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Review: No Thanks!:: A Girlfriend's Perspective On: No Thanks!

cerenycus — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:26:46 +0000

Phrase: Grandma-friendly games

Definition: Games my boyfriend's grandma would be able to pick up quickly and be able to play.

Finding games which are grandma friendly is a difficult thing to do. Before visiting, my boyfriend and I would stand at our boardgame collection and stare at them, trying to find a boardgame which is grandma friendly, but still interesting for the rest of us to play. One of the games we attempted to play with his grandma is No Thanks!

Contents

1 set of rules
33 cards numbered 3 to 35
55 playing chips

Recommended Players

This game is recommended with 3-5 players. I don't get to play it as often, because it is usually just me and my boyfriend, but this review is going to be based on a 4 player play.

Setup

Once the 33 cards are shuffled, you will count out 24 cards, and place them in a pile. The remaining 9 cards will be placed out of the game. No one is to look at the cards.

Each player will receive 11 chips. These chips are to be kept in your hands, so no one is able to tell how many chips you have. In a 3 or 4 player game, there will be chips remaining, they will be placed back in the box.

How to Play

Each player in the game is going to have 2 options.

- Take the card and put it in front of him, faceup
- or, decline it and put one chip next to the card.

On each card is going to be a number. The point of the game is to get the fewest amounts of points possible. There are 2 ways of doing this. You have the choice of passing the card by placing a chip on it, and saying "No Thanks!", or you can try to make series. How the game is going to be scored at the end of the game, is you are going to make a series of all of your cards. If you are able to make a series, you will take the lowest number in the series as your point count.

Example: You have cards 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. Since you have a series, you will only take 9 points. If you have 9, 10, 12, and 13, you don not have 1 series, you have 2, so your points will be 9 + 12.

If a card is going to be passed, and a chip will be need to be placed on it. When a card is passed to you, which you are wanting to keep, you can take the card, and all the chips on it. If you were to have no chips left in your hand, you will have to take the card.

How to Win

At the end of the game, the player with the fewest amount of points is deemed the winner

The Good vs The Bad

If you have no more chips, it forces you to pick up a card
Always keeps you guessing if there is a number that will fit between your two cards, or if it has been taken out
Very quick, in between game
Does not require to much brain thinking
Cards are not hidden from oters, so able to know what others are collecting

Survey Says

I do enjoy playing No Thanks! It is a game I can see picking up every once in a while, and giving it a go. I'm going to give this game .

I don't find myself playing this game as often as other people do. And it's not only because I mainly play two player games. After a while, I can see this game getting kind of tedious, as you are just trying to gather up the least amount of points. I see myself playing this game more when we are trying to decide who gets to pick the next boardgame. Either the winner (or the loser in our case) gets to choose the next game.

I can see how in certain game groups it would be a great addition. Very quick to get through, and can turn kind of cuthroat after a while. Once players start to realize what cards someone is trying to get, they may start to pick it up, to cost the other player more points. What is 15 points, when someone has the number 14, and 16.

What would probably make this game is a little more interesting, is hiding the cards which are in your hands. Tat way, others would need to remember your cards, as well as focus on their own.

Thread: Britannia:: Rules:: Overrun

Yngwie1751 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:23:53 +0000

by Yngwie1751

How many attacking armies must STAY and fight in a land defended by 1 enemy army for overrun to occur?

The rules say it must be more than 2 to 1 with excess armies moving on. I interpret it to mean that 3 armies stay (making it more then 2 to 1) and the rest go on. Am I right?

Thread: Gladiator:: General:: Request: pdf of gladiator board

Original_CorPse — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:17:44 +0000

by Original_CorPse

I'd be happy to spread some around to anyone who could create a pdf of the Gladiator game board.

My wife and I found a copy in excellent shape, but it lacks a board. (Also, if anyone has a board they can part with, then I'd love to hear from you!)

Thanks

-Charles

Session: Ave Caesar:: Miriam Learns How To Block

da pyrate — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:17:03 +0000

by da pyrate

Ave Caesar

]]>
Chariot Racing In Ancient Rome For Six Players

My Monday Night Games Group tends to play lighter games. Ave Caesar is one of the group’s favourites. It was played seven times in 2007, six times in 2008 and last night was the third time this year that it has seen an outing.

It is a card management game with a relatively high degree of luck. The game takes place over a series of four races. I have the Ravensburger edition which is, in my opinion, vastly superior to the new ProLudo edition. The only change is the configuration of the map. The Ravensburger map doesn’t look as good but it is much more exciting to race on and I don’t really know exactly why. Anyway, there are two maps with the Ravensburger edition – one side of the board is a track for 3 or 4 players and we used the other side of the board as it is for 5 or 6 players. On that side there are two tracks (one marked with Red edges and the other with Gold edges) – we race clockwise on each track and then counter-clockwise so that the four races are on four different tracks. Players get points for the order of finish – it is possible to score no points if your horses run out of hay.

Rod and Miriam are one of the couples who come along – Rod loves to block other charioteers and will do it simply on principle while Miriam rarely blocks and when she does it doesn’t seem to be deliberate. Speaking for myself, I prefer not to block other charioteers and will only do so if it gives me a big advantage and normally towards the end of the series of races when I know who I need to finish ahead of to beat on the series score-points. I prefer to take the inside running and force the other chariots to have to go around the outside of the track and use up extra hay in the process.

Our previous session was a month ago – I won with 18 points ahead of Denise on 16, Vida on 15 and Rod and Margaret tying with 14. Miriam had failed to finish a race and had two last places giving her a meagre 6 points.

Last night I has selected randomly as the start player and got off to a good start. I pointed out that I did not block at the first choke point, even though I could. I pointed out that I did not block at the second choke point, even though I could – Margaret made some disparaging comments. I went into Imperial Alley and blocked Margaret so she couldn’t come in – she complained and I just pointed out that she was never satisfied – don’t block and she has nothing nice to say, block and it’s the same story. Halfway through the last lap I was blocked by one person and the sequence of players meant that I was then blocked by other players. Margaret won – Margaret tends to be quite good at Ave Caesar and has won four times in the last two and a half years.

The second race saw Miriam blocking other chariots and doing it deliberately. Her maliciousness was rewarded as she won the race.

The third race was very close with the first five horses all being on the final straight as the winner crossed the line – I have never seen such a close race. I was a bit disappointed with my performance having only had a couple of thirds and a fifth so far but I was only five points behind the leader.

The last race saw me suffer a bit more blocking on the last lap but I had high-value cards and was able to rush into second place behind Rod.

The final scores were Margaret 18, Me 15, Denise 14, Vida and Rod 13 and Miriam on 12.

It was a good night’s play, a close series and, I expect, not the last time we will be playing Ave Caesar in 2009.

]]>

Thread: Revolution!:: General:: Revolution this Summer in the SF Bay Area

andreww — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:05:53 +0000

by andreww

I've got a copy to show off, watch this thread for specifics.

I'll have it at Endgame in Oakland this Wednesday July 8 from 8:00 to midnight (or whenever those good folks throw me out).

In the next few weeks I'll take it to Eudemonia in Berkeley and Black Diamond Games in Concord.

Drop me a geekmail if you'd like to play this and let's see if we can make it happen.

Andrew

Thread: Deluxe SPQR:: Rules:: attacking 2 units and routing one.

michelesommi — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:04:50 +0000

by michelesommi

Hi,
1 unit attacks 2 units simultaneously and rout one of them. Does the winning unit get to advance or not ?
thanks for help

Thread: Deluxe SPQR:: Rules:: attacking 2 units front and flack

michelesommi — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:02:15 +0000

by michelesommi

Hi,
I'm attacking 2 units units simultaneosly with one. One of the units is a front attack the other is a flank attack. Do I get superiority on both ?

Thread: Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition:: Variants:: Galacic cold war

ryolacap — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:01:29 +0000

by ryolacap

Seems like every time I play, there is no combat until the end. Everyone is alway afaid to attack the person on the right because of the potential threat to the left. What are ways to create more combat but in a way as to not make it a total destruction of ones race. Any suggesions... maybe a way to set up the map or a variant like fighter capacity for PDS units...

Session: Puerto Rico:: Ridiculously high scoring game

Luthrin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:54:06 +0000

by Luthrin

I managed to get some of my friends to play Puerto Rico the other day, and was pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoyed it (none of them are boardgamers at all.) 3 of them came round today, and we had another game of it.

Player 1: Ri (2nd game)
Player 2: Ra (2nd game)
Player 3: La (2nd game)
Player 4: Me (lots of games)

It started out fairly regularly, with Ri choosing Settler/quarry. Mayor, craftsmen and builder were then taken, with people setting out for different strategies from the outset. I took a small sugar mill, Ri took a construction hut, Ra bought an hacienda, white La saved her money planning to buy an early coffee roaster.

From then on things progressed rather slowly. Some questionable plays from La led to her shipping the two corn she'd produced, while I managed to build a small market and trade some sugar to get an early cash injection. Ri was going all out for the quarries, trying an unusual strategy, while Ra was picking up lots of corn, but never really got round to manning the plantations.

La bought herself a coffee roaster on about the 4th turn, but didn't make very good use of it (due to her inexperience), and didn't get the good early cash flow she needed. With my sugar-money I managed to get a tobacco storage, while both Ri and Ra looked towards getting coffee as well, giving me a temporary monopoly in both tobacco and sugar.

By midgame things were progressing nicely. Both Ra and La had bought offices and markets each, and so were trading their coffee regularly, filling the game with money. Ri had 4 quarries, but hardly any production as a result, and was just making coffee and indigo, leaving the trading house free for me and my tobacco whenever someone traded. With all the cash coming into the game, it wasn't long before we started pikcing up some of the more expensive buildings. I managed to get myself a factory relatively early, and expanded my operations to include indigo.

This was the point where their inexperience really started to show. Ra had 3 or 4 corn plantations, but spent too much of her time trying to do the same as me, and branch out in to 4 different kinds of goods along with a factory. Ri had left himself way down on production, due to the quarries he'd got with his construction hut. La started playing better, but I'd managed to get a sugar ship all to myself, and was starting to cramp them.

As the game started nearing the end, the big buildings were snapped up quickly. I managed to grab myself a harbour and the customs house, La got the guildhall and the residence, and Ri took the fortress. Then it was just a case of how the game would end. The others spent too much time trying to build up their productions at a late stage in the game, and I was able to capitalise on the shipping, as I'd managed to procure a small warehouse, and no-one had gotten around to it yet. The shipping started in earnest, as by this point everyone (except Ri) was getting 6 or 7 goods per craftsman phase, but they lost on when it came to throwing away the excess.

In a strange turn of events, the game ended on all 3 conditions on the same turn...we filled up the buildings, ran out of VPs and ran out of colonists all at the same time. The final scores worked out at the highest total I've seen.

Ri: 58
Ra: 55
La: 62
Me: 93

Ri's quarry strategy left him short of production for most of the game, and he couldn't make effective use of the harbour he bought himself.

Ra took too long getting her factory out, which came 2 or 3 turns after mine...she probably would have been better off manning her corn plantations instead and using her money to get a relatively early harbour.

La made some mistakes early on that helped me a lot, as I was to her left. She didn't make the most of her early coffee roaster, and kind of lost her way in the middle of the game by not really having a cohesive strategy.

Things couldn't have really worked out better for me. I had a monopoly on sugar for the entire game, and tobacco for quite a lot of it. I wasn't competing with anyone for selling goods, thanks to both Ra and La buying themselves offices. I was able to get the important buildings early enough for them to be effective, and the right big building to suit my strategy.

Fortunately, they still seemed to enjoy it, so I'm sure I'll be able to get them to play again sometime

Thread: Empire of the Sun:: Rules:: card 3

Juno44 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:53:03 +0000

by Juno44

Quick question concerning the Jungle Warfare card for Japan
Is this ' only in A Malaya jungle or mixed hex or any of the above? In other words can I use it in a burma jungle hex?

Thread: Dungeonlords:: General:: Where to find this game?

slvrdragon41 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:48:44 +0000

by slvrdragon41

This sounds right up my alley. I went to Czech Games Edition website and could not find it....how to buy?
Thanks in advance

Thread: Check your 6!:: General:: Best hex size for 1/300 planes?

GeoMan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:47:20 +0000

by GeoMan

I am planning to order a playmat for Check your 6 for use with 1/300 miniatures with original bases (sized 1.5").

What is the best hex size? 1.5"? 2"? 3"?

Thread: Twilight Struggle:: Rules:: Wargames Vs We Will Bury You

Shauneroo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:37:39 +0000

by Shauneroo

Hi all, I have a little rules problem that I need clearing up.

It's to do with the order in which events occur when Wargames ends the game, but We Will Bury You is in effect.

The Wargames card specifies that the game ends immediately, but at the moment the Wargames card was played, it (obvoiusly) wasn't UN Intervention (thus giving 3 VP to the Soviets).

The order of events here is particularly important, because if the We Will Bury You card gives it's VP to the Soviet player before Wargames ends the game, I'll have just lost to my wife by one point.

Thanks in advance for any help in clearing this up.

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Rules:: The Clue and the Gate

dkearns — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:23:20 +0000

by dkearns

If a gate opens on a location with a clue token, the clue is returned to the box.

What happens when a clue is supposed to be added to a location with a gate that is already open?

Thread: Agricola: Die Moorbauern:: General:: horse's color

aurelio — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:15:12 +0000

by aurelio

anyone knows what color will the horses be? with white, brown and black already taken I have no idea what color could they be. just curious.

Session: Automobile:: Bloodbath in the automobile market!

lukas4 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:05:03 +0000

by lukas4

I saw the buzz about Automobile, looked over the rules, and bought it straight from England. I got copy #542, and hoped for the best with my gaming group. Our group likes Age of Steam. The estimated play time seemed ok. We got together for a 5 player game: Al, Nick, Wes, Christian, and me.

I explained the rules: winner is person with most money. You build factories, produce cars, try your best to sell as many of those cars as possible. I ran down the characters, order of movement by character choices, order of selling via most advanced factory first, demand progression, executive decisions, loss cubes, etc… They like their rules explanations fast, but I didn’t want to be accused of holding back. Seriously, it went fine. My group includes some math savants (at least I think they are), so they were eager to “solve” the issues at hand.

First person, Al, took Durant, built in lowly Duryea. Christian took Kettering, Nick took Ford, Wes took Chrysler, I took Howard. I got to jump to the first economy car, the Sears Autobuggy, and the rest called foul like I’ve been reading tech or something on the net. I placed some distributors. Produced 5 cars, sold them via Howard and my distributors. Everyone produced saw how the demand tiles worked and light bulbs went on around. However, we ended up with 13 for the initial demand, and that spooked everyone in a 5 player game, it seemed low.

Second turn Christian joined me in the economy class. I took Howard again, but I found myself without cubes! I could not build a factory, so I double produced and took cubes. I sold almost all of my cars, took a loss cube for one unsold, one for my factory. The close factory executive decision was taken each turn. I think people were scared off of the low demand in turn one, and the mid market was under produced. That would never happen again!

Third turn I took Kettering, built the luxury national, built the Studebaker and produced. I took the close factory executive decision and closed my economy model, not realizing it was impossible to get back into the economy market as Ford Model A might as well of been a 2009 Ferrari for any chance of getting to it on turn 4. As for the rest, too much production and too many factories meant loss cubes were flying, and they now saw how expensive even a few could be at $30/each.

Now for the fateful turn four, or how to screw each other in Automobile.
Al was making some serious money each turn, but he was mass producing from way back in the Maxwell Model L. He had a parts factory on it and wouldn’t let it go. First off, I took Sloan this time. Al got Chrysler. Nick had a parts factory mass producing in the Overland 4-90. We were set up for a thrilling turn 4. Further what had happened was that we were all in only 2 kinds of cars, so there was going to be pushing around in those markets as everyone wanted to maximize their production. I built two luxury cars way back at the National. I produced something like 6 or 8 studebakers. Al built an obscene amount of Maxwells far back in the pack. Nick built like 20 Overlands in the economy market all on his own! He was counting on that extra 4th turn tile I guess. Now, all of a sudden, everyone thought it would be a good idea to throw some more distributors in the mix. There were many unhappy distributors (2 of mine) that left their owners. But people enjoyed the back and forth of that final placement.

I figured Al was sitting too pretty in cash from some previous turns’ excellent cash outs. I got to choose before him. I didn’t have two cubes come executive decision time, so I took the two low price markers for my Studebakers. Al was VERY upset. (Why do you need that? What does that serve?) Yes it did screw him, but it insured mine would get sold. And it was a viable win strategy to pull him back to the rest of us. He got greedy, so let’s stick some loss cubes on him. (at $40/piece now!). Al ended up stranding 11 cars on that one space and got 5 cubes for it being so far back! Ouch! He ended up with some ungodly 18 or so cubes, even after using Chrysler’s ability. Would you believe Nick managed to sell all but two of his mass of economy cars? Would you believe the Luxury tile was a two? I lost both my poor little Nationals. I ended up with 12 loss cubes, but “Sloaned” out some 6 of them, still for a $240 penalty.
Everyone lamented how little money they had left, until we remembered to collect for our factories!

Approximate scores:
Wes: 2400 (he figures, he will get laid off for poor performance in the restructuring)
Al: 2900 (he probably lost at least $560 in potential profit by me taking those markers instead of him, which would have been game for him)
Henry: 3170 (if I had sold those two nationals instead of eating them, I would have had won)
Nick: 3250 (he was the only one to take a loan and took two, and was still close to winning. It only cost him $30 to produce a car after all)
Christian: 3430 (he was belly aching from turn 1, that this was too hard, he always sandbags like that)
Everyone loved it. Who knows, Al may even talk to me

Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark:: Rules:: First Time Playing--First Batch of Questions!

Weloi Avala — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:01:04 +0000

by Weloi Avala

Hola!

After much waiting, I was finally able to get my hands on a copy of Descent--along with Road to Legend--and gave it a bit of a solo try to get familiar with the rules. Good fun, but a couple of questions came up through playing:

1) Melee attacks around a corner; is it okay?

2) Blast: is it a single attack applied to everyone in the area? Which means that a single person dodging in that area can make it miss for everyone?

3) How do trees--giving Shadowcloak--stand up to Breath?

4) In an RtL outside encounter: if the heroes kill everything on the board, but on his turn the OL paid threat for a reinforcement but hasn't brought in into play yet... is the encounter over? Or do the heroes have to kill the incoming baddy?

5) Burn: a hero is burning, taking damage, and an encounter/dungeon ends; do the markers go away?

6)RtL: Dungeon #4--the map is really hard to make out. Are their pits only in the first room?

7) If the OL plays 'Aim' on a Manticore, does the effect apply to both attacks of its Quickshot?

8) Can a hero use the starting glyph in the entrance of a dungeon to head straight back to town?

and finally...

9) Upon returning to a dungeon, does a hero have to arrive on the glyph, or is adjacent okay?

Sorry for all the questions! I'm enjoying what I've played so far, and just trying to shake out the uncertainties before dropping it on my school's gaming group.

Cheers,
-M.

Thread: Blood Bowl: Living RuleBook:: Strategy:: To start with a big guy, or not?

mattprice — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:59:27 +0000

by mattprice

I'm starting a BB league that may play 6-8 games, or a few more if dedication runs high. We're playing with an option to earn an extra 10K per match, to help out with costs and jumpstart teams.

So my question to y'all is: do folks generally get a big guy (ogre, troll, treeman, etc) in the first game? Or wait a few games before hiring one? I imagine this varies by team, but what have y'all done in your league play that was fun and worked for you (meaning either helped you win, or at least helped you whallop the other teams good)

Thread: Puerto Rico:: Strategy:: Can't seem to beat hacienda

Adschwer — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:47:53 +0000

by Adschwer

Hello, I have been playing PR for about the past two months now, and others have been playing it before me. One of those others, and so far I would agree, thinks that if you get hacienda, most of the time you are going to win. I have tried getting hacienda, and when I do, I do win most of the time. I have not gotten hacienda, and other players have gotten it, and I win less than half the time (the one time I did win was when I did a corn/coffee strategy with harbor and small warehouse, got coffee on the large boat early, and the other two had to fight it out using the other boats while essentially I had my own boat)

It seems that hacienda doesn't seem very important on this forum, but I wanted to find out if anybody could elaborate on the hacienda's importance and any strategies known to work against hacienda. Maybe my friends and I are missing something..... Thanks.

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Cylon Fleet- Basestar?

Cactusgod — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:46:23 +0000

by Cactusgod

So I was playing with my group the other day and one of my friends asked me if Cylon Fleet could activate basestars. The text of the location seems to suggest it, but I could of sworn I had heard that it was not allowable. I told my friend that I actually wasn't sure, but I wasn't sure I could find him anything that said anything either way. I looked on the boards and I haven't been able to find it.

Can anyone show me any information that shows whether or not this is allowable?

Thread: Schinderhannes:: News:: Mini interview with Stephan Riedel from Cliker

Abruk — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:19:52 +0000

by Abruk

Cliker Spiele is german editor that will be in Essen. Stephan Riedel from Cliker talk with us to present his new Essen game.

1 – Will Clicker participe in Essen 2009?

SR – Yes.

2 -Can you tell us more about the your new game – Schinderhannes?

SR - Schinderhannes is a logic game. The game based on my first game “Old Town”. The players try to find out on which place Schinderhannes (he was a “famous” robber and lived end of 18th century in Germany) has done his crime.

The players have cards with (inprecise) information like: In the autumn of 1798 Schinderhannes and Peter Petrie tried to steal a donkey in Antes Muehle, Baerenbach, Meddersheim or Hundsbach.

Other player has the card: “Donkey theft” was next to the “Arrest”. After I have reworked my homepage you will find English information about this game.

3 – How did this project born?

SR - After making the card game “Fleet 1715″ I thought that I should make a game about my home area. The robbery Schinderhannes is very famous here (you can find the “Schinderhannes tree”, the “Schinderhannes tower”…). So I decides to make a game about this guy.

4 – Schinderhannes is a game target to gamers games or more family games?

SR - Schinderhannes is a family game (up to 9 years) for 1 to 4 players.

5 – Do you think edit an english version of the game?

SR - The game is produced in German and English.

6 – Could you tell us a little more about new project up to come?

SR - The next project will be a game about the great fire in London (name of the game London 1666).

Thread: Risco Total:: Rules:: Rules translated from Portuguese to English

vinashu — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:16:06 +0000

by vinashu

RISCO TOTAL
So where do you go for a treasure?

Rules
Players: 2-6
Age: 8+
Components:
1 round marker
5 tokens (markers)
6 decision tokens (stay/go out)
15 danger cards
15 treasures cards
30 golden coins
60 silver coins

Objective
Conquer the highest number of treasures coins.

Preparation
Detach carefully the tokens when you going to play the first time.

Shuffle together all the danger and the treasure cards. Put the cards face down on the table.

Give one decision token for each player.

Put one token at the round marker. It will tell you are at the beginning of the first round.

The silver coins count as 1 victory point and the gold coin counts as 5, in the other words, when you can get 5 silver coins, it’s possible to get only one gold coin.

During the game this exchange may be necessary to avoid missing pieces of silver coins during the rounds.

The Game
The players have 5 rounds to rescue the highest number of coins. Each round, the players dive at the deep sea and need to decide the right moment to go back to the surface.

One player need to be chosen to turn out the cards from the card pile, one at a time, and then put it turned up at the side of the round marker, like the figure. All the cards must be on the board side by side, faced up.

Treasure Cards
If one treasure card is face up, the number of coins showed at the card must be divided with the players who still in the water. If you cannot divide into equal parts, put the rest of the coins over the card.

Example: the player turned a treasure card with the number 9 and 3 players are in the water, each player will get 3 silver coins. If was 2 players in the water, each player get 4 coins and 1 coin will remain over the card. If only 1 player is in the water, he will get all the 9 silver coins for him.

Danger Cards
The game has 5 different danger cards: out of oxygen, assassin sharks, jellyfish, giant octopus and explosion.

When danger card is showed up, you need real courage to continue, because as soon as 2 cards of equal danger appears, all players that are in the water are eliminated and lose the coins received in this round.

Stay, Go Out
Before draw the next card, the players must choose, at the same time, if they will stay on the water or if they go back to the surface. Just turn the decision token to the side that expresses your will.

Who opt to Go Out get all the coins remaining at the opened treasured cards and all already received coins in that round. If more the one player decides to go back to the surface, they must divide all the remaining coins in equal parts. If you cannot divide into equal parts, put the rest of the coins over the opened treasure cards.

When you Go Out to the surface you cannot dive in the water again until the end of the current round.

The players who opt to Stay in the water continue their adventure looking for treasures at the deep sea. The round continues until all the players back to the surface or when 2 equal danger cards are showed up.

Obs.: one player can be alone in the water looking for treasures until he decides to Go Out to the surface or be eliminated.

When a round is finished, the received coins cannot be lost in future dives.

To the next round, put a new token at the round marker and play the same way. The game finishes after the 5th round.

Winner
Win the game who have more coins at the end of the game.

NOTE FRON TRANSLATOR
I have the manual in portuguese and translation to english isnt at my main skill set.

Thread: Agricola:: General:: Has anyone tried using some 3+ occupations in the solo game?

maaikefest — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:12:10 +0000

by maaikefest

I have played 1 2-player game so far, and the rest all solo games. I'm still only playing with the E-deck since I'm not tired of it yet .

I was browsing through the 3+ cards in the E-deck today, and I saw some occupations that would be very usable in the solo game, for instance 168 vegetable trader, 147 vegetable farmer, 165 independant farmer, 152 berry picker, 209 mason, 182 charcoal maker, 156 brush maker, and many more.

Are there specific reasons why they were left out of the 1+ deck? Has anyone tried adding them to the solo or 2-player game?

Thread: Deadlands: Doomtown:: General:: Ghost Rock worth anything?

SiddGames — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:41:56 +0000

by SiddGames

I was going to post in the AEG publisher forum here but it seemed pretty dead, so just asking here.

Is there any use for the Ghost Rock (from Doomtown packaging), Ammo (from Spycraft), Koku (from L5R), etc. any more? I have little bits cut out in boxes throughout my Closet O' Doom and was wondering if I should just trash them or not.

Thanks!

Thread: Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! - Russia 1941-1942:: Rules:: Firefight 1 (Partisans) - Question regarding initiative

Prodromoi — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:37:17 +0000

by Prodromoi

Very much looking forward to playing this game - having read through the rules I think/hope that I'm going to like it a lot.

Just set up to give it a try, playing the first scenario. A few days ago I checked the CoH website for updates, errata and so forth and found that the 'Latest Versions of Published Firefights' states:
"The setup hex for the Soviet MMG has been corrected from D11 to C11. Soviets activate first."
http://academy-games.com/index.php/firefights-a-updates/late...

The printing of the scenario booklet that I have already has the correct setup hex listed, but includes no mention of "Soviets activate first", and the updated .pdf of the firefight on the CoH site doesn't either.

So, the question is...

Assuming that the Soviets activate first in this scenario, does that mean first every turn (effectively replacing initiative rolls), or simply first once and then initiative is rolled as normal from Turn 2?

Thanks in advance.
A

Thread: Lord of the Rings: Combat Hex - Tradeable Miniatures Game:: General:: LoTR: Combat Hex Figure Reference List

Yugblad — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:37:09 +0000

by Yugblad

Premium Line Reference Numbers and Titles:

PL1 Sauron.
PL3 Cave Troll.
PL4 Treebeard.
PL5 Aragorn.
PL6 Legolas.
PL7 Gimli.
PL8 Merry.
PL9 Pippin.
PL10 Balrog.
PL11 Gandalf the Grey.
PL12 Eowyn
PL13 Nazgul on Fell Beast.
PL14 Witch-king on Fell Beast.
PL15 King Elessar.
PL16 Mordor Troll.
PL17 Mordor Troll Berzerker.

