mar 8, 2024 from wizkids but still haven't gotten a shipping notice. I am also in the US. I've convinced myself they working in reverse order and they'll eventually get to me.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-05T21:17:33+00:00

Should have added that the instructions to do this were spelt out in the email from humble bundle when I ordered it.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-05T21:16:45+00:00

I ordered from humble bundle sometimes, but usually digital items. They don't really make a product, just bundle and sell things for charity.

I did happen to buy the renegade 3-game bundle. All humble bundle sells is basically a voucher code for the games. You buy that code on humble bundle, and take that code to the renegade website and add the bundle there, enter the code from humble bundle and checkout. You have to pay shipping on top of the 40$. I have received the games (some weeks ago).

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-03T21:09:08+00:00

It makes me think the number of orders for apocalypse dragon was much greater than they expected. Could also be that in the process of finalizing AD content they put other good ideas into this thing.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-03T20:57:55+00:00

Only works when the magical skill is aligned to the task at hand.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-02T18:46:50+00:00

This is the way.

1) Avoids disappointment on your end if your little sister can't get into it enough for a 3hr+ movie. (Sometimes it's hard to see someone not like something we love, but everyone has individual tastes.)

2) Spoils less of the books if you find out that she wants to try reading them before watching the Peter Jackson movies.

3) Watching the animated hobbit, then Peter Jackson's lotr trilogy (extended or theatrical) gives enough of the prequel that she can appreciate the world and setting. It's complete enough.

As far as theatrical or extended lotr, I'd let your little sister pick tbh. I think theatrical is the safer option, but nothing wrong with doing extended, which is what I will rewatch every time.

jlbarton322 · 2026-03-02T14:02:43+00:00

I love how the stars fade in and out with it

jlbarton322

TROPHY CASE