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I was bored Sunday so my girlfriend and I went to Games Unlimited. I normally go to Phantom of the Attic, but Games Unlimited has a bigger used games section, and I usually find something cool there. We ended up with a bunch of stuff: 1. A la carte, which we played when we got home and had a good time with. I was surprised Fantasy Flight had something to do with it, though the components are pretty awesome. We're looking forward to playing it with another couple--the only issue was that the pepper shaker bottom isn't on very tight, which led to some hilarious explosions of pepper. We thought about not trying to fix it, but then it would warp the one coffee cup that lets you add spice to someone else's pan if you could guarantee to overspice it by knocking the bottom off of the spice container. 2. Conquest of Planet Earth--I bought this new, because it has been on my list for some time. I played this at Trashfest last year and had a really good time, but had completely forgotten about it. 3. Dungeon Run--this was $25 and a game I'd been meaning to play. Looking forward to giving it a go with my group--if I remember, people had some misgivings about certain aspects of it. Are there any quick fixes? 4. Moonshine--this crazy looking game copyright 1979. Only two people have comments about it on BGG, but it was $10 and actually looks pretty fun. A 1 vs Many with a bootleg hootch theme, one player plays the cops, the others play bootleggers who are competing among each other to acquire the most money from selling batches of moonshine, while the cop is trying to confiscate as many batches as there are players. There's a highway and backroads, and players can throw down nails, set up roadblocks, and even ride the rails. Read the rules and it actually looks really playable--I tend to like one vs many games anyway, so this scratches a lot of my itches as far as board games go. 5. Gouda Gouda--$10, looks like a pretty light Euro, but my girlfriend liked the theme and it actually sounds pretty fun. Seems like it would be easy to get to the table, and not devoid of tactics, dice rolling, and light negotiation. 6. Warhamster Rally--I discovered a guy I know designed this game recently, so I wanted to give it a try. It sounds like a really weird racing game, though I'm not really into the Dork Tower theme at all. So, some cool stuff, most of which was at least half off retail price or more. Also, I guess Games Unlimited gives a 10% discount on all new games, as well, which is pretty awesome.
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Aug 6, 2012 18:43
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| # ? May 14, 2024 06:06 |
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By the way, for anyone who doesn't normally check the Dominion thread they've started revealing the cards from the new expansion. Every day this week, https://www.dominionstrategy.com
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Aug 6, 2012 19:03
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Played Lords of Waterdeep yesterday and it was not a good experience. I played it two player with another guy and he drew 2 mandatory quests and hit me with them at the exact time that slowed me pretty much an entire turn both times, meanwhile the only attack card I got only caused him to lose a white cube. The way the quests came out, he was also able to get a quest early which gave him 2 point per completion of a certain type of quest which was also his lord's quest, and then got 9 of those type of quest. I on the other hand managed to get 7 of my type of quests but that 2 points per. quest, combined with his other quests which were purely high point value quests, gave him a huge point gap at the end of the game. Normally I don't mind a point gap like that, I actually perfer games where that can happen, however the fact that he hosed me twice with mandatory quests with no recourse was just retarded. Our final verdict was that 4 people is probably the sweet spot for the game because then those mandatory quests will prevent a single player from getting too far ahead, and there will be more competition for the quests themselves, as well as the cubes. 5 people is probably a bit too slow given you only would start with 2 actions per player. Oh and it also completely deserves the comparisons to Caylus. Final Conclusion: Decent game that I wouldn't want to play with less than 4 players but probably would play it again. Though I think I would want to increase the victory points for the buildings. It didn't seem to make a lot of difference, even at the end when someone was building one for 6 points that had accumulated for most of the game.
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Aug 6, 2012 19:13
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A Strange Aeon posted:I was bored Sunday so my girlfriend and I went to Games Unlimited. I normally go to Phantom of the Attic, but Games Unlimited has a bigger used games section, and I usually find something cool there. Sup, fellow Pittsgoon  Games Unlimited is my favorite as well, they tend to have a better selection and I don't have to go to Oakland. Also, when my wife bought me a Tichu deck there for my birthday the guy was basically "ZOMG YOU GUYS SHOULD COME TO OUR GAME NIGHT" which stands in pretty stark contrast with the times that I've been in there. Not that they're grumpy, they're just never particularly interested in doing anything other than ringing me up.
