Dope ass board games

[Goodspeed]

I can recommend Humankind. Yeah it's a video game but it's really a digital board game. To me it has made painfully obvious how uninspired of a 4x game Civ has become.

ESOC Humankind FFA match when?

I guess when they fix some multiplayer bugs that make the game desync, and hopefully also some glaring balance issues. Remember Scythians in civ 6, where you just turn up with 20 cav units in the early game? Huns in Humankind are even worse lol

[Horsemen]

I can recommend Humankind. Yeah it's a video game but it's really a digital board game. To me it has made painfully obvious how uninspired of a 4x game Civ has become.

ESOC Humankind FFA match when?

I guess when they fix some multiplayer bugs that make the game desync, and hopefully also some glaring balance issues. Remember Scythians in civ 6, where you just turn up with 20 cav units in the early game? Huns in Humankind are even worse lol

sounds good I'll read up on some Huns guides then

[scarm]

Does anyone have experiences or opinions on Hansa Teutonica?

[edeholland]

I'm normally not really excited for euro-games until I play them because you normally only appreciate the mechanics once you are playing, but I got really excited by this review:

Other than that, haven't played or bought it yet. It seems to be a very good euro game if you are into that.

[scarm]

Yeah same, saw that review and was hooked.

[scarm]

Ok so, i am currently looking for boardgames to get for christmas, and i just now realized that i have a distinct lack of wargames. Most of the games i have are tile-laying games, deck-building games and such, and i love those, but i think its time to scratch the itch for an asymmetric, interactive wargame experience. So, do guys have any suggestions for a game that ideally fulfills the following criteria:

- is a wargame, duh
- ideally playable with 5 players
- asymmetric would be nice but no must
- is complex and interesting but not "i can only play this with my most hardcore nerd friends" complicated, i.e. i ideally don't have to spend an hour explaining the rules or constantly babysitting anyone in the sense of "oh i wouldn't do this because of rule X" or "see, you have a few interesting options here such as..."
- takes 1-2 hours to play

Had a look at some of the infamous classics of this genre, like Dune and twilight imperium, but i feel like those maybe are a bit too much on the lengthy and complex side, what do you think?

[RefluxSemantic]

@scarm only board game I have ever played that vaguely fits your description is root. Its assymetric, 5+ players after you get some expansions, its cute, its definitely a war game although it takes some euro elements. But it has many, many rules to keep track of. I introduced a group of friends to it and it required me to basically be the game master helping them out, and at the end only 2/4 liked the game.

[edeholland]

I've played Twilight Imperium 4th edition a few times and it's impossible to play in 1-2 hours. When playing with 5 players we take at least 6 hours (although every game is a bit shorter since knowning the rules and general strategy gets easier after a few games).

You may want to take a look at Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy.

[RefluxSemantic]

I'm normally not really excited for euro-games until I play them because you normally only appreciate the mechanics once you are playing, but I got really excited by this review:

Other than that, haven't played or bought it yet. It seems to be a very good euro game if you are into that.

When I saw that game I remember thinking it was a bit dry. Ive slowly realized that Im a 'scrub' that loves the theme and the fancy components, and Hansa doesnt really seem to deliver in that aspect imo. I feel like for the same amount of money I could buy a similarly strategic game that also brings theme to the table.

[edeholland]

Theme is definitely important, and euro games lack them pretty much by definition, while ameritrash (that's actually the term, not arguing in bad faith here) is more thematic but less mechanical. I am interesting to hear what game you would buy instead, with such a short playing time for the amount of strategy you get, I imagine it would be hard to fit much theme in there.

I've also found that theme is very important for when I want to get others to play a game and teach them. That's why El Dorado is a better gateway engine building game than Dominion, imo.

[RefluxSemantic]

El Dorado's theme is indeed what really sets it apart. I reached the conclusion that Dominion is too dry for me, even if its the game with better strategy.

[edeholland]

My newest editions and currently most-played games are Galaxy Trucker, Hellapagos and Micro Macro.

Galaxy Trucker is a hilarious party-like game about building a crappy spaceship and flying through space, watching your spaceship fall apart. Recommended for those looking for a fun ~45 min filler game. If your group has humour and can take games less seriously. If you are dry, the game will be dry.

Hellapagos is an semi-coop game where everyone is stuck on an island and want to escape by building rafts. You work together as long as there is food, but as soon as there is no food or water, it becomes a competitive game. Would recommend for those that enjoy playing Secret Hitler or similar games in groups with ~7.

Micro Macro is Where's Waldo on steroids, finding stories and uncovering mysteries across a giant map. Recommend for those who want a cute, short game to play with their SO or child.

[edeholland]

Also still playing Gloomhaven.

I hope to receive Spirit Island this week, which I'm really excited for. I love puzzly games and coop, so this seems like the perfect game for me.

[RefluxSemantic]

I finally started gloomhaven jotl again.

I must say the amount of bookkeeping in that game can frustrate me. Its so easy to forget little things.

[edeholland]

It will get easier over time. It also helps if you give players a specific tasks to focus on (keeping track of initiative, handling monster damage, etc). As a last resort you can use the Gloomhaven helper app which helps you track monster cards/hp and more, but that requires you to use a screen, which is usually something you wanna avoid while boardgaming.

But yeah, no denying Gloomhaven has quite a bit of admin.

[RefluxSemantic]

It will get easier over time. It also helps if you give players a specific tasks to focus on (keeping track of initiative, handling monster damage, etc). As a last resort you can use the Gloomhaven helper app which helps you track monster cards/hp and more, but that requires you to use a screen, which is usually something you wanna avoid while boardgaming.

