How do you like Netrunner?

I enjoy it. Only got to play a couple times as the wife didn't enjoy it as much as me. I thought the strategy of setting traps and trying to misdirect, or conversely trying to get by the other players best laid plan was great.

Got to break in my new Sheriff of Nottingham game last night. Also got to introduce Pandemic to a couple of friends, we even managed to eek out a win by the skin of our teeth.

Sherrif is a fun one, IF you have a group that's willing to have fun with it. The people we usually play games with don't enjoy that style of game, so I'll pull it out when we have other friends around.

Bulldog73 said:

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Sherrif is a fun one, IF you have a group that's willing to have fun with it. The people we usually play games with don't enjoy that style of game, so I'll pull it out when we have other friends around.

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I've only played it once, but I absolutely loved it. My wife did not. I love negotiation and deception in games, she doesn't.

My daughter and I are big fans of board/card games but she is all grown and married and moved so I'm trying to convince my wife and 17 year old son to play some but they aren't big fans usually. Wife did like Ticket to Ride ok, she just doesn't like fantasy or sci-fi type settings. So I ordered Pandemic Legacy blue to try and play and see if we can enjoy that with my current group. I figure cooperative play will lead to less arguing and hurt feelings haha.

I'll update when we get a chance to play. Watching football and wife has some viral thing today.

For those of you who watch Tabletop, here are the release dates for the rest of the season:

Got a chance to play Blood Rage for the first time last night. It was a decent step up from the games my group has played in the past, but we had a lot of fun with it. I wound up running away with it because I was the only one who had a single strategy and stuck with it for the whole game. I'm excited to give it another shot now that the group has seen how those cards can work together and to see how the meta of the group can change.

3rdGen2015 said:

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Got a chance to play Blood Rage for the first time last night. It was a decent step up from the games my group has played in the past, but we had a lot of fun with it. I wound up running away with it because I was the only one who had a single strategy and stuck with it for the whole game. I'm excited to give it another shot now that the group has seen how those cards can work together and to see how the meta of the group can change.

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Nice! I'm playing Blood Rage this weekend.

Bryan98 said:

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3rdGen2015 said:

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Got a chance to play Blood Rage for the first time last night. It was a decent step up from the games my group has played in the past, but we had a lot of fun with it. I wound up running away with it because I was the only one who had a single strategy and stuck with it for the whole game. I'm excited to give it another shot now that the group has seen how those cards can work together and to see how the meta of the group can change.

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Nice! I'm playing Blood Rage this weekend.

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How many times have you gotten to play? Do you have a specific strategy you attempt each time or do you wing it based on the cards you get in the first few draft rounds?

I played Blood Rage once but did terribly because i didnt realize you could increase a stat every time you complete a quest so I played the entire game with the default 6 rage per round. I did enjoy the mechanics of it though. I am eager to play it again. I have played a couple games of Kemet recently which I really like, so I'd like to compare them. I also have a copy of Cry Havoc, another "dudes on a map" game that I have yet to play but is in the same vein.

I played several matches of Clank! with my daughter when she was in town last. Really fun little board game. Quick game and very interesting mechanics.

3rdGen2015 said:

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Bryan98 said:

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3rdGen2015 said:

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Got a chance to play Blood Rage for the first time last night. It was a decent step up from the games my group has played in the past, but we had a lot of fun with it. I wound up running away with it because I was the only one who had a single strategy and stuck with it for the whole game. I'm excited to give it another shot now that the group has seen how those cards can work together and to see how the meta of the group can change.

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Nice! I'm playing Blood Rage this weekend.

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How many times have you gotten to play? Do you have a specific strategy you attempt each time or do you wing it based on the cards you get in the first few draft rounds?

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I've only played three games so far I believe. So far I don't go in with a particular strategy in mind.

KidDoc said:

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I played several matches of Clank! with my daughter when she was in town last. Really fun little board game. Quick game and very interesting mechanics.

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Clank is one of my favorite games at the moment. We played it wrong tho so the person going first got a huge advantage

One of my friends took advantage of that ~$9 off sale on Amazon earlier this week to get a few smaller games, so I tried quite a few new small games this weekend.

First, we started off with Sushi Go. It was the first time I had ever played it and it was a good time. It can be very punishing if you aren't careful with your choices though.

Then, we went to King of Tokyo. Great game. If you have kids, they will absolutely love being a giant beast. The colors are bright and nothing is too complicated, it plays quickly too.