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Aug 6, 2012 19:13
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I played Virgin Queen last night and I'd just like to say I understand why Broken Loose, The General, et al hate dice so much. Seriously, gently caress dice.
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Aug 6, 2012 19:38
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Tried out Le Havre on IOS this weekend and got hooked. Thinking about picking this up and another game that seems often clumped with it, Agricola. They will mostly be played by 2-3 people, and possibly solo on a Sunday afternoon when I'm not busy. Any opinions?
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Aug 6, 2012 19:57
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Philthy posted:Tried out Le Havre on IOS this weekend and got hooked. Thinking about picking this up and another game that seems often clumped with it, Agricola. They will mostly be played by 2-3 people, and possibly solo on a Sunday afternoon when I'm not busy. Any opinions? Don't get Gric. Get Dungeon Lords instead. Gric takes too long, has too much luck, doesn't have enough interaction, and the pacing is awful. A game can take 2-4 hours but the winner is obvious a half hour in, and the game usually ends the first time a player activates his engine so it's an incredibly unsatisfying experience for everybody else. Dungeon Lords is shorter, has a better theme, has less of a luck factor, has more options to express yourself when building, has better pacing throughout, has more interaction, has better art and components, and is fun as hell. Dungeon Lords can't (officially) be played solo, but I still can't let you do this to yourself.
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Aug 6, 2012 20:09
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Get Gric, it's an awesome game. Has variable starts, you can see what's coming, plenty of strategy to figure out, the only down side (that you can eliminate through drafting) is the combos that can happen randomly, leading to a run away leader. Also has lots of expansions. I never played a game of Gric (and I've played it at least 50 times) where the winner was determined before the last four turns as long as we drafted the starting cards. Don't get Dungeon Lords, long, grindy, rules heavy game that's really only good with four. You do the same thing all the time, the choices are there but not worth the time. Just offering a differing opinion...I still play Gric and sold Dungeon Lords after the second play.
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Aug 6, 2012 20:24
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I keep thinking about making a "What game should I get next" website. Basically, you select a game you've played, and it asks you what you liked/hated about it, then gives you recommendations based off that choice. For example: I just played Battlestar Galactica and: - I hated the length: Try The Resistance - I want to play something worse: Try Panic Station - I love the coop/theme but don't want a traitor mechanic: Try Space Alert (In honor of BL all games would have one choice that recommended Space Alert)
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Aug 6, 2012 20:30
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Agricola is a great game, but it's definitely a 'love it or hate it' game if there ever was one. If you're looking to try something similar to Le Havre I'd more recommend Ora et Labora. It borrows a lot of the concepts from Le Havre but adds a new aspect in placing your buildings on a player board that scores points for placement in a variety of ways. Ora is great in that player range you're mentioning. Agricola has a similar feel but unlike both Le Havre and Ora where you have an abundance of several different resources, Agricola has you suffering without any resource to do anything for the first two thirds of the game. Then you'll be staring at a large pile of reed available for the taking yet there's nothing you can do with it now. But it's very fun. A lot of what Broken Loose said can hold true but really if you remove some of the broken cards from the occupations/minor improvements decks and ideally have some sort of selection process it shouldn't be a runaway game like he described. And to throw my 2 cents in, Dungeon Lords is also a phenomenal game (the games mentioned in this post make up 4 of the 7 games I rate at a 9/10 or higher) but in my opinion it doesn't scale down to a 2 player game well.
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Aug 6, 2012 20:42
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I like Ora the best of the three, I haven't played it as much, but I have only had it since December. I'll never turn down a game of Ora....to me Rosenberg took the best of the two previous games and made Ora.
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Aug 6, 2012 20:59
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Crackbone posted:I keep thinking about making a "What game should I get next" website. Basically, you select a game you've played, and it asks you what you liked/hated about it, then gives you recommendations based off that choice. On that note.. I just recently played El Grande and absolutely loved it. I enjoyed the variable scoring and how the cards could change player strategy. From everyone I've spoken to about the game, it is pretty much a top game on many lists. What type of game/genre would I be looking for if I enjoyed El Grande? Although these same people have told me that whatever I end up playing, it will probably not be as good.