Promo Reference Numbers and Titles:

PR1 Moria Goblin Archer.
PR2 Orc Spearman.
PR3 Uruk-hai Warrior.
PR4 Lurtz.
PR5 Lurtz.
PR6 Nazgul.
PR7 Nazgul.
PR8 Ringwraith.
PR9 Saruman.
PR10 Witch-king.
PR11 Gondorian Warrior.
PR12 Guard of the Fountain Court.
PR13 Rohirrim Royal Guard.
PR14 Lothlorien Elf Archer.
PR15 Aragorn.
PR16 Aragorn.
PR17 Arwen.
PR18 Frodo.
PR19 Frodo.
PR20 Frodo & Smeagol.
PR21 Frodo wearing The One Ring.
PR22 Gandalf the Grey.
PR23 Gandalf the Grey.
PR24 Gimli.
PR25 Gimli.
PR26 Legolas.
PR27 Legolas.
PR28 Ugluk.
PR29 Eowyn.
PR30 Saruman.
PR31 Saruman.
PR32 Twilight Ringwraith.
PR33 Twilight Witch-king.
PR34 Twilight Witch-king.
PR35 Moria Goblin Fighter.
PR36 Uruk-hai.
PR37 Uruk-hai Soldier.
PR38 Galadriel.
PR39 Galadriel.
PR40 Haldir.
PR41 Isildur.
PR42 Elendil.
PR43 High Elf Swordsman.
PR44 Lothlorien Elf Warrior.
PR45 Numenorian Warrior.
PR49 Aragorn.
PR50 Sharku.
PR52 Faramir.
PR54 Gandalf the White.
PR55 Witch-king.
PR56 Rider of Rohan.
PR57 Warg Rider.
PR58 Gondorian Ranger.
PR59 Haradrim Archer.
PR60 Rohirrim Warrior.
PR61 Uruk-hai Soldier.
PR62 Theoden.
PR63 Ringwraith.
PR64 Haldir's Guard.
PR65 Easterling Soldier.
PR66 Snaga.

Base Set Reference Numbers and Titles:

BS1 Easterling Spearman.
BS2 Easterling Spearman.
BS3 Easterling Spearman.
BS4 Moria Goblin Archer.
BS5 Moria Goblin Archer.
BS6 Moria Goblin Archer.
BS7 Haradrim Warrior.
BS8 Haradrim Warrior.
BS9 Haradrim Warrior.
BS10 Moria Goblin Warrior.
BS11 Moria Goblin Warrior.
BS12 Moria Goblin Warrior.
BS13 Orc Archer.
BS14 Orc Archer.
BS15 Orc Archer.
BS16 Orc Spearman.
BS17 Orc Spearman.
BS18 Orc Spearman.
BS19 Orc Warrior.
BS20 Orc Warrior.
BS21 Orc Warrior.
BS22 Cirith Ungol Uruk-hai.
BS23 Cirith Ungol Uruk-hai.
BS24 Cirith Ungol Uruk-hai.
BS25 Uruk-hai Warrior.
BS26 Uruk-hai Warrior.
BS27 Uruk-hai Warrior.
BS28 Uruk-hai Archer.
BS29 Uruk-hai Archer.
BS30 Uruk-hai Archer.
BS31 Uruk-hai Berzerker.
BS32 Uruk-hai Berzerker.
BS33 Uruk-hai Berzerker.
BS34 Uruk-hai Scout.
BS35 Uruk-hai Scout.
BS36 Uruk-hai Scout.
BS37 Grima Wormtongue.
BS38 Grima Wormtongue.
BS39 Grishnakh.
BS40 Grishnakh.
BS41 Lurtz.
BS42 Lurtz.
BS43 Moria Goblin Champion.
BS44 Moria Goblin Champion.
BS45 Nazgul.
BS46 Nazgul.
BS47 Nazgul.
BS48 Orc Overseer.
BS49 Orc Overseer.
BS50 Ringwraith.
BS51 Ringwraith.
BS52 Ringwraith.
BS53 Saruman.
BS54 Saruman.
BS55 Ugluk.
BS56 Ugluk.
BS57 Uruk-hai Champion.
BS58 Uruk-hai Champion.
BS59 Witch-king.
BS60 Witch-king.
BS61 Gondorian Archer.
BS62 Gondorian Archer.
BS63 Gondorian Archer.
BS64 Guard of the Fountain Court.
BS65 Guard of the Fountain Court.
BS66 Guard of the Fountain Court.
BS67 Gondorian Ranger.
BS68 Gondorian Ranger.
BS69 Gondorian Ranger.
BS70 Gondorian Warrior.
BS71 Gondorian Warrior.
BS72 Gondorian Warrior.
BS73 Rohirrim Archer.
BS74 Rohirrim Archer.
BS75 Rohirrim Archer.
BS76 High Elf Archer.
BS77 High Elf Archer.
BS78 High Elf Archer.
BS79 High Elf Spearman.
BS80 High Elf Spearman.
BS81 High Elf Spearman.
BS82 High Elf Warrior.
BS83 High Elf Warrior.
BS84 High Elf Warrior.
BS85 Rohirrim Royal Guard.
BS86 Rohirrim Royal Guard.
BS87 Rohirrim Royal Guard.
BS88 Warrior of Rohan.
BS89 Warrior of Rohan.
BS90 Warrior of Rohan.
BS91 Lothlorien Elf Archer.
BS92 Lothlorien Elf Archer.
BS93 Lothlorien Elf Archer.
BS94 Lothlorien Elf Ranger.
BS95 Lothlorien Elf Ranger.
BS96 Lothlorien Elf Ranger.
BS97 Aragorn.
BS98 Aragorn.
BS99 Arwen.
BS100 Arwen.
BS101 Boromir.
BS102 Boromir.
BS103 Elrond.
BS104 Elrond.
BS105 Eowyn.
BS106 Eowyn.
BS107 Frodo.
BS108 Frodo.
BS109 Gandalf the Grey.
BS110 Gandalf the Grey.
BS111 Gimli.
BS112 Gimli.
BS113 Legolas.
BS114 Legolas.
BS115 Merry.
BS116 Merry.
BS117 Pippin.
BS118 Pippin.
BS119 Sam.
BS120 Sam.

Fellowship Reference Numbers and Titles:

FE1 Orc Soldier.
FE2 Orc Soldier.
FE3 Orc Soldier.
FE4 Moria Goblin Archer.
FE5 Moria Goblin Archer.
FE6 Moria Goblin Archer.
FE7 Moria Goblin Fighter.
FE8 Moria Goblin Fighter.
FE9 Moria Goblin Fighter.
FE10 Orc Bowman.
FE11 Orc Bowman.
FE12 Orc Bowman.
FE13 Orc Fighter.
FE14 Orc Fighter.
FE15 Orc Fighter.
FE16 Uruk-hai.
FE17 Uruk-hai.
]FE18 Uruk-hai.
FE19 Uruk-hai Archer.
FE20 Uruk-hai Archer.
FE21 Uruk-hai Archer.
FE22 Uruk-hai Soldier.
FE23 Uruk-hai Soldier.
FE24 Uruk-hai Soldier.
FE25 Lurtz.
FE26 Lurtz.
FE27 Moria Goblin Leader.
FE28 Moria Goblin Leader.
FE29 Orc Leader.
FE30 Orc Leader.
FE31 Orc Champion.
FE32 Orc Champion.
FE33 Orc Lackey.
FE34 Orc Lackey.
FE35 Saruman.
FE36 Saruman.
FE37 Twilight Ringwraith.
FE38 Twilight Ringwraith.
FE39 Twilight Witch-king.
FE40 Twilight Witch-king.
FE41 High Elf Swordsman.
FE42 High Elf Swordsman.
FE43 High Elf Swordsman.
FE44 High Elf Spearman.
FE45 High Elf Spearman.
FE46 High Elf Spearman.
FE47 Lothlorien Elf Bowman.
FE48 Lothlorien Elf Bowman.
FE49 Lothlorien Elf Bowman.
FE50 Lothlorien Elf Warrior.
FE51 Lothlorien Elf Warrior.
FE52 Lothlorien Elf Warrior.
FE53 Lothlorien Elf Swordsman.
FE54 Lothlorien Elf Swordsman.
FE55 Lothlorien Elf Swordsman.
FE56 Numenorian Archer.
FE57 Numenorian Archer.
FE58 Numenorian Archer.
FE59 Numenorian Spearman.
FE60 Numenorian Spearman.
FE61 Numenorian Spearman.
FE62 Numenorian Warrior.
FE63 Numenorian Warrior.
FE64 Numenorian Warrior.
FE65 Aragorn.
FE66 Aragorn.
FE67 Boromir.
FE68 Boromir.
FE69 Elendil.
FE70 Elendil.
FE71 Galadriel.
FE72 Galadriel.
FE73 Gimli.
FE74 Gimli.
FE75 Haldir.
FE76 Haldir.
FE77 Isildur.
FE78 Isildur.
FE79 Legolas.
FE80 Legolas.

Paths of the Dead Reference Numbers and Titles:

PD1 Aragorn.
PD2 Elrond.
PD3 Eowyn.
PD4 Gimli.
PD5 King of the Dead.
PD6 Legolas.
PD7 Merry.
PD8 Oathbreaker.
PD9 Oathbreaker.
PD10 Oathbreaker.
PD11 Oathbreaker.
PD12 Oathbreaker.
PD13 Oathbreaker.
PD14 Oathbreaker.
PD15 Oathbreaker.

Two Towers Reference Numbers and Titles:

TT1 Mauhur.
TT2 Mauhur.
TT3 Ringwraith.
TT4 Ringwraith.
TT5 Sharku.
TT6 Sharku.
TT7 Witch-king.
TT8 Witch-king.
TT9 Snaga.
TT10 Snaga.
TT11 Uruk-hai Torchbearer.
TT12 Uruk-hai Torchbearer.
TT13 Warg Rider Champion.
TT14 Warg Rider Champion.
TT15 Easterling Warrior.
TT16 Easterling Warrior.
TT17 Easterling Warrior.
TT18 Haradrim Archer.
TT19 Haradrim Archer.
TT20 Haradrim Archer.
TT21 Haradrim Champion.
TT22 Haradrim Champion.
TT23 Haradrim Champion.
TT24 Haradrim Warrior.
TT25 Haradrim Warrior.
TT26 Haradrim Warrior.
TT27 Uruk-hai Berzerker.
TT28 Uruk-hai Berzerker.
TT29 Uruk-hai Berzerker.
TT30 Uruk-hai Crossbowman.
TT31 Uruk-hai Crossbowman.
TT32 Uruk-hai Crossbowman.
TT33 Uruk-hai Soldier.
TT34 Uruk-hai Soldier.
TT35 Uruk-hai Soldier.
TT36 Warg Rider.
TT37 Warg Rider.
TT38 Warg Rider.
TT39 Warg Rider.
TT40 Warg Rider.
TT41 Warg Rider.
TT42 Wildman of Dunlending.
TT43 Wildman of Dunlending.
TT44 Wildman of Dunlending.
TT45 Faramir.
TT46 Faramir.
TT47 Haldir.
TT48 Haldir.
TT49 Aragorn.
TT50 Aragorn.
TT51 Eomer.
TT52 Eomer.
TT53 Gamling.
TT54 Gamling.
TT55 Gandalf the White.
TT56 Gandalf the White.
TT57 Legolas.
TT58 Legolas.
TT59 Theoden.
TT60 Theoden.
TT61 Gondorian Ranger.
TT62 Gondorian Ranger.
TT63 Gondorian Ranger.
TT64 Galadhrim Bowman
TT65 Galadhrim Bowman.
TT66 Galadhrim Bowman.
TT67 Galadhrim Warrior.
TT68 Galadhrim Warrior.
TT69 Galadhrim Warrior.
TT70 Galadhrim Swordsman.
TT71 Galadhrim Swordsman.
TT72 Galadhrim Swordsman.
TT73 Rider of Rohan.
TT74 Rider of Rohan.
TT75 Rider of Rohan.
TT76 Rider of Rohan.
TT77 Rider of Rohan.
TT78 Rider of Rohan.
TT79 Rohirrim Spearman.
TT80 Rohirrim Spearman.
TT81 Rohirrim Spearman.
TT82 Rohirrim Warrior.
TT83 Rohirrim Warrior.
TT84 Rohirrim Warrior.

Return of the King Reference Numbers and Titles:

RK1 Corsair Captain.
RK2 Corsair Captain.
RK3 Gorbag.
RK4 Gorbag.
RK5 Gothmog.
RK6 Gothmog.
RK7 Haradrim Leader.
RK8 Haradrim Leader.
RK9 Haradrim Leader.
RK10 Mordor Orc Captain.
RK11 Mordor Orc Captain.
RK12 Ringwraith.
RK13 Ringwraith.
RK14 Ringwraith.
RK15 Ringwraith.
RK16 Ringwraith.
RK17 Shagrat.
RK18 Shagrat.
RK19 Witch-king.
RK20 Witch-king.
RK21 Corsair of Umbar.
RK22 Corsair of Umbar.
RK23 Corsair of Umbar.
RK24 Corsair of Umbar.
RK25 Corsair of Umbar.
RK26 Corsair of Umbar.
RK27 Haradrim Rider.
RK28 Haradrim Rider.
RK29 Haradrim Rider.
RK30 Haradrim Rider.
RK31 Haradrim Rider.
RK32 Haradrim Rider.
RK33 Mordor Orc.
RK34 Mordor Orc.
RK35 Mordor Orc.
RK36 Mordor Orc.
RK37 Mordor Orc.
RK38 Mordor Orc.
RK39 Mordor Uruk-hai.
RK40 Mordor Uruk-hai.
RK41 Mordor Uruk-hai.
RK42 Warg.
RK43 Warg.
RK44 Warg.
RK45 Aragorn.
RK46 Aragorn.
RK47 Eowyn & Merry.
RK48 Eowyn & Merry.
RK49 Frodo.
RK50 Frodo.
RK51 Gandalf the White.
RK52 Gandalf the White.
RK53 Sam.
RK54 Sam.
RK55 Theoden.
RK56 Theoden.
RK57 Gollum.
RK58 Gondorian Citadel Guard.
RK59 Gondorian Citadel Guard.
RK60 Gondorian Citadel Guard.
RK61 Gondorian Citadel Archer.
RK62 Gondorian Citadel Archer.
RK63 Gondorian Citadel Archer.
RK64 Gondorian Ranger.
RK65 Gondorian Ranger.
RK66 Gondorian Ranger.
RK67 Guard of the Fountain Court.
RK68 Guard of the Fountain Court.
RK69 Guard of the Fountain Court
RK70 Knight of Minas Tirith.
RK71 Knight of Minas Tirith.
RK72 Knight of Minas Tirith.
RK73 Rohan Royal Guard.
RK74 Rohan Royal Guard.
RK75 Rohan Royal Guard.
RK76 Rohirrim Bowman.
RK77 Rohirrim Bowman.
RK78 Rohirrim Bowman.
RK79 Rohirrim Royal Guard.
RK80 Rohirrim Royal Guard.
RK81 Rohirrim Royal Guard.
RK82 Smeagol.

Review: Napoleon's Last Battles:: A Review of the Ligny Scenario

da pyrate — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:33:53 +0000

by da pyrate

Ligny
The Incomplete Victory

]]>
Two-player Tactical Napoleonic Wargame
Simulation of the Battle of Ligny - June 16, 1815
Designed by Jay Nelson & Kevin Zucker
Published by S.P.I. (1976)

During the 1970’s, S.P.I. was famous for its ‘quadrigame’ concept – four separate games on the same topic that could be sold individually or as a set. A couple of these quadrigames, Napoleon’s Last Battles (NLB) and Battles for the Ardennes, had the added bonus that the four games and maps could be combined to create a fifth campaign situation.

I have played NLB in its four folio formats as well as the campaign game. I think that the campaign game is truly superb and significantly better than the individual folio games and hence the title given to this review. One of the aspects to the folio games that is interesting from a game-play point of view is that each of the four games simulates a different type of battle – Ligny is a set-piece battle.

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday June 18th, 1815. Two days prior to Napoleon’s ultimate battle a significant engagement occurred between the French and Prussian forces at Ligny. Napoleon had deliberately split his force into two, sending the smaller force to the west to take Quatre Bras and keeping the larger force, hoping to engage and destroy the Prussian forces before they could combine with Wellington’s Anglo-Dutch army and gain a numerical superiority over the French. The result of the Battle of Ligny was inconclusive. The French made a successful direct assault against the centre of the Prussian army, crushing it. The two flanks of the Prussian army held firm, allowing the Prussians to withdraw from the field of battle in good order, despite having suffered substantial losses. Marshal Blucher was badly hurt when his horse fell on him. At the end of the day blucher’s Chief of Staff, von Gneisenau, distrusted Wellington and suggested to Blucher that the Prussians should withdraw eastward on their own supply line but Blucher insisted on a northward withdrawal so as to maintain contact with Wellington.

Historically the French army won at Ligny – they held the town at the end of the day but, significantly for the Allies, the French were unable to stop the Prussians from withdrawing in good order. The French objective had been to destroy the Prussians so that they could give no support to their Anglo-Dutch allies. The French should have won more decisively. The French 1st Corps was available to reinforce the battle at Ligny, but spent the day of June 16 marching back and forth between the nearby Battle of Quatre Bras and Ligny without actually entering either battle.

Components

One 8-page rulebook containing 6 pages of basic and optional rules, 1 page of scenario details for all four folio games and 1 page of designer’s notes.

The are large number of units involved at Ligny – all units start on the board. The French start with 37 counters (strength of 166). The Prussians start with 41 units on the map (strength of 139) and receive no reinforcements. The counters are double sided with the reverse side showing the same unit at a lower strength – the reverse side is only used in the campaign game. French counters are light blue while the Prussian counters are a light lime green.

The game is played on a 17” x 22” non-gloss map with a soft cream background and greens, browns, greys and blues to represent woods, crests, villages and streams respectively. The combat results table is printed on the map. The terrain effects chart is printed on the back of the rules.

]]>
Rules

The game lasts for 7 turns, each one representing an hour of real time. The game has a very standard French movement, French combat, Allied movement and Allied combat sequence of play.

Stacking is two units per hex. Roads give movement advantages. Streams, woods, crests and villages give the defender a combat bonus.

Zones of Control are rigid and once you enter an enemy ZOC the only way to leave it is through combat – advance, retreat or elimination. Once in an enemy ZOC combat is mandatory.

Artillery can fire at 2 hexes range (providing the line of sight is not blocked) and can either bombard independently of other troops or make a combined attack with other friendly units.

There are rules for Demoralization and an armies Demoralization level is measured by the number of its units that have been destroyed – the Demoralization level varies from scenario to scenario. Once Demoralized the French will automatically lose the game. The Allied armies only lose the ability to advance after combat. The Allies have a second level called Disintegration. If the Allies reach their Disintegration level then the French will automatically win the game.

There are optional rules for Combined Arms Attacks and the Imperial Guard.

The French win by Demoralizing the Prussian army (kill 55 Prussian strength points) and French losses are less than 35 strength points. If the French player fails to Demoralize the Prussian army OR loses 35 or more strength points then the Prussian player will win.

Playing the Game

I am quite happy to play Ligny and consider it the second best best of the four folio games. The game takes around 150 minutes to play – most players have to be very careful with the placement of their units during the game. Once a unit is surrounded it becomes much easier for the enemy forces to destroy it. Because the counters stack two-high and there is a lot of congestion where the fighting is heaviest, I like to play using tweezers to pick up and move the counters – my thumbs just cause massive problems. The game doesn’t have the same high excitement level as Quatres Bras (where a lot can hinge on a single die-roll). Ligny has much more tension than excitement. It is a large, grinding battle.

The French units are, on average, stronger than the Prussian units – French average is 4.5 per unit to the Prussian 3.4 per unit. This can actually be a little to the French disadvantage. Even though it allows them to get more combat factors into a small area it also means that on an Exchange result they may sometimes have to lose more strength points (units) than they should. The Prussians also have a couple of ‘hellishly’ large artillery units that can put a lot of firepower into a small area.

The game begins with the Prussian 1st and 2nd Corps in a salient stretching from Ligny westwards. The 3rd Corps and elements of the 2nd Corps are positioned a little to the north and give the Prussians a force with which they may manoeuvre.

The French have a screen of troops running west to east and are in contact distance (roughly 400 metres) from the Prussians. There is a large force of French further south. The French player, ideally, would like to envelope both Prussian flanks. The combination of rivers, villages and Prussian troops make this difficult to achieve.

This is an excellent game as both armies are strong enough to launch local attacks but neither is strong enough to gain superiority along the entire front. This battle should be a real slugging match with both players looking for the right spot and the right time to put in each punch.

(This has been previously posted under the Ligny listing, but I felt that it was just as valid here and perhaps some people will locate it more easily now.)

“Dead Men Tell No Tales – And There Be A Good Reason For This.”

Thread: Bang! High Noon:: General:: What is high noon 2?

vhirvela — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:33:01 +0000

by vhirvela

I just read that inside Bang the bullet (deluxe edition of bang) is also something called high noon 2?! How many and what cards are inside that?
I allready own all the other things in the bang the bulle so would not want to waste 35dollars if its for less than 15 superp useful new cards.

In bang the bullet there are high noon, high noon 2 and 2 extra high noon cards? (Are those the cards you get to print for free from the official sites?)
Also you get 3 new charracters and and a sherif badge? What charracters are those? Can you get them in any other bang add-on?

Thread: Steam:: Variants:: 'Steam Base' variant, for Age of Steam owners

jimb — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:28:24 +0000

by jimb

DRAFT - July 6, 2009
[Originally posted in General for review, reposted updates here.]

STEAM Base variant for Age of Steam owners.

The goal of this kit is simple instructions for playing casual Steam games with your Age of Steam set - the board, track pool, and player markers. There's a quick list of things to gather up, and then a rules overview.

Please limit your comments to the kit itself - not to the relative merits of Steam or Age of Steam.

This is a draft - comments are welcome, and I'll try to polish it up some more.

Game Equipment

Steam rules - Mayfair has a draft online. Review the Base Game rules carefully, for the First Game rules only (random initial turn-order); skip the Standard Game rules -
http://www.mayfairgames.com/gamesupport/rules/Steam_Rules_Dr...

Steam display - new Income/VP/etc track & supply-spaces; download and print Ted Alspach's Steam display -
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/39813.

City growth markers (18) - use pennies or dimes - small, flat markers, distinct from the other game tokens.

Action tiles (7) - instead of Age of Steam's action-selection track, you need 7 simple, numbered action-tiles for Steam - do-it-yourself instructions are below. (Aside from the new display, this is the only thing you're really missing - if friends have Steam and prefer Steam's onboard track, borrow their tiles.)

Setup

Setup your city goods as usual. (For the Rust Belt - 3 goods on Pittsburgh and Wheeling, 2 on the others.)

Also setup the 12 supply spaces (on the Steam display), as described in the Steam Rules: with 4+ player, setup 3 goods on each Goods Supply space; with 1-3 players, setup 2 goods each.

Also on the Steam display - place player-tokens on the vp, income/expense, and locomotive tracks. Then, randomly place player-tokens on the 'turn-order' track to determine initial turn-order. Each turn-order position after the first-player gets an addition $1 (2nd-player gets $1, 3rd-player gets $2, etc).

Setup your 7 action-tiles in a selection pool.

Play

The turn phases are:

1. Select Action - select/purchase an action tile, in turn-order
2. Build Track - urbanization and city growth both occur during this phase
3. Movement - 2 rounds of movement, 1 can be used to advance locomotive
4. Income/Expenses - receive income or pay expenses (according to income track)
5. Advance Turn - proceed to Progress Turn Order and continue, or Score

Select Action - take one of the available action tiles to select an action. Note that 3 of these 'action tiles' have costs (#5 City Growth, #6 Locomotive, and #7 Urbanization): if you select the action, you must pay the cost immediately, and you must use the action. Two of these also offer a free Pass action (#5 City Growth, and #7 Urbanization), indicated by a '--' after the marked cost: if you select the Pass action, you pay nothing - but flip the action-tile over as you take it, to indicate that it represents a Pass.

Progress Turn Order - the turn-order for the next turn is determined by this turn's action selections: lower action #'s (1-7) get earlier positions for the subsequent turn. Reset the turn-order track accordingly, return the action-tiles to the selection pool, and advance the turn-marker.

Score - if your income is positive, add half that many VP's (rounded down); if your income is negative, lose twice than many VP's. Also, remove all incomplete links, and score +1 VP for each completed link. (That's how many player tokens you should have on the map now. Note, you don't earn points for incomplete links, nor for each track segment on a tile.)

Steam rules - some key highlights from Age of Steam

In the Steam rules for the Base game, take particular note of the following differences:

Action Selection - particularly action-tile selection, cost (and passing), play, and turn-order effects. This is new.

Money - using the Income/Expenses track, you issue-shares on-demand to cover expenses, and there's no separate phase for issuing stock.

Track costs - track-tiles cost $1 for each hexside with track, plus $1 for towns (so - a curve is $2, an X is $4, a town X is $5, etc). If you replace or redirect existing track, you pay the full track-cost of the new tile.

Terrain costs - rivers add $1, mountains add $2. (Terrain effect is unchanged: only the first track on a hex pays terrain costs.)

Income/Expense track - this replaces the stock (and income) track, and there is no income reduction phase. For each delivery, you decide whether to take the points as income or VP's.

City Growth, Urbanization, and Goods Supply spaces - the new Goods Supply spaces affect setup, City Growth, and Urbanization: when you supply a city via City Growth or Urbanization, select all the goods from one available Goods Supply space; also, place a City Growth marker on the city as you do this. You cannot resupply a city with a city-growth marker, so each city-hex can only be supplied once after the start of the game; also, if Goods Supply spaces run out during play, don't resupply them (the initial setup is complete).

Action Tiles - DIY

To make simple action-tiles, take small cards - spare playing cards or business cards would work - and mark 7 cards like this (numbered #1 through #7) -

#1 Turn Order

First in player-order next turn

#2 First Move

First in movement phase

#3 Engineer

Build up to 4 track tiles, instead of 3

#4 First Build

First in build phase

#5 City Growth $2 / --

Supply a city from any available Goods Supply space
Place city-growth marker on the city

#6 Locomotive $4+

Move up 1 on the Locomotive track (now)
Costs $4, plus the new level

#7 Urbanization $6 / --

Place an available new-city token on any town
Supply the new city from any available Goods Supply space
Place city-growth marker on the new city

These form your action-tile selection pool at setup.

[These are much like action-card sets provided with some Age of Steam variants - they wouldn't be difficult to do...]

Other notes

Base and Standard rules - Base is Steam's native game. (Standard is much closer to Age of Steam, which you own.)

Varying # players and map scenarios - supply-spaces get 3 goods each in 4+ player games, and 2 goods each in smaller games. If you're playing a small 2-3p game on a larger 4-6p map, setup one less cube on each city; similarly, if a scenario plays too cramped or competitive, try 1 more goods-cube in each city. (In Steam, significant goods-supply tension is to be expected - but adjust the setup to your own preferences, and the scenario.) Be cautious of maps that introduce significantly variant rules / gameplay into Age of Steam - especially with the goods-supply - they may feel awkward with Steam.

Age of Steam track and towns - use your Age of Steam track-tiles and town-disks as normal. Your tiles are single-sided, so 5-player games may run out of curve/straight prematurely (unless one of the 5 brings another AoS set); if you find the tile pool is limiting the end-game, limit your map sizes accordingly.

Game image - a geek's 4-player game of Steam/Standard -
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/438733

Good luck - please let me know if you see omissions, or other issues with the kit in play.

- jim

Thread: Pacific Typhoon:: Rules:: Playing Events

colinkun — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:25:51 +0000

by colinkun

Are events always playable with regular cards? Meaning, can I play both or does playing my event count as my one card for that turn? I know some events like Cryptanalysis says to play your card last, but generally speaking are you allowed to play a regular card as well?

Thread: Small World:: Rules:: Berserk: Do I have to attack after a roll?

JYoder — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:20:06 +0000

by JYoder

With the berserk skill, if late in my turn I roll poorly, do I have to take a region if it's possible, even if I'd rather not? Or can I decide it was my final roll and place my remaining tokens on regions I own?

Thread: Hold The Line:: General:: Great Game! Finally available on Vassal!

charlescab — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:17:19 +0000

by charlescab

Anyone wanna play look me up!
Usually play night EST

charlescab at yahoo ,dot, com

Thread: For the People:: Rules:: Stretching Bounds of Credulity

GameWhore — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:12:02 +0000

by GameWhore

Maybe I am missing something here, but consider the following scenario.

A CSA Army with 6 SPs is attacked by a USA Army with 15 SPs.
It is a "large" battle.

With all the modifiers in place, each side rolls a modified 10 in the battle.

