Category: Syndicated

by TheGargoyle
Got my foot locker on Monday from UGG, yikes, that’s a monster! The box, not UGG 😉 – it is slightly oversized for what is in it, so I am actually a bit scared what DVG is up to about filling it …

This. Just sorting pieces to make 10 point stacks and you are done. At least for those games where you have a lot of points to tally.

by TheGargoyle
Dang, this was one of the things I was eager to pick up at Essen. Ok, I am fine with picking it up at my local store, too, but now I have to get the expansions at Essen (because I don’t know wether and when they will be available afte…

Ok, hope you never get the “Sternenschild” expansion and the additional heroes, or you will have to redo it 😉 (otherwise, looks great!)

by TheGargoyle
Ryanmobile wrote:I’m keeping mine in case I need to make replacements or want to proxy a card or make my own custom card. Yeah, I keep mine, too, because some of them (for example Scope, ACOG, Red Dot and other equipments) can still f…

by TheGargoyle
Smilinbrax wrote:the same old tired arguments get trotted out every time. It’s not what the game was designed for. We don’t like it. Well, you are welcome to your opinion, but it’s not what the game is designed for is a lame excuse.Th…

I probably would have backed your KS half a year ago, but now we have Blood Rage and the german version is announced, so that’s where my money goes. In addition, you probably put a dice game into a currently quite crowded market of dice games with every game coming out with a “The Dice Game” version (Nations, VivaJava, Discoveries, Pandemic and whatever else). So probably it was just an unfortune time. I mean, no need to feel bad, because even Petersen games couldn’t get Dicenstein flying on it’s second KS (it might make the cut, but only barely), so probably you are just currently at a lower point on the “want-it”-curve for dice games.

LOTR:LCG. OK, everything but the nightmare decks. Even I have limits in the punishment I take 😉

I like the way the weapons work in **Warfighter**, it feels just “right” (unless you attach the visor attachment to your gun with integrated grenade launcher and then use the visor to get more precise grenade launching – that’s stretching it a little bit 😉 ). I especially like what DVG does with their games, because the rules don’t bog you down in specialities, but over all the feel is quite “movie realistic”. Not simulation-realistic, but hey, I prefer my conflicts in a Schwarzenegger-Style 😉

by TheGargoyle
steftymo wrote:Also players are not allowed to pass their ideas/items to other players.Well, you could always just houserule that when a player joins, the “discarded” stuff is just handed him from the other players. That way you don’t…

I’d like to put my voice in for San Juan, too, because in my experience it is much easier to teach to someone and plays good with different player counts, so you can have friends join in. Carl Chudyk designs tend to explode into chaos when you play them with more than 2 players, at least those he did after Glory to Rome. And several of his later titles had the problem that each and every card was unique – which is great for game play, but a real problem for teaching and playing while learning, because everybody reads those damn cards over and over again, which really slows the game down. That said, if there is one thing I wouldn’t attribute to any Chudyk Design, it’s the word “boring” – they are anything but boring, they are more on the crazy random stuff happens and totally blows up the board state side of games. Which can be great fun if you are into that style of game.

1. **Paperback** 40 2. **LOTR:LCG** 23 3. **Waggledance** 15 4. **Jaipur** 12 5. **SotM** 12 6. **Nations TDG** 9 7. **VivaJava TDG** 7 8. **SanJuan** 7 9. **Race for the Galaxy** 7 10. **Progress** 5 11. **Xenoshyft** 5 More than I expected but far le…

I like that one, too – Krona Sunlight recently replaced it, because it gives me the nice upcoming weather prediction, but Puji Black was a favourite bevor it.

Yes, it is my current favourite, too. Especially the rain warning ring in ambient is great. I like its look and like that it is an original smart design and not just a failed replica of some mechanic beast (I love the mechanic beasts, but find the digi…

oh, and regarding the statistics: you are overthinking it. 1 player, 2 enemies out, 30 cards in the deck. every round you draw three encounter cards (we just ignore surge and uts variamts for now), one for revealing on questing, two for shadow cards. T…

I never claimed there is control. I talk about chances. In one variant you have chances to discard the troll, in the other you don’t have those chances. And in most encounters there are enough nasty cards that playing with shadow cards actually helps. …

by TheGargoyle
UGG has listed it as available for 50 EUR.

Journey down the Anduin. The encounter has two hill trolls, one put into staging right away, the other lurking in the deck. Without shadow cards, you will meet him 100 percent, if you survive long enough. With shadow cards and an enemy engaged with you…

If you are open to more heavy stuff, take a look at **Mound Builders** from Victory Point Games – you spend the first part of the game to build up your culture to spend the rest of the game to then use that base of power and influence to fend off the S…

know both of them, like both of them and VotK got quite a bit play, but non if them are in the camp of games wnere card powers make sense, thematically. one is scifi, so I don’t mind, but my wife doesn’t like fantasy or scifi that much. And VotK is a g…

actually not. if you play without shadow cards, all encounter cards will show up during reveal (unless you use encounter deck manipulation, of course). Whereas if you play with shadow cards, and keep low value enemies alive just for that reason, quite …