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Aug 6, 2012 21:01
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El Grande is the classic area control game, so if you like, search on boardgamegeek,com for games with that mechanic. Web of Power/China is also a classic area control game, you might want to try it.
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Aug 6, 2012 21:03
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Get both Agricola and Dungeon Lords. And Dungeon Petz. They're all awesome. Don't get Le Havre, it's too single-strategy (as I have finally accepted, c.f. discussions a few pages back), though it definitely has some cool ideas in it. EDIT: That's in response to the guy asking about those games, of course, not to the one asking about El Grande.
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Aug 6, 2012 21:15
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A Strange Aeon posted:I was bored Sunday so my girlfriend and I went to Games Unlimited. I normally go to Phantom of the Attic, but Games Unlimited has a bigger used games section, and I usually find something cool there. Pittsgoon in exile here, Games Unlimited was the game store I could walk to from my house and will always hold a place in my heart. Picked up Wooden Ships and Iron Men for like 5bux and some sick Formula De minis last time I was in town. They had a copy of Civilization for lke $40 also that I whiffed on. They probably still have the absurd stack of Europa series games I can't afford. Ideal day in high school:  Frick Park , dig in Jerry's, hang out at Games Unlimited, eat at Zaws.
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Aug 6, 2012 21:20
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Sherrard posted:Civilization Not necessarily you Sherrard, but tell me about Civilization. I got a copy for Christmas a couple years ago but I haven't actually looked at it. Now that the wife and I are on a huge board game kick I am thinking about dragging it out one night. e: the 2010 Civ V tie in one that it. Naramyth fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Aug 6, 2012 |
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Aug 6, 2012 21:24
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Heads up to everyone: If you wanted to buy Dominant Species, it's going for $39.99 at CSI right now. Dominant Species @ CSI
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Aug 6, 2012 21:36
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VoodooXT posted:Heads up to everyone: If you wanted to buy Dominant Species, it's going for $39.99 at CSI right now. If there was ever a time to break down and just buy it... But now I need $100 worth, ugh.
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Aug 6, 2012 22:01
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Kiranamos posted:If there was ever a time to break down and just buy it... It is never enough. Never enough board games.
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Aug 6, 2012 22:04
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VoodooXT posted:Heads up to everyone: If you wanted to buy Dominant Species, it's going for $39.99 at CSI right now. EDIT: I'm wrong. The egg, it's on my face! Fate Accomplice fucked around with this message at 22:13 on Aug 6, 2012 |
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Aug 6, 2012 22:04
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VoodooXT posted:Heads up to everyone: If you wanted to buy Dominant Species, it's going for $39.99 at CSI right now. Gah, worst timing ever, I just spent all my fun money on a new tablet (for playing board games, of course).
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Aug 6, 2012 22:07
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Malloreon posted:FYI I'm 80% sure this is because they're clearing out space for the new 3rd edition with upgraded components. Uh, that IS the third edition.
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Aug 6, 2012 22:10
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Sherrard posted:Pittsgoon in exile here, Games Unlimited was the game store I could walk to from my house and will always hold a place in my heart. Picked up Wooden Ships and Iron Men for like 5bux and some sick Formula De minis last time I was in town. They had a copy of Civilization for lke $40 also that I whiffed on. They probably still have the absurd stack of Europa series games I can't afford. Haha, I think they finally moved that copy of Civilization...I had asked about it last time I was there, and was told that it was a misprint, with two of the one board. But then, there was basically another copy of Civ bundled with it, so I guess if you bought that, you'd have all the components. I seriously considered it, but am actually pretty glad I didn't pursue it, since regular Civ isn't super hard to get, and I doubt I'd really play it more than once a year, if that. Yeah, Squirrel Hill is the place to be...I lived there when I went to Pitt and Jerry's is just so hard to beat for vinyl hounds. And Mr. Glass--Games Unlimited has a weird thing going on that I don't quite understand--the store is basically half sort of educational / classic games, half hobby board games, a bunch of small casual games, a pretty nice used section, and then like TONS and TONS of puzzles. I never understood that--they used to have some RPGs, but they don't seem to stock them anymore. And they don't stock any miniatures. And Phantom of the Attic has lots of minis and a pretty good RPG section, including tons of used RPG books which is cool. But a bit less board game selection. I guess I just don't get the puzzle thing that Games Unlimited has going on--do people seriously go to hobby stores to buy puzzles? Who buys puzzles? I wish GU used that space to let people play games there, or something--they seem to have a bunch of store copies of games behind the counter, but I don't know who plays them, or where.