The CSA Army loses 5 SPs and wins the battle. The USA Army loses 6 SPs and loses the battle.

Ahem.

Now, I can see that there is some effort made in the rules to contain the amount of losses that can be done by a small force (limited to 2x the amount of SPs of the force). However, it seems absurd to these eyes that a Civil War Army could inflict losses upon an enemy Army in an amount equal to its own strength.

Now, I've read the design notes, etc., and they say that the amount of losses in a Civil War Battle were mostly tied to the size of the battle.

Be that as it may, I have looked through the losses in particular battles and you will NEVER find one Army inflicting an amount of losses that is even close to its own strength. The highest ratio I could find is about 40% (The Battle of Franklin - losses inflicted by the USA against the CSA Army of Tennessee) and that was in a battle in which the larger army pretty much made a banzai charge into the teeth of the enemy defenses.

The bloodiest battles typically had one side inflicting losses no greater than 1/3 of its own strength.

Something is amiss.

Thread: Dominion:: General:: Ending the game as a loser

ToddMoon — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:04:51 +0000

by ToddMoon

I've been playing Dominion a lot recently. It's a new game to my circle of friends, and I had the chance to play it a lot over the long weekend. In our first game, a player who had no chance of winning ended the game by buying out the third pile of cards. In a later game, I was in the same position. I was certainly going to lose, but among the two other players in the game (3-player game) we had no idea who was winning. So I let them duke it out and let one of them decide when to end the game by buying the last card.

Does this situation occur often in your games? Where a losing player can end the game at will and does so, causing a "random" player to win?

For some reason it doesn't feel right. In most other games you win by earning enough points (Catan), or when all the game resources are depleted (Carcasonne), or a fixed number of turns (Kingsburg), or when all other players are defeated.

It seems unusual that a losing player can end the game with relative ease. Which means that the person who has the most VP cards at that time wins, when, if given enough time, some other player might pull the game around and win. Normally, the players who are all in the running to win are fighting their hardest to ensure their victory and no one wants to end the game until they are sure they are winning.

I just don't like sore losers deciding when all the other players should stop playing and buy out 5 of some cheap, useless card just to end the game.

What are your experiences with this potential outcome?

Thread: Admiral Ackbar "It's a TRAP!" GAME:: General:: Any News on Expansions?

frontlinegeneral — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:59:45 +0000

by frontlinegeneral

Grogs,

Are there any expansions in the works? I'm very interested in "Admiral Ackbar "It's a TRAP!" GAME: Rebel vs Imperium" if such an expansion is planned...?

Thread: Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) Starter Kit #1:: General:: Waiting on MMP

jrdoty — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:59:39 +0000

by jrdoty

I have just barely discovered ASL. A friend of mine bought SK1 a while ago and didn't have anyone to play it with until I tried it. I love the game and am patiently waiting for MMP to reprint Beyond Valor so I can jump into the full rules of ASL.

My question comes regarding the different Modules. How does one know if they have the right counters to play the different modules?

Are there any modules I could purchase and play now, without Beyond Valor? I currently only have SK2, to the best of my knowledge it was the last piece of ASL left in the state of Utah when I bought it.

Thread: Napoleon's Triumph:: Rules:: Winning Conditions Query?

Arctic Jack — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:56:46 +0000

by Arctic Jack

Played a great game last night but a few things came up at the end which we weren't sure about:

"An army is considered to control an objective locale if both of the following requirements are met:

* It is occupied by a corps of that army with at least one infantry and/or artillery unit.

Question... So a corps must have either an infantry and an artillery or a sole artillery unit? If that is the case then why not just say you need an artillery unit in the corps?

Also in the early stages of me figuring out the game I find it better to have artillery detatched. Does this mean on my last game turn if I'm in a blue star locale but my artillery is on an approach and my corps are in reserve this does not qualify me as controlling the locale?

"* A path by road can be traced from the locale to a main road reinforcement entry locale for that army"

Question... I was the Allies and I contolled a blue star in the centre of the French defense. I also crontolled the locales behind it so it was an isolated locale. The thing was there wasn't a road that lead back to my reinforcement entry. We played this didn't count but it seemed strange that the star was occupied and behind directly adjacent, locale's were occupied by me also but this was enough to be counted as in control. Did we play this right?

Thread: War of the Ring:: Variants:: Ivan's Shire Variant

Ivan M — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:50:53 +0000

by Ivan M

Guys, I recently posted my own Shire variant at the download section of this forum.
I started to develop this after playing a couple of times Jimziks Starting from the Shire variant.

I like Jimzik’s variant but there are some issues:
1.Imho the FSP need to go to Rivendel cuz it’s there where the Council took place to decide to throw the Ring into Mount Doom.
2.I find it strange that the SP is losing 2 dice as long as the FSP is NOT reaching Rivendel cuz this is something completely in the hands of the FP player. I can imagine an FP player never going to Rivendell and entirely concentrating on the military game. (Remark: I realise that this is a bit fixed in a newer version with also leaving 1 FP die in Rivendell).

Highlights of my own Shire variant:
1.The Hunt for the Ring (during the journey to Rivendell)
2.The Political Game

1.The Hunt for the Ring·
- The Nazgul are guarding the road to Rivendell
- Before Rivendell: Army dice cannot be used to move units still at peace; instead army dice can be converted into Eye dice.
- The typical turn stall tactics against the FSP can also be used to delay the declaration of the FSP in Rivendell.

2.The Political Game·
- All nations start in the top Political Track box.
- Before Rivendell: Muster actions at the Political Track have 50 % chance to fail.
- The rule about the FP getting one extra die if Sauron is at war is giving an incentive for the SP to strike first with Saruman. The same rule is also making it more a trade off for the SP to bring the Witch King asap in the game (in the regular base game this is a no-brainer).

Instead of starting the game in a Middle-Earth that is already on the brink of war, you get a slightly slower buildup. This creates a sense of impending doom - the Shadow slowly rising, as it were - instead of the "one spark will be enough to start the war" feeling you get in the standard game.

A final word, perhaps, on the expansion. We did not play test the Shire Variant in combination with the expansion, as we find the extra rules from the expansion too clumsy. They just lack the elegance and simplicity of the base game. Though some of the better ideas, such as the rules for Galadriel, served as inspiration for our additional rules. These were added after numerous play tests, primarily in order to maintain game balance. Although, and there is no denying it, some thematic elements have slipped in as well. But hey, we are Tolkien fans after all ;-).
Nevertheless, combining the expansion and the Shire Variant should be possible. If you do, we suggest leaving out the additional base game rules that are introduced by the Shire Variant.

If you are interested to try out the variant online, you can always contact me at Ivan.Mostinckx@hotmail.com

Thread: Small World:: General:: Cardboard Thickness

Lt Col Lippert 1944 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:47:57 +0000

by Lt Col Lippert 1944

I do not own the game yet, but I am still making my own pieces.
My question is what thickness are the counters in Small World would you say 2 cereal box cardboard thickness, or shoebox, or normal e'erday cardboard box??

Thread: Dungeon Crawl:: General:: Availability?

Draugr — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:47:55 +0000

by Draugr

Hi.

Will this game be available for purchase online or through stores? I mean will there be a physical release or only a pdf or digital release model?

Thanks
John

Thread: Okko, Era of the Asagiri:: General:: New Company with prepainted 3D scenery fo Okko

groescha — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:47:18 +0000

by groescha

look here:

http://www.minisandscenery.com/index.html

Thread: Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game:: Variants:: Black Sheep variant

geschichte — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:37:41 +0000

by geschichte

So after playing a game of LNoE and then watching Black Sheep the same night, I thought about my Target meeples that I got for Agricola and realized that I had the equipment for a variant and all I needed to do was come up with with the rules. For those of you who have seen the movie, these rules will makes more sense.

In this variant, all zombie sheep are spawned from the well in the center of the board. Zombie sheep are faster than humans so they can move 2 on each turn instead of 1. Zombie sheep are extremely flatulent, therefore any human with a card bearing a flame marker can kill them with any higher roll.

The game begins with one human zombie character representing the human who was responsible for the Zombie Sheep epidemic. For the humans to win, he must be killed. If he is alive after 15 turns, the Zombies win. Unlike other zombies, though, it takes two doubles rolls to defeat him. They must take place in the same turn.

Thread: Agricola Ö-Deck:: Rules:: Guest Worker

Bucketeyo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:26:01 +0000

by Bucketeyo

I received my O and Z decks today! I just finished a quick read-through of the cards and I figured I'd ask a question while it's fresh in my head.

(Note: I'm new to Agricola. I have about 5 games under my belt so if these questions have obvious answers, please forgive me.) :)

The "Guest Worker" minor improvement card reads:

"Take a guest marker. From the next round, you can place this as you would a family member. The guest worker can use the most recent round card even if it has already been taken. He occupies a room in your home and must be fed with 2 food during the feeding phase of each harvest."

Does the guest worker count as a family member for end-game scoring? If so, does that mean the card allows one the potential to grow their family to 6 people and score 18 points (3 for each family member) at the end of the game?

Thanks for your help!

-Bucket

Thread: Crossfire:: General:: Amazing Crossfire video by Board James

Hipsu — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:09:01 +0000

by Hipsu

This is his third Board Game "review". Couple more and we can make a Board James GeekList!

Anyways, enjoy:

http://www.cinemassacre.com/new/?p=1744 (I'll try to remember to embed the youtube version when it's up)

The previous two videos are
Mouse Trap, (BGG thread)
Dragon Strige, (BGG thread)

Review: Incan Gold:: Get the kids involved - adding my 5 y/o son to a game

tcollett — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:08:43 +0000

by tcollett

I love playing board games, and I hope that my children will someday share in my passion for playing games. As with any child, there is the possiblity that they won't and I am fine with that, but I definitely want to put out opportunities so they can play.

While there are tons of wonderful games out there, many I can't play with my 5 y/o son because they are too complex for him at this time. I don't want him to grow up any faster than he is because time is flying by, but I do want him to have opportunities to play games with everyone at the table versus just something small for himself, his mom, and me.

I look for games because my son pulls up a chair next to me while the adults are playing games and looks across the board hoping and yearning for something he can contribute; a piece he can place, a card or cards he can pass out, maybe roll some dice. It is more than just playing the game; it is being part of the group. I do explain what I am doing and why but a 5 y/o only registers so much.

I had played Incan Gold a few times at the local gaming group. It is a nice light game, and I had purchased a copy but it sat on my shelf because there were other games that I personally wanted to play more. I played Incan Gold last week again at the local gaming group and realized that this was something my son could play and it is definitely a lot more fun in a large group setting.

There is something to be said when you put out the two cards (either going further into the temple or leaving) and a tent for everyone at the table and you make sure there is a place for him (my 5 y/o as well). The kid beamed with excitement because it was a new game, and he was going to get to play like everyone else.

So why is it a good game for him? Several reasons:

- It is fast and easy to play. Play 5 rounds and there are literally only two choices to make; going further in or leaving. The game usually doesn't last longer than 15 minutes.

- It plays 3 - 8 players. He got to be in a 6 player game which was huge to him. For him, it is being where everyone else is and doing what they do.

- It allows him to make his own decisions without anyone else telling him what he should do or how to do it. He makes mistakes like everyone else (sometimes leaving too early or not leaving soon enough), but he also learns that no one gets mad about it and to learn from your mistakes.

- Easy to teach and we can bring it out with almost any member of the family. Grandpa and grandma know how to play, his uncles and aunts can play, and his cousins that are around his age can play as well. Since it goes up to 8 people, that makes it even better because for him, the more people the better.

- He always has a card to play unless he leaves the temple. He always has something to do which is a big deal at that age.

- It has the wonderful little parts that kids just seem to gravitate towards (the colorful little nuggets). Having some of these that you have earned on your own versus playing the game with mom or dad and using their parts also adds some fun to the game as well.

- While there is some skill to the game, luck plays a huge part in it. For some this is a turn-off, but it puts him on the same playing field for the most part so that he can win a game or two from time to time.

This is definitely more than a kid's game though. While my 5 y/o finds it fun, so does most everyone in the family clear up through the grandparents. The larger the group, the more fun the game is in my opinion. As one person at the gaming group showed, it is fun to have someone be just a dealer while everyone else plays (and it also helps to get into the game a little bit for the kids).

While I know this game isn't for everyone with the huge luck factor, to me, it is a huge success with the family and friends. It plays fast, plays many, and includes those that sometimes are left to watching or helping versus playing. That right there makes it worth the price just to have some smiles from the little ones (and maybe some future gamers).

Thread: Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game:: General:: If You Have "When Darkness Comes" Use the Heavier "Dolls" !

elfrododumbo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:00:03 +0000

by elfrododumbo

I found that the plastic Heroes from LNoE are a little flimsy, so I replaced them with the heavier more sturdy ones from "When Darkness Comes".

Thread: Zendo:: General:: Emoticon Zendo (Game 110)

asutbone — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:55:30 +0000

by asutbone

Welcome to Emoticon Zendo Game 110.

Thanks to Istaril for game 109!

To see a list of all the games, click here.

See also the Emoticon Zendo Wiki. (Everyone is encouraged to keep the wiki page up to date, especially those who master or win a game.)!

Consider the Spock rule.

Emoticon Zendo Rules:
-All BGG users start with exactly one guessing token.
-There is no "Mondo" -- there is only "Master" and guessing
-There are no turns, but no one user may do "master" (asking about a koan) two consecutive times (i.e. he must wait for another player to do "master" in between). A user may "guess" the rule twice consecutively only if there was a "master" from another user, and at least an hour has passed since the first guess. A user may do a "master" and then make a guess consecutively.
-Your first guess is free. Additional guesses cost 1 GeekGold. The GG should be submitted as a tip to this thread. The student with the first correct guess (the winner) will win all the GG as a prize.
-Please thumb the main thread if you participate.
-"Buddha" is not spelled "Buddah".

Emoticon Zendo Conventions:
-Koans are built from a single line of emoticons. No letters/numbers/etc.
-The 2nd emoticon from the left is in 'position #2', etc.
-I will use and to answer each "master", so please don't use these emoticons in your Koan.

Here is an example of a Koan of length 4 which has a smiley face in position #3:

_____________________________________________________________________
Koans which have the Buddha nature:

Koans which do not have the Buddha nature:

Thread: Android :: Rules:: Conspiracy - Add a bonus piece question

shadowknave — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:47:17 +0000

by shadowknave

I have looked for the answer to this but don't see it anywhere.

We played our first game last night and wondered how to handle this situation:

When solving the conspiracy and getting down to the final pile (the good/bad baggage pile) of puzzle pieces, what do you do when you draw a puzzle piece showing an additional puzzle piece from a pile which is already empty?

We played that you move on to the next most powerful pile and place from that. This happened twice - once where we moved from the empty pile 1 to pile 2, and once where we took another piece from pile 3 because the first two were empty.

Is that correct or do you just forfeit the chance to place a bonus puzzle piece?

Thread: RoboRally:: Rules:: Ledge questions

allbaugh — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:43:36 +0000

by allbaugh

What happens when you go over a ledge into a space occupied by another robot? Do you push them? Crush them? Bounce off of them into the next open spot? Something else?

Also, if you are on a different level than another robot and pointed at them do you still hit them with your laser?

Thread: Magic: The Gathering CCG:: General:: If it's not Magic, then is it worth it?

brotherjo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:41:12 +0000

by brotherjo

I've got a problem. I love Magic, but I know longer have the dedication or money to collect it. I'm hoping someone can settle an argument in my head for me.

I game with a few friends and want to bring Magic back into my gaming life. I've tried to think of ways to do this cheaply and have come up with the following question...

If I bought 2 sets of 4x common playsets from a core set (say, 10th edition), would that be a satisfying Magic experience for me (a former Magic player) and for a friend (a new Magic player). I can grab up some common sets cheaply and we'd be playing with the same card sets.

I know Magic really shines with the power and cost of uncommons and rares, but is common Magic any good? Or am I better off just giving up the dream of cheap Magic and finding another card game?

I am trying to avoid the whole, "What game is as good as Magic but cheap", but I'll gladly entertain other game suggestions. I am mostly curious from the seasoned Magic players whether or not playing with commons only would be a fulfilling experience for 2 players?

Thanks in advance

Thread: Dungeon Plungin':: News:: Has oversoul-games.com been down long?

aaxiom — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:35:16 +0000

by aaxiom

Just wondering, as the link to the site hosting the game files appears to be bad.

Just curious.

Thread: Nazi Mekas:: News:: Portuguese Version Lite Released

antonmarcelo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:30:23 +0000

by antonmarcelo

In last 4th july, we released the portuguese lite version of Nazi Mekas !

No último 4 de julho lançamos oficialmente as regras compactas do Nazi Mekas !

Good Game !
Bom Jogo !

Cheers

Antonio Marcelo

Session: Dragon Strike:: The Silver Scepter

Sandal_Thong — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:30:05 +0000

by Sandal_Thong

Previously my groups hadn't been able to win at The Silver Scepter. I thought that maybe four heroes could succeed where two or three had failed, and recently we tested it, albeit late at night.

I had an experienced Dragon Strike adventurer play the role of Dragon Master in my place. I told him how he could move the contents of the rooms around if he wished to make it more random (he didn't, but I didn't figure that until the third room). Also, I suggested different ways he could play the transformed prince for him to chose. He hid the scepter then our group containing two or three newbies chose characters and drew treasure cards. Our youngest player chose the Warrior and since I had recently acquired a Valkyrie figure she went with that and sat in the fourth position. Next, a neophyte chose the male Thief and sat in the #2 position. The next player chose the Dwarf, while I chose the Wizard and sat to go first. Normally the heroes get 6 treasure cards, but the DM allowed us 2 each, and someone was allowed to trade-in an "Elf only" card for a new one. After trades I ended with 2 wands and the Crystal Ball.

I took two steps forward (from the bottom entrance), saw two Bugbears in the Hall of Slime, and cast Fireball which killed them both. The Thief put on his Boots of Speed (changed to "Any Hero"), instead of swapping with the Dwarf, who moved 5 spaces (a stat change). He wanted to attack the Orc on the overlook with his bullwhip, which we decided should have a range of 1 square in the air or 2 on the ground, but the DM didn't allow it up the cliff. So he ran across a pit trap, which he dexterously avoided and searched a Bugbear for treasure - nada. The Dwarf moved on the board and failed his Find/Disarm Traps roll. The Warrior turned right at the new tunnel marker. This adventure the figures started off the board, instead of the first space, so she didn't have the movement to run up the cliff with her Ring of Free Action. The Orc on the overlook fired the crossbow but it missed.

While we were all in the Hall, we decided two should go left and two right. I followed the Warrior, while the Thief went left. The Dwarf, after checking the second Bugbear, spent a turn going right, before turning around towards the Thief, who was now so far away, he'd discovered the Troll. Since one player alone couldn't defeat it without magic, he got into the empty chest (broken trap) and fled that chamber, after suffering a bit (a bite, that is). Instead of futily attacking, he searched the Troll for treasure (only the Thief can search a live monster) and found the Ring of Spell Storing, which had Invisibility and Detect Invisibility.

Before the other chamber I used my Crystal Ball to look through the wall to see the Manscorpion, his chest, and the trap in the entrance (which turned out to be broken). The Warrior entered and made an attack, and faced a counter-attack. On my turn I used my Wand of Paralysis which after a failed Save vs. Magic, "pinned him to the wall" as I said. Perhaps this should work like the Death Knights' paralysis for one turn, or the Web spell, where they get to attempt an escape every turn, but the DM allowed it to work for the entire adventure. I hadn't seen this treasure often enough to decide to reduce its power previously. One of us busted open the chest with a Feat of Strength and got the first piece of the Scepter. We should have found a random treasure, but the mapbook has an error by not showing one there. Also, if we had thought about doing it, we could have searched the paralyzed Manscorpion, since the rule states you can search a monster that's asleep, dead, or tied-up, so paralyzed should count. Anyway, we had enough good treasure from the start.

The Dwarf and the Thief each put a hit on the Troll the same turn, but they weren't in the clear to take more shots. This would have been a situation for my rule of "one order change per adventure" so the Dwarf could then attack first and move out of the way so the Thief could rush in and try for the third hit. Instead the Thief went after the Orc who'd come down the stairs and proceeded on towards the chest in front of the Death Knights.

Meanwhile we had a player change, as the woman playing the Warrior retired and another inexperienced lady took over her character. Her first challenge was to deal with the Prince who was transformed into an Orc. I'd suggested that for the story's sake he'd be banging on a locked chest, and the DM went with that. So after he cried, "Leave me alone," she had to decide whether to do as he said, attack, or talk. She attempted to open the chest but the DM had the Orc figure throw himself on it so she couldn't. She thought about attacking, which I knew would have meant failure for our adventure, but I restrained myself from telling her what to do. She chose to talk, and got him to be an ally, but didn't ask him where Scepter pieces were. Oh well. The DM declared that the Prince was a V.I.P. who mustn't die and must escape the Cavern alive. Because of this and since monsters can't perform a feat (to open the chest), the Warrior player sent him for the explored exit on the lower right. Meanwhile, we got a piece of Scepter from that chest (the DM was generous in placement). The Wizard then moved around the corners, saw two Gargoyles and hit them both with the Web Spell.

The Thief had now reached the treasure chest in front of the Death Knight but had trouble opening it, while the Troll was in between the Dwarf and Thief. The Thief found the third part of the Silver Scepter, but was paralyzed after being hit by a Death Knight and failing his Save vs. Magic roll. The Hourglass was on 4, which meant we had to decide whether to flee the cavern, hoping he'd escape on his own, or attempt to come to his rescue. We chose the latter. One Gargoyle got free of the web and came at the Wizard, so he cast Lightning Bolt Spell, which caused 2 damage on each since they failed their Save rolls, then I headed for the Hall. The Warrior finished off the near one, covering my back. Instead of leaving, The Dwarf performed a Feat of Dexterity to slip between the Troll's legs and run up the stairs. After losing a turn, the Thief was hit by both Death Knights but amazingly made both his Saves! He turned Invisible and fled for the exit, as the Dwarf led the Troll to the overlook. I used the Paralysis Wand which, due to his failed Save, turned the Troll into another statue. The Warrior finished off the second Gargoyle, who'd freed himself, then searched and found Plate Mail, which was interesting, and headed for the exit.

Unfortunately, the Dwarf was now stuck on the overlook and couldn't make his Feat of Dexterity to climb down. He had one turn to run before the Death Knights blocked his path, but he chose to attempt the Cliff. It was time for the Dragon, so after casting Cure Light Wounds on the Dwarf my Wizard fled. I had no other items or spells to aid him because I'd forgotten to ask for the Ring of Free Action from the Warrior when our figures were together. The Dragon didn't attack with fiery breath or with tooth and claw by flying/hovering next to the cliff - perhaps because the player had revealed he had the Ring of Fire Resistance, the Death Knight was in the blast radius, or the DM didn't think of hovering. When the Dwarf finally climbed down the cliff, the Dragon blocked his path and made physical attacks. His next turn, he tried to dash under the Dragon, like he did with the Troll but that failed. The Dragon took his last two hit points by tooth and claw. Unfortunately, we forgot the Dwarf had a Potion of Invisibility, which meant once off the cliff he could have drank it and then made a leisurely walk out a side entrance. Argh!

So our story goes: The Dwarf perished in the Cavern while our heroes found the 3 parts of the Silver Scepter and after escaping and reuniting, combined them to use its power to heal Lord Narran and restore the Prince to human form. All in all, a partial victory!

Since the Dwarf didn't accomplish anything (other than bringing two treasure cards), we might have been able to win this with three heroes. I wouldn't have thought the Thief would be safe on his own, but in this scenario his power and versatility seemed to make up for the lack of armor and hit points. His Sneak Attacks match the Warrior's attack (for a time) and his Dexterity to pick a lock is comparable with the Warrior using Strength to bust a lock. If the Wizard were allowed to use the Knock spell to open a locked treasure chest, then I'd say these three characters could head in three different directions successfully. Of course starting treasure like the Boots of Speed and the Wand of Paralysis may have led to success in this adventure.

Thread: War for Edaðh:: General:: multi-player?

Swamisan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:25:08 +0000

by Swamisan

Some question about how it plays as a multi-player game?

Is the conflict resultion (Mastery Cards) still simultaneous...
If so does the winner target everybody or just one chosen player?

Is the game as good as with just 2 players?

Review: Arkham Horror - Innsmouth Horror Expansion:: Innsmouth Horror Review (or, Watching Your Friends Pronounce "Y'ha-Nthlei")

thinwhiteduke — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:15:58 +0000

by thinwhiteduke

My biases first: I am a big fan of theme in games and do not mind reaching through piles of chits if the theme and game play is good enough. While I do favor confrontation, chits, bits and polished pieces of AT games, there are still a large number of Euros that I'll build my farm on or attend auctions at and be quite content at the end of my experience. I am also a role-player at heart and also a bit fan of Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos, even to the point where I’ve eschewed tabletop RPGs and boardgames to don costumes and get involved in some Cthulhu Live LARPs at cons. Arkham Horror is also one of my favorite games and it sees a fair amount of game play with my core group (all of whom are also Lovecraft fans who, save for one, have also been known to LARP the mythos as well).

The Overview:

I will assume that you are familiar with Arkham Horror at this point, so this review will just focus on what the expansion brings to the game. Innsmouth Horror is a "big box" expansion for Arkham Horror. The expansion adds the city of Innsmouth as a region that can be travelled to in order to continue exploring the mysteries of Arkham. Innsmouth adds a number of dangers that fit into the theme of the Lovecraft Story, "The Shadow of Innsmouth". The expansion also expands on the backgrounds of all of the existing character from the base set and the expansions, giving them more personal dangers to manage and maintain while trying to stop the Ancient One.

So far, out of all of the expansions that have come out for Arkham Horror, this one best acknowledges the previous expansions and provides components compatible for the expansions' rules and at the same time does not needlessly water down item decks with unnecessary items.

The Theme:

Arkham Horror is already steeped in theme and this expansion adds to it in a number of ways. Now "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" isn't one of my favorite Lovecraft stories, but the elements of the tale that are brought into the game work exceedingly well. Innsmouth, for the most part, feels like a city that is already corrupted by a greater evil. Some of the encounters seem a little light compared to the elements in the original story, but working the risk of being arrested into moving around town adds to the theme of oppression.

Also introduced on the Innsmouth board is the Deep Ones Rising track. There are six spaces the Deep Ones Rising side of the track and six spaces on the Feds Raid Innsmouth side of the track. Whenever a gate does not open because of an elder sign on its location or from an investigator’s ability, a token is added to the track. Also, the Innsmouth board has vortexes on it similar to the Dunwich Horror expansion. If a monster moves into a vortex, a token is added to the track. If all six tokens are added, the Ancient One immediately awakens and the final battle begins. However, during their Upkeep, any investigator in an Innsmouth neighborhood can spend 1 or more of their Clue tokens to place a clue token on the Feds Raid Innsmouth side of the track. Once the sixth token is placed, Feds raid Innsmouth and all of the Deep Ones Rising tokens are removed. They can be added again, but it at least slows down the advance.

Perhaps one of the best additions to theme, however, is the Personal Story cards that are introduced in this expansion. Each character from the base game and each of the expansions is given a Personal Story, which expands on the character’s background and history and further expands on their reasons for being in Arkham. Each story is different and character specific. Besides just the flavor story, the Personal Story cards have a Pass or Fail trigger on the card and you have the chance to resolve only one of the outcomes. The Pass triggers vary from "If you have 3 or more Gate Trophies" to "You may spend X amount of Clue Tokens at X location" to "If you are Blessed". However, the Fail trigger acts as the timer, meaning you have to achieve the Pass trigger before the Fail trigger comes up. Fail triggers vary from "If the Terror Level reaches X" or "If you are knocked unconscious or driven insane" or "If there are X amount of Doom Tokens on the Ancient One". Whichever result occurs first is the one you resolve. Achieving the Pass trigger means something good happens, and depending on the character, it varies in strength and power. However, if the Fail trigger is achieved usually a penalty occurs to the character, often times brutal, but sometimes manageable, depending on the character.