I did three things that all worked out great. I did them in different stages of my gaming “career” in the following order: – started to play with friends semi-regularily, but only as additional program to a meetup with great food. This gave me and my wife the chance to try out some advanced cooking and bring out dishes we normally wouldn’t serve and gave my friends a reason to come. The gaming was just added as supplemental entertainment afterwards 😉 – bring some easy-carry-easy-play games to pub nights. Just slap them on the table every now and then, distribute pieces to people and explain. You would be astonished how well that can work. But keep it to games that are actually doable in those settings (for example think about light levels and wether cards are readable, or about how robust the pieces are to survive the pub tables) – start a local game night where you live. That was by far the part that took the most courage to do, because you need to see what context is there where to embed it, so it really can take off. We did it in combination with our local district coop, that provides other services to people living in our area (and where we already are engaged with other stuff). But still needs lots of work to keep going and especially start growing (for now it’s mostly 3-5 people who meet each week, but hey, 3-5 people is enough to actually play games). But whatever you do, don’t put too much pressure on it. Just suggest it, bring some game every now and then, see what works. Give it time, but keep doing it. People will start to recognize you as “the guy who always carries some game” sooner or later 😉

Oh yes, never take out the Mumak. It’s awesome! And just knowing it is in there makes it fun, because you will keep thinking about how to stop it if it shows up with your current hand.

that’s actually not a house rule but just one half of the official “easy” variant. You get an extra ressource at the start of the game for each hero and you can take out all cards marked as “hard” (with a golden ring around the set icon). I usually go for the ressource part, too, and take out golden-ringed cards if it is a set where they had the golden rings (in my case one from voice of isengard or later), but leave all cards in in the older sets (Dwarrowdelf and Mirkwood). Even though I have all cards available, I prefer to run thematically strong decks which are just by desing weaker (for example I only put Steward of Gondor on heroes that actually could realistically receive it, which means it’s out of question in dwarf or elve decks) than full-power “Boromir” decks.

yeah, I see no fun in being pummeled by cards. If I can see it will go wrong and I know there are no outs in my deck that I could draw, I just scrap that game, count it as a loss and restart. It’s more fun to actually play the game than being trodden d…

actually not playing shadow cards can make it harder. There are quite a few scenarios where it is a good idea to keep a week enemy around to give shadowcards, so that those cards don’t show up during the reveal on questing. Just think about it: every card you discard as a shadow card can’t clog up your questing! I don’t do any house rulings, I mostly play by the book, but I do almost allways play the easy rules (taking an additional ressource at start and ditching cards with “hard” markers), because that allows me to go for more thematic decks instead of always having to opt for power decks. I play solo single-handed, too. The additional ressources actually to me is much more important than ditching some cards from the encounter, because it allows me to build up my board faster. Oh, and I am a bit “open” towards mulligan – if I get a bad hand, and the next one is bad, too, I just throw that game and do it again. The two bad hands are just chalked up as “game loss” and that’s it. No point in playing out a bad hand when playing solo.

Ascension was our first travel game – a base box packs easily in a 200 card deck box when sleeved, so that’s perfect to carry with you in the suitcase. Only downside was the theme, which I really like, but my wife didn’t much care for. I always preferred the Ascension-style deck builders with their random market to Dominion-style with the more static markets, because it opens a more tactical play (which means I can’t crush my wife in play as easily, so she doesn’t lose interest in the game that fast). I only wish there was some deck builder in that style with some more “normal” theme. Kashgar kinda does it, but is more bulky due to it’s player boards.

We play lots of **Jaipur** – it has become our go-to game when we are out to eat or just walking around and have a coffee at a cafe, we pull it out and play a few rounds. It just plays quickly and – if you creatively use the box – can be quickly moved aside and resumed a bit later. We love it’s easy playing and the fact that even if someone is ahead, you can still catch up if you get a good hand and market. Another game we play a lot is **Paperback**, because it is tremendous fun. It’s setup is a bit “bulky” on the table, so we mostly play it at home or during vacations when we have a table to ourselves. It packs small in a pro 100 deckbox, so we can carry it with us on vacations easily. Before getting Jaipur, we took **Valley of the Kings** with us for on-the-go gaming. Downside compared to Jaipur is that it plays a good deal longer. And the theme really is just pasted on, so my wife often has problems remembering what card does what, which is why we moved to other games. For just the two of us, it’s the aforementioned Jaipur, and to have something smallish with us we can play with others, we recently took up **San Juan**, because it packs as small as VotK and it’s actions are a bit more logic and grounded in the theme, which helps my wife. And well, it’s fun for us when we want something more thinky. Again for games at home (because of it’s bulky box), we play **Kashgar: Händler der Seidenstraße** quite a bit. It’s a fun engine building game, which I really like, and the theme keeps it together and interesting for my wife, too, so it’s another of our favorites. But definitely doesn’t hit the table as often as both Jaipur or Paperback. Those two are far and alone at the top.

Yeah, that’s exactly what Light of Valinor is for: canceling the downside of Glorfindel. Essentially you switch one downside – the threat increas – with another “downside”: the need of another card.

Persuade me that a newb game company without any track records in more standard board games is to be trusted with creating a balanced and good legacy game. You see, the main problem I have is that legacy – as cool as it is – needs an even better game f…