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Bobby The Rookie posted:I've always been under the impression that the person at the table who's best at math will essentially always win, and that's kept me from picking it up. It's not so much math as it is just counting. Everyone can count, right?
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Jul 2, 2012 23:41
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GrandpaPants posted:Unfortunately, Virgin Queen seems like one of those games that I would love to play, but could never get on the table. You do realize we're doing a call-out for a VASSAL play this evening right? Still have two slots open!
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Jul 2, 2012 23:47
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Gilgamesh posted:It's not so much math as it is just counting. Everyone can count, right?
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Jul 2, 2012 23:48
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Can we have a list of people looking for groups/players on the OP? I keep trying to get a group together and I always find one single person who says they are down (need three minimum or it's too awkward to meet up!)
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Jul 2, 2012 23:49
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Train games tend to be very largely Euro, especially the ones you mentioned that involve Stocks. Train games can come in varying complexity, from TTR to the current ones that I am playing: 18XX. 18XX is a whole genre of train games that all play fairly alike: you start with a certain number of cash and buy private companies and corporation. Corporation you are usually required to float, which means buying enough shares to become their president, which allows you to control the company. The distinction in these games is that anyone can buy into anybody else's company, with buyouts being possible as well as dumping a completely useless company onto some unfortunate sod. Also, money that you, as the player, own and that the company owns is separate which adds to the distinction that you are a capitalist trying to make the most money rather than the fixed owner of a single company. It isn't unusual for someone to own more than one company through the game. The other major features of 18XX games are shared tracks (but not shared stations) and different types of trains that the corporations need to buy, which also have the effect of making other train obsolete, thus requiring careful judging of when an opponent is going to make your trains useless. In the end, games of 18XX don't usually get won by who has the best company running, but who has invested early and well enough in order to rake in the big bucks, with the disadvantage that you can usually tell mid-way through the game if you are going to lose. There are a multitude of 18XX games, each playing slightly differently. 1830 is the most well known and usually involves starting one company to run for extreme profit at the start but not sustainability to then fund your second, main company. I have so far only played 1846 and 18Neb, which are far more reliant on just having a single successful company (although manipulation of the stock market is important). In summary, 18XX is pretty much the high end in terms of complex train games, but they are worth playing since the games truly reflect the era rather than being abstracted down. I didn't really like train games until I tried 18XX and now I'm hooked. The only problem might be finding people to play, though.
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Jul 2, 2012 23:52
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^^^^  Thranguy posted:So, where does that subset of games that include Railroads and/or Stock Certificates fall in the Amer/Euro spectrum, anyhow? (And is anyone here of sufficient authority on them to contribute an overview post on that group?)  , but if you have any specific questions I've played a lot of Winsome games and slightly fewer 18xx games.
Trash Ops fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 2, 2012 23:53
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Don't forget the Age of Steam railroad branch as well. This includes Age of Steam, Railways of the Word, and Steam. There's a sub-genre that starts with Chicago Express and includes German Railways. And then of course there's the crayon games: Empire Builder, Iron Dragon, (choose your country)Rails, and Lunar Rails. Bringing up the rear is a bunch of railroad games like Railway Rivals, Silverton, Bullfrog Goldfield, the upcoming Locomotive Werks and Union Pacific.
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Jul 3, 2012 00:04
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I played Age of Steam and hated it so much it nearly putt me off railway games completely, since the game is so reliant on getting the correct rails at the start and who-ever pulls ahead pretty much wins the game. The same is true of 18XX but at least in 18XX you can do something about it, more or less. So I wouldn't personally recommend them (even though usually I'm a Wallace fan), but YMMV.
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Jul 3, 2012 00:07
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Tekopo posted:Train games tend to be very largely Euro, especially the ones you mentioned that involve Stocks. Well, I was wanting to define the group in such a manner as to include the crayon games, 18xx, Ticket, as well as outliers like Acquire*. (And probably also somehow put Power Grid into the category, which I didn't do, and exclude Monopoly, ditto. I guess "Games about connecting things on a graph" would be the best category definition? Edit: about that and money. Wouldn't put Twixt or Hex in the same group.) *:Which probably manages to belong to a category that it predates by several decades, somehow... Thranguy fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 00:10
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Locomotive Works is the game where I miscalculated by one dollar and was functionally eliminated.