The effect of the Personal Stories, however, is not just a game effect and stat boost or penalty. The stories give flavor and a bit of roleplaying background to the characters you are playing. The other effect, however, is that you find yourself more attached to the character. Sometimes you make decisions to try to pass your story instead of doing the optimal move to stop the Ancient One. This is very thematic and makes the decisions personal. You may find yourself so close to recovering your lost sister, but the Fail trigger is one hand. The other investigators are urging you to ignore the personal story and jump into a gate to close it to try to stave off the Ancient One from awakening. So, do you sacrifice your sister and all you've set up to save her for the greater good? Or do you risk it and save her, but risking the destruction of the city in the process? It's harder to jump in and sacrifice characters now. The Personal Stories help in attaching you to the process of the story and makes the characters a little more real.

Learning the Game:

This is an expansion to Arkham Horror and there are very little rule additions here. The Personal Stories are a very easy mechanic to learn (especially for those who are familiar with Android, which uses the same mechanic). The Deeps Ones Rising Track is easy to understand, but can be easily forgotten in the first couple of games.

The Components:

The expansion introduces the same quality components as in all of the Arkham Horror series. Specific components for the Ancient Ones and Deep Rising Track are included as well as expanding on a number of existing components. What that means is that besides introducing an additional board to the game, Innsmouth Horror also adds the following:
*A New Expansion Board for the city of Innsmouth
*16 New Investigators
*8 New Ancient Ones (plus the corresponding Ancient One Plot Cards)
*2 New Heralds
*42 Innsmouth Location Cards (for 8 New Locations in 3 New Neighborhoods)
*36 Arkham Location Cards (for the Original 26 Locations in the Original 9 Neighborhoods)
*36 Mythos Cards
*26 Gate Cards (though no new Otherworld Locations are introduced)
*48 Sets of Personal Stories Cards (2 for each character from the base and all expansions)
*32 New Monster Markers (5 Ancient One related markers not added to the cup, 2 Mask Monsters, 5 Markers of Monsters introduced in older sets (4 kinds), and 20 Markers for new Monsters (7 kinds)

Playing the Game:

The additions to Arkham Horror mechanic-wise are minimal and easy to manage. However, what this expansion adds is theme.

It is very amazing how much the Personal Stories have added a life to old characters that we have not touched in ages. However, the rest of the game feels the touch of Innsmouth.

I strongly suggest that to really enjoy the game that you remove most of the components of the previous expansions, including the monsters (this gets a better ratio of Aquatic monsters into the mix). One of the ongoing issues with the expansions of AH is that adding too much waters down the experience of each of the expansions, killing a lot of the theme. I’ve also taken out all of the Arkham Encounter cards from each of the expansions as well. We've kept the Dunwich Horror and Kingsport Horror items and spells in the decks, but have removed almost everything else from those expansions (except for characters, Ancient Ones, Injury and Madness cards and the Ancient One Plot Cards).

Once you find the mix for you (again, I strongly suggest that you consider less is better), you will find the theme and pressure of the Innsmouth experience very strong and very fulfilling.

I also suggest not reading through the Personal Stories until you have the characters in play. Then, only read the first card. Only take and read the Pass/Fail effects after you’'ve achieved one of them. This way, you don’t know if you are sacrificing a lot for a small gain, or inadvertently crippling your character's abilities by not heeding the story close enough.

Scalability:

Innsmouth Horror keeps the same scalability of the base game. While some expansions (such as Kingsport Horror) tend to favor large groups, Innsmouth fits most ranges. My wife and I have played with one investigator each and found it to be a good fit. And we have played with a total of four players with one investigator each and found no problems in the scalability. Innsmouth does not require one player spending all of his time up there as Kingsport did. The only issue that I found that Innsmouth suffers from with fewer investigators is that eventually sneak checks are required to move around in Innsmouth or else the investigator will be arrested. The problem that this poses is that with a smaller assortment of active investigators, you had better plan ahead to make sure that at least one of them has a good sneak skill. Otherwise, Innsmouth will be too brutal in the second half of the game.

Does the Wife Like It?:

The most important category. I play games without her, but she's an integral part of my core gaming group and my most frequent game partner. That being said, Arkham Horror is one of her favorite games (probably in her top three). Innsmouth Horror has revitalized our AH play more than any other expansion that has come out previously. Whenever we would sit down to play, she would usually grab one of her two favorite characters (Rita Young or Daisy Walker) and never think of playing anyone else. Now, she’s taken a new character in each game, curiously uncovering their personal stories and finding a whole new experience with otherwise forgotten and unused characters.

The Pros:

*The most thematic expansion to date.
*More location cards, making them more variable.
*Adds a lot without watering down the base games equipment cards any further.
*Personal Stories revitalizes old characters, balancing some of the "unbalanced" characters by the effects and costs of their stories.
*Consistently good components.
*New mechanics introduced are easy, flowing, seem natural and are easy to track (unlike portals in Kingsport Horror).
*New Mythos Cards only have gate bursts in Innsmouth, creating a threat and a natural reason to keep going there.

The Cons:

*Requires expansion and deck management to really get a good experience.
*More bits in an already bit heavy game.

Overall:

Innsmouth Horror is a must have expansion for a great game. I almost wish that it game with another set of Injury and Madness cards so that I could fully endorse this expansion as the first one to get instead of Dunwich Horror (really, Injury and Madness cards are all but necessary fixes in the game, but are found in just the one expansion). No other big box expansion has done as a good job of keeping a consistent theme and feel throughout. Even though we still spend most of our time on the Arkham board instead of the Innsmouth board in game, the theme and presence of Innsmouth is strongly felt. Innsmouth Horror is our group's favorite expansion and it is one that is necessary for any fan of Arkham Horror.

However, if you are looking for your first expansion for AH, Dunwich Horror has some key game fixes. If you feel that the base game is a bit broken, grab this game. But if you think it plays fine, but want more theme, grab Innsmouth Horror and make Dunwich your second grab.

Session: Elusive Victory: The Air War over the Suez Canal, 1967-1973:: AAR for Round 1 / Game#7 of EV Release Tourney

T-Mo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:09:08 +0000

by T-Mo

AAR for Round 1/ Game#7 T-Mo vs Torsten

Action begins once Egyptians cross the Suez Canal. Initial strength was 4 Mirages on CAP an 2 Mirages on Ground Alert. Egyptians launch 3x2-ship flights of MiG-21PFs to attempt to engage the IAF.

Torsten (EAF) decided to cross the Canal in strength at High Altitude. Unfortunately, while the Mirage is at a maneuver disadvantage, the weapons load of Matra 530s, IRMs and Gun give it a combat advantage. Also, I was lucky to get an extra QRA flight that gave my IAF team the umph I needed.

My initial 4-ship led by Spector was able to get off a good BVR shot opportunity at range 2 and was able to Cripple a MiG. (1 shot hit, 2 shots missed and 1 failed to launch (i.e. weapons depleted). This was the extent of combat for the turn as I was just able to get into range.

The next turn has a fortunate random event of Fuel Starvation which causes the Cripple to crash. Pilot KIA. Chalk up 1 MiG-21PF kill for Spector - claimed as a Matra 530 kill. The movement phase sees two IAF flights getting to go first. Spector attempts to convert onto the tail of another EAF flight but fails as does the Egyptians. Lapidot (2-ship from Refidim) then rolls in to engage the same flight and succeeds. Egyptians fail their engagement roll and are surprised. Torsten declares disengaging. Lapidot gets of 3 shots with Gun as primary weapon. 2 misses and 1 kill. Splash another MiG-21PF. Pilot evades capture and will return to Egypt. Torsten now gets a chance for revenge as his one and only undetected MiG flight attempts to roll in on Spector flight. Torsten fails the engagement roll and Spector also fails to spot the MiG flight crossing his six o'clock.

Tally IAF 2 MiG-21PF kills (1xMatra 530 / 1x30mm Cannon)

Next turn sees some undetected flights from the combat being spotted. So basically every flight on the map is detected. 3 MiG flights (two down to a single plane) and 3 Mirage flights (1x4 and 2x2). IAF goes first and my late arriving QRA flight (from an earlier random event) dashes into range of the first MiG flight that had been hit by Spector's RHM attack. This is Snir flight and they close to range 1 and let loose a BVR shot from rear aspect to the retreating MiG flight. 2 Matra 530s are fired and 1 hit scored Damaging the lone MiG. Matra 530s are depleted. The flight then closes in to engagement range. Snir flight successfully engages and the MiG fails so Snir saddles up for 3 shots with gun. 1st shot is succssful in killing the damaged MiG. Splash 3rd MiG. Pilot bails out and his captured. Torsten runs his intact MiG flight back across the Suez Canal to safety. Spector now tries to engage the remaining MiG flight and does successfully. We have some rules confusion over disengaging and Torsten decides to roll for shots with his single MiG. Spector gets off 1 shot damaging the MiG with guns and the MiG fails to get any shot off. The MiG flight then removes the Manv marker and heads for safety. Lapidot is the last Mirage flight to move so sets up to attempt to search for the undetected MiG flight on the next turn.

Tally 3 Kills (1xMatra 530 and 2xGun)

Detection phase fails to see the MiG detected by ground radar so now Lapidot will attempt a lock-on with Cyrano IV radar. 1st DR is a 1 which would mean the radar failed. No contact and the MiG is able to escape across the Suez Canal to safety.

Future turns see the Damaged MiG become a Cripple due to mechanical failure but aircraft is able to recover back at a friendly base.

Final Tally: IAF 3 Kills (MiG-21PF) 1 KIA/1 POW/1 Recoverd

1 Cripple (Landed Successfully)

EAF No Damage scored

IAF 6 VPs

T-Mo

Thread: Sack Armies:: General:: Sack Armies - Expeditionary Force - Checklist

Original_CorPse — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:07:32 +0000

by Original_CorPse

Couldn't find this anywhere on the 'net, so I decided to create this from a checklist I found...

UNITS

Common

Axemen
Court Elf Mage
Foresters
Goblin Commandos
Goblin Infantry
Goblin Javelins
Hastati
Javelin Velites
Orc Archers
Seed Slaves
Shazari Regulars
Shazari Slinkers
Shazari Spitters
Sword Sisters
Thornlings
Turma
Wisps

Uncommon

Archer Velites
Ball Demons
Blood Vines
Dogs of War
Elven Archers
Elven Light Horse
Elven Rangers
Elven Spearmen
Faerie Artillery
Goblin Shaman
Griffon Riders
Lurker
Oracle
Orc Infantry
Orc Whips
Orc Wolf Riders
Principes
Red Guard
Scorpion
Scourge Ogres
Serrated Lizard
Shazari Warriors
Slitherers
Snake Master
Stinger Lizard
Thorn Demons
Triari
Unicorn Cavalry
Xxan Spiders

Rare

Acolyte Sisters
Battlefield Medic
Catapult
Consul
Court Witch
Devourer
Dragonet
Fey Knights
Gladiators
Goblin Chief
Goblin Cutters
Grove Guardian
Initiate Sisters
Limbrunner
Noble Horse
Orc Necromancer
Orc Siege Weapon
Orc War Priest
Overseer Sister
Pod Demons
Priestesses
Queen Sister
Scourge Giants
Shadow Elf Mage
Shazari Champion
Shazari Demon
Shazari Necromancer
Shazari Shaman
Walking Tree

BATTLEFIELDS

Common

Broken Lands
Brush
Desert
Foothills
Forest
Glen
Marshlands
Mountains
Prairie
River Banks

Uncommon

Ruins
Scorched Earth

Rare

Cliffs
Edge of the World
Fortress
Moors
Outpost
Roadway

SPELLS

Common

Dispel
Flame Burst
Strengthen
Weaken

Uncommon

Beguile
Dismiss
Drain
Lightning Strike
Necromancy
Obscure
Quagmire
Vapor Cloud

Rare

Death from Above
Quake

MANEUVERS

Common

Charge
Envelop
Flank
Flighted Arrows
Retreat
Screening Fronts
Shieldwall
Stealth
Wedge Thrust

Uncommon

Piercing

Rare

Capture
Feint
Poision

Thread: Small World:: Rules:: Tiebreaking with the Amazons?

Dujo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:51:50 +0000

by Dujo

So, in my very first game of Small World, I managed to score 88 points and tied another player for the lead. I believe that the rules state that the tiebreaker is the number of tokens in play for each players' active and declined races. (I don't have the exact wording in front of me.)

My question is: Do the extra four Amazons that aren't on the board count as in play or not? In other words, I had 9 tokens on the board and my opponent had 7 tokens on the board (but 11 in play if you are counting the extra 4). Did I win or not?

Of course, I told my buddy that he can go ahead and believe that he won if wanted to, but I knew the truth was that I was the winner because his extra Amazons weren't on the board.

Opinions? Evidence from the rulebook one way or the other? Discuss.

Thread: Tomb:: News:: Curses!

AEGBrent — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:44:35 +0000

by AEGBrent

Previews for a new card type are now on the Tomb site!

Thread: Tomb: Cryptmaster:: News:: Curses!

AEGBrent — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:42:58 +0000

by AEGBrent

Previews for a new card type are now online!

Session: Dominion:: 3 Game Series - How I got Dominated

loofish — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:42:14 +0000

by loofish

When I playing Dominion with my wife J, we usually take a random spread of kingdom cards, then play that set of cards several times. It depends on the set - if it seems there is not much to be gained in a straight re-run, we might cycle some cards out to mix it up a little. This little card set proved to be interesting (for me at least) - for a lesson in playing this game if nothing else!

The cards were:
2 cost: Cellar
3 cost: Woodcutter, Workshop
4 cost: Militia, Thief, Throne Room
5 cost: Council Room, Market, Mine, Witch

First, notice the beautiful triangle.
More importantly, there were no Village or Festival, so no +2 actions. Also, not much in the way of deck thinning either, aside from the Mine. Unless you include the Thief, but that isn't necessarily the kind of thinning you want.

We played 3 games, back to back, with the same set of cards.

Game 1:

It had been a little while since our last card shuffle, so I put this down to being a little rusty. I started out Silver/Workshop, I think J went Militia/Silver. I was going to build a good gold engine, Throne Room, Mine, maybe Market. I did get a Thief as well, though I later regretted it, as it rid J of Coppers and netted me not much more than 1 extra Silver. J did a much better job, using Throne Room/Council Room and Cellars to cycle through her deck. I was well behind in the province race (she had 2 before I had any) and I tried to change track to get multiple duchies to catch up. But it was too little too late. I had avoided Council Room on purpose (didn't want to give my opponent an extra card), but had made that classic mistake with Cellars - I never had 2 gold, so I always bought something more expensive. But then I got into a stall, needing to cycle bad cards out of my hand. The engine could not get going. Needless to say, this was a butt-kicking:

J: 6 Provinces, 3 Duchies, 3 Estates = 48
D: 2 Provinces, 3 Duchies, 3 Estates = 24

Game 2:

OK, I had my game plan worked out this time. I needed the cycling and the extra 2 gold on the militias had been a boon to J in the first game. So I would run Markets and Woodcutters, maximum buying power, augment with Cellars, a Mine and a Council Room.

That was the plan, but though I ended up with 3 Cellars in the course of the game (due to either getting 2 gold or 2 buys/7 gold), they seemed to want to hang out together and more than once I discarded Cellars with the Cellar's power. Drawing (of course) my VP cards. J played quite similarly to the first game and with a similar result. Again, by mid game I was playing catch up, though this time I had the extra buying power built in and could buy a few more Duchies. Well, at least more than J this time. It was still another kicking of the butt.

D: 2 Provinces, 4 Duchies, 4 Estates = 28
J: 6 Provinces, 1 Duchy, 4 Estates = 43

Game 3:

OK, this time we go in, we go in full throttle.

OK, maybe not, but I at least figured I ought to give my deck a chance to actually function, which it had not the previous game. So I went with the same plan: Woodcutter/Market buying, supplemented by cycling cards and gold improvements.

It DID work better this game. I was first to buy a Province this time, which was a first. The Cellars were more useful. J hit me with her Militia at some very inconvenient moments, though that often simplified my decision-making. She kept things as lean as possible, with a Mine, a Council Room, a Militia, a Thief (which did grab a gold off me this time too, though she did not thief much), a Workshop or 2 and a Throne Room. Plus Cellars. Anyway, although I was first to province, J was close behind and in the mixing and the discarding, I lost track of who had the extra province when there was one left. Unwilling to risk it (and fearing the worst), I went to multiple duchies, but again that was only modestly successful and J was able to keep pace, as we both were now laden with VP cards and unable to get up to 8 gold. Finally, as I sat looking at a hand of 1 Copper, 2 Estates, a Duchy and a Province, J got the 8 gold and ended the game.

I was right to fear the worst. But it was much closer this time:

D: 3 Provinces, 4 Duchies, 7 Estates = 37
J: 5 Provinces, 4 Duchies, 6 Estates = 48

One card I did not mention was the Witch: the only card in the game no one ever played or bought. What we have generally found is that the Witch buys are reciprocated, then the Curses are handed out evenly, then the Witches bought sit in your hand, offering you two cards extra. So it was like a game of chicken - if I had bought one, J would have been cackling too. If she had bought one, I would be brewing up trouble for her in turn. But neither went for it, so all went uncursed.

Anyway, despite my supposed buying power approach, J and her militia kept apace with my economy, which goes to show I keep underestimating that card.

Consider that lesson taught. (I hope).

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Rules:: First play: a couple of questions

Corwin1980 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:40:50 +0000

by Corwin1980

I had my first (solo) play of vanilla Arkham Horror this weekend and had a pure blast. I must say the theme is really well conveyed by components and mechanics and the tension builds up in a wicked manner.
I was concerned as gates opened way faster than I could close them (I spent five turns sealing the first gate: two turns collecting clues, two turns journeying into the Other World and one turn closing and sealing; in the meantime five gates had opened ) but once enough gates are opened the Mythos cards just call for monster surges. I had a relief mid-game but with so many monsters around and me fighting almost none (I was the Student and chose to focus on clues and sealing) the Terror Track begun to fill and in the end the Ancient One awoke as I was about to return from the Other Worlds to seal my sixth gate.

I wondered if the monsters in the Outskirts are considered in Arkham and ruled they were not. I read in another thread here that they probably aren't but that there isn't a definitive answer.

When Yig awakened I was somewhat concerned because I only had two sanity remaining but in the end I was able to defeat him without too many problems. I was wondering if I was just outfitted right or if it's just meant to be on the easy side with him.
I was blessed so Yig's special ability just countered that instead of cursing me (which would have been much worse). I had an axe and the deputy revolver for a +5 to fight and 9 total which meant six dice rolled each turn once Yig's (somewhat puny) -3 modifier is factored in.
I put the sliders to maximum fight and speed (both 4). I had the speed special skill (from the start) so the first few turns I haven't had any trouble avoiding Yig's attacks. With time passing and the modifier becoming more negative, I started using clue tokens (each one added two dice per the speed special ability) so that I was always abled to roll at least one five and eventually defeated him without being hit once.

Also, reading the rules, it says I have to obtain a number of successes equal to the number of players (so one in this instance) to wound Yig. Then the number of successes is reset and I have to start again for the next hit. The way I understood it, it meant that I could only wound Yig once each turn, since I rolled once each turn, made at least one success and then reset the number of successes. However, the FAQ seems to contradict this, saying that only forty successes total are required to defeat Yig and that, for example, if four investigators roll nine successes in a single turn they deal two wounds. If that's true, that means that it would have been even way easier for me, not being even close to a challenge, as with six dice I would deal two wounds each turn on average (I would have needed to survive only five turns instead of ten). Which is correct?

Thanks for the answers.

Thread: Munchkin Quest:: Rules:: Does anyone use Munchkin cards in Munchkin Quest?

TalonMC — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:33:38 +0000

by TalonMC

My fiance totally spoiled me on my birthday last week... She gave me both Munchkin Quest (with Looking for Trouble!) and the Munchkin card game (with Unnecessary Axe).

We played several games of Munchkin Quest and both of us love the game. Then we tried the Munchkin card game and agreed it just doesn't compare to the fun of the boardgame.

Has anyone tried writing up rules to add the card game cards into the boardgame? Many of the Munchkin cards are already in the boardgame, but there are so many *more* Munchkin cards that aren't in the boardgame yet... I think they could add a lot to the board game if the two games could be integrated somehow.

Anyone have any ideas on how to mix the two?

-MC

Thread: Napoleon's Triumph:: General:: Anybody Available for a Game on VASSAL?

tyvek — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:17:50 +0000

by tyvek

Hey you ~ Looking to play NT? I have most of the day open, and would love to get game in. If not today, then anytime this week.

Cheers,

Will

Thread: War for Edaðh:: General:: Subject: Attack value '*' - v. archers and v. spearman

mcb1962 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:05:00 +0000

by mcb1962

As previously discussed, a GV of "*" denotes outwitting your opponent and not suffering any losses. When two units of spearman are at ballistic range then the winner will automatically inflict a 5 MP loss which can't be stopped because of the "*" GV. I presume this represents intimidation, outmaneouvring, low-esteem, etc, but please confirm.

The rules confirm in several places that you do not inflict more than the 5 MP loss even if you win with a 12 card.

So... if you have a spearman v. archer at ballistic ranges then it is pointless playing a 10-12 as the spearman because you will spend extra MP for no benefit, thus meaning that it would be dangerous to play a 7-9 because then the archers can play a 10-12. So, the spearman should play a 1 to be safe, but then the archers know this also so can safely play a 2, etc, etc. Nice mind battle there. I wonder how often an archer wins with a 12 at ballistic range against a troop type that can only inflict it's default (5).

Choices, choices.

Haven't played it yet but does seem very promising.

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Variants:: Solo Investigator - "Gate Rip" variant

scratched — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:04:27 +0000

by scratched

So, I know there are quite a few solo variants out there but, for various reasons, none of them really fixed the problem for me without causing other problems. So, I tried to create my own, with a few goals in mind:
- solve the problem of "Too Many Gates" opening before I've actually had a chance to DO anything
- work as much as possible within the current rules, so as not to introduce too many complications
- avoid adding additional randomness with the variant, since there's already plenty in the base game

To that end, here's what I've come up with...

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Gate Rips - Gate Rips are a kind of state between an empty location and a location with an Open Gate. The rules for playing gate rips are as follows:

1. When an Mythos card is drawn that reveals an Empty Location, draw a Gate Token at random and place it face down on the location to indicate a rip in the fabric of space-time has begun to occur. A monster appears and a doom token is added to the doom track as per the normal rules. This location is counted as an Open Gate when resolving Monster Surges. For all other rules purposes, this location is still considered to be Empty - i.e., it doesn't count toward the "Too Many Gates" rule, clue tokens may stay in the location, and any investigator at the location cannot enter the gate.

2. When a Mythos card is drawn that reveals a location with a Gate Rip, turn the Gate token over and draw another monster token to place at the location, but no doom token is added. It is now considered to be an Open Gate as per the original rules.

When playing with Gate Bursts while using the Gate Rip variant:
1. When a Gate Burst occurs at an empty location, a gate immediately opens - resolve as per the Open Gate rules in the instruction manual.

2. When a Gate Burst occurs at a location with an elder sign, remove the elder sign from the location and resolve as per the Gate Rip variant rules.

A couple extra notes:
1. For purposes of monster and gate limits when playing with Gate Rips, refer to the limits for 2 players. All other rules apply normally for 1 investigator.

2. When resolving the Mythos card that starts the game, resolve it as per the normal rules (so, you still start the game with an Open Gate, rather than a Gate Rip).

3. As an optional rule - during the Movement Phase, any investigator who ends their move on a location with a Gate Rip may force the gate to open in order to enter it. To do so, make a Fight or Lore check with the modifier printed on the front side of the gate. If a gate is opened in this way, a doom token is added to the doom track.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I've played a few games using this variant, and so far it seems to work well. I've tried with various mixes of all the expansions except for the big box expansions (though I have used some of the cards from Dunwich Horror). There are a bunch of little tweaks to this variant that I've played around with that make the game a little bit harder or a little bit easier, so if anyone's interested, I can post those. But, as posted above, this is what seems to work best for me, so feel free to try it out and make any suggestions.

This might work for a 2-player, 2-investigator game, but I've only tried it out with one.

Thread: War for Edaðh:: Rules:: Stratagems - Hold & Retreat

mcb1962 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:59:12 +0000

by mcb1962

Both of these have a cost of 2 so can you put both in your holding position then if your Battle Master is promoted then select the one you want to be active at that time?

Thread: Werewolves of Miller's Hollow:: General:: Werewolves of Miller's Hollow - Representative Image

armourer84 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:55:01 +0000

by armourer84

This game's representative image was improperly cropped.
There are 2 white areas on left and right side of the box in the image.

That annoy me when I see the image in the widget.

Can someone propose image the better cropped? Please help.

Thread: Sector 41:: Rules:: French Rules Released for Sector 41

Fangarr — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:49:13 +0000

by Fangarr

A French version of the Sector 41 Rules is now available for download from the Scimitar Games website. This version is up to date with the v1.1 Rule changes.

Thread: Stronghold:: News:: Link to an article

mwdalrymple — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:46:51 +0000

by mwdalrymple

http://www.boardgamenews.com/index.php/boardgamenews/comment...

Thread: Last Train To Wensleydale:: General:: Does this game have dice?

Big Bad Lex — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:45:08 +0000

by Big Bad Lex

.........well does it?

Thread: Ambush!:: Rules:: MPAs, captives, silly beginner questions.

cwsipe — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:40:47 +0000

by cwsipe

Here's some silly questions from my first play of mission 1 last night:

1) Does a soldier expend any MPs by performing an action other than moving? Can movements be interspersed with actions? For instance, could he move one hex, snap fire, and then move back (or change position) in a single turn? How many MPs would this action require?

2) Does holding a German captive have any effect on a soldier's options OTHER than reducing his MPA to 2? Is he able to fire/assault as normal? I'm having a hard time understanding how a single soldier holding a captive could control a captive and fire his weapon at the enemy without the captive getting away!

3) I notice that some Germans carry grenades, but never saw any paragraphs requiring their use. I want to make sure that a paragraph instructing him to "best fire" does not include attacking with a grenade if possible?

Thanks for any help you could give!
I've enjoyed it so far (about 1/3 of the way to my goal)...2 soldiers wounded, one incapacitated--I'm not optimistic about my chance of success!

Thread: Jamaica:: Rules:: Question about action cards

rmcorrea — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:19:47 +0000

by rmcorrea

First I want to congratulate the autors of this amazing and fun game!

My doubt is: everybody has 3 cards in hand to chose 1 to use, right? After that, for the next round do you discard all the 3 cards you had, including the one you just used and get 3 new cards or do you just draw 1 card so you have 3 cards again, from wich 1 is new and the other 2 are the remaining cards you did not use from the round before?

Review: Steam:: A curmudgeon's rambling review of Steam

Barticus88 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:17:20 +0000

by Barticus88

I am a fan of economic games. My current favorite is Power Grid. For many years my group played Rail Johnny, a game by my friend Jonathan. He originally called it Rail Baron Plus because it used the components of Rail Baron. Much in the way that Bridge uses the components of Poker, the game is nothing like Rail Baron, so it came to be known as Rail Johnny. It's about 60% Power Grid, 20% Ticket to Ride, and 20%...well what is a neutral term for this? Brummie Rails?

I won't go into the history of Brummie Rails, Age of Steam, Railroad Tycoon, 3rd Edition, Martin, John, trademarks, copyrights, lawyers, etc. You already know what you already know. If you don't know, consider yourself lucky. If you don't know and are stupid enough to care about that train wreck, go find it yourself; I am not providing a link. I am here to discuss Steam.

Alfred Hitchcock said drama is real life with the boring parts cut out. Rail Johnny has some realistic features but if it is ever to make it to market, some boring parts will need to be cut out. Martin Wallace takes an economic theme and abstracts it beyond recognition. What is flipping a tile in Brass? What is a loss cube in Automobile? Compared to that, Steam is all realism.

It's a pick up and deliver game, like Empire Builder. But unlike almost any other game, you start this game sliding backwards. In Power Grid you start with $50, and no matter how bad it gets, you are sure of making $10 per turn. In Steam you start out with no cash in hand, no income, and a locomotive that costs $1 to maintain each turn (even if you don't use it). The only way to improve that outlook is to build track and move cubes. To buy the track you need cash which you don't have. To get cash you capitalize (abstraction of selling stock or bonds), which gives you cash, and also gives you more expense (abstraction of dividends or interest), accelerating your backward slide. The first few turns are spent trying to climb into positive cashflow. If you make a mistake, you may not be able to climb out.

