Core Worlds

[billw55]

Just curious, how big are your gaming groups and how often do you play?

 

I wish I had more friends to regularly play with.

Most often it is just my wife and brother, and possibly one or both of our teenagers. This makes 2-5 players, usually about once a week. Fairly recently we started inviting some friends over on a saturday night maybe once every two months or so. This way we end up with 4-8 (not counting teens who at this point develop more pronounced adultophobia). We have a folding table to set up if needed to get two games going at once.

 

Yes it can be tough, there are always some who cannot make it that particular night, people are busy with their lives. It affects us too: the FLGS has a game night every wednesday, but weeknights are hopeless for us with work and kids activities and such.

[billw55]

Tried the new game Deus a few days ago. It's a sort of combination worker placement / tableau building game, with both cards and a variable map. There is much flexibility on what actions you can take, and the way certain abilities can chain was interesting. I liked it, although my wife was lukewarm.

 

Has anyone played a game called Power Grid? It looks interesting and reviews well, I am thinking of trying it.

[billw55]

Our latest entry is Suburbia. Have played it twice and I like it quite well so far. Basically, it is buying and placing hex tiles to build a town. Tiles give various bonuses/penalties based on what is adjacent, or sometimes elsewhere. Play time was about 1.5 hour.

 

The nice thing is that the rules are pretty easy to understand, allowing even brand new players to learn and take their turns quickly. And yet, the complexity is there, with no single right strategy. First game with just my wife, I tried a plan that seemed to work well, and won going away. Second time though, with 3 players, I did the same thing again and finished last, with wife and brother well ahead of me.

[Cyberyeti]

 

Has anyone played a game called Power Grid? It looks interesting and reviews well, I am thinking of trying it.

 

Power grid is excellent but can get expensive as there are many many expansion boards most of which add new twists to the game.

 

Catching up with this thread:

 

Puerto Rico is fine, but can run pretty much on rails for a couple of turns at the start with certain numbers of players who know what they're doing without the expansions.

 

Fluffy - what's your ID, I also play hearthstone (@minotaur2857)

 

Other favourites:

 

Russian Railroads

Carcassonne (I prefer the hunters and gatherers variant)

Navegador

7 wonders (shorter game, about an hour)

Formula De

 

Bridge players should enjoy Tichu.

 

As a short filler game, Saboteur preferably with the expansion is fun.

[billw55]

Had another game night this weekend. The unintentional theme was six player games. Most of our guests did not want to split into two groups. We had a total of seven people, but with one late arrival and one early departure it was mostly six.

 

We started off with 7 Wonders, which I always enjoy, and also has the advantage of smoothly accommodating six players in a short play time (a bit over an hour this time). The game just really shines for this purpose, nothing better that I know of.

 

Next up was Coup, a very fast card game for up to seven players. Easy to learn, fun, and plays in about 10-15 minutes once everyone knows that they are doing. We played it twice, with lots of laughing. The short play time also leads to eliminated players forming an audience/cheering section for the final contestants.

 

Then a change of pace with Taboo, an older party game. We forgot the game end condition and just made one up, which caused no problem at all.

 

Finished up with Ticket to Ride: Asia, which has a partnership variant, so three teams of two. This played really well, although longer than we expected at about 2.5 hour. Some of this was due to the learning curve for a couple new players.

 

 

Also played Small World a couple of times the previous weekend. This is an area control/expanding armies type game, with various race powers and special abilities, and a crowded map (hence the name). A little like Risk, but much better designed. We like it. It is heavy on targeted attacks, so maybe not a good choice if that bothers you or your group.

 

We did buy Power Grid but have not played it yet. With school starting soon it might be a while.

[kuhchung]

Next up was Coup, a very fast card game for up to seven players. Easy to learn, fun, and plays in about 10-15 minutes once everyone knows that they are doing. We played it twice, with lots of laughing. The short play time also leads to eliminated players forming an audience/cheering section for the final contestants.

 

I've played Coup a few times. I don't know how good of a strategy this is, but I literally do not look at my cards and play every single power.