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Jul 3, 2012 00:12
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Bobby The Rookie posted:I've always been under the impression that the person at the table who's best at math will essentially always win, and that's kept me from picking it up. I don't really find that's the case. You want to add up the cities and connections you plan to buy & save that much cash for the end of your turn, but that's about it. You can count out the prices of resources when you buy them. I guess you could get an advantage by adding up costs for future turns, but unless you are just amazing at guessing what other players will do, that's going to be hard as all poo poo to pull off. Knowing how to game player order and which plants to go for is way more important than getting more than a ballpark "budget" for your turn. I doubt anyone would mind if you got a pencil and bit of scrap paper if you wanted to figure things out though. EDIT: The worst math you're doing is like "I want to buy three cities, which cost $10 apiece. The connection costs between them are $7, $6, and $9. I should save $52 for that." BoBtheImpaler fucked around with this message at 00:30 on Jul 3, 2012 |
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Jul 3, 2012 00:23
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Even 'light' railway games tend to be largely very Euro in their philosophy due to the fact that the game is mostly deterministic and does not rely on rolls. Even TTR, which has the highest randomness factor in terms of train games, still has very Euro elements to its design, since people have control on what cards they pick up and the theme doesn't effect the flow of the game. In the end, it's sometimes not possible to class games as euro or american: I find this true both in train games (since even 18XX games have certain concessions made for theme at the expense of rule clarity), but, much like wargames, they tend to be a mixture of the two genre without the possibility of pinning it really on one side or the other.
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Jul 3, 2012 00:28
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Trynant posted:You do realize we're doing a call-out for a VASSAL play this evening right? Still have two slots open!
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Jul 3, 2012 01:01
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Just woke up; changed the American/Euro analogy slightly to something less stupid. Anything else needs fixing in the OP?
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Jul 3, 2012 01:14
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I made a post on the other thread about train games. In short, you have a few different types: Economic Games: This includes 18xx, Chicago Express, Imperial (doesn't involve trains, but it's a train game), and some heavier Winsome stuff like Baltimore and Ohio. These games are entirely financial, anything done productively on the map is just there to manipulate prices. As a rule of thumb, if you hold stocks in companies and don't know what the hell is going on, you're probably playing an economic game. Network Building Games: The most popular of this group is (Age of) Steam, also known as a pick-up-and-deliver game. I'd also throw Brass into this group, though railways take a back seat. In these games, the financial element of the game is still strong, but money is typically used to increase the value of a player's infrastructure. Unlike the pure economic games, players take the role of a company rather holding shares. This leads to players wanting companies to actually succeed rather than sucking the life out of them at opportune times. Train games would fall more into the ridiculously heavy Euro camp, but are generally regarded as separate from Euros based on their history and the fact that many Euro gamers hate these games with a passion. Good starting points for those not wanting to jump right into 18xx are Chicago Express and Imperial. Both of those games are arguably as deep as 18xx, but much easier to learn and faster to play.
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Jul 3, 2012 01:21
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Broken Loose posted:Just woke up; changed the American/Euro analogy slightly to something less stupid. Anything else needs fixing in the OP? Link up Table Top with Wil Wheaton so that new players can figure out how to play some of the most popular games and screw up all the rules.
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Jul 3, 2012 01:31
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Some time near the end of the last thread (I clicked back 15 pages and didn't see it but I may have just missed it) someone posted an online site for playing a handful of different games online, including Caylus and Stone Age. It was entirely browser based, but I can't find it. Anyone have any clue what I'm talking about?
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Jul 3, 2012 02:37
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Countblanc posted:Some time near the end of the last thread (I clicked back 15 pages and didn't see it but I may have just missed it) someone posted an online site for playing a handful of different games online, including Caylus and Stone Age. It was entirely browser based, but I can't find it. Anyone have any clue what I'm talking about? See "PLAY ONLINE" in the OP.
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Jul 3, 2012 02:42
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Countblanc posted:Some time near the end of the last thread (I clicked back 15 pages and didn't see it but I may have just missed it) someone posted an online site for playing a handful of different games online, including Caylus and Stone Age. It was entirely browser based, but I can't find it. Anyone have any clue what I'm talking about? I think it might be http://en.boardgamearena.com/ That's my favourite place to play games.
