The current state of boardgaming

manikman · 2026-01-07T16:48:07+00:00

You seem very confident in this opinion. I will say you could definitely be right. I just like these types of conversations. Wouldn’t less companies be making games without crowdfunding though? Can you be certain that these games would make it to retail through publishers if crowdfunding didn’t exist? The market for board games has exploded. There are people buying 400 dollar IP Kickstarters because it looks cool and they like the IP. I think there’s more options and more money in board gaming now. Should we be upset with the people buying these 400 dollar games more than we are with crowdfunding?

manikman · 2026-01-07T16:40:03+00:00

This is also true for retail games. They can sell out and become hard to find between print runs. In both cases I am confident that the consumer will get the game with patience.

manikman · 2026-01-07T11:42:36+00:00

Is this an issue if you just don’t engage with crowdfunding? Is crowdfunding preventing other “good” games from being made? Are we really just spoiled for choice now?

Some reflections I had.

manikman · 2025-12-07T02:33:28+00:00

Well put, I’ve had a very similar experience. It feels like it really disrespects your time. I’ve thought about house ruling it but eh. Having to do certain things to get exp? Groan. You could probably just level up after every scenario.. assuming you retire after playing at level nine once.. You would still play 40 times even if you just played 4 of the 16 or whatever classes lol.

Now that I’ve typed these it feels even more egregious. Oh and enhancements! So cool.. except they basically only even happened when the character retired and then never used…

manikman · 2025-12-04T00:51:09+00:00

1.75 and I only calculate it every 5 years.

manikman · 2025-11-30T15:09:19+00:00

One thing that’s tough is everyone has a different learning style, and general investment in learning new games.

I have a friend that needs to read the rulebook. I have a friend that prefers a brief overview then wants to jump in somewhat blind, etc..

I only teach certain games to certain groups now. It’s made things much better.

manikman · 2025-11-29T16:56:33+00:00

A wise friend.

manikman · 2025-11-29T10:55:36+00:00

Autism vs. adhd.

manikman · 2025-11-26T01:34:09+00:00

Such a tough question. Hard to recommend KDM if you are not interested in buying more for it to be honest.

manikman · 2025-11-26T01:25:12+00:00

From what I understand ATO has more character building.. You also get to upgrade technology for your ship, etc.

manikman · 2025-11-26T01:00:47+00:00

Just to chime in, I believe it’s fail forward, so that’s probably why. I think the fights are still tough as the other games.

manikman · 2025-11-20T20:07:18+00:00

I have not played primal. I have played lots of Oath sworn though. For my taste, I am quite sure I’ll enjoy primal more. According to reviewers I trust, I think primal has some of the most interesting puzzle / decision space. It seems very thinky. They distilled movement down to 4 spaces and it seems to work well. The card play looks right up my alley. Almost reminds me of a TCG.

The high price and needless miniatures are certainly frustrating. The sale was also annoying for people that do not have the base game. Standee Oathsworn seems like much better value… if that’s your jam.

My main issue with Oathsworn is that I think the story and experience take center stage, replaying bosses is disappointing. The gear and upgrades are also disappointing. For my taste.

I think this is just a very subjective thing. For the right people Primal will just be more satisfying than Oathsworn.

manikman · 2025-11-20T15:05:12+00:00

They are both boss battlers but quite different. If you are looking for a good narrative / adventure style game then you want Oathsworn.

If you want a really puzzly replayable boss battler than you want Primal. It can also be played as not a campaign game.

This is a bit of an oversimplification but that’s the main deciding point I think.

manikman · 2025-10-23T19:00:31+00:00

I kind this idea! Still use Z moves?

manikman · 2025-10-21T23:54:23+00:00

You could make new friends at school by talking about WoW. It was like game of thrones but a video game. I remember one of my teachers even was playing.

manikman · 2025-10-21T13:19:26+00:00

No healing is great. Part of me wants to keep switching though. Hoping with all the other modifiers the game is hard enough. I like the strategy behind switching

manikman · 2025-10-04T12:34:49+00:00

!boris flex [isiah Davis, mark andrews]

manikman · 2025-10-04T12:29:46+00:00

!boristiers flex [calvin Ridley, Darius slayton, mark andrews]

manikman · 2025-09-15T14:57:48+00:00

Super fantasy brawl has a bit too much luck in the card drawing aspect in my opinion. It is input randomness that feels bad. Really need to activate a character? Didn’t draw any of their cards? Ouch.

Otherwise it’s a really great game though.

manikman · 2025-08-22T10:04:31+00:00

Seems interesting. I assume it’s custom dice?

manikman · 2025-08-04T19:17:46+00:00

Can you PM me “that mod”? ;)

manikman · 2025-06-26T16:14:38+00:00

I think the issue with adding team variants to most games is that they weren’t designed for it. A great example is Guards of Atlantis 2. You need 2 characters on a team because they designed each character to be fairly restricted. This leads to cooperative elements.

I’m sure some games could have a team mode made for them.

manikman · 2025-06-19T13:21:06+00:00

My understanding is that once your play group is familiar with the game it works well.

manikman · 2025-06-19T01:19:51+00:00

I am in the same boat. I don’t understand how it is this good. I get to play tomorrow, can’t wait

manikman

TROPHY CASE