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Aug 6, 2012 22:11
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xopods posted:I played Virgin Queen last night and I'd just like to say I understand why Broken Loose, The General, et al hate dice so much.
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Aug 6, 2012 22:17
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A Strange Aeon posted:I was bored Sunday so my girlfriend and I went to Games Unlimited. I normally go to Phantom of the Attic, but Games Unlimited has a bigger used games section, and I usually find something cool there. I love A La Cart. The stoves are what I had problem with, assembling. With the one shaker though that had a problem - we just used some clear cellophane tape on it. No fuss, no muss, no finding tiny plastic spices on the carpet. In case you were not already, think of the many drinking possibilities with this game!
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Aug 6, 2012 22:19
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Tekopo posted:Even though I love CDGs, I have to agree with you there because the combat system has always been awful in those lines of games. Anything that uses 'count number of troops and roll that many dice, 5+ to hit' is lazy in terms of how the combat system is designed. It's almost forgivable in HIS or VQ because the focus is diplomacy, but things like Napoleonic Wars and Wellington are unforgivable in that respect. Most other CDGs have a better combat resolution system than that. I'd love to finally play HIS or VQ and complain with you guys about the dice rolling, but no one wants to play and I have no idea what the hell I'm doing if I attempt to teach it (probably because I've never played before despite owning HIS).
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Aug 6, 2012 22:24
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VoodooXT posted:I'd love to finally play HIS or VQ and complain with you guys about the dice rolling, but no one wants to play and I have no idea what the hell I'm doing if I attempt to teach it (probably because I've never played before despite owning HIS). Get on IRC.
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Aug 6, 2012 22:25
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Augure posted:Get on IRC. I can't right now. 
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Aug 6, 2012 22:43
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Le Havre is a Good Game with Lots of Strategy but is it's also dry as hell. I've played it a couple times, but I personally wouldn't buy it for myself. There's a couple that always brings it to our local game meet-ups, and that table is always dead quiet, no smiles, no laughter, no banter. Just four people staring sleepily and grumpily at the board.
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Aug 6, 2012 22:49
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Tekopo posted:Even though I love CDGs, I have to agree with you there because the combat system has always been awful in those lines of games. Anything that uses 'count number of troops and roll that many dice, 5+ to hit' is lazy in terms of how the combat system is designed. It's almost forgivable in HIS or VQ because the focus is diplomacy, but things like Napoleonic Wars and Wellington are unforgivable in that respect. Most other CDGs have a better combat resolution system than that. Well, the other CDG combat systems basically involve counting up odds and rolling a single die, not sure you can complain about swinginess in the VQ bucket o die combat.
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Aug 6, 2012 23:12
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Because modifiers have a drastic effect on probabilities and using force ratios mean that 2 troops are going to have a hard time winning against 10, something which I have actually seen happen in systems like HIS/VQ? Tabular systems like in PuG with modifiers on the dice roll mean that usually a weaker force is gonna lose against a bigger one, although it is possible to leave some unpredictability which is fine. VQ/HIS, with no modifiers, mean that the combat is so swingy that you have no control over winning/losing, because hey, even with more troops you could just get extremely unlucky and increasing the number of dice just makes things worse. My favourite combat system for a CDG is actually For the People/We the People etc. It has very large modifiers (thanks to generals bonuses can get ridiculous), but actually punishes high modified rolls. Those sort of nuances aren't present in the HIS/VQ system, it's just throw a bucket of dice and hope you get lucky.