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Jul 3, 2012 03:04
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Picked up Galaxy Trucker and played the first round with my wife. I think I'm really going to like it and she will too once she reads the rules and we get to play a few more times. That brings me up to 3 Vlaada games out of the 15 that I own. Clearly this ratio needs to be improved (I'm looking at you dugneon lords/pets). Twilight Struggle - what's the difference between the regular and deluxe edition and is the latter worth the extra cost?
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Jul 3, 2012 03:14
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Broken Loose posted:See "PLAY ONLINE" in the OP. It wasn't there but thank you for the helpful suggestion Tann posted:I think it might be http://en.boardgamearena.com/ Yeah this is it, thank you.
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Jul 3, 2012 03:28
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So, a quick question. Is Empire of the Sun a lot like Paths of Glory or Barbarossa to Berlin? Or is it it's own system? I really enjoy that style of game.
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Jul 3, 2012 03:40
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Countblanc posted:It wasn't there but thank you for the helpful suggestion If you ever need someone to play with, PM me for skype!
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Jul 3, 2012 04:05
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I'm the one who posted BGA, and I'm usually lurking about. I don't really have social communications programs but I'd be willing to install them if need be.
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Jul 3, 2012 04:22
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Prefect Six posted:Picked up Galaxy Trucker and played the first round with my wife. I think I'm really going to like it and she will too once she reads the rules and we get to play a few more times. That brings me up to 3 Vlaada games out of the 15 that I own. Clearly this ratio needs to be improved (I'm looking at you dugneon lords/pets). The biggest difference that I can remember is that the deluxe edition has a mounted mapboard. I think it's worth it.
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Jul 3, 2012 05:53
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Tann posted:I think it might be http://en.boardgamearena.com/ Does BGA work on an iPad? That would be absolutely brilliant if it did.
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Jul 3, 2012 05:56
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Prefect Six posted:
In the Deluxe Edition, the board and tokens are sturdier and higher quality. There's 7 new optional cards for the deck. I use them when I play. I'd type what they are but I'm at work at the moment. There's some changes to the starting set-up and there's an added Chinese Civil War variant that can alter the early game significantly. There are probably some other changes, but I can't think of them at the moment. Overall, I'd recommend going with the deluxe.
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Jul 3, 2012 06:04
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Get the deluxe edition. It's not that much more and the optional cards are good to play with, and you will be kicking yourself for not getting the nice components later once you realise the game is really good.
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Jul 3, 2012 06:20
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Yeah, the Deluxe Edition for Twilight Struggle is only around $48 bucks on Amazon. Quality components and really fun game.
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Jul 3, 2012 06:24
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Countblanc posted:It wasn't there but thank you for the helpful suggestion quote:Yeah this is it, thank you. I haven't tried boardgamearena, but I like BrettSpielWelt for Caylus and Stone Age. Lots of players, and a pretty good interface with official graphics and such.
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Jul 3, 2012 06:41
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Shovelmint posted:It is. After he edited it in, which was after I made that post, yes. As for BSW vs. Other Things, I really only play board games online with my IRL friends or certain online mates so a site that I can just link people to and go is a lot easier to suggest than a client that's as intuitiveness as BSW. Granted I haven't used it in over a year, but the menus seemed sorta wonky and the interface was sluggish. The games themselves were gorgeous and full-featured though, I'll absolutely give it that.
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Jul 3, 2012 07:09
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Alberta Cross posted:So, a quick question. Is Empire of the Sun a lot like Paths of Glory or Barbarossa to Berlin? Or is it it's own system? I really enjoy that style of game. It's definitely it's own system. The only similarity is that they both use cards which can be played as events or to move stuff around. EotS is a lot more complicated, and focuses heavily on air/naval interaction and dealing with logistics in a theater as large as the Pacific. I would highly recommend skimming the rules and ideally trying a turn or two before you pick it up, as it really is a significant step up in complexity. If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them, though I'm hardly an expert on the game.
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Jul 3, 2012 07:42
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Broken Loose posted:Just woke up; changed the American/Euro analogy slightly to something less stupid. Anything else needs fixing in the OP? Maybe add something about tablet versions?