I don't like that part of the game. A game should not completely abandon a player early on like that. So far I have only seen it with a player who kept misunderstanding the rules. For a learning game, you can back up, or make adjustments. Unfortunately, I can see that the game is chaotic enough that plans might come crashing down. An especially brutal one was when a player Urbanized a town, leaving another player only short routes for his gray cubes. This was relatively late, but people will get in each other's way early on. Plans can go screwy.

I actually was undone by the game's brutal reputation, rather than the game's brutality. I had take the locomotive action with the intent of upping from two to four and delivering one four point cube. After building my track, I counted out what I was going to do and I was going to be $2 short. Worse, if I didn't up my loco to 4, I would only deliver one 2 point cube. I had heard about this terrible situation where you don't have enough to pay your bills and you are toast. When the rules were being read, I heard the 2:1 ratio and got it the other way. I thought $2 short cost me 4 points on the income track, but it only costs me 1 point. I was afraid of running into a brick wall, so I injured myself avoiding it, but instead I needed to hug the fluffy, fluffy wall.

But then I saw a player hit that wall for $7 and he was toast. Of course that was a learning experience.

I was expecting more of a lumpy, bumpy step function here. In Power Grid, when you are $1 short early in the game, you lose about $10, but the next several dollars of shortage don't cost you more. I like the lumpy, bumpy game for encouraging efficient play. (*sigh* as I think about analysis paralysis)

Steam is completely deterministic. There is an initial random placement of cubes, and after that there is no randomness. In theory, you can't be lucky or unlucky, because it's all there in front of you. In reality, the butterfly stirs up a big enough hurricane that there are random effects. Still, luck is the residue of design.

I prefer a game to have some late randomness, because it can bring hope to someone whose position is otherwise hopeless. Steam is not like that. It's ancestors were not like that either. Even though you had random cube draws or random cube timing, it was rare that you could put yourself in a position to get lucky. If you can't try to get lucky when you are behind or you can't try to minimize luck when you are ahead, then randomness doesn't add to the game. All in all I think the predetermined sets of cubes in Steam work well, and the ability to drop a set of cubes somewhere and start moving them is an awesome power.

Which brings me to my biggest gripe: Urbanize is too strong. It lets you place a set of cubes like City Growth and it lets you build a fourth hex like Engineer and you don't pay for that fourth hext and it gives you a city to deliver to. If the Urbanized town counted as one of your three hexes, this would still be better than City Growth, and often better than Locomotive.

I think starting the players out sliding backwards is just silly. Everyone should start with $20 like in a normal game. All the planning and building and delivering with less danger. It should be just barely possible to eke out an existence without ever taking a loan. Yeah the game isn't quite broken this way, but the game could be better.

I don't like the concept of running out of tiles. I never felt it had a place in a game like this. It looks like the tile distribution was done haphazardly. The complex tiles without towns don't have consistent backs, and there aren't as many as the rules specify. I wish the rulebook just said that the tiles are unlimited so improvise. The numbering of the tiles is a little weird too. Add a town to #41 and you get #T42. Add a town to #42 and you get #T41. Maybe they should have names. #42 is the T-spoon.

The bits of the game are all functional; except for the "language neutral" role descriptions on the board. The game is heavily in need of a summary sheet. Someone tell me what player aids to print.

With the great number of bits in this game (and the price), why doesn't it come with a dozen plastic bags?

I can see several places this game could be tweaked. I think the income/VP track dichotomy could use some more development. BTW, those two tracks should not be adjacent on the board.

A very good game, but not as good as Power Grid.

Session: Lost Cities:: Lost in the Arctic

Oni Chikara — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:14:14 +0000

by Oni Chikara

Session of Lost Cities

My friend introduced me to Lost Cities. I love this game, it’s quick, it’s easy to play, and it is very easy to pick up at a fast pace.

The Game
It is very simple, you line up cards in sequential order, and try to get deal cards before them and then it counts points if you complete, or have not completed an adventure to some lost city. There really isn’t much to it; the strategy is in getting the bigger bonuses. Also, in trying to prevent or stop your opponent from finding their respective city before you. The person with the most points wins the round, and the first person to a certain value wins the game.

My friend and I can’t play a full game in the time it takes to eat lunch, so we usually play a hand or two. This past time we only had time for one hand.

Our Session
Players: Matt and Brian

We started out pretty slow, placing a couple of deal cards at first and discarding at first, trying to get a feel of what the other one was doing, and seeing if we had a basis for starting. I started off with Atlantis (Blue) because I had a deal, the 7, the 8, and the 10. It was simple; I was short on yellow and white. So the yellow and the whites were my discard cards. After a couple of discards I got a few reds to play with and a couple more blues.

Brian was already placing the Aztec (Green), he had a bunch to start, so it really worked out well for him.

We were trading discards back and forth trying to get something going.

By the end of it I was playing Blue, Red and White. Brian was playing Green Yellow and White.

I just couldn’t find any deal cards to save my life, and the few I was able to come across were always too late.

I had two deals on the board, one under white and one under blue. The red I couldn’t get, I was just lucky to get that one done. I only got 2 points out of a stack of 4, Brian was hanging onto the high red cards. The blue I was in better shape for, I had 7 cards for a total of 40 points. The whites are what killed me, I was only able to pull off a 13 and had a deal sitting on it. It was bad. I lost 14 points from it.

Brian was able to get a big win off. He was able to pull about 20 points from green, about 25 points from yellow, and about 10 points from white.

So in the end, it was a total trouncing of yours truly.

Play Time: 14 minutes
Matt: 28
Brian: 55

Ouch!

For the future it is a good idea to try and get more small cards in your hand to manipulate what is on the board for later.

Thread: Arkham Horror:: General:: Another Post on Which Expansion to Buy

Scipio23 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:08:13 +0000

by Scipio23

I bought AH 3 to 4 weeks ago, and my brother and I have been playing it a lot. We have played against every GOO once, plus Azathoth a second time. The first few games were marred by some rules problems, but we have everything down now. The last two games (2nd Azathoth and Cthulhu) we used the alternate 2 monsters to an open gate rule that is normally only used for 5+ investigators (we play with 4). There have been some extremely close calls, but we have triumphed each time.

For the record we are using random investigators (each player draws 3, picks 2) and a mostly random GOO. We wanted to see each of the GOOs, so we redrew on a repeat. All of our victories (except Hastur) have been won with 6 seals. Hastur was won with closing all gates, but we were doing the gate order wrong, and we allowed Find Gate while delayed at that time.

Now we are thinking about expanding. Having read through a number of the threads concerning expansion, I am leaning towards BGotW, DH or IH. Our main consideration is table space. We can use a small board expansions, but it requires putting a few leaves in the table. It does make it a bit annoying, but if they are worth it, then we will do it.

So which expansion would you all recommend?

Thread: Islas Canarias:: Rules:: What shoud we count?

HTP_Japan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:05:09 +0000

by HTP_Japan

Last Saturday, we played this game. We had the good time with it!
At that time, we face a question about the process of the house of the ship.
When we count the freespace arround the red building, can we count them arround the red palace or red town?

HTP

Thread: Conflict of Heroes: Awakening the Bear! - Russia 1941-1942:: Rules:: Some questions after reading the Summary sheet and manual.

Bowmangr — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:03:11 +0000

by Bowmangr

I was browsing the summary sheet
http://www.academy-games.com/images/stories/downloads/summar...
and noticed a few things.

1} The cost for Hasty Defense hasn't been changed from 8 AP to 7 AP.

2} I've noticed a row in the FORTIFICATIONS & DEFENSIVE COUNTERS table that mentions
Vehicle +0AP for FOOT Movement, +1 for WHEELED, +0 for TRACKED and so on.

What's this about? Towing? Moving into a hex with another Vehicle? I couldn't figure it out.

The same row can be found in the manual, page 10, Section 4, 14.0 Vehicle Movement

3} The +1AP cost for entering trenches & bunkers is not fixed in the summary, unless these rows are meant for moving in a hex with trench/bunker and not actually entering the fortification.

4} The new rules regarding smoke haven't been updated. It only mentions that the DM bonus affects fire going in the hex and not originating from the hex.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
After checking the new rules I saw a problem that needs clarifications.

Look at:

Section 7.63 Same Hex and Close Combat (CC)
• Units in CC must use red FP against units with red DRs.

then look at the large example at page page 13 above Section 5:

..............The
Soviet rifle then moves onto the
tank for 1AP. The tank reacts for
3CAPs and CC attacks with 7FP.
The Soviet only has an 11DV.
The German rolls a 2 and misses!
The rifle squad’s FP is increased
to 7FP, but halved to 3FP since
the tank’s flank 14DV is blue. The Soviet modifies his roll with 1CAP, now
needs a 10 to hit and succeeds! The tank pulls a vehicle red gun disabled
hit counter. The Soviet rifle has 0APs left and passes. The German plays
a command action card. The tank can only fire with its blue FP since it
has a red gun disabled hit counter. The tank CC fires at the Soviet rifle
with 4FP (5 blue FP +4 CC modifier x 1/2 since blue is firing at a red
defense). The Soviet has an 11DV, so the German must roll a 7 to hit..........

So I'm guessing that units in CC are forced to use their Red Firepower rating UNLESS they can't {because of damage for example as above}.
If that is not the case then they MUST use red FP.

What happens in CC if there are enemy units with red FP and with blue FP? Can I choose to attack with my blue FP and announce that I'm targeting the armored unit {even though I know that the unarmored unit will get hit too }

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Totally Off Topic: An Alternate Look at BSG

Verkisto — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:23:32 +0000

by Verkisto

Thread: Glory to Rome:: Rules:: Is "Bridge" overpowered?

unixrevolution — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:17:38 +0000

by unixrevolution

Okay, so I know I'm no veteran at 6 games in, but I do know I love this game. I also know that in the one game where someone built the Bridge, I thought it was insanely overpowered.

The Bridge, for those who expect me to tell you a bit about the card, when built, allows a player to do 3 things when he takes the Legionary role:

1. Ignore Palisades, a wooden building that should make you immune to Legionary.

2. Take from any/all players at the table, rather than just your neighbors.

3. Take from the stockpile IN ADDITION to taking from the player's hand.

This is a Concrete building and costs the foundation plus 2 cards to complete.

So, is it overpowered? It does let you do 3 rather nifty things with the Legionary role. It also doesn't cost much. Although I admit I haven't played GtR very much, I'm quite tempted to house-rule the Bridge in one of the following ways:

1. This is more of a mod to the game than a house rule, but something as powerful as Bridge should really be Marble or Stone.

2. Do not allow Bridge to combine with Coliseum: You can choose one or the other to activate when you Legionary, but not both.

3. My prefered option: Bridge can give you 2 of the benefits listed on the card, but not all 3. You could have players choose which effect doesn't happen, but if you have to pick one, have Bridge be unable to ignore palisades. Thematically, I don't know how it ignores palisades in the first place

4. Have Bridge take from the hand OR stockpile, but not both.

I think Bridge should have been broken down into 2 or more seperate buildings instead of just the one. So what do you think? Is it overpowered? If it is, what house rule should I apply for maximum balancing?

[poll=29362]

Session: Battletech:: Limited Engagement between the Wolf's Dragoons and Irdani Lighthorse on P-262.

Wired_Wolf — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:07:27 +0000

by Wired_Wolf

***Debriefing Begins***
Commander Wyatt of the Wolfs Dragoons reporting, sir.

At 2030 Universal Standard hours we set out on a routine patrol for our employer in our depleted lance of my own Shadow Hawk, Harris’s Rifleman and Marco’s Jenner; as you recall, Mechwarrior Rhett was killed in last week’s engagement with the Iradani Lighthorse, and his replacement hasn’t arrived.

At approximately 2100 USTD Hours we had multiple contacts to our north and moved to investigate, only to run into a small Lighthorse patrol. Those bastards were going to pay for…ahem…yes sir, I’ll stay on track here. Loud and clear, sir. Initial reports gave the patrol at 3 Mechs also, a Panther class, Phoenix Hawk and an Archer class heavy. They spread out in a skirmish line, the Archer gaining some high ground to the North, on top of the Eagle Peaks, approximately 18,4 on the grid. The Panther pilot drove his Mech right up the center towards our position while the ‘Hawk attempted to flank us to our left.

I gave orders to PFC Marco to flank the Archer, to distract it from bringing those damnable heavy LRMs onto us, while Harris attempted to gain some higher ground to support my assault of the other two contacts.
The terrain? Yessir, standard features, a small lake in the center, high hills to the north east and lower gatherings to the north west and south east. Harris was on the south east cluster of hills to get a better view of the field. Marco ran his Jenner up north along the eastern ledge, keeping his ‘Mech out of the Archers line of sight. I was using a light woods to prepare an attack on the Phoenix Hawk and Panther ‘mechs. The Archer opened up on Marco, but his Jenners speed kept him out of harms way, the Panther lept into the lake, apparently to make it a harder target and to bring it’s big PPC into play. Good thing for us that Harris has a good eye and took off the panther’s arm with a volley from his heavy lasers and autocannons. Too bad, he’s not as good a pilot as gunner though. I tried to charge the Phoenix Hawk but mistimed my attack and missed, gaining control of my ‘mech I took a few peppering shots from the ‘hawks machine guns, apparently the enemy pilot was a bit rattled and missed with his big guns.

Approximately 2108, Marco had secured a flanking position of the Archer, keeping it busy with concentrated medium las fire and occasional volleys from his SRM pack. Harris climbed off the hill to support me, but his mech found a large rock (according to him) and his Rifleman fell face first into the dust. A bit of bad luck, the Phoenix Hawks pilot jumped over my own Shadow Hawk and fired point blank at my rear armor and managed to crack my engine casing twice. Damn thing began to heat up quick, so in order to conserve heat and keep in the battle I had to keep my movements slow and fire low and pray my heavier armor would hold up until Harris could pick himself up and take out SOMETHING. No, sir…I don’t think that Harris should be up for any disciplinary action, perhaps a run at an obstacle course, but that’s about it.

Marco, in a bid to help me out apparently, broke contact with the Archer to run at full speed to support me but was hit full force by the Archer, taking off his ‘mechs right arm. Afterwards, though, he managed to join up with me and together we forced the Phoenix Hawk and Panther back against the mountains of hills that made the west impassable. Missiles rained down on us from the Archer, but to little affect. Harris got back up and returned fire to the Archer, hitting it solidly many times, but it’s superior armor held up easily. My movements were very limited, I just pretty much stood in the way, taking pot shots with my autocannon and missile launcher. I kept trying to fall back to the lake to let my over heating Shadow Hawk cool of, but the enemy kept bouncing into the same lake every couple minutes to cool off before reemerging to attack.

Our big break occurred when Marco was able to run his Jenner over to cover me and managed to blow the right side of the Panther right off. During this exchange the Archer just couldn’t get a good bead on us so he started to concentrate on our Rifleman, hitting him quite a few times, but nothing severe. Our concentrated return fire forced the enemy pilot to back off down the hills.

At this point, the enemy Phoenix Hawk pilot retreated north in an attempt to avoid our massed fire. I managed to get my ‘Hawk into the lake and let it help cool off my ‘mech, I stayed put and provided fire support for Marco again as he ran off in pursuit of the Archer, only to find it and the Phoenix Hawk gathering for another push. After a brief exchange where the Archer exposed itself, we managed to drive it back further down hill with long ranged support from Harris and myself and some really nice scrapping from the Jenner. The enemy then broke contact and retreated north, we held the center and waited for reinforcements, and mechanics, to arrive.

No, sir. In our current situation we could NOT have pursued the enemy, I was effectively immobile. Harris’s Rifleman really couldn’t take much more of a beating and our Jenner was down to 50% weapon effectiveness. Since they left, sir, I put that down as a "win" for our side.

Final count:
Enemy Accounted for: 1 dead Panther, 1 Damaged Archer, 1 relatively unscathed Phoenix Hawk.
Our Losses: 1 heavily damaged Jenner, medium damaged Rifleman and 1 Shadow Hawk, armor in good shape but the engine took a beating.

***File Closed***

Thread: Trafalgar:: Rules:: 1/3000 scale measurements

rwaters — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:03:40 +0000

by rwaters

Hello all:

The rules for Trafalgar were written with 1/1200 scale in mind. In the rules, they indicate that if you are using 1/2400 scale, you should half all measurements. Alas, I happened to buy a bundle pack which gave me two 1/3000 scale fleets, which are not covered in the rules.

So my plan was to just go with 1/2400 scale measurements. Does that seem reasonable to you all? Seems reasonable to me.

Also, when they say half all measurments, I'm assuming they also mean the play area as well. So a 4' x 4' table at 1/1200 scale would be 2' x 2' at 1/2400 or 1/3000 scale. Is that an accurate assumption?

Thanks.

Session: Cribbage:: Cribbage Fireworks

didaskalos — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:56:11 +0000

by didaskalos

Our city of Jackson held its annual fireworks display at Cascades Park on July 3rd. A couple years ago when we went, we got there an hour before the fireworks and found parking to be scarce. This year, I decided we'd go to the park early and take along some games to pass the time. You can see the games we took with us (and add your own) at this geeklist: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/43946.

We played Cribbage first. Cribbage is a game we go in phases with. We first learned it last summer and played it all the time--it was our main game, and definitely our "go to" game. We're in another of our Cribbage phases, so taking and playing this game was a no-brainer.

We almost always play the 121 point game. Our games usually begin with one player racing ahead to a around a 20 point lead. Eventually, the other player usually catches up and we have an exciting finish. In this game, my wife raced ahead to a huge lead. She repeatedly had 2 runs of 3 in her hand, and the cut card would often created a 4th card in the run, or another way to score multiples of points.

I stayed in the game, held my own, and began shaving points off her lead. Her rush of points slowed down, and I was able to outscore her by 3-6 points on several hands. Finally, we were all tied up again at 95 points.

My wife dealt the next hand and got the crib. Between the two, she scored 23 points and sat at 118, set to show first the next hand. I scored something like 6 points and was somewhere around 101.

At this point, the grumbling about how she always gets lucky at the end of games set in.

But not so fast! On the next hand, she announced that she had literally zero points in her hand. I began to feel good, although I was pretty sure she would be able to peg out during the play. She managed only 1 point for a "go" and scored nothing, leaving her stuck at 119 points.

I scored 12 for cards in my hand, bringing me to 113, with 11 to go. In the crib was a 6, 7, 8, and the cut card was an 8. From these cards, in the crib, I was able to surge ahead and win the game, despite being down 17 points at the start of the hand!

After the fireworks of frustration settled down, we also played Monopoly Deal Card Game and enjoyed the actual fireworks.

Thread: Factory Fun:: News:: Expansion Announced

cagriggs — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:42:37 +0000

by cagriggs

I just read on BoardGameNews.com that Cwali has announced an expansion for Factory Fun but I have no other details. Still, this is awesome news! I'm excited to get more info on the expansion.

Thread: Vampire: Prince of the City:: Rules:: Assisting an Influence Contest

Volvogga — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:32:09 +0000

by Volvogga

It seems the WW forums for PotC are gone (been in maintenance mode for the last 3 days), which is sad... so much info. Hoping the fine folks at BGG can help. Thanks to all in advance.

Going through the rules of this game, the example and rules behind Influence Contests when assistance is given arn't real clear to me in the regards of range. Challenge rules are clear that to assist in a challenge, a player must be in range of his/her target. Influence rules and the example lead me to believe that assistance can be given regardless of piece position, or zones controlled.

This kinda makes sense if you think as the acting player being the broker and using the reputation (and whatever that may entail) of the assisting player in the deal. With this game, however, I fear I could make any variation or interpretation of the rules make sense.

Has anyone see Mr. Nudd's take on this, and if not how do others play assistance in this phase?

Thanks again.

Thread: Price of Freedom:: Rules:: Initiative

rcrawford — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:24:55 +0000

by rcrawford

I think the rules say that the initiative player can decide EACH ROUND whether to take the first impulse or second. This means that the initiative player can have two impulses in a row.Is this correct? OR does the initiative player decide at the beginning of the campaign phase whether to take the first or second impulse for each round?

The rule:

"12.2 In each round of Turns #1-4, the Confederate player has the initiative and decides whether he is the active player in the first impulse or the second impulse. In each round of Turns #5-8, it is the Union player's decision."

Thread: ATS Pointe Du Hoc:: General:: A low rating for a game not yet released.?!

Biosphere — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:23:49 +0000

by Biosphere

Once again someone has decided to rate a game '1' despite the fact the game hasn't been released yet. What is it with people who feel they have to be so dismissive of a game they can know nothing about? It shows quite a screwed up attitude. The person in question rates ASL very highly and would seem to be one of those ASLers who feels the need to trash ATS. This is a crappy attitude and says a lot about the persons childish mindset. If you like ASL that's good but why be so dimissive of a game you can't have played and probably never will? Duh!

Thread: Arkham Horror:: General:: My first big box expension : Does Dunwich add a nice challenge and a bit of variation from the base game?

Bobthesnake — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:22:43 +0000

by Bobthesnake

As the subject says. I will be looking to buy a new expension soon. I know I only played 3 times but I like it. It's nicely themed, not too hard on the brain and we get to kill stuff and have items!

I read a couple of threads and it looks like the first one to get is Dunwich. If I'm not mistaken, this expension contains gate burst. I would suspect this adds a lot of challenge and strategy variety in the game?

Thanks

Thread: Automobile:: General:: Estimate of how much the version in the fall will be?

shadow9d9 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:15:10 +0000

by shadow9d9

I read somewhere that there will be a wider release in the fall. Does anyone know roughly how much it'll be then compared to now?

Thread: Agincourt:: General:: session report posted in Men of Iron forums

teufen — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:24:52 +0000

by teufen

You might be interested in this nice AAR by "Pete AU", posted in the Men of Iron forums, but concerning this specific special scenario of Agincourt.

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Can Boomer use her Recon ability in the brig?

DonErrico — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:21:31 +0000

by DonErrico

Can Boomer use her Recon ability in the brig?

Her ability says at the end of her turn she could look at the top card of the crisis deck and put it on top or on the bottom of the deck.

The brig location says people in the brig may not draw crisis cards.

So in order for Boomer to do her recon ability she has to draw a card from the crisis deck to look at, therefore she can't do her ability.

OR do we look at it only as she cannot draw a card from the crisis deck to play it?

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Reshuffling crises ("33") and scouting

obaryb — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:13:29 +0000

by obaryb

We had such a situation last time:

I (Starbuck) had two actions because of flying viper and my first action was succesfully scouting for crises. I left it on top, then (as a second action) XO-ed Admiral Helo. Admiral was in favor of jumping immediately at -1 POP, after a brief discussion we agreed and he jumped. I completely forgot about "33" hanging above us, and this card made whole deck reshuffled.

We decided to reshuffle all deck but the top card, which was left on top after reshuffling. But of course the other ruling (reshuffle all) or even another one (reshuffle then look at the top as per scouting rules) was possible.

What would you recommend?

Thread: Steam:: General:: End game, game length and other thoughts

simombo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:13:18 +0000

by simombo

I only played one complete standard game, and only with 3 players, but still the 10 turns seemed like a very long game.

There was som exciting action from turn 1 through 6 or 7 or there abouts, but when the last cubes where gone it was really just a matter of building af many links as possible, which, to our group, got rather tedious.

I think the Production and especially the Urbanization actions are overly powerful compared to the other actions. The latter already includes production (new cubes) but also the bulding of a free junction in the form of a city, which effectivly makes it better than the engineer action in that respect. So it's sort of a super combo action of the production and engineer actions. Perhaps it would be more balanced, if urbanization did not include the placing of cubes/goods in the same action?

I still think the game is cool, and maybe it just plays better with more players. But compared to a game of say, Power Grid, it doesn't seem to have the same kind of intensity through both beginning, mid- and endgame (Although certainly the same amount of calculation!).

Thread: Struggle of Empires:: Rules:: Attacking with no army but Allies

caltha — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:11:55 +0000

by caltha

1. lets say I have a fleet outside africa(where my ally has land forces) wanting to attack land forces of my enemy. I try to attack with one army but he doesn't make it from europe.
Can my ally then attack alone in my name as a result?

2. Can I make a pure naval attack on another fleet? (not attacking a control marker)

Thread: Star Wars: Epic Duels:: Variants:: Question for our variant

mejustjustin — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:09:42 +0000

by mejustjustin

Me and my twin play a 6 on 6, where one of us controls the good team, one controls the bad team. Here are some of the rule changes we play with;

1. If a major character is knocked out, the minor character can still fight.

2. We alternate characters and alternate turns. For Example: Boba Fett goes first, Mace Windu goes second, Darth Vader goes third, Anakin goes fourth, Darth Maul goes fifth, Yoda goes sixth, etc. etc.

3. If a team (eg: Boba and Greedo, or Mace and his 2 clones) is all wiped out, that person and players turn is skipped. (Ex: If Mace were knocked out, the order would be the following using the order from above: Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Anakin, Maul, Yoda, etc. etc. So, it would be quite costly to lose an entire team, as that would give the opponent 2 more actions than you over the course of one round.

But now, I have a question; we have played this 6 v 6 madness 3 times; I was the good guys twice, and then after that, I was the bad guys once. Me and my brother both got to try out each team, and all 3 matches, the good team got beat quite badly!!! The first time, the bad won with like 6 characters remaining (2 of them major), the next time they won with 11 characters remaning (4 of them major), and the last time they won with 8 characters remaining (4 of them major). So, how can we make this 6 on 6 more balances? Why does the good side get beat so badly every time?

Thread: Die Säulen Der Erde: Duell der Baumeister:: Rules:: Text in the Cards

edubvidal — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:07:11 +0000

by edubvidal

Please, how many cards have text?

Thread: The Halls of Montezuma:: Rules:: 2 or 4 Action Deck Events?

Gameluis — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:02:40 +0000

by Gameluis

How many Action Deck Events do players play at the Random Event Phase? At one point of the rules, they say 4 each, at another, 2 each... ????

Thread: Canvas Eagles:: Rules:: Gliding question

sbaracleto — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:51:56 +0000

by sbaracleto

Hi,
my name is Alberto and I'm from Italy.

Can someone explain me how "glide" works?
I'm having some problems understanding this part:
"If manouver 2 or 8 is selected, the aircraft must lose 1 altitude level every other turn. If manouver 3 is selected, aicraft must lose 1 altitude levels every turn..."

Probably for a native-tongue these phrases are obvious, but for a foreigner isn't so obvious.

Is it possible to have also some playing examples?

Thanks,
Alberto

Thread: Steam:: Rules:: Pass option, action tile numbering

simombo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:39:06 +0000

by simombo

Had my first Standard of Steam recently. A few questions came up:

1. What purpose does the numbers on the action tiles serve, is it just an indicator of the relative value of the action compared to the other actions?

2. What (and when) do you use the pass option on the Urbanization and Production tiles for? The rules state that when picking thes two tiles, you have to take the action. But why would you choose those actions and not upgrade a town/place new goods in a city? Also, if you wanted to 'pass' - i.e. do nothing specific - in your turn, a lot of the other tiles would serve that purpose.

Thread: ESPAÑA 1936:: General:: Vassal Module Available

mickmick — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:38:33 +0000

by mickmick

Is there an English module available. I can only seem to find the Spanish version. Thanks!

Thread: Forged in Fire:: General:: Charlotte area

charlescab — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:35:55 +0000

by charlescab

I just got this game and wondering if anyone in the Charlotte NC area was interested in playing, or we could play on vassal.I also have Hold the line with the indian expansion pack
Beer and pretzel player

Thanks

charlescab "at" yahoo , com

Review: Fluxx Promo Cards:: Pandora's Box - Very Fluxxy Indeed

E Decker — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:15:27 +0000

by E Decker

Looney Labs, the creators of the Fluxx card game, have released more than forty different promo cards over the years. One of the more interesting examples is Pandora's Box.

Pandora's Box is an action card which, when played, will put three random rule cards into play, thereby fundamentally - and unpredictably - changing the current game environment.

This effect is perfectly in tune with the spirit of Fluxx. The ever-changing rules are the most intriguing aspect of the game, and Pandora's Box enhances that mechanism very nicely.

Interestingly (and somewhat improbably), this card will be appreciated both by those players who enjoy Fluxx solely for its randomness - three new rules are a generous helping of chaos by any standards - as well as by those looking for a bit more strategy in their games. Played at the right time, Pandora's Box allows you to make a lunge for the finish line when close to achieving your goal, and also works well to foil an opponent who is close to winning. Additionally, it can help you go through the deck quickly. When a card you need to reach your goals is languishing in the discard pile, that reshuffle can't come soon enough, and cards like this can make quite a difference.

