What boardgames have you played recently?

Paul_RS

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Played the first 2 scenarios from Blue Water Navy from compass games. So far it looks promising. Red Storm Rising in game that could be played in long day’s gaming.

the rulebook can be real pain, be prepared during your first few games, to spend a disproportionate amount of time flicking through the book to figure stuff out.
 
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Thaliff

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Risk:Europe, at a local game club meeting, me, two others my age or so, and my 13yr old son. Son destroyed us. :p
 

Paul_RS

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Hexasim’s Ligny, Last Eagles. Excellent system, superb map and counters.

Not as pretty as La Batt, but let’s be honest no currently published wargame is. ?

Highly recommended. 2 novice players could finish the Battle in a weekend.
 

Mister T

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Hexasim’s Ligny, Last Eagles. Excellent system, superb map and counters.

Not as pretty as La Batt, but let’s be honest no currently published wargame is. ?

Highly recommended. 2 novice players could finish the Battle in a weekend.
It's a great system, excellent compromise between length and fun.
 

Robin Reeve

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I have tried quite lot of new boardgames these times :
  • Arkham Horror 3rd edition : shorter, more simple than 2nd ed. Fits my bill well.
  • Cry Havoc (Portal games) : asymmetric conflict between different factions conquering a planet. Really good.
  • Arkham Horror Last Hour : a small, fast game where you try to stop the final ritual before the GOO invades Earth.
  • Warfighter modern : build a team and fight missions vs. drug cartels in the jungle or insurgents in the Middle East. I am having a blast.
 

MAS01

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This came in the mail yesterday:

11991

Punching (and clipping, of course) the counters this evening. Only about 12 pages of rules. A spinoff of B17 -- Queen of the Skies; alternate history where the Nazis beat the Soviets and are bombing the U.S. from an airbase in the Azores. A narrative-type solitaire game.
 

RobZagnut

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Underwater Cities twice
Too Many Bones - with 3 different groups. Fabulous!
Gloomhaven - on 39th scenario
Champions of Midgard with Valhalla and Mountains expansions
Time's Up - run a Meetup party game night every other Wednesday night for 21-24 people. Ca$h n Guns tomorrow night. Three tables of 8 players.
 

RobZagnut

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Wingspan
Dune (re-released rules learning phase)
Gandhi (rules learning phase)
Innovation
Brass Birmingham
What do you think of Innovation? Heard good and bad, and that it can be real swingy?
 

esprcorn

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7 Wonders Duel. Wow! That's a lot of game in a little box. My son smoked me!
Paladins of the West Coast. Just got it and looking forward to trying it solo.
Sierra West. Also looking forward to giving this a shot solo
Res Arcana... I think I'm doomed to thrashings by my son.
 

Jazz

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What do you think of Innovation? Heard good and bad, and that it can be real swingy?
I like it. Usually a filler game when you don't have time or players for a full game of something meatier at the start or end of a game nite. That being said, I have made an evening of playing just it. Much more to it than Deep Sea Adventure or Exploding Kittens. We have lately had a number of games with 3 players that turned into real dog fights.

I suppose it can be "swingy" but that does not seem to be a mortal sin in my book? One has to play what the cards give one, which does have possible swings in fortune. One still has to recognize these cards and know how to use them and there are many ways they can be used that may or may not be possible in a given situation.

By the same designer that came up with Glory To Rome and a similar game mechanic.
 
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Paul_RS

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Red Storm: air War Central Europe 1987:

We’ve played Downtown and Elusive victory in the past so despite a long break since playing those games we are familiar with the mechanics. We set up RS 27 High Speed Recon, took around 2 hours plus planning before we got together for the game.

My tactics were to draw the the QRA flights out and get them to either abort or deplete their BVR capability before the Recon flights crossed the border.

Once the aircraft came into contact the game slowed considerably as you can imagine. By turn 13 the Foxbats were starting their recon runs, it took around 13 hours to get to that point. Admittedly, despite our previous experience, there was an element of learning involved but it does take along time to play. We knew that the whole process would speed up from that point as the NATO. Aircraft were pretty much spent in terms of BVR and once back up at VH altitude the Foxbats are pretty much immune to everything other than a lucky Sam shot.

But I still think it would have taken another few hours to finish or get to the point where we stopped and where it was clear the recon flights would be able get off safely.

VPs at the point where the recon started were fairly even, with around 4 in favour of the NATO player. Dense cloud between deck and low had arrived thanks to a random event, good job the Foxbats had SAR ?. But it seemed certain that most if not all the targets would be reconned.

The game will speed up once the players are familiar with the process, but it will still take time to play. I would estimate an hour per turn to start with, possible less depending on the number of aircraft in play.

Although it did take time we never felt it was tedious, quite the opposite, the whole process is very engaging. The admin of continually flicking through the sheets to see what flight is where and the status can be a bit of a pain but as I’ve commented elsewhere the game is eminently suited to VASSAL play where the admin overhead is eased considerably.

We also noted that we ran out of some of the informational counters from time to time. Dash, BVR Avoid and some of the altitude counters, not the end of the world but something to consider if there are any spare counter slots in the next C3i.

It is also game where the turn sequence and the mechanics of moving has to be followed very closely. What do I mean by that? Free turns, when and where, SAM aquisition read and reread sequence of play or your opponent may start acquiring targets prematurely.

It is a fairly complex game but learning in chunks can easily be managed by just setting up a few counters and stepping through the various air to air and air to ground processes. The rule book is extremely well laid out and cross referenced, rules queries can be resolved very quickly.
 

aloha_brian

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Anybody play MMP's Line of Battle CW games?
I've started playing them about a year ago. So far I've played a few Face-to-Face Last Chance for Victory, one solo (with occasional help on decisions/orders) LCfV CG in progress, and a TTW PBEM. I really like the system. But, it is a completely different gaming experience than competitive ASL. The LOB games would not stand up to the rules parsing that is done in ASL. I find it plays more like a story where as the Army Commander you give orders and watch your guys try to get it done, or not. I currently own all three published modules.
 

RobZagnut

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I would not think this would play well as a group. Too much coordination necessary that it seems more solo friendly
I don’t know, because I never play solo. But, in our coop games we talk tactics and where we want to move and who we attack first. Starting a campaign of Undertow soon with my son.

Spirit Island is another great game for talking tactics with 3 other good buddies as is Pandemic Legacy 1. Playing This War of Mine on Monday with fellow ASLer Jess Ward as we both have it off for Presidents Day. But, it is not recommended for 3 or 4 players. It’s supposed to play best with 1 or 2.
 

RobZagnut

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Played Too Many Bones on Monday with my buddy Jess. I was the expansion character Gasket (mechanical) and he was Patches (medic). Luckily, Gasket was immure to poison and in one adventure we were able to make Patches immune or we would have lost the tyrant battle.

He ordered the game.

We got our butts kicked in Spirit Island. Were behind from the start and never could make any headway. But after reading the rules discovered that we were supposed to start with 4 Fear tokens per player instead of 5, and that we create 1 Fear for destroying a town and 2 for destroying a city, but I doubt that would have helped.
 
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