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Aug 6, 2012 23:19
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Tekopo posted:Because modifiers have a drastic effect on probabilities and using force ratios mean that 2 troops are going to have a hard time winning against 10, something which I have actually seen happen in systems like HIS/VQ? Tabular systems like in PuG with modifiers on the dice roll mean that usually a weaker force is gonna lose against a bigger one, although it is possible to leave some unpredictability which is fine. VQ/HIS, with no modifiers, mean that the combat is so swingy that you have no control over winning/losing, because hey, even with more troops you could just get extremely unlucky and increasing the number of dice just makes things worse. A strong force is generally going to beat a weaker force in a bucket of dice mechanism, too, you just tend to remember the one time you couldn't roll a hit. I mean a 12-2 attack in VQ is generally going to result in an attacker victory, the same way it will in any CRT or modified die roll game. I mean, most CRTs are designed to always give a chance of a decent result to the outnumbered party anyway, so there's still hella variance. Buckets of die are way more likely to hit their normal distribution than individual die rolls anyway. I don't know, the individual combats were never the strength of a CDG or even a wargame, more the ability to react to the result, and the whole context of the game. CDGs have way more randomness in the draws anyway.
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Aug 6, 2012 23:37
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I don't mind the randomness in the draw and yes, generally a smaller force will lose to a bigger even in a bucket of dice game, but at least with CRT the luck can be mitigated somewhat, especially by considering your force ratio. What I am driving to here is not that variance needs to be completely removed, but you have to give tools to the player in order to mitigate the variance, which makes them feel in control of the game and usually CRT games have mechanisms that allows players to do so, depending on where they attack with what forces against how many enemies etc etc. in the bucket of dice system, it's completely out of your hands. Even forces just tend to be a complete crapshoot, which can be true in CRT systems but usually the results are less drastic depending on the game. Additionally, since it's all based on a single die roll, CRT games can afford to use modifiers much more than bucket of dice games, because usually adding modifiers to a lot of dice rolls has a massive effect on combat results. I think it all comes down to that for me: can I do anything about my luck? In VQ/HIS, the answer is overwhelmingly no, while other CDGs provide me enough mitigation for me to make it feel like my choices make a difference.
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Aug 6, 2012 23:48
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A Strange Aeon posted:And Mr. Glass--Games Unlimited has a weird thing going on that I don't quite understand--the store is basically half sort of educational / classic games, half hobby board games, a bunch of small casual games, a pretty nice used section, and then like TONS and TONS of puzzles. I never understood that--they used to have some RPGs, but they don't seem to stock them anymore. And they don't stock any miniatures. Yeah, their overall selection is baffling, but they have more board games than Phantom of the Attic (last time I was at the latter, at least, which admittedly was a while ago). I don't really care about RPGs/miniatures, so that aspect doesn't bother me.
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Aug 7, 2012 00:06
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A Strange Aeon posted:Games Unlimited has a weird thing going on that I don't quite understand--the store is basically half sort of educational / classic games, half hobby board games, a bunch of small casual games, a pretty nice used section, and then like TONS and TONS of puzzles. I never understood that--they used to have some RPGs, but they don't seem to stock them anymore. Apparently the puzzle thing is a combination of A: a large swath of the public expects games stores to carry puzzles, and B: people who are buying puzzles don't want to special order a puzzle or wait for it to come in. Go game shops need a wide selection in order to do business with that segment. It's also apparently very seasonal.
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Aug 7, 2012 00:59
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Hey, Orlando goons, what are your plans this week? I need you for playtesting.
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Aug 7, 2012 03:53
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Broken Loose posted:Hey, Orlando goons, what are your plans this week? I need you for playtesting. wanna play this game did you know it's the only game that bgg superstar Broken Loose has rated 10??
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Aug 7, 2012 04:09
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bobvonunheil posted:wanna play this game I think I briefly had Dungeon Lords rated 10 but my ego tried to smother me with a pillow that night. I'm actually really excited about the game as it is and am glad that it wasn't released 2-3 years ago when it was first playable. The game really opened up, I learned a lot about how to tackle non-mechanical design issues, and the amount of violent and horrible things you can do to people has exponentially increased. No more boring conga lines and explosions! Now it's spinning piledrivers, grenade olympics, fire-spewing weapons platforms, and telekinetically hurling people down bottomless pits!
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Aug 7, 2012 04:28
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But now I want to play this game, and I'm nowhere near you. Jerk.
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Aug 7, 2012 04:31
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I really should get off my rear end and advance Shoot the Core to the 'working prototype' stage. Or put some energy into the DJ Battle game concept I came up with in the car today.
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