This promo card was originally released together with Pandora's Boxx, a wooden box designed to hold Fluxx decks that, through the addition of promos and custom cards, had outgrown their original containers. As of this writing, the card is also available separately at the company's Web site, looneylabs.com.

The Bottom Line
Pandora's Box is a solid addition to any Fluxx deck. Like most promos, its inclusion in a deck is by no means necessary, but it's a nice way of keeping a deck fresh. It will appeal to all players, no matter whether they enjoy the pure chaos of the game or are always on the lookout for a strategic edge. And above all, it's very, very Fluxxy.

Special thanks to BGGer TrojanDan, who, with the help of various intercontinental detours, originally sent me the card. I did indeed enjoy the "little bit of added chaos." Many thanks!

Thread: Space Junkyard:: General:: Game balance

Maitawa — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:04:35 +0000

by Maitawa

We have played the game several times and have found one outbalancing moment.
A tile of 2 points, producing one plasma and storing two plasmas.
If this tile is obtained early in the game (it can be picked up in a first turn because it connects for merely 1 plasma) a player gains huge advantage. He now has a storage for 4 plasmas and produces 2 every turn.
Plasma is a prime resource. It allows additional turn and can be converted into other resources.
A player who takes this tile at first turn is bound to win.
I'd suggest to increase cost of connecting this tile to at least 3 resources for each exit.

Thread: Steam:: General:: silly question

ektorakos — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 12:01:18 +0000

by ektorakos

Ok there are 4 extra player colors. What about the black cubes. Are these extra goods? And if so how are these used? where are these delivered (no black cities)

cheers

Session: San Juan:: A perfect breakfast game

tryggvib — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:55:01 +0000

by tryggvib

San Juan is the only game I have bought (and I bought it a while back) that I haven't played. I've read the rules a few times (to keep me up to date if I would ever play the game), but it never seemed to be the right gaming night since people generally wanted to play my other games instead of a 'simple' card game. So a few days ago I was able to get my soon-to-be-wife to play a game of San Juan with me. After a first game that lasted 45 minutes we were both heated up. This is a fun game. I had beaten her 40 to 37, largely because of my Palace which gave me 8 extra points. After a glorious victory dance and a walk in the park we decided to play just one more before we went to sleep (playing short games around breakfast or just before sleep has become a favorite past-time of ours - oh, how fund Ticket to Ride Nordic countries was around breakfast every day of our X-mas vacation).

We dealt two Indigo plants, shuffled the cards and the trading house tiles and started playing. She began (this time she was the governor). The game went smoothly and relatively quickly for a second game (30 minutes). She likes to focus on trading. Started by putting down a Trading post and threw out some production buildings. I like to focus more on purple buildings and started with the Library. The game went on and she was smashing me in the Trader phase. So I built me a Smithy and switched to production buildings. At that point I had all statues and the Triumphal arch. Now I was building my production buildings, producing silver and would finish by constructing the Guild Hall. At the same time I made the switch she started building purple buildings, well not buildings, monuments.

In the last round I was the governor. I needed one more card to afford my guild hall (considering double builder bonus using my library). Reluctantly, I chose the prospector. Quick cash. Next turn, she chose the builder and put constructed the Triumphal arch. Blast! I had to do something, best thing I had was the tower and I built it to get some points.

In the end my buildings were:
* Hero
* Silver Smelter
* Coffee Roaster
* Chapel (+5)
* Victory
* Indigo
* Indigo
* Library
* Smithy
* Statue
* Triumphal Arch
* Tower

My soon-to-be-wife's buildings were:
* Hero
* Market Hall
* Tobacco Storage
* Trading Post
* Chapel (+2)
* Victory Column
* Indigo
* Sugar Mill
* Quarry
* Statue
* Triumphal Arch
* Tower

No Guild hall. I wasn't ready for the scoring but started collecting my points. All buildings... Me: 27 points, She: 25... Wait this looks good. Chapel points: I had 5 cards under the chapel, she only 2. Equal points to both of us for our "6" buildings: 8 points because we both had the Triumphal arch. Neither of us had a Palace and the scores ended 40 to 35 for me. Not as close as my 40-37 win for the first game but a lot more suspense.

With this game, San Juan made a place for itself as one of our breakfast games.

Thread: Panzer Leader:: Rules:: Panzer Blitz / Panzer Leader rules

plem45 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:42:53 +0000

by plem45

Anyone know if these are available for download somewhere? I got copies of the games at a local thrift store, only thing missing was rules. Any help would be appreciated.

Thread: PanzerBlitz:: Rules:: Panzer Blitz / Panzer leader Rules?

plem45 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:41:32 +0000

by plem45

Anyone know if these are available for download somewhere? I got copies of the games at a local thrift store, only thing missing was rules. Any help would be appreciated.

Thread: Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition:: General:: Midwest players help

umrmeche — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:41:07 +0000

by umrmeche

I love this game i've played it since the 2004 version came out and i love this one even more. Are there any tourneys in the state of Missouri or the surrounding states? i can't get enough of this game and i'm constantly looking for fun challenges (luckily i have some college buddies who are up for playing once a month or so). All of the tourneys I can find are for A&A miniatures. Please help thanks

Thread: When Darkness Comes:: General:: What are the best scenario's?

Wolfshade — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:36:29 +0000

by Wolfshade

I own all of the expansions and feel that some scenario's are definately better than others.

So my question, what scenario's do you like best?

Thread: Race for the Galaxy:: Rules:: New Galactic Order

boywonder_uk — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:35:26 +0000

by boywonder_uk

Hello all!

I'm a super-noob at this game, but am picking it up (a lot easier than I thought I would)...I have a question though...

This hasn't happened, but it had the potential to the other day:
I had New Galactic Order on my tableau which has the power of adding all of your military force together for final scoring.

In my hand I had New Tactical Strategy (or whatever that card is called) which has the power to be removed from your tableau in exchange for +3 military for that round.

What would happen if at the end of the game New Tactical Strategy was in my tableau? Do I add the +3 to my final score or not because technically it is not in regular use as a part of my military force?

Thread: Lock 'n Load: Heroes of the Blitzkrieg:: Rules:: HoB - Errata and FAQ

Crabe tambour — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:45:03 +0000

by Crabe tambour

First errata for HoB (crossposting with the LnL forum :

Questions from Nicolas :

Q --- Clash of Steel at Vervins: there is probably a mistake in the French deployment: the 25mm ATG, the foxholes and barricades can't be ENTERING from the South side, there is probably a deployment area missing;

A --- You're right :
The right sentence should be : Elements of the 16th Chasseurs portés bataillon and 41st and 42nd BCC; ; set up first west of the 23I–24G hexrow: Keep "as per SSR" for the second and third parag.

Q--- Last Charge of the Spahis: the 25mm ATG mentioned in the SSR appears missing from the set-up;

A ---- You're right again :
Missing text : In the Building at hex 22E4/D5:
•1 x 25 mm ATG WT (see SSR 2) • 1 x Mle 1914 WT •Adc Beaujolais w/ Ace Gunner Skill Card

I will answer to any of your questions here. I really hope the errata will be short. Thanks.

Thread: Opera:: News:: Mini interview with Christian Hildenbrand editor of HUCH & friends

Abruk — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:43:31 +0000

by Abruk

I'm still trying to figure out what will make the various publishers in order to Essen Fair coming in October. Today I give you the answers of Christian Hildenbrand, editor of HUCH & friends.

1 – Fauna did not win the SdJ, this was a great disappointment to Huch & Friends! ?

CH – Yes and no. We would lie if we say that we did not want to win. But with the nomination we won a lot because of many requests for the game. It happened never before in the history of “Spiel des Jahres” that a game of this kind made it on the nominee-list. So this is a success for us, a success which can lead to establish “Fauna” on the market for a longer time.

2 – Opera is your new game. This game is about what?

CH – Like the title betrays itself: about Operas. ;-)

“Opera” is a gamer’s game in which everybody builds up opera houses in different cities and fills them up with music pieces from different composers. These music pieces will lead to income and victory points in different ways. One of the main mechanisms is the way you get to actions. Begin of a round you have to determine your budget from which you have to pay if you want to choose or join one of the six possibilities of actions.

3 -How did this project (Opera) born?

CH – “Opera” is from our partner from the Netherlands, from The Gamemaster. Hans van Tol is also the designer of “Opera”. So the main part of all the work on “Opera” did not happen in our company. ;-) But when we first saw the idea of an opera game we were fascinated. An unused theme in a real good game. This could work. :-)

4 – If you need to create a top 5 of your edited games, what would it be?

CH – It is not possible to create a real order. But to mention five of our most important games I would say (without an order – just alphabetically): Ausgerechnet Buxtehude, Ausgerechnet Uppsala, Beppo der Bock, Fauna, Logeo ratio.

Originaly post in http://jogoeu.wordpress.com/2009/07/06/mini-interview-with-c...

Thread: Admiral Ackbar "It's a TRAP!" GAME:: General:: This game needs a review and some session reports (AARs)!

teufen — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:20:48 +0000

by teufen

This game sounds very promising, but I would like to know a little more about it. NOrmally when I am investigating a game, I will always read one or two reviews to have a better idea whether I will like it or not. I will also read some session reports to better understand the flow of the game, and to know if it suits me.

Here are some basic questions I would like to see answered:
- does the theme matches the mechanics?
- is it AP prone?
- what do you think of the artwork?
- how does it scale from 2 to 5 players?
- what about the advertised play time of 30 minutes
- is the artwork really that stunning as seen on the rare pictures here on the 'Geek?
- ...

I noticed some 9 BGGers all ready rated it! Please, fellow geeks, share your view about the game and post a review!

Thread: Munchkin:: News:: Munchkin Level Counter - iPhone App

Gawain — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:13:25 +0000

by Gawain

Yep, you read correctly:
http://www.sjgames.com/iphone/levelcounter/
They should have called it iMunch of course.

Thread: Dominion: Intrigue:: General:: Is there room for Promo cards in the Intrigue box?

itchyrichy — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:58:34 +0000

by itchyrichy

I'm trying to see from a picture in the gallery but cannot work it out - is there room for 2 promo decks in Intrigue like there is inthe base game?

If there is then I can assume there'll be promos released at some point.

Ta!

Session: HeroQuest:: The Thomson Boys - Tiptoeing Through the Dwarven Dead!

Neil Thomson — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:26:15 +0000

by Neil Thomson

This is the fifth adventure undertaken by The Thomson Boys in the Kellar's Keep Expansion for HeroQuest.

If you've missed the boy’s earlier adventures through the world of HeroQuest, you can find links to them at the end of this report.

Preparations

The only new piece of gear added after their last adventure was a Helmet purchased by Aragorn, giving the Elf 4 defense when added to his Shield.

Isaac (8) - Barbarian (Maurice) - Talisman of Lore + Chain Mail

Alex (6) - Elf (Aragorn) - Spirit Blade, Wand of Recall, Shield, Helmet

Riley (5) - Dwarf (Strongbeard) - Orc’s Bane, Borin’s Armour

Alex chose the Air Spells and in doing so the party had no access to Healing Spells. When I mentioned this he screwed his face up and regretted it straight away!

Scenario Background

Hall of Dwarven Kings - "Dwarves have had many great Kings. Belorn built the great Citadel and was honoured with a great burial hall. His descendants have all proved themselves and each is buried alongside his forefathers. Kings such as Holgar, who led his warriors at the battle of Keloth's Hill: and Garin, who fought to the last with his brothers, when Morcar's legions attacked the halls. Let no man say that the Dwarves are without courage, for their valour has no equal. Here you will find another part of Grin's stone map."

]]>
Image Courtesy of veldom

The Drums of Doom - After having been lost for many months in the halls of Karak-Varn (we haven't played since Easter!), Maurice the Barbarian, Aragorn the Elf and Strongbeard the Dwarf finally found their way into the Halls of the Dwarven Kings. Befitting such a somber place, our great warriors made slow progress along what appeared to be eerily empty passageways.

As Strongbeard turned the first corner to be faced with yet another monsterless corridor, the silence was suddenly broken by the sound of distant yet persistent thuds. Maurice called out to Aragorn to hurry...the drums came from the deep and soon they would be drowned out by the cries of the horde!

When Patience turns to Panic - Eagerly our heroes headed deeper into the Halls, unbeknownst to them that the stone walls lead them towards the Dwarven Kings Burial Chamber. In quick time the drums gave way to the screams of unspeakable things as they poured from the entrance to the halls. The boy’s eyes widened as they saw the first wave spill out into the passage they had just vacated. Aragorn was unusually sluggish this day and the Elf soon had to fight a rear guard action as he felled first one Goblin and then two.

With the arrival of the second and third waves of denizens, the Barbarian realised to his horror the nature of this day. The waves would not abate, this was a race against time. With an almighty cry he called his brothers through the door ahead, the door to the resting place of the Dwarven Kings.

Eeeny Meenie Miny Mo... - The Elf's steel had bought the party some time as the slower monsters shambled along the halls. No less than 5 doors confronted our heroes and the Barbarian was the first to open one. He was confronted by a Zombie but the simultaneous creak of the other 4 doors revealed the husks of long dead Dwarven Kings. What followed was a frenzy of blade and bone as wounds were inflicted and unholy things were laid to rest. Of all the heroes, the Barbarian fought hardest to finally lay two kings to rest one last time.

This did not prevent several more Goblins and an Orc reaching their position and the boys realised they were in trouble. Isaac was the first to recognise that only a secret passage could lead from the room and his smile faded as he realised that they couldn't search until the room was clear of evil. The next few turns were needed to vanquish the foul, thanks to an unusually skillful Goblin. The Barbarian went to search for Secret Doors and was shocked to hear that none were present.

He questioned the cruel Gods of the Old World (me in this instance) and the heavens responded that no Secret Doors were to be found in the room. He took a closer look at the board to realise that each door entered into a part of the passageway and each would need to be searched in turn.

A Dwarf Draws on the Courage of the Kings - With some 15 creatures on the verge of entering the Burial Chamber, tough decisions had to be made. Whilst courage has not always been Strongbeard's strongest quality in the past, he was affected by this place and elected to stand guard at the doorway. This was a most excellent plan, thought up by the cunning Elf and Alex. Frantically Maurice and Aragorn searched but it was not until their 3rd attempt that they met with success. Strongbeard had fought well, protected by the embrace of Borin's Armour, but he had suffered 3 wounds and his resolve was weakening.

An Orderly Retreat - Our heroes knew what was required. They still had to find the 2nd part of the Dwarven Map if they were to ever find the secret entrance to Karak-Varn. But the only way to do that was to retreat...a doorway at a time. The trickiest part was moving out of the Burial Chamber and the dwarve's stubby legs made the going tough. The hoard could smell the flesh of the intruders as each new wound was inflicted and at one point it looked as if the heroes would be over-run. But they reached the far side of the secret door and the Barbarian this time dug in his heels to block the way and take two wounds as his payment.

]]>
Maurice volunteers for Stage 2 of the Orderly withdrawal

Soon they were into the penultimate room. The chest was thrown open to reveal the map and Strongbeard again held the forces of the Witch Lord at bay. But on the cusp of a great rearguard action, chaos was about to reign supreme.

]]>
Strongbeard holds the Hoard...Right before Knicking Off

A Barbarian Looks Death in the Face... - It has often been said that a Dwarf knows no limits to his courage, but they can snap in the blink of an eye when faced with overwhelming odds. As soon as the cry came from Aragorn that the map had been found, Strongbeard's resolve evaporated like the final whispers of those long dead Dwarven Kings. He bolted for the exit, which had been cleared by the Elf and was gone.

The implications of his decision were felt almost immediately, for Strongbeard had been the last to act in that turn. The Dwarf had left the door undefended and suddenly one very ill Barbarian was left with the realisation that the only thing that stood between him and the hordes of Karak-Varn was about 4 metres of paved stone.

The monsters soon poured in and surrounded Isaac's beloved Maurice. The faster vermin went past him to attack the Elf and block the Barbarian's exit. The Barbarian of the Northlands was faced with some 10-15 creatures and was surrounded. The first attack was brutal, the axe of a Firmir biting deep for 2 wounds, which saw the Barbarian down to 4 health. He responded by dispatching a Goblin in the corner and took small comfort from the fact that he could only be attacked by two creatures at a time from that position.

Meanwhile Aragorn did his best to fell the Goblins in the passageway. He was able to get his Genie spell away and it attacked another Firmir with a pathetic 1 Skull. The Firmir laughed at such impudence and sauntered forward to inflict 2 more wounds on Isaac. The Barbarian knew his fate and said as much before killing another Goblin to reach the doorway. Problem was the path to freedom was still blocked by 2 Goblins in the passage.

If Aragorn could kill one of the Goblins there was still hope. Alas the steel of the Spirit Blade didn't have a taste for the blood of little green men this day and the attack failed. The Barbarian now faced a 4 sided attack. Few have seen the likes of what followed but suffice to say that the warrior’s blade cut a blinding swathe as it bested the efforts of a Firmir, Orc, Goblin and Skeleton. Somehow the giant among men remained standing tall but he was down to his final breath.

]]>
The Barbarian fighting on pure Adrenaline

Aragorn was spurred on by the sound of steel on steel and the grunt of his dark skinned friend. He dropped the Goblin in front and made the call that the way was almost clear. Maurice was all but spent and yet he somehow managed to survive another frenzied attack from all quarters and found the energy to slay the Goblin blocking the door, enabling him to clamber through. He made the selfless call for Aragorn to take the map and go.

He had but one final attack to fend off and it was his mortal enemy of the day that swung its axe through the frame of the door - a Firmir. The blade swung true, fueled by the power of 2 skulls. Isaac's bravado was long gone now as he realised that he sat on the precipice of a most unlikely victory. The bone dice rolled end over end and when they came to rest only 1 lion's shield showed........but fate has a strange way at times and he was quick to call the words "Dad it's cocked!". Indeed one dice had become cocked on the edge of the board and I granted the re-roll which was all Lion.

The Barbarian let out a yelp of delight and proceeded to run around the house screaming triumphantly, before returning to reside as the soul of Maurice and have him run out of the Dwarven Halls!

Post Game Thoughts - After the disappointment of the last adventure, this was a welcome return to form for HQ. Whilst some poor rolling with the Dwarven Kings (Skeletons) had helped them early, this dovetailed beautifully with the natural timing of the quest as written and resulted in the boys teetering between being in control and losing it completely.

I was very proud of the boy’s tactics in this battle as I had not had to suggest that they guard the doors to limit their danger, Isaac and Alex worked well as a team in coming up with the plan.

I was also very proud of Riley for having the nerve to be the door guard on several occasions. His brain fade at the end was such a Riley moment and I was relieved when Isaac somehow pulled through as I myself had been caught out by the implications of his hasty exit, given his last position in the turn order.

For those playing at home, this quest requires D6 monsters to enter the dungeon each Monster turn after the heroes pass a certain point (where I mentioned the drums could be heard in the distance).

The Dungeonmaster is allowed to pick whatever creatures they want each turn, but I chose to roll a D8 and it worked well, offering a mix of fast weak guys and strong slower units.

The Highlights

Music worked a Treat - Whilst the music (from doyouhq.com) was good the last time I had used it, it was brilliant this time around. It was as if many of the tracks had been written for just this adventure. Best were March of Chaos and Outnumbered with there strong Drums. I also liked Betrayal, which I played after Riley had done the runner. It had Isaac on the verge of tears with its sorrowful melody and this heightened the atmosphere in the room (thank god he pulled through or I'd be up for worst Dad of the Year).

Funny Comments - When Isaac first realised that the horde was coming and it was going to be harder to find the Secret Door than he had first thought he responded with, "I do my best work under pressure" and followed up with a classic 9 year old boys laugh.

Not to be outdone, when I asked Riley what he wanted to do after the map had been found and Alex had cleared the final passage to freedom, he responded with an all to 5 year old quip, "I'm outta here."

The Gift Shop

The Treasure flowed well in the opening part of the quest and towards the end but even if all 3 pooled their resources, they were still 5GP off the Battleaxe for Strongbeard so nothing was purchased.

The Kill Count

Isaac (Maurice - Barbarian)

1 Firmir (10)
1 Chaos Warrior (5)
1 Orc (10)
2 Skeletons (4)
3 Goblins (9)
0 Gargoyles (1)

Total = 39

Alex (Aragorn - Elf)

0 Chaos Warriors (1)
0 Firmirs (2)
0 Zombies (1)
1 Skeleton (2)
4 Goblins (14)
1 Orc (7)

Total = 27

Riley (Strongbeard - Dwarf)

0 Orcs (15)
2 Firmirs (9)
1 Goblin (11)
1 Zombie (2)
1 Skeleton (2)
1 Chaos Warrior (1)
1 Gargoyle (1)

Total = 41

The Quest Rolls On

Join The Thomson Boys on their next adventure as they enter ‘The Great Citadel’ which is literally crammed full of evilly goodness.

The Kellar's Keep Adventures

Adventure #1 - A New Wave of Heroes

Adventure #2 - The Warrior Halls

Adventure #3 - Raiders of the Lost Passage

Adventure #4 - Like Termites in a Beaver's Den

Links - The Original Quests

Adventure #1 - Blooding a New Generation of AT Gamers

Adventure #2 - The Thomson Boys Save Sir Ragnar

Adventure #3 - The Thomson Boys - Gimli's Comedic Sense of Timing

Adventure #4 - The Thomson Boys Learn HeroQuest Strategy

Adventure #5 - The Thomson Boys - When Heroes Turn to Cowards

Adventure #6 - The Thomson Boys - Dark Days

Adventure #7 - The Thomson Boys - Tanks for the Memories

Adventure #8 - The Thomson Boys - Tricks and Traps

Adventure #9 - The Thomson Boys - A Dwarf goes Mining

Adventure #10 - The Thomson Boys - A Dwarf, an Elf and a Barbarian walk into a Magic Castle...

Adventure #11 - The Thomson Boys - A Dwarven King Departs...

Adventure #12 - The Thomson Boys - Tombstones and Trinkets

Adventure #13 - The Thomson Boys - A Sword too Far?

Adventure #14 - A Light at the End of the Tunnel...Staaay Awaaay from the Liiight)

Thread: Android :: General:: 2 player game length

Faerun — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:23:29 +0000

by Faerun

Hey guys,

I was thinking of buying this beast. I read some posts about the two player game, but couldn't find how long these games typically take?

Is it around 1 hour per player? (I saw 5 player games take 5 hours)

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Nick

Thread: Agricola: Die Moorbauern:: General:: English edition

francisgod — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 09:05:12 +0000

by francisgod

I want to know the release date of its English edtiion. Is the English edition available in Essen 2009?

Thread: Lungarno:: General:: My Wedding

Favar — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:55:09 +0000

by Favar

Hi everybody!

I want to apologize with you BGGers if I haven't uploaded this entry for such a long time but this weekend (the 11th of July) I'll get married with my girlfriend Marina and I'm just a little busy....

I'll start working on Lungarno when I'll come back from our honey moon and I hope to give you good news about the first expansion of the game and many other things.

Bye and thanks again for playing and supporting my work
mm

Session: Dominion: Intrigue:: Pass the Duchy

kithkill — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:52:41 +0000

by kithkill

Finally got around to introducing my closest gaming friends to Dominion over the weekend - took both it and Pandemic over to my mate's canal boat, but Pandemic didn't even get a look in. Next night my missus had to get some work done, and my mate was moored quite close to where we live, so I decided to head back round for a few more games. One particular mix of cards ended up being a very interesting game:

Bridge
Saboteur
Trading Post
Baron
Woodcutter
Pawn
Duke
Village
Thief
Scout

I tend not to be very aggressive in Dominion, preferring to concentrate on making my own deck as good as possible instead of trashing other people's. But I'd been mullered the previous night by Thieves and Saboteurs, so when the Saboteur came up again I figured I'd get some revenge. I'd also had some success with the Baron in a previous game - success so strong that we'd both been surprised by its effectiveness. So I wanted to aim for it again. Finally Bridge was the third card to attract me, as seems like a good lubricant for a deck, and also because if played with the Saboteur it'd allow me start killing off 4-point cards instead of silvers. And since there were a number of actions I was looking at, I figured I'd need a Village or two in order to play them all.

I should state that I'm well aware that this is probably too many actions, and that it's n00bish to buy too many. But I'm having too much fun learning the mechanics of the game with the people I play with

In this case, though, the lesson was well-delivered. It was taking me too long to get the various cards in place to do what I wanted - so I got my second Saboteur and tried to give my mate some grief. I had no success getting a Bridge and Village into my hand in order to play a better, more expensive Saboteur, but the effect of a couple of these hitting each time through my deck was still a significant annoyance to my friend. But while I was juggling actions and high cost cards, he trashed some starting cards with a Trading Post, then started going for Barons, well before I was able to get my first. I even helped him out by Saboteuring his Trading Post once he'd finished with it. The +4 for discarding Estates allowed him to get some early gold, and before long he was buying Duchies and Dukes.

I knew I couldn't let him have all of the Duchies, so I had to jump the rails and pick another strategy, and quickly. I ignored buying up currency with a view to getting Provinces, and started picking up Duchies, as well as getting my own Barons into play. I ignored money almost exclusively, concentrating on filling my deck with Estates to feed the Barons. Villages moved in and out of my deck as I bought them and he (so annoyed with my Saboteur that he got a couple of his own) got lucky and trashed a couple in quick succession. But I ended up with one or two in my deck, which kept me moving along.

The card drawing of the Saboteur kept me ticking over with just enough gold to get a Duchy or Duke most turns, whereas my mate seemed to be having trouble. He'd lost a few silvers and golds to my Sab, and all the Dukes, Duchies and Estates had clogged his deck a little. I'd had a couple of hands that were almost nothing but green hands, but often the one card amongst all that green was another Saboteur, which kept me pulling cards and managed to take a significant number of Dukes/Duchies out of his deck. I even managed to Saboteur both his Saboteurs, which left him no way to damage me unless he wanted to pass up another Duke/Duchy so he could pick up a replacement.

The game eventually ended with neither of us sure who was in the lead, with the Estates, Duchies and Dukes piles emptied. The Provinces, except for an early buy from my mate, had remained largely untouched.

Overall he won, but not by much. As we reflected, we decided there were almost too many strategies in this particular selection, and so we decided to note the combination down for another play in some future session. It was a lot of fun

He's buying it as soon as he has the opportunity

Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark:: Rules:: Distance for ranged attacks? A few questions for a new gaming group.

StormbringerGT — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:46:00 +0000

by StormbringerGT

Okay we have a question that came up today.

Line of sight is pretty clear cut. However distance is not always it seems. Looking at this diagram for line of sight, do we count distance in the same way?
http://files.boardgamegeek.com/file/download/3a9r1yuco3/desc...

For example on the far right side, 3rd one down, the target is 6 squares away correct?

On the second one from the bottom he is 8 squares away and on the very bottom he is 4 squares away (both the far right side of the chart)?

Or does line of sight work like movement? Once we trace a line, to get LOS do we count range like we would count character movement, square by square. so for example looking at that chart, on the far right side, second one from the bottom the Line of sight travels though 8 squares, however if a character were to walk from that grey spot to the next he could do it in 5 moves. So how do calculate distance?

My second question, a hero has Aura 4... does this mean evertime I move a monster next to him he loses 4 health? Killing and almost killing almost every small monster that tries to melee him?

Can command go around corners? Since it is up to 3 spaces away, or do you have to draw line of sight 3 spaces away?

Also I think we got this right but I had a hero in a hallway and I dropped a rubble trap on him. Later another hero was coming down and I wanted to drop a second down, next to the first. I didn't though because that would block the hallway completely. Also the card states there cannot be any obstacles adjacent (makes it hard to play some traps I'll admit). So I didn't play the trap. Was I correct?

How the heck do I keep track of monsters health? I spawned some Kobolds and the heroes were getting some bad rolls and there were other monsters as well. It was Hit point chaos for my monsters.

Poison adds 1 token per damage dealt right? Web, Stun and Daze only add one token, for that attack round, if the hero took at least one damage. So If a stun monster dealt 4 damage to a hero that hero only takes one stun not 4 (like poison)?