But yeah, no denying Gloomhaven has quite a bit of admin.

You need to turn all of this into a little ritual I suppose.

The thing I struggle most with is infused elements. I dont understand when to infuse them, because apperantly they arent infused instantaneously. But if you infuse them at the end of your turn, should they go to waning at the end of the round? And if you dont immediately infuse them, I often end up forgetting after I have already discarded all my cards

Edit: I realize I misunderstood how elements are supposed to work. That might make future playthroughs less bothersome. I think I will also make a checklist of what admin tasks to do at the end of each round etc

[edeholland]

Elements are a bit counter-intuitive. You always infuse them AT THE END of your turn, after everything else has been down. It is never possible to infuse and use an element in the same turn, even with something like a mana potion. And yes, that means at the end of the round they will be waning, which gives you one effective round to use them.

[scarm]

A Game i really enjoy, especially when playing on the go is Armello. It is a digital game in the style of a board game. You and 3 other players are members of illustrious animal houses, such as the rats, who excel at treachery, the rabbits, who build the most impressive keeps, the wolves, who are versed fighters, the Bears, who are Druids and in tune with the "Wyld", as well as the Dragons, who are a sect whorshipping the "rot", a disease eating away at the kingdom of Armello. The Lion King is also infected and is going increasingly mad. In this setting it is upon the great houses to save Armello and take over the throne, by either killing the King, becoming a Rot Lord, waiting for the king to die and building up the kingdom in the meantime, or collecting 4 wyld spirit stones and puryfying the king from his Rot.

It is a RPG, where you control one character on a board consisting of hexagonal fields, such as forests, marshes and settlements, with the king's castles in the middle. You fulfill quests and draw cards of three piles, items, intrigue and spells, to power yourself up with better stats and better equipment, while trying to stop others by vying for control of spiritsones, settlements or just outright setting out bounties and killing them.

Rounds take about an hour and it is incredibly satisfying to win, because it is actually quite hard to win with competent players and balanced. Plus it has some RNG elements to it since its combat is dice based, but you have decent ways of alleviating RNG, for example by memorizing the types of cards and their associated dice symbols in each deck. In Combat or in "perils", that is traps laid by other players or the kings, where you have to roll certain dice symbols to escape, you can "burn" cards, i.e. removing them from your hand in exchange for using 1 dice to roll the symbol that was on the card. This makes the Wits stat very important, as it determines how many cards you can hold at a time. At the same time, wits only gets you so far without the dice to use, which you get by leveling up your fight stat. Slaying the king only counts as a win if you survive though - making strong armor and the Body stat that governs health very important as well. Spirit is the last stat and can mostly be neglected if you aren't going for a spellcaster build, but can be incredibly powerful by abusing things such as teleportation spells or powerful nukes.

Rot on the other hand is another stat that you can choose to level up through random events. Rot events give the most absurdly powerful cards in the game, but come with a price: you not only lose 1 HP each morning (every second turn), but creatures with more Rot than you, also gain your amount of rot in additional dice. That means, that if you can't "outrot" the King, who is usually sitting at like 8-9 rot by the time you fight him, he will get your 6-7 Rot in extra dice, usually meaning your death.

Overall a great game imo, if you are interested in digital board games at all, maybe wishlist it in steam, it is regualrly on sale for like 7,99 or so.

[RefluxSemantic]

Can you play Armello solo?

[scarm]

Yes. The AI is fine though nothing groundbreaking, and you will have a pretty good winrate against them once you get the hang of the game. The game is definitely the most fun when playing with others, even if they are strangers and without directly communicating.

[RefluxSemantic]

I have a new take on board games.

Board games have one purpose and one purpose only: They serve as gateway board games that you can use to convince yourself/friends/significant other/family to play gloomhaven with you. Once you have succeeded at that, you might as well sell your board games.

[edeholland]

I have a new take on board games.

Board games have one purpose and one purpose only: They serve as gateway board games that you can use to convince yourself/friends/significant other/family to play gloomhaven with you. Once you have succeeded at that, you might as well sell your board games.

Haha, are you enjoying it?

It's a pretty good take for me tbh, except that Spirit Island is another end goal (after two plays, but still).

I went Carcassonne (first board game I bought myself) > Forbidden Island (wanted something cooperative with gf) > Pandemic (wanted something more interesting and complex) > Pandemic Legacy (Pandemic was interesting and the concept of a legacy game seemed great to me) > Pandemic Legacy Season 2 > The King's Dilemma (wanted to play something else than Pandemic and seemed like a great game to play with friends) > Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion (wanted another game for me and my gf) > Gloomhaven

[scarm]

Maybe i am doing something wrong. These roleplayey-campaign type of games never interested me whatsoever. Pretty much have been socialized with these medium to light eurogames, starting with Carcassonne, Settlers and the mass market games, traditional card games that are played in my region, going to family type games like Café International, Explore Europe, El Dorado, ticket to ride and such, with some sparse more heavy hitters mixed in. Currently i am trying to normalize playing more complex games for my family and friends i play with.

I guess the time investment needed to play such campaigns puts me off. Plus i don't really jam with high fantasy themes such as the one gloomhaven has going on, and while i kinda considered buying pandemic legacy at some point, the real pandemic kinda makes me not wanna play a game about diseases.

[Horsemen]

Even playing with Japan's unique power the industrial district adjacency bonuses are pretty underwhelming tbh

Spoiler

[scarm]

Quite interesting, although it also underlines why monopoly is such a terrible game. Would have been interesting to see the chance of a stalemate with trading-ai.