[billw55]

I've played Coup a few times. I don't know how good of a strategy this is, but I literally do not look at my cards and play every single power.

This has some appeal. Something similar happened just this weekend. My wife had drawn a new card but not looked at it. On my turn, I tried to assassinate her. She claimed contessa. I challenged her, and she flipped both her cards thinking she had lost ... but the new one was in fact the contessa! So I lost one instead, and my three coins too. Hah!

[kuhchung]

This has some appeal. Something similar happened just this weekend. My wife had drawn a new card but not looked at it. On my turn, I tried assassinate her. She claimed contessa. I challenged her, and she flipped both her cards thinking she had lost ... but the new one was in fact the contessa! So I lost one instead, and my three coins too. Hah!

 

At the very least, I know that Ambassador first action is ridiculous. I've seen one of my friends do it. I told him "what the hell, just play the power you want"

[Fluffy]

I can hardly get any players to play a serious game. And even when I do, I normally win every game no matter what. I know no bridge or chess players of my age. People I know just lack the combination skills to match me.

 

I used to play regular games of Catan in the 90s, and Twilight Imperium on the 2000s, its hard to explain how I outplayed them on every game. Funniest perhaps comes from the fact that I see my opponent's moves better than them. So when they do something that is not ideal for them, and damages me somehow, I can point it to them in simple terms, so they do what its better for them, but also better for me as well. This ended up on the famous saying:

 

-If you take Fluffy's advice, no matter how logic it sounds, if you take it, Fluffy wins.

 

 

 

Now I play most of my board game rounds at a yearly weekend convention on the south of my country. I usually try new games each time. This gives me the sweet feeling of winning experienced players on their game in my first try (my first power grid game for example), although to be honest, they usually are more focused on teaching the game to everyone than paying attention to who is doing what.

 

 

[billw55]

At the very least, I know that Ambassador first action is ridiculous. I've seen one of my friends do it. I told him "what the hell, just play the power you want"

Yes, it is strong, but it also spends a turn not doing anything. In such a short game, that is no small penalty. It also really focuses the psychological factors: sure he can have any two cards, but which ones do I think he would want? Duke-assassin is a strong pairing, but leaves him without a contessa to defend himself. Or is he the kind of guy that would keep an ambassador as a hedge? hmmmm

 

Then again, a strong action is also a strong incentive to lie. So perhaps you should challenge it.

 

I can hardly get any players to play a serious game. And even when I do, I normally win every game no matter what. I know no bridge or chess players of my age. People I know just lack the combination skills to match me.

 

I used to play regular games of Catan in the 90s, and Twilight Imperium on the 2000s, its hard to explain how I outplayed them on every game. Funniest perhaps comes from the fact that I see my opponent's moves better than them. So when they do something that is not ideal for them, and damages me somehow, I can point it to them in simple terms, so they do what its better for them, but also better for me as well. This ended up on the famous saying:

 

-If you take Fluffy's advice, no matter how logic it sounds, if you take it, Fluffy wins.

 

Now I play most of my board game rounds at a yearly weekend convention on the south of my country. I usually try new games each time. This gives me the sweet feeling of winning experienced players on their game in my first try (my first power grid game for example), although to be honest, they usually are more focused on teaching the game to everyone than paying attention to who is doing what.

Catan has a pretty high luck factor, and is not really difficult to play well, so I am kind of surprised about that one. Then again, some people just don't get games, and repeatedly make errors that seem immediately obvious to an enthusiast.

 

Yes, when I play a game with people who have not played it before (this happens a lot), I focus on demonstrating the mechanics, and don't worry much about playing well.

 

 

 

[kuhchung]

Does anyone want to play FarmvilleAgricola on boite a jeux?

[Fluffy]

The key to catan is to know who is actually winning, count resources, and know each player's critical resource. Also people don't realice that a 3 slightly favourable trades put you ahead of everyone who got only 1 favourable trade. Specially if those trades happen on your turn. All of these things were unkown to most of my friends, they kept fighting for longest route.