Corners are hit and miss for us. When drawing line of sight, from the center of a square to another, and a dungeon corner touches that line of sight, does it break line of sight?

In the first quest the room right before the final room, had a rubble tile on it (3X1 I think) and it was diagonal from a wall. Can the hero cross or line of sight that diagonal where the corner of the rubble meets and the corner of the wall meets?

I think thats about it. Thanks to whoever takes the time to answer these questions. We are searching now for our own answers to help speed things up!

Thread: At the Gates of Loyang:: News:: A preview about the game prototyp (German)

pomimo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:30:15 +0000

by pomimo

On Spiellust.net can you read a preview about the game in German and in Polish.

http://spiellust.net/2009/07/vorausblick-auf-vor-den-toren-v...

Thread: Dominion: Intrigue:: General:: Careful playing Bureaucrat on BSW ...

kevinb9n — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:15:10 +0000

by kevinb9n

.. if Nobles are in play.

If your opponent has no victory cards in his hand except Nobles, your game is over. BSW won't let him choose the Nobles to put on his deck, because it doesn't see it as a Victory card, yet it is waiting for him to put something on his deck, because it sees that he has Victory cards! So you just can't do anything at all.

Thread: Race for the Galaxy:: Rules:: Discarding settle rebate with SpaceMercs for a second settle using ImproLog

pussykatz — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:54:52 +0000

by pussykatz

Let's say I have a 2M and a 3M world, and one other card in my hand. I have Space Mercs and Improved Logistics in my tableau, and I chose settle. Can I settle both worlds by doing the following?

1. Discard other card for +1 military power (=2)
2. Settle 2M world
3. Draw settle bonus
4. Discard settle bonus card for another +1 military power (=3)
5. Settle 3M world

What if I have a 1M and 2M world instead and no other card in my hand? Can I still settle both worlds as above except skipping step 1?

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Crisis 33 - possible wrong translation to Polish

obaryb — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:53:24 +0000

by obaryb

Hey!

Could anyone quote "33" special rule ("Constant Pursuit" or something like that)?

In the Polish version the rule is that you shuffle back the "33" card only (not any other Crisis cards). I saw on PBF tha it was played slightly differently.

Thanks!

Thread: Steam:: Variants:: Steam Classic

jimb — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:33:46 +0000

by jimb

July 6, 2009
DRAFT

[Please restrict comments to the variant itself, not the relative merits of Steam and Age of Steam, or Classic play. Also, detailed discussion of maps, specific extensions, map density, supply and analysis in general is going on elsewhere...]

[This is a draft, for review purposes. Comments are welcome, and updates will be incorporated into a revised version. This can be redistributed freely.]

Steam Classic
Introduction

Steam Classic is a Steam variant intended to help Steam owners play major Age of Steam expansions that don't simply 'plug-in' to Steam - especially those that rely on Age of Steam's goods supply.

There's many options for playing Age of Steam maps, variants, and extensions in Steam - as a normal Steam scenario, as a variant Steam scenario, or, as a classic Age of Steam variant.

Ideally, a normal map will play as a natural Steam scenario (with its own geography), and no other variant rules are required - setup the map with the recommended # of initial goods, and play Steam rules from there.

However, some major expansions extend the Age of Steam goods supply significantly - pending Steam guidelines from the expansion's designer, Steam Classic offers greater fidelity to traditional Age of Steam mechanics when playing these expansions in Steam.

There's two ways of playing this 'classic' variant with Steam: using a Steam board, or using an external board and Goods Display. So, 'onboard classic' is used with Steam's board tracks and supply, and the expansion map-board - 'offboard classic' uses both an external board and goods display(s).

Steam Classic Variant Play Instructions are provided below, along with setup instructions for onboard or offboard play.

[Terminology - this 'Classic' variant kit uses some terminology, eg 'supply line' and 'supply marker', where neither Steam nor Age of Steam do; it's useful here, but hopefully it won't be disorienting to veteran players.]

Steam Classic
Equipment

Variant Play Instructions - game-play instructions, below, to supplement the Steam rules

Supply Markers - 12 player tokens are repurposed, to manage new-city supply areas. Put these tokens aside:

- 1 Red, Blue, Yellow, and Purple token
- 2 White, Natural, Brown, and Black token

Some of these Supply Markers color-code supply lines directly to matching new cities: Red, Blue, Yellow, and Purple. The other Supply Markers are paired, in 4 neutral colors (White, Natural, Brown, and Black); these mark the supply lines for Gray new cities, and key Gray cities to those lines. (When a Gray new city is placed during Urbanization, below, one of the paired Supply Markers is placed on the Gray new city.)

Dice - 6

Steam board (onboard only) - use Steam's game tracks directly; Steam's supply spaces will provide the Classic Goods Display. (12 supply spaces will hold a supply-line as usual; 8 of these will also hold a second supply line, for the 8 new-cities).

Goods Display (offboard only) - goods must be setup on an Age of Steam Goods Display; some are available on BGG, download and print one of these -
John Jackson ajax2647 http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/16518
Ted Alspach has one also: tbd.

Income Track Display (offboard only) - if you want to use the AoS Income Track, some are available on BGG, download and print one of these -
John Jackson ajax2647 http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/16517
Ted Alspach has one also: tbd.

Steam Display (offboard Steam, optional) - to use Steam track displays without the Steam board (income/expenses, VP track, etc), you can download and print Ted Alspach's Steam Display -
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/39813

Other - City Growth Markers - Steam's City Growth Markers are not used in Classic, just ignore them.

Steam Classic
Variant Play Instructions

Classic Goods Supply, Overview

First, since both variants require some understanding of Age of Steam's supply mechanics, an overview is provided to familiarize Steam players with the 'classic' goods-supply. Supply spaces work differently, and some game actions are changed - particularly Urbanization, City Growth, and Build Track. Finally, there's a new phase City Growth, which includes the new Production action (replacing City Growth).

Supply Lines - Steam has 12 Goods Supply Spaces, which can supply any city; Classic uses 20 Goods Supply Lines, one for each specific city. In Steam, the selected supply space is at player discretion, and all cubes are supplied together, at once; Classic's goods supply is done at random (dice rolls), and supplied goods are delivered individually.

Classic cities are labelled, to match them directly to these Supply lines. Map cities are numbered (1-6, in white or black), and new cities are also marked (color-coded for Steam Classic, but lettered A-H in AoS), And, the Supply Area holds 20 supply lines in turn; 12 numbered 1-6 in white and black (with 3 goods each); and 8 for the marked new cities.

Given this general overview of Classic mechanics, this kit describes 2 Steam game setups, 'onboard classic', and 'offboard classic'. Both kits have equipment and setup instructions, and proceed into the Classic variant play instructions, below. (Assume Steam's Standard rules are being used here, unless otherwise stated.)

Setup

Follow the Initial Setup instructions for onboard or offboard Steam Classic setup (below), as appropriate.

Play

Standard rules are used, with these changes for Classic play: the City Growth action is replaced with a Production action, Build Track and Urbanization are modified, and a new phase Goods Growth is introduced (immediately before advancing the turn-marker). These changes are described below.

City Growth - in Classic, this action is reaplced by the Production action, and occurs at the end of the turn, during the new Goods Growth phase (below).

Build Track - Build Track no longer includes a City Growth action.

Urbanization - no goods are supplied to a new-city at urbanization. Place the chosen new-city tile as usual. For a Gray new city, also take a Supply Marker (from a supply line with 2 markers), and place it on the new city. This codes each Gray city to a matching supply line, with a neutral Supply Marker (White, Natural, Brown, or Black).

Goods Growth - this new phase occurs immediately before the turn-order marker is advanced, and is the heart of the Classic goods supply system.

First, if a player chose the Production action, that player now takes 2 cubes from the bag, and then places each onto any available space, in any supply line. (The supply lines have a fixed capacity - if the line is full, as at setup, more goods cubes cannot be added.)

Next, dice are rolled to supply individual cubes to specific cities. Use N dice for N players, and roll them twice - once for the 'white' supply spaces (the first half), and once for the 'black' supply spaces (the second half).

For each roll, take each matching die and activate supply line(s) from the corresponding supply space - each die may activate one or two supply-lines, depending on the supply space.

Each time a supply-line is activated, take the top available good (1st 2nd 3rd), and put it on the corresponding city (see below); if no good is available, none is supplied.

In the goods-supply area, some supply lines have a Supply Marker, identifying new cities. When these supply lines are activated, the matching new city is supplied: 4 of these Supply Markers directly match a colored new city (Red, Blue, Yellow, and Purple); the other Supply Markers match Gray new cities with the paired neutral Supply Marker (White, Natural, Brown, and Black). (hese markers are placed Gray new city tiles during Urbanization, above.

A Goods Growth Example is provided at the end of the setup instructions.

Steam Classic
Initial Setup, Onboard

Overview

The onboard variant uses all Steam's normal game tracks (income, vp, etc), but extends the Goods Supply spaces to support AoS mechanics, and changes some game actions and phases (Build Track, Urbanization, City Growth, and an additional phase, Goods Growth, at turn-end).

Initial Setup

Supply Markers - place the Supply Marker tokens on the Steam board, centered on the following Goods Supply Spaces (numbered 1-12 here, from top to bottom) -

- 1 Red: Goods Supply Space #3 (ie, 3rd from the top)
- 1 Blue: supply space 4
- 2 White: supply space 5
- 2 Natural: supply space 6
- 1 Yellow: supply space 7
- 1 Purple: supply space 8
- 2 Brown: supply space 9
- 2 Black: supply space 10

In this Classic variant, these 'supply markers' are used during Urbanization, Production (City Growth), and Goods Growth.

Setup Goods - place 3 goods in each supply space as normal (in the outlined squares on the right side). Also, in the 8 supply spaces with Supply Markers (above), place 2 more goods, in-line on the left side. This forms 20 supply lines on the Steam Board - 12 lines with 3 goods each, and 8 lines with 2 goods each - these supply up to 12 numbered map cities (white 1-6 and black 1-6), and 8 new cities.

White City & Black City Identification - place an extra White Die, with the '1' facing up, to the left of the topmost Goods Supply Space; and, place an extra Black Die, also with the '1' facing up, to the left of the 7th Goods Supply Space. These markers anchor the top of the 'white city' supply spaces (matching 'white' dice rolls 1-6), and the top of the 'black city' supply spaces (matching 'black' dice rolls 1-6). [Due to the Steam board crease, it's easy to get these mixed up, so this help orient the players during Goods Growth.]

Complete Setup - other than the changes noted here, finish Standard setup for your Steam game-board, and setup your map-scenario, or expansion game, as normal.

Continue with the Steam Classic Variant Play Instructions, above.

Steam Classic
Initial Setup, Offboard

Overview

As discussed above, Age of Steam cities have dedicated supply line on an offboard Goods Display. Each city is coded to identify its supply line (1-6 in white and black, and, A-H); and, turns end with a Goods Growth phase, where goods may move from supply lines to cities.

The Goods Display has 10 supply areas on the left (labelled in white 1-6 and A-D), and 10 supply areas on the right (labelled in black, 1-6 and E-H). The numbered supply lines are for map cities, with 3 goods per supply area (for map cities 'white 1-6' and 'black 1-6'); the lettered supply lines are for new cities, with 2 goods per supply area (labelled A-H on the display, but color-coded in this setup).

Setup Instructions

Each supply space is filled with goods at setup: a goods cube is drawn at random to fill every shaded-square on the Goods Display (marked 1st, 2nd, or 3rd). The display has specific supply lines for up to 20 cities: 12 of these are supply lines for map cities (white 1-6 on the left, and black 1-6 on the right); 8 more are supply lines for new cities (white A-D on the left, and black E-H on the right).

Supply Markers - place your Supply Marker tokens on the 8 New City supply lines on the Goods Display (now headed A-H), as follows -

- 1 Red: supply-line 'A'
- 1 Blue: supply-line 'B'
- 2 White: supply-line 'C'
- 2 Natural: supply-line 'D'
- 1 Yellow: supply-line 'E'
- 1 Purple: supply-line 'F'
- 2 Brown: supply-line 'G'
- 2 Black: supply-line 'H'

In this Classic variant (below), these 'supply markers' are used during Urbanization, Production (City Growth), and Goods Growth.

Standard setup - other than the changes notes above, setup your game-tracks on either a classic Income Track or a Steam Display (depending on your preferences), and setup your map-scenario as normal.

Continue with the Steam Classic Variant Play Instructions, above.

Steam Classic
Variant Examples

Goods Growth Example

To process the Goods Growth in a 5-player game, 5 dice are rolled, twice in succession: first for the 'white cities', and then for the 'black cities'.

The first roll of 5 dice, 'for the white cities', results in: 1, 2, 4, 4, 5. As a result, the corresponding white supply areas are activated. 2 of these (white 1 and white 2) contain 1 supply line - the topmost goods cube (if any) is taken from each, and put on map cities White-1 and White-2. The two 4's, in turn, match the supply space 'White 4' - which actually holds 2 supply-lines, one for the map city 'White 4', and, a supply line for a gray new city (with a Natural Supply Marker). Since we rolled two 4's, each of these supply lines will be activated twice now - map city White 6 will be supplied up to 2 goods cubes from its line, and the gray new city marked with a Natural Supply Marker, if any, will also be supplied up to 2 goods. Finally, the 5 die matches another supply space with 2 supply lines - one line for map city 'White 5', and one line for the Yellow new city; each of these supply-lines is activated once, accordingly.

Then, the procedure is repeated 'for the black cities' - the 5 dice are rolled once more, and the result is: 1, 1, 2, 3, 6. Again, matching supply lines are activated for each die hit (as described above for the white cities). In this case, the two 1's match supply space 'Black 1' - holding a supply line for city 'Black 1', and a supply line for the Yellow 'new city' - since there's two 1's, each of these supply lines is activated twice. (If all goods are available, then, map city 'Black 1' and the Yellow new city will each get two additional cubes from their supply line; incidentally, emptying the supply line for the Yellow new city. Unlike Steam, Goods Supply areas can be refilled in Classic - see the Production action.) The die hits of 2, 3, and 6 are evaluated similarly, and the process is complete.

Other Notes

Age of Steam New City tiles

For your reference, here's the labels of New City tiles in Age of Steam (A-H), and the corresponding Supply Marker in this Classic variant -

- Red - 'A' Label, Marker Red
- Blue - 'B' Label, Marker Blue
- Gray #1 - 'C' Label, Marker White
- Gray #2 - 'D' Label, Marker Natural
- Yellow - 'E' Label, Marker Yellow
- Purple - 'F' Label, Marker Purple
- Gray #1 - 'G' Label, Marker Brown
- Gray #2 - 'H' Label, Marker Black

As shown, the variant instructions provided here use color-coded Supply Markers, instead of lettered cities A-H. If you play offboard with classic Goods Displays frequently, you may want to discretely label your Steam new city tiles with a permanent marker, A-H as above, to match the classic conventions.

Standard Classic - a number of Steam actions are modified for classic play, whereas Base's action pricing and turn-order effects assume native Steam actions. For example, Production and Urbanization are more powerful in Steam, and worth more than the equivalent Age of Steam actions. As a result, Standard play is recommended above.

Base Classic - this Classic variant could be played with Base in principle - as mentioned above, the main problem is that Classic's Production and Urbanization should be valued differently than Base's equivalents (City Growth and Urbanization). A variant action-tile set could work well for this: the replacement action-tiles would substitute Production for City Growth, reprice Production and City Growth, and also rebalance action-tiles' turn-order effects in general (their order, from #1-7); that's beyond the scope of this variant kit for now.

Classic Production - note, Steam has no real equivalent to Classic's Production: once Steam's cities and supply areas are setup (before the first turn), no more goods cubes will ever be drawn from the bag.

Useful Equipment for Extensions - simple creative work could make this classic kit more elegant - 7 new 'action tiles' for Steam Classic play, a supply-area overlay (with the 8 extra supply lines, and color-coded new-cities), simpler supply markers keyed to that supply-area overlay (instead of player tokens), etc...

More Classic - Classic Goods Supply is the main focus here, for practical reasons. Additional variant rules for Classic could also be applied, for instance regarding track costs,.

Other Guides - Mayfair will be coming out with a scenario guide; some of these issues may be directly addressed then (although they will probably discuss scenario and map guidelines broadly, more than 'classic' play in detail).

As indicated above, review comments welcome; this is a draft.

- jim

Thread: Admiral Ackbar "It's a TRAP!" GAME:: Variants:: YODA Variant

GROGnads — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:44:01 +0000

by GROGnads

You just KNEW this was "a-coming!" and here that THEN 'be'! Played in the same 'manner' and 'demeanor' as the others also.

]]>

Thread: Space Hulk:: News:: "Mystery box" rumours... might be Space Hulk...

jtspecial — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:43:03 +0000

by jtspecial

Well, it´s anybodys guess what it´s actually about,
but this was posted on Bell of Lost Souls...

So the plot thickens folks. In a highly unusual marketing move, word is starting to dribble out of GW of a totally secret product that will be unveiled in stores in August. It is described as something totally new and unheard of, that will be a limited run. The current rumors swirling about are:

-Product announcement on 15-16th August, with a ship date in September.

-August/september they are selling a box set for around £50. (@$70 USD)

-It is a completely stand alone set that is not related to any race.

-It is something that GW has never done before.

-Some local stores are only getting one shipment; when that sells out it will no longer be available.

-You can't advance order it. You have to be there on the day to get it.

-It is not Planetary Empires.

-It is a board game.

-Very limited GW people know what it is. Blueshirts have indicated what they know and the Blackshirts avoid questions.

-Likely to be 40K related, but not definitely confirmed.

I know it says that it is something that GW has never done before, but that just might be hype/spin related...

Thread: Mesopotamia:: General:: The theme is historically inaccurate

Friendless — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:32:23 +0000

by Friendless

The start of the rules say (something like) "several thousand years ago nomadic tribes wandered Mesopotamia" blah blah something about Marduk. Except... Mesopotamia was where agriculture was invented, 10,000 years ago. And if these tribes are so nomadic, why do they build permanent huts and holy places and a great big ziggurat? Permanent structures like that arise when a society is producing a surplus of food to feed to the labourers (e.g. by farming) and hence cannot be nomadic.

Otherwise, this is a fine game :-).

Thread: Der Hexer von Salem:: Rules:: Does it take an action to banish Thul Saduun?

StormKnight — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:19:23 +0000

by StormKnight

It takes a rune to banish Thul Saduun, but does it also take you 'use item' action for the turn?

The text under step 3 'Encounter a Creature or Shadow' makes it sound like you would use the rune in that step; just like banishing a monster normally except that you must discard the rune.

However, the text under step 3, 'Use one item' makes it sound like using the rune to banish Thul Saduun would be your item use for the turn.

Anyone know what the correct interpretation is?

Thread: Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation:: Rules:: Orcs versus Sam and Frodo in the Shire

quinnox — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 06:06:14 +0000

by quinnox

I had this happen in my last game, and want to make sure this was resolved correctly.

Sam and Frodo were both in the Shire and the Orcs attacked them. Sam fought in Frodos place because Frodo cannot retreat sideways here, the Orcs automatically defeat Sam, and then fight Frodo. As the Sauron player still had his 6 card Frodo has no chance and is killed.

Is this all correct?

And if so, does this mean this situation would always be a defeat for the good side so you would want to avoid this scenario as the good side?

Session: Agricola:: Third Time Pays For All, or MisterG vs Ronbo: The Tiebreaker

MisterG — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:59:40 +0000

by MisterG

Anyone who’s played Agricola more than a few times quickly comes to realize the equivalence of food, actions, and victory points. The relationship can be very roughly expressed as Food Expended = Actions Taken = Score, or FEATS, as I like to call it, as in “Feats, Don’t Fail Me Now!” This algorithm will, of course, vary from game to game depending on what cards are played and what sort of efficiencies can be achieved, as well as what measures the opposition takes, but as a general rule of thumb, it holds up pretty well. Food equals actions equals points. Learn it, live it, love it.

What throws many players, at least in the initial experience of learning the game, is that actions cost less food in the early Stages than the later ones. In Stage One, with rare exceptions like the appearance of the Lover or the use of the Winter Action in the “Through the Seasons” variant, actions only cost a half a food, while in the last Stage, each action costs as much as two food, again with certain exceptions. That escalating cost is precisely the reason that players are forced to establish some sort of food engine, be it via baking grain, cooking animals or vegetables, or using sources like the Fish Pond, Day Laborer, or some sort of card-enhanced stratagem.

Met for the third time on the fallow fields of Agricola, Ron and I once again played with a deal-ten-drop-three draft. Sorry to say, I came up pretty empty as far as Minor Imps go, and in fact never played any of the “permanent” ones I had. Oddly enough, the “passable” ones I owned served me quite nicely. Even more oddly, Ron never played any of his permanent Minor Imps either. All in all, ‘twas passing strange indeed! The only two Minors that saw action were Building Material and the Field. How many times does that happen?

Enough blather; let’s see what happened…

Round One/Sow & Bake
Ron – Occ/Field Watchman
Geoff – 3W(3)
Ron – 1G + PF
Geoff – SP + Field> (PF-1f)

Ron opens the proceedings with the (somewhat) dreaded Field Watchman, a quite powerful Ock for those intent upon setting up a strong grain/food engine. I counter with a simple wood grab. Ron then breaks himself even on his Ock, and I take the button, coughing up a food for a pass-along field of my own, setting myself up for stacked reed. My intentions are quite plain: I’m going to build a room and expand as soon as possible, having been spanked last game for failing to do so.

Round Two/MIMI
Geoff – 1R(2)
Ron – 1C(2)
Geoff – Occ/Wood Collector (5W>)
Ron – MIMI/Fp2

MIMI says hello, the reed is mine, and Ron predictably swipes the clay. I get out the only Ock I have that’s worthy of early play, a long-term 5Wood, and Ron even more predictably buys his fireplace, absolutely no surprise there beyond a raised eyebrow at his not retaking the button to gain next Round’s 6Wood. Usually wood mania outstrips any other impulse Ron has in the game, but he’s also very big on an early cookery, so like I said, no surprise. I’m always willing to take advantage of an opponent’s oversight.

Round Three/Sheep
Geoff – 3W(6)
Ron – Occ(1)/Clay Worker
Geoff – 1G
Ron – SP + Field> (PF-1f)

Naturally, I fall upon the wood. Ron now seemingly forgets about his Watchman and pops out another Ock, one that provides him a long-term 5Clay. Not awful, but I’m thinking he’d have been better off taking advantage of that Watchman. Instead, he ignores it until the final Round of the game. Of course, I encourage this by immediately claiming a grain with my second peep. Unperturbed, Ron now nabs the button, sending the Minor field back to me. Fair enough, I can live with that.

Round Four/Fences
Ron – Fish(4f)
Geoff – DL(2f)
Ron – 1R(2)
Geoff – BR(1) +2s

Now Ron gets sneaky, emptying the fish pond and pretty much forcing me to hit up Day Laborer in order to feed my family. Fair enough again; I’m wise to his wily ways. He then gloms the stacked reed (so much for a double build for moi), and I crank out a room, along with a pair of stables. How will Ron respond to the sheep threat? We shall see, soon enough. Dudes home, and fed.

Round Five/Stone
Ron – 3W(6) +1C
Geoff – Sheep(3)
Ron – 1C(3+1)
Geoff – SP + Building Material> (1C)

Tempting as the woolies must surely be, Ron cannot resist the stacked wood, especially with its clay bonus. I bopeep the little beggars, tails wagging. Ron piles up the clay, and I take the button away from him again, picking up a clay that he’s otherwise seemingly determined to never let me have. That’s okay; two can play at that sort of game.

Round Six/Family Growth + MI
Geoff – 1R(2)
Ron – 3W(3) +1C
Geoff – FG + x
Ron – Occ(1G)/Bricklayer

Quite naturally, I claim the stacked reed, the rarest commodity in the game. Ron gathers in more wood and the bonus clay, still ignoring his Watchman, as well as the potential of a button grab. I add a worker to my family, sans Minor. I could play the Spit Roast, but truth is I don’t want to spare the wood; I’m going to need every stick I can get for my next room. Ron drops down the Bricklayer, a fine complement to his enhanced clay-gathering abilities, but again, a button grab would have left him in a much better position, imnsho. My ability to feed my family is unassailable, but he could deny me the stone next Round, which would certainly be a hindrance to my rather transparent plans.

Round Seven/Renovation + MIMI
Geoff – Fish(3f)
Ron – Sheep(2)burn2
Geoff – 1S(3)
Ron – Ren>C + Fp>CH4
Geoff – MIMI/Stone Oven (4f)

Preferring not to offer up my sheep to the gods, I fish. Ron has no similar ovine mercies, and a compelling reason against them: he needs to feed. I snap up the bargain stone. Ron knows the Well can be mine if I want it, but instead of blocking MIMI and making life difficult for me, he chooses to renovate his hut, bumping his fireplace to a hearth in the process. Relieved that I’m not going to have to visit Day Laborer and sacrifice my grain to feed my family, I go ahead and procure the Stone Oven, turning that lonely grain into plentiful, delicious bread. My family is fed with one to spare, and my newborn wooly scampers off into the wilderness, since I have yet to acquire a cookery. Just don’t wander back too close, little sheep, or the big, bad wolf is gonna getcha…

Round Eight/Boar
Geoff – 1C(3)
Ron – 3W(6) +1C
Geoff – MIMI/Fp2
Ron – 1R(2)
Geoff – 1G

Having been reminded that my food engine needs some bite to it, I take the clay, which also serves to derail Ron’s hut-building opportunities. Sweet! Ron vengefully sweeps in the 6Wood plus. I build a fireplace—no more Mr. Nice Guy, li’l woolies!—Ron nabs another stack of reed, and I pick up another grain.

Round Nine/Vegetables
Geoff – Boar(2)burn3sheep
Ron – Sheep(2)burn2
Geoff – BR(1)
Ron – Fences(15)
Geoff – FG + x

Much as I’d like to crank out another room, I simply have to assure myself food for three without, if you’ll pardon the expression, giving away the farm. I capture the boar and slaughter the sheep. Sorry, but I warned ‘em. Ron must be thinking the same thing, since he bypasses building a clay room (he has enough clay thanks to his Bricklayer) and pulls a “Mars Attacks” on the sheep. Perhaps he didn’t trust me to leave them alone if he went for the room—and he would have been right! Ack! Ack! Ack! Ack! I have every reason to build now, and do so, following up with Family Growth after Ron fences. I’m almost starting to feel sorry for his poor, seemingly useless Field Watchman. Almost.

Round Ten/Cattle
Geoff – 1G
Ron – 3W(6) +1C
Geoff – 1V
Ron – BR(1) +3s
Geoff – PF
Geoff – S&B (1Gf/1Vf +4f)

Time now to be offensively defensive: I snag a simple grain, once again denying Ron’s Watchman its due. Ron clears the 6Wood, seeking stabilization. Get it? Get it? Oh, never mind. I glom a veggie, and Ron finally enjoys the luxury of building a room, along with a trio of stables. I wrap the Round up with another plowed field, and a nice, utilitarian Sow & Bake. Things are looking very copasetic on my farm.

Round Eleven/Stone
Geoff – 1S(4)
Ron – Cattle(2)
Geoff – 1R(3)
Ron – FG + Building Material> (1C)
Geoff – 1C(3)
Geoff – Ren>C + Fp>CH5

Much as I’d love to deny Ron the double-stacked reed, another potential room, I can’t ignore the superb value of a 4Stone. It has renovation spelled all over it, or the Well, if I so choose. But truthfully, it’s the renovation that’s of paramount importance. Then, Ron surprises me by snagging cattle instead of the reed. It’ll mean three points down the line, and a 4food, but I’m still a bit nonplussed, though not enough to resist scooping up the beckoning reed. Ron at long last hires on a third peep, tossing the traveling Minor back to me for a clay he never uses. I think at this point he’s recognized the writing on the wall. He’s certainly going to by the end of the next Round. I scarf the 3Clay, renovate, and claim the other hearth, a most timely acquisition that will mean one critical extra food very shortly. Dudes home, jiggety-jig, and we scramble to placate the gods of subsistence. Now I see why Ron was practically forced to take the cattle: he has to burn them both to provide for his newly expanded troop. I sacrifice a raw grain and a torched piggy to satisfy my own family. Life is tough at times. We move into the endgame.