Next, Forbidden Island got brought out. My group doesn't do co-op games too often, so it was a nice change of pace. We didn't win, but I could see it being fun with the right group. As far as co-op games go, I think I prefer Pandemic over this if given the choice.

We finished with some Love Letter. I absolutely loved this one. It was so simple, yet has an added layer of depth as people figure out how to play. Plus, the packaging (bagged edition) is very minimalist and nice looking.

I played Blood Rage the last two Saturdays. The same Ole Miss grad stomped the other three players both times. Great game, but being soundly outplayed by him both times is a bit deflating. I knew before I invited him that he was very good at strategic games, but I didn't expect him to annihilate us from the get-go.

How did he play that he was so far ahead the whole game?

3rdGen2015 said:

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How did he play that he was so far ahead the whole game?

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He wasn't ahead the whole game; he took the lead sometime in the second age, I think. We did manage to keep him from pillaging Ygdrassil during the first age, as well.

The first time he played he got the "Loki steals 1 rage" card as well as the "replace a figure that dies in battle with another Warrior for free" card, which meant that he could rage steal from everyone with no drawback. We made sure he didn't get that combo this time, but he instead went with a straightforward domination plan that utilized some high value battle cards, some of the battle trump cards, and the card that lets you save a figure from destruction by paying a rage. He managed to force some tie battles, meaning that he kept his great battle cards and saved an important figure or two by paying rage - so he still had a great force and the best battle cards for the next go-around.

We met him playing Magic in a sealed Grand Prix event. He made day two and finished in the money. When we invited him to start drafting with us, he was instantly the best player in our circle. So it's no surprise that he has done well in a strategic game featuring a draft.

If nothing else, I was pleased that I improved my performance from week to week, and it was also nice to see a battle-oriented strategy win rather than something Loki or combo-oriented.

I've gone on a bit of a spending spree lately in 2017.

Got to play Resistance during a Super Bowl party. Great fun. Wish I had more opportunities to play with large groups. Funny to see the natural born players(liars) in a group. Unexpected results a couple times.

Code Names multiple plays so far. Has been a big success with every group.

Big purchase has been Gloomhaven. I'm one of the lucky few who found a retail copy at a random FLGS. Only something like 2,500 of 25,000 pre-orders were filled. Currently still unpacking and organizing everything. I've put about 3-4 hours into this effort and doing foam inserts. It's so freaking massive. Box weighed ~20 pounds

Bought Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack the Ripper. Really anxious to try this one out. Really wanted the original game but still waiting on the next re-print this year. 4 Jack the Ripper cases plus 6 old expansion cases consolidated. Many people think the original cases provide some of the best co-op experiences in board gaming.

Bought and played Santorini. This has been mostly a dud with the wife. Not sure this will stay in the collection long.

Bought and saving Forge War for a rainy day. This was really a contingency game if I didn't find Gloomhaven.

Eyeing Ghost Stories for later this year....much later as I dig into some of these others.

The Rising Sun Kickstarter has started and is already closing in on $1.1 million!

This is the next game from same team that created Blood Rage. I backed it as soon as the servers could handle it.

Because this is a cheesy CMON Kickstarter, there will be tons of exclusive content that you'll have to eBay later if you don't back it during the campaign.

A friend is backing Rising Sun, but I followed it a bit this afternoon when it launched. The minis certainly look excellent for this one, the Panda monster is probably going to sell for a ton for people who dont get in on the kickstarter. I'm pretty underwhelmed by a lot of the stretch goals though. Upgrading the money to plastic coins instead of metal? I would rather have the cardboard than plastic. I'm pretty negative on the practice of stretch goals in most kickstarters though, so old man yells at cloud I guess.

Negative on stretch goals, or Kickstarter exclusives?

Many people are asking for metal coins. I am guessing they'll be a higher stretch goal or add-on. I don't own any games with metal coins, so I'm definitely interested.

Negative on stretch goals in general, although I dont really have much of a problem with kickstarter exclusives that i can think of off the top of my head. What I dislike is CMON including stretch goals at ~300-700K for extra miniature sculpts and upgraded components for a project they know is going to fund in excess of $3MM. They should have just included those components in the game from the start. It's a silly, meaningless practice.

Stretch goals make sense for companies that actually need help funding their project, but they make little sense IMO for companies who are just using Kickstarter as a pre-order system.

Again, grumpy old man stuff, it's really not that big of a deal.

Minis look awesome but the video preview made it look like a $20 game with $80 figures. If you're into that I'm sure you'll get your value especially if you paint them.