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Jul 3, 2012 10:55
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MY GIRLFRIEND's brother persuaded her to play a game of Ticket to Ride with us, and she absolutely loved it, she was really engrossed in it. Which is great, because she, like a lot of people, has this preconceived notion that boardgames are boring and for nerds. The problem is that I really don't like Ticket to Ride for some reason, but I'd like to find something else for us to play. Any tips on games that someone who likes TTR would also like?
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Jul 3, 2012 11:55
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Geisladisk posted:MY GIRLFRIEND's brother persuaded her to play a game of Ticket to Ride with us, and she absolutely loved it, she was really engrossed in it. Which is great, because she, like a lot of people, has this preconceived notion that boardgames are boring and for nerds. Ticket to Ride was a great gateway game for my wife and her siblings. After we got them hooked on TTR we've had some luck with Carcassonne and Stone Age. I've also had a chance to play Dixit with a bunch of new non-gamers and that was really well received.
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Jul 3, 2012 12:04
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blackmongoose posted:It's definitely it's own system. The only similarity is that they both use cards which can be played as events or to move stuff around. EotS is a lot more complicated, and focuses heavily on air/naval interaction and dealing with logistics in a theater as large as the Pacific. I would highly recommend skimming the rules and ideally trying a turn or two before you pick it up, as it really is a significant step up in complexity. If you have any specific questions I'd be happy to answer them, though I'm hardly an expert on the game. That's too bad, that's about as complex as I'm willing to go. Looks like I'll have to wait for the For the People reprint.
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Jul 3, 2012 12:09
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I love For the People (see AV), but it's an unwieldy beast of a game. Games will take an entire day to play, even with breaks for lunch and that's a long time to play a single game. As well as that, it is fairly complex, much more so than PoG or B2B since as well as worrying about supply lines, you also have to worry about river movement, forming armies, moving generals about the board and so on. Also, since For the People was created during the infancy of CDGs (it's one of the few original ones that came out soon after We the People came out), it misses a lot of the improvements that are present within newer, more polished CDGs. One notable example is that there is a shared deck of cards, but if you play enemy events for Ops, they don't get fired like in Twilight Struggle. Also, the event deck is ABSOLUTELY HUGE, which means that you are unlikely to reshuffle the deck, which is one of the main things that makes PoG and TS play as well as they do. Additionally, with a few exceptions, you almost never want to play cards for events, since playing Ops is much more important. I might be sounding overly negative, but the game does have many good points as well. First of all, it manages to abstract the Civil War in a fairly realistical way and there is a true feeling that the generals are the focus of the game, as they were in the real life conflict. The combat system is based on D6 plus modifiers, but there are a lot more modifiers than in most other games, which means that battles don't tend to be too swingy, something I especially like and one of the reasons why I consider the combat system one of my favourites ever. Losing battles also is hardly ever catastrophic, since it is usually hard to compeltely destroy an enemy force, which adds both a touch of realism and strategy to the game. Also, the option on hand for both sides are huge, as befits such a large theater of war, with the North being able to do amphibious landings (which restrict how many troops the South can get) or simply try to grind down the South, although this is hard at the start since your generals are so bad compared to the Southern Generals until you start getting the likes of Sherman, Grant or Thomas. In the end, I've only managed to play this game three times and all of the times it has been a grinder of a game in which both sides could potentially win. I would strongly suggest not to buy it unless you have someone you know is willing to play it with you. In terms of complexity I would rate it above PoG/B2B and probably below Empire of the Sun, although I haven't had a chance to play the latter.
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Jul 3, 2012 12:23
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Geisladisk posted:The problem is that I really don't like Ticket to Ride for some reason, but I'd like to find something else for us to play. Any tips on games that someone who likes TTR would also like? Thurns and Taxis.
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Jul 3, 2012 12:41
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Just played the Space Alert training missions with my in laws. I thought they would have no chance but they loved it and my 54 year old father in law asked where to buy a copy 
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Jul 3, 2012 12:47
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Prefect Six posted:Picked up Galaxy Trucker and played the first round with my wife. I think I'm really going to like it and she will too once she reads the rules and we get to play a few more times. That brings me up to 3 Vlaada games out of the 15 that I own. Clearly this ratio needs to be improved (I'm looking at you dugneon lords/pets). I cannot recommend Dungeon Petz enough. It's a great worker placement game, really easy to pick up and get into thanks to the funny pets and the dumb stuff that's going on.
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Jul 3, 2012 16:55
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