Ok... I have several games and like playing cooperative games, competitive games, but don't have a super loyal group in the Waco area. It's usually my wife, me, and another couple. That being said, I'd love some input on other games which we could play.

Currently, we're working our way through Pandemic Legacy, but our wives don't love it. Games of deceit or misdirection haven't gone over well like Resistance and Sherriff of Nottingham. Carcassonne was a favorite as is Settlers and Ticket to Ride, but we've grown a little tired of them.

Bulldog73 said:

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Ok... I have several games and like playing cooperative games, competitive games, but don't have a super loyal group in the Waco area. It's usually my wife, me, and another couple. That being said, I'd love some input on other games which we could play.

Currently, we're working our way through Pandemic Legacy, but our wives don't love it. Games of deceit or misdirection haven't gone over well like Resistance and Sherriff of Nottingham. Carcassonne was a favorite as is Settlers and Ticket to Ride, but we've grown a little tired of them.

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try lords of waterdeep. it's got elements of catan but also some deck building. it's done by the dungeons and dragons people.

I'll check it although I'm forever angry with Wizards of the Coast for killing off Heroscape. That game will never be topped as my all time favorite.

This whole thread is trying to answer that kind of question

I would agree with schmendeler that Lords of Waterdeep would be a good one to try. It's an excellent introduction to worker placement games, although there definitely isn't any deck building in it, so I'm not sure what was meant by that.

I would also recommend Castles of Mad King Ludwig since Carcassonne was a hit. It's about placing tiles representing castle rooms in specific arrangements to get bonuses, but it also has a neat auction mechanic where one person establishes the values of the tiles and then the other players pay that person for the tiles that they want. Shouldnt be too hard pick up if the group is already familiar with something like Catan where establishing how much a particular item is worth to someone is an important part of the game.

I'm aware and I've read it all. It's just tough without a solid group that loves trying new games. I'll check out Castles of Mad King Ludwig too.

Red Five said:

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This whole thread is trying to answer that kind of question

I would agree with schmendeler that Lords of Waterdeep would be a good one to try. It's an excellent introduction to worker placement games, although there definitely isn't any deck building in it, so I'm not sure what was meant by that.

I would also recommend Castles of Mad King Ludwig since Carcassonne was a hit. It's about placing tiles representing castle rooms in specific arrangements to get bonuses, but it also has a neat auction mechanic where one person establishes the values of the tiles and then the other players pay that person for the tiles that they want. Shouldnt be too hard pick up if the group is already familiar with something like Catan where establishing how much a particular item is worth to someone is an important part of the game.

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incorrect terminology on my part.

Bulldog73 said:

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Ok... I have several games and like playing cooperative games, competitive games, but don't have a super loyal group in the Waco area. It's usually my wife, me, and another couple. That being said, I'd love some input on other games which we could play.

Currently, we're working our way through Pandemic Legacy, but our wives don't love it. Games of deceit or misdirection haven't gone over well like Resistance and Sherriff of Nottingham. Carcassonne was a favorite as is Settlers and Ticket to Ride, but we've grown a little tired of them.

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As suggested Castles of Mad King Ludwig is my wife's favorite game and gets played regularly.

If you're looking for games in the same complexity as your listed favorites then games like 7 Wonders, Alhambra, Betrayal at House on the Hill and Lords of Water Deep will work.

If you want to up the challenge and go to mid-weight economic games then stuff like Orleans, Concordia, Power Grid and Dead of Winter may work

Bulldog73 said:

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I'm aware and I've read it all. It's just tough without a solid group that loves trying new games. I'll check out Castles of Mad King Ludwig too.

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Have you checked out boardgame groups on Meetup.com? I would guess there are lots of students to play with in Waco. Or College Station, if you feel like driving.

I know Houston is gargantuan, but there are some great Meetup groups here, so I encourage everyone to look there if they need more players.

Thanks for the idea, I hadn't thought of it. I checked, no dice, but it was a noble idea nonetheless.

I also backed Rising Sun as my first every kickstarter. I need to get Blood Rage as well, and missing out on all the kickstarter exclusives is what let me to backing this. Seems like even if I hate it, the resale has been great for that kind of stuff.

Really bummed that i missed out on Gloomhaven, will probably back the second printing if that rumor proves true.

Bulldog, pick up TIME Stories. May be a bit expensive, but i recently played it with my wife and another couple and loved it. We are all looking forward to the next set.