Round Twelve/Plow & Sow
Geoff – 3W(6)
Ron – Boar(3)
Geoff – (burn1boar) Ren >S + Field> (PF-1f)
Ron – Sheep(3)
Geoff – Occ(1)/Mason (1StoneRoom)
Ron – Fish(5f)
Geoff – FG + Building Material> (1W)

For once, my first play is as forced as forced can be. I have to think about fencing and think about it now, or risk a punitive strike by Ron. He probably has no genuine use for wood (having already converted to clay and built max fences), but it’s possible he has a Minor or two that need wood, and there’s always the Joinery to consider. I take the 6Wood; I simply can’t afford not to. Ron herds boar while I slaughter one to pay for another field as I renovate to stone. Ron herds sheep, and I unleash the Mason. Ron sighs and fishes, my workforce expands, with a stick of wood to boot. There was really nothing he could have done to stop me.

Round Thirteen/Family Growth w/o
Geoff – 1G
Ron – Cattle(2)
Geoff – P&S (1Gf/1Vf)
Ron – 1V
Geoff – Occ(1)/Master Builder (1StoneRoom)
Ron – FG w/o
Geoff – 1S(3)
Geoff – MIMI/Well (1f>)

Again I cramp Ron’s style by taking the grain. He brings home the beef, forlorn. I sow a few fields, he eliminates a negative, and I use the last of my fresh ham to build my sixth stone room, something I haven’t accomplished in scores of games (if ever). Disconsolate, Ron hires on a cheap peep. I close out the Round securing the Well. It costs me a veggie, two boar, and a grain to feed my dudes, which is fine by me. The points lost are more than fair payment for the ones I’ve gained.

Round Fourteen/Renovation + Fences
Geoff – P&S (1Gf/1Vf)
Ron – 1G + PF
Geoff – 3W(6)
Ron – PF
Geoff – Boar(2)
Ron – 1V
Geoff – Fences(12)
Ron – S&B (2Vf/1Gf)
Geoff – Sheep(2)

The final Round is a flurry of negatives elimination. Ron knows he can mess with my fencing plans, but chooses to boost his own score as much as possible, rather than try to deflate mine. It wouldn’t make any great difference. Due to a slight miscalculation, my array of rooms and fields keeps me from maximizing pastures when I fence, but no matter. Dudes home, rack ‘em and stack ‘em. My dinner menu comprises a veritable culinary trifecta: one each of grain, veggie, boar, sheep and food. Can’t say I’ve ever done that before. Ron puts two boar and a sheep to the knife to sate his own crew’s appetites. A quick survey of the boards tells the tale…

Final Score (Occupations Played, Minors/Majors Played)(Wood taken/bonus)(Rounds as Starting Player)(Total Primary/Secondary/Tertiary Actions)(Points Per Primary Action)

Geoff – 49 (3 Occ, 4/3)(21/6)(11)(43/6/0)(1.140)
Ron – 36 (3 Occ, 2/1)(21/0)(3)(32/4/6)(1.125)

Note how close we both came to the FEATS algorithm: I spent 47 food, and Ron spent 35 food. The extra food that I generated (and spent) stemmed from one thing. I grew as early as I could, and used that multiplier to grow again and again. Increasing one’s actions is the key to this game, and that first growth, as many writers on these boards have described, is of primary importance. You simply cannot afford to fool around; if you don’t have a third peep by the end of Stage Two, or at very worst Stage Three, you are most likely going to lose to the player who does. You don’t have to be the first to grow (and the more players there are in the game, the more latitude in this you have), but you’d best not be too far behind. By the time we got to the endgame (the last three Rounds), Ron was laboring under a seven-action deficit, a handicap virtually impossible to overcome.

How did this happen? Mostly, it was due to a lack of focus on Ron’s part. His initial play of the Field Watchman was a decent one. It’s a strong Ock—I think we all know that by now—but it has to be used, or it’s worthless. Ron could have had a nice grain engine going by the end of Stage One, but he shifted his efforts to obtaining a fireplace that he didn’t use for five Rounds, then shifted again to building a clay engine, and at that, one that wasn’t strong enough to really support early renovation to clay. Further, he ignored getting a room built in Round Five or Six, a near-unpardonable sin given that he had all the requisite tools at hand. It’s one thing to adapt to an opponent’s moves; it’s another thing entirely to constantly shift focus willy-nilly. This was a game I would have dearly loved to play again, with each player playing the opponent’s hand. I feel certain I could have done far better with Ron’s holdings than he managed himself.

Ron’s first major misstep came in Round Two, I believe, when he marked time picking up a premature fireplace. I think he’d have been much better off had he popped out the Clay Worker right then, and then snagged the button to get the 6Wood in Round Three. From there, he could have put the Watchman to work, gotten his grain engine going, picked up his fireplace (or with any luck, a hearth in one shot), and gotten to work on an oven in Stage Two. His build-and-grow routine would be one step behind mine, but that handicap would have been far from insurmountable. Alternatively, he could have saved the Watchman for his late game efforts, gotten the Clay Worker and Bricklayer out earlier, and concentrated on a clay machine. But, to misquote Cornelius Ryan, he “went an Occupation too far.” He bit off more than he could chew, and it cost him any chance at the win.

As always, I hope Constant Reader enjoyed this account. Stay tuned next week for “Takin’ Care of Business All the Time, or MisterG and the Pieceworker Meet JimmyO and the Bricklayer.”

Session: Imperial Sunset:: Opening Salvos of Imperial Sunset

mummykitty — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:55:38 +0000

by mummykitty

A friend of mine got this game for me a while ago, and I've always wanted to give it a try. I figured it would be a good way to learn more about the battle of Leyte Gulf. After reading a bit about the actual battle, I wondered how a good game could be made of the situation. Since it happened fairly late in the war, the Japanese forces were severely outnumbered, out-classed and out-gunned. In addition, they were split and uncoordinated. They have no real chance of victory. However, as usual in war games, performing better than your historical counterparts would be a victory of sorts, and fortunately my gaming buddy Butch is always up for trying to "win" with the Emperor's forces. He also has the right mindset to run a hopeless "banzai" charge and enjoy it. And since he's more knowledgeable about naval history and probably a better gamer, he happily took the role of the historical underdogs.

After reading the rules and taking into account all of the errata, the game seems pretty simple. We decided to play the full campaign (starting a day earlier than the historical scenario) which gives the Japanese a chance to move a bit differently than they historically did. We also used all of the optional rules except for the stronger "Divine Wind" and Uncertain Detection. The optional rules put some good restrictions on the American forces, forcing them to commit resources to support the landings on Leyte. Without these rules soaking up some American forces, I don't see any way the Japanese could hope to achieve anything.

We played through the first day and night in our first session. Most of the early part of the game was spent maneuvering into position. I purposely tried not to watch the Japanese move too closely, to preserve some of the fog of war. Butch did manage to get the transports to Leyte to boost his ground forces there (for 4 extra victory points). He then proceeded to aggressively attack with the Shima force before the rest of this units were close.

This small group faced the wrath of the entire Third Fleet, which destroyed all of the Shima force capital ships. A couple of Shima force destroyers actually made contact with one of the Third Fleet task groups, but were unable to get close enough to deliver a torpedo shot on the American big ships (though they did sink one American destroyer/DD damage point). Fortunately, the American air crews will be able to rest and recover before the rest of the Japanese forces arrive. Through aggressive maneuver, some of the Japanese task forces are positioned to make a run through Surigo straight at dawn's first light, although it will take a lot of luck for any of them to successfully run the gauntlet. Ozawa Force is also steaming at top speed towards the Third Fleet-- if they can draw them off there might be a slight chance for a banzai attack to make it to Leyte. We'll see what happens in our next session.

So far this game is pretty interesting. I think it would be worth a couple of plays, switching sides between games and seeing who can do better. I've played Chennault's First Fight, and like that game, Imperial Sunset has a operational map and a tactical map for actual combat. The tactical combat feels a little gamey, but it's fun and simple. Looking forward to our next session.

Thread: Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization:: News:: Discounted - at last!

Jonathan Degann — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:48:55 +0000

by Jonathan Degann

Evidently FRED is now permitting discounting on this game (and, it seems, Age of Steam) because some retailers are now selling it 25% - 30% off! At last I can buy this (still pricey) game! I still may wait for the next, corrected printing, but it's pretty good to go.

Session: Power Grid:: 5 player session - USA map

gopher37 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:47:45 +0000

by gopher37

We played Power Grid on Saturday, this time the players were me, Matt, Alex, Keijiro and Dort. All of had played before (Alex just needed a little refresher on some of the rules), so all of us knew how the game worked.

Map selection:
We decided on the USA map, since it was 4th of July weekend, and also because the connection costs are lower, so the game goes a little faster as compared to Germany. We blocked out the Northwest since the connection costs are so high out there, just to speed up the game a little.

Opening power plants:
Me – 04 (got it for 6) – built 1 city, starting in Washington (east coast)
Keijiro – 05 (got it for 10) – built 1 city, starting in Norfolk (east coast)
Alex – 07 (got it for 10) – built 2 cities, starting in Chicago (midwest)
Matt – 09 (got it for 9) – built 1 city, starting in St. Louis (midwest)
Dort – 10 (got it for 10) – built 2 cities, starting in Atlanta (south)

The bidding went kind of odd I thought, I wasn’t really challenged for the 04 plant, which in my opinion is the best plant to go for. I was surprised that Alex bid up the 07 plant, oil is really pricey for that plant. And the 05 plant seemed to go for a lot, which was surprising.

Early plants:
The first big plant to come up for auction was the 20 plant (5 cap, 3 coal), I ended up getting it for $25 I think. The 21 plant didn’t end up coming down, but Dort didn’t know that he didn’t have to buy a plant, so he bought the 06 plant for cost. Then the 21 plant ended up coming down, so Keijiro got it for cost. This helped out Keijiro a ton, I thought that he was in the best shape during the early game. I was probably in the 2nd best shape.

Step 1:
I had the 20 plant, so I built 1 city first round (powered by the 04 plant), then 2 next round, then 2 more to get to 5. By now I was completely boxed in on the east coast with nowhere to go, so I just held at 5 cities and didn’t really do anything for about 4 turns, just accumulated cash. Eventually I was able to get the 26 plant (5 cap, 2 oil) for about $31 or so, so that helped out a lot. I then kept powering this plant instead of the 20 plant so that I didn’t exhaust the coal supply.

Keijiro was in the same spot as I was with being boxed in at 5 cities. He was using the 21 plant (4 cap, 2 hybrid) and 11 plant (2 cap, 1 uranium) to power 5 cities. The other guys had a variety of lower capacity plants. Alex eventually also got boxed in in the north at 6 cities. Matt still had room to expand in the west, and Dort in the southeast. Though since Matt had high connection costs, so he couldn’t expand as much. Dort could have built to Miami to end the step 2 stall, but he didn’t build there until a couple turns sitting at 6 cities. By this time I was accumulating a ton of cash sitting on 5 cities basically doing nothing. Dort probably should have built to the 7th city as soon as possible, because he started to get hammered in terms of resource costs since he always bought last. Do you guys agree that he should have built the 7th city as soon as possible since only Matt could have surpassed Dort in terms of triggering Step 2?

Step 2:
When Dort built his 7th city, I was in the 2nd to build spot, and Keijiro was in the 1st to build spot. Keijiro built 6 cities, and then I followed with 6 (I could have got to 7, but wanted to be below him in terms of turn order, since I had the lower power plant number). I had picked up the 28 plant in the meantime (4 cap, 1 uranium), so I was now at 14 capacity. The other 3 guys built about 4-6 cities as well, so we were all around the same spot. Since there was a big Step 2 stall, I knew that Step 3 would arrive quickly.

I was hoping that the Step 3 card would come up soon, because all the 15 cost city spots around me were taken, so I had nowhere else to build to. So unless the step 3 card came up soon, I had nowhere to go. So I sat on 11 cities for 3 turns or so, accumulating cash again. The main person close in terms of capacity was Keijiro, I think he had 12 capacity or so. (with me at 14 capacity).

Step 3:
One key decision was that in an auction plant round everyone was going to pass, but Matt wanted to get the 19 plant (2 garbage, 3 cap), so that Keijiro couldn’t buy out the oil so Matt couldn’t run his oil plant. By doing this though, it allowed Keijiro to buy the 29 plant for cost, then the next card was the step 3 card. So step 3 likely happened earlier than it would have. This allowed me to buy the 31 plant, and then build 4 cities on the 20 cost spot to win the game with 15 cities powered.

If the step 3 card hadn’t been drawn, Matt likely would have built to 15 cities in the west (he was at 11), and then ended the game. I believe that I would have won because I could have gotten to 13 cities, and since I had higher capacity at that point would have won the game, with Matt finishing 2nd with 12 cities. Keijro would have been 3rd I think.

My power plant progression:
04 (2 coal, 1 cap)
20 (3 coal, 5 cap)
26 (2 oil, 5 cap)
28 (1 uranium, 4 cap)
31 (3 coal, 6 cap)

I think that my plant buying went basically perfect. I actually didn’t have to end up buying the 31 plant at the end, because even with only 14 capacity I would have won the money tiebreaker versus Keijiro at the end, I had a ton of cash.

End game plants:
Me – 31 (6 cap), 28 (4 cap), 26 (5 cap) – 15 total capacity
Keijiro – 21 (4 cap), 29 (4 cap), 32 (6 cap) – 14 total capacity
Alex – 33 (4 cap), 28 (4 cap), 30 (6 cap) – 14 total capacity
Matt – 19 (3 cap), 24 (4 cap), 40 (6 cap) – 13 total capacity
Dort – 15 (3 cap), 10 (2 cap), 25 (5 cap) – 10 total capacity

Me and Keijiro were generally ahead in terms of capacity the whole game, Matt started to catch up at the end in terms of capacity. He got the garbage plants, garbage was really cheap in this game. Dort just didn’t seem to get very good luck on the plant auctions, I think being the first to bid every time during Step 1 really hurt him.

Final tally of cities:
Me – 15 cities powered
Keijiro – 14 cities powered
Alex – 13 cities powered
Matt – 12 cities powered
Dort – 10 cities powered

Step 3 clarification question:
During the game a question about step 3 came up – it was pulled during the auction phase. In the rules it says to not replace power plants as they are purchased during the auction phase. Though I found a thread on boardgamegeek that the game designers issued a new revised rule set as of March 2009 clarifying that you do indeed replace plants as they are purchased like normal auctions. This sounds right, it’s too bad that the rulebook that we have is incorrect. So now we know for next time to replace plants like usual even if the Step 3 card comes up during an auction phase.

Strategy
As I play more games of Power Grid, seems like a good strategy is to get a lower number plant on the first auction (04 or 05), build 1 city on the first turn, hopefully in a low connection area, and then hopefully get lucky with the next plant auction to get a high capacity plant since you are last in auction order. Then build cities to match that capacity and hang around there if other people are stalling too, then hopefully buy another high capacity plant, then build to that capacity, etc. And building first or 2nd in step 2 seems to be a huge benefit, to grab land at a cheap price. And for making the final push, if you can pull it off it’s better to build all the cities that you need to win in 1 shot coming from a lower turn order position so that you can get cheap resources and good auction order. Seems like building in large chunks can be beneficial instead of doing piecemeal building. Do these sound like good things to do?

It was another great game of Power Grid!

Thread: Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage:: Rules:: T. Longus Intercepted & His Special and basic Interception question

BlueJackal — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:40:53 +0000

by BlueJackal

First off: an army which is intercepted and decided to fight (rather than pull back), has its movement ended after battle, right? I couldn't find something which explicitly said it, but I assume that all battles mean movement is ended.

Second: T. Longus counter-attacks on a 1 or 2 if the original attacker. If he is Intercepted, is he the original attacker still?

Thread: Zombies!!! 8 - Jailbreak:: General:: Misprint? (Library and Infirmary)

TalonMC — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:18:03 +0000

by TalonMC

The graphics on the Library and Infirmary tiles are identical. The only difference in the tiles is the text (the title of the tile and the number of Zombies, Life, and Bullets).

Are these tiles supposed to look the same? If not, will there be some way for us to get ahold of the correct tiles?

Thanks.

-MC

Thread: Die Säulen Der Erde: Duell der Baumeister:: General:: U.S. Release date?

gciscell — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 05:00:22 +0000

by gciscell

Any word?

Thread: Galaxy Trucker: The Big Expansion:: Rules:: Stiff Competition and Speed Trap: use batteries?

Grotius — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:49:43 +0000

by Grotius

The new card "Stiff Competition" says that a player who stops at an abandoned ship or station takes fire from any "stronger" ship behind him or her. Does "stronger" account for battery-powered extra weapons, or not? In our most recent game, the player who stopped had less weapon power than me if she expended no batteries, but more weapon power if she did expend her batteries. Is she the "stronger" player? Must she expend her batteries to be the stronger player for the purposes of this card? (I am quite sure she's permitted to count her purple alien, though.)

I have a similar question about Speed Trap, though that card seems easier. The player with the highest engine power gets a "speeding ticket." Again, do we count battery-assisted engines? I assume in this case the answer is no -- the speeding player is not required to expend a battery to speed even more. (On the other hand, I'm equally sure that she is required to count her brown alien.) I saw a similar opinion after doing a search on "Speed Trap" here, but I figured I'd ask again since the question parallels my question about "Stiff Competition."

Thanks in advance!

Review: Mystery On The Nile:: They've Made a Game Out of Us!

Meander — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:48:02 +0000

by Meander

“Oh look, Mr. Christie,” said Mrs. Stringer from the other side of the dinner table. “They’ve made a game out of us.”

“A game?” Christie looked up from his spaghetti and slurped a noodle quickly into his mouth, splattering his nose with sauce in doing so. “What kind of game?” Christie obviously had a snoot full of more than tomato sauce.

“Why, a boardgame, of course.”
“A boardgame? Like Chess, you mean.”
“Yes, like Chess, only different.”
“Different, how?”
“It has cards.”

Mr. Christie soaked in the information that Mrs. Stringer had given him. It was apparent that he was having problems with his mental digestion. “If it has cards,” he stated, “then it must be a card game.” He took a sip of wine.

“No, Mr. Christie. It’s definitely a boardgame, but with cards.”
“Humph.”

“Hello Christie, Mrs. Stringer. How’s the dinner? Have you heard about the game?” Mr. Marple pulled sat down and poured himself a generous portion of wine.

“I was just telling Mr. Christie about it. Isn’t it wonderful?”

“Not so wonderful, I expect.” Mr. Marple gave his opinion. “Did you see all the cards?”

“Sounds like a stupid game already.” Christie mumbled. “What’s on the silly cards, anyway?”

“Why, Christie,” Marple seemed agitated. “They’re clues, of course.”

“Clues? What clues?” Mrs. Watson chimed in from nearby. “May I join you?”

“Please do, dear. It’s awful being the only woman here with these two.”

“You were saying about clues? I should know clues. After all, my husband is the Mr. Watson of…”

Marple waved his hand as if to wave away the rest of what she was going to say. “Yes, yes…we all know who your husband is. You’ve gotten many miles from his name, to be sure.”

Mrs. Watson huffed. “And of course, you being a Marple hasn’t gotten you anywhere, I suppose.”

“Of course it has. The same as the rest of you. Don’t be ridiculous. I simply don’t go bandying about my aunt’s name just for the attention.”

“Attention! Attention!” Mrs. Stringer said. “I love attention!” She smiled at her own joke.

“What about the bloody clues?” Shouted Christie! “Someone said something about the clues! Where are the clues!”

“Oh hush, you lush.” Said Mrs. Watson. “Oh…that rhymed!” She and Mrs. Stringer both giggled. “More champagne dear?” More giggles.

Marple sighed in exasperation. “The cards are clues, you see. You do see don’t you? There are many, many clues and the players match them up, you see.”

“Why do we need so many clues? And look,” Mrs. Watson said. “There are fingerprints and footprints and spots.” She paused, thoughtful. “What are spots, I wonder? And how do you make footprints on a ship on the water?”

“Spots are undoubtedly blood spots!” Christie spoke rather loudly.

“Blood, surely.” Said Marple. “But possibly mud or food or other identifiable evidence. Criminals always leave something behind.”

“How very clever!” Mrs. Stringer seemed genuinely surprised. “You sound just a bit like my husband on one of his silly train mysteries.”

“Not so clever.” Said Christie. “Boring, really.” He was in his cups, now. “Even old Watson doesn’t need that many clues. Hades! Even my own wife doesn’t need that many clues! Har har har!” With the last ‘har’ Mr. Christie fell splat on the floor, unconscious from liquor.

The three others leaned over to look at him, none making any effort to assist. “Well,” said Mrs. Watson. “At least we know he didn’t do it!”

They all laughed until they were quite sore-cheeked.

“Dear me,” said Mrs. Stringer. “Why do you think they need so many clues. And why are we only allowed in the dining room, the bar, the pool and deck? What if I want to go dancing? Or use the powder room?”

“Where exactly do you think the pool is located?” asked Mrs. Watson. “I don’t remember a pool on the steamer last time I was here. I think I would like a swim. Perhaps that’s how we leave footprints: by walking from the pool with wet feet.”

“There’s no pool on this paddle steamer.” Marple said. “And furthermore, it looks as if we are all suspects in this game. Outrageous!”

“No pool? Well, I declare!” declared Mrs. Watson.

“I don’t think I want to play this game.” Mrs. Stringer said.

“And from the looks of it,” said Mr. Marple, “neither will anyone else.”

Session: UNO Flash:: UNO Flash! All the Fun of UNO, Twice the Aggravation!

wgjelinek — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:39:51 +0000

by wgjelinek

My wife, son (John), and I had time for a quick game tonight, so John pulled out UNO Flash. If you haven't played, it's basic UNO, but the turn order is randomized and there's a 4- or 6-second (you set it at the beginning of the game) time-limit on your card play. If the timer expires, you have to pick up two cards.

It all sounds much better than it is. The timer element is OK, it keeps the game moving. The randomized turn order, however, removes the last vestige of strategy from the game resulting in a very aggravating and frustrating experience. Now when you play the Draw 2 or Wild-Draw 4 card, you could well be drawing the penalty cards yourself if the turn should come back to you immediately. Not that UNO is a strategically deep game to begin with, but now you can't even play a Draw card on the leader with guaranteed effect.

The fact that this situation comes into play every hand really detracts from the game. I found it very frustrating knowing that even when I held a card that would affect the leader in regular UNO, whether the card actually did what I wanted was completely out of my hands.

Anyway, UNO is a decent family game. We even enjoy UNO Attack! (or "UNO Kill" as it's come to be known in our house ), but the UNO Flash variant really misses the mark.

Session: Red Vengeance:: Long Vengeance

Rindis — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:32:33 +0000

by Rindis

Had Mark over today for our monthly wargaming session. It was his turn to pick, and he decided to go with a couple of shorter games to give us some greater variety. The second game was Red Vengeance, a fairly simple game on the last year of the Eastern Front in WWII. It's an old-fashioned hex-game with 'buckets of dice' combat resolution—a combination I'm not used to.

Mark decided to take the Germans, and lined up on the start line. I started on my start line. I was a little worried at first, since you must set up on these lines, and they're in contact for almost the whole length. I could move back and out of combat, concentrating force for a few breakthroughs, but that didn't seem right. So I stayed put and slugged it out.

This was the right decision. The Soviet units generally have higher combat factors (more dice), which gives a good general advantage, and both lines are packed enough that concentrating force at the beginning of the game would be difficult. The real key is that the Soviets go first, and get the first repair and replacements phase on the second turn. So the Wehrmacht has to take a second round of attacks before they can bring any weakened unit up to strength. It is very hard to kill a unit, as most have a second step, and you are only forced to take one casualty in any combat; after that, you can take further hits as hexes of retreats.

I also had some good dice during the first turn. (It seems unwise to play any game against me where I need to count on rolling '6's.) Mark stepped back and repaired his line, but both flanks pretty much dissolved during the second turn. In the north, that's not too bad, as the Baltic gets in the way, and the length of line needed gets shorter. In the south, things start opening up in Hungary and Romania, and it was causing some trouble for him. I was also concentrating on those flanks, so they were moving a lot more than the center.

The game claims a 60-90 minute play time. So far, not so. We did about 4 turns out of 11 in three hours before Mark had to pack it up to go home. I figure we were picking up speed, but you'd have to be pretty darn fast to get to the speed they're expecting (sounds familiar...). At any rate, I had demolished a fair chunk of his forces, and while that's not what victory really consists of, I think we agree that I was winning, though the speed I would really make through the winter months could determine a lot in the way of VPs.

Anyway, it was actually a reasonably fun game, and we'd both like to give it another workout soon. Next month is my choice, and it'll either be Metropolis playtest, or Federation & Empire.

Session: Tactics II:: Leave your Back Door open and Unsavory types will come in!!

Teamski — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:32:14 +0000

by Teamski

I played my friend Bill a game of Tactics II today. It was a follow-up game from one played last week where Bill played Red and knocked out my piece-meal deployed armor to win the game. From the first game, I re-learned what the French and British found out the hard way in the 1940 campaign: keep your armor together!

We switched sides and I took the Reds with the eye of Armored Corps dominance. Bill started out by nabbing my seaport city on my left flank. I had moved four armored divisions at my seaports just in case some opening would show itself. It came sooner than I thought. Bill left the perverbial door open.

He sea-transferred quite a few units including two armored divisions to flank my front line, but when he finished moving, he inexplicably vacated the city. I kept my mouth closed and when my turn came, I let the flood doors open. I dropped an airborne division and moved in on the city. I then let all of that armor goodness land and moved them in behind his units. He was now in a Falaise gap, sandwiched between my center and flanking units. I took out an armored and an infantry division before he vacated the pocket down the wood-lined road to his side of the map. The damage was done.

I rolled up his right flank by uniting the 4 armored divisions that I landed with two on the center front. His armor reappeard from the edge of the forest, but were overwhelmed when I surrounded two armored divisions with all six of mine. It was the fall of the axe. It is here where Tactics II really shows you what you need to win the game: the Armored Divisions. If you loose those, the game is over. Bill lost 4 armored divisions within 4 turns to my one, and with their strengh of 2, they are pivotal units. He capitulated thereafter.

So, keep your armored units together and enjoy the blitzkrieg!!

-Ski

Session: Winds of War:: In Which I Fail to Find California

Rindis — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:31:55 +0000

by Rindis

Had Mark over today for our monthly wargaming session. It was his turn to pick, and he decided to go with a couple of shorter games to give us some greater variety.

We started off with Winds of War a 'bonus' game from Against the Odds, that started on a bet. Namely, a "I can make a game on anything" bet. The eventual result was a game on Japan's attempt to bomb the US with hydrogen balloons during WWII. It's... not much of a simulation, but it isn't bad for a game that takes an hour or so.

I took the Japanese, and got to manage groups of balloons coming in from off the west coast, trying to find randomly distributed targets in the hope of causing some damage (I was more playing the wind than the Japanese). Mark, as the US, got a number of random markers that allowed him to interfere with what I was doing, by pushing around the balloons I was moving some more, or modifying the die rolls when I did find something.

Since the targets are face down and shuffled randomly, there's not a lot of strategy involved. Most spaces are barren desert, so it takes some luck just to find the targets. What there is involves getting as many balloons onto targets at all, versus getting them off-course or keeping them from having any effect. I developed a strategy of moving most everything into position first, and then 'landing' them in clumps at the end of the turn, to minimize Mark's ability to fiddle with their movement or force them to land in empty spaces (once targeted, a space is then empty for the rest of the turn).

Mark mostly stuck to modifying my die rolls when I did find something. Since the highest VP rolls are the lowest, this is pretty effective. It also didn't hurt that I generally rolled high. So, I generally had one or two VP events a turn. Out of 50 VP needed to win as the Japanese... I got 14. It did, however, take just under two hours to play, including pre-game rules discussion.

It's a cute game, but at the moment I don't see how the Japanese can win, unless the US player gets too enamored pushing around the balloons with his modifier markers.

Thread: der Fliegende Holländer:: Rules:: Moving the Dutchman

Beowulf — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:17:54 +0000

by Beowulf

The english translation of the rules states, "The only restriction is that the ship may not be moved back to the island or ship from whence it has come." That sounds like the Dutchman may not be immediately moved back to the island from which it was moved in the last turn. However, it could also mean that it's not allowed to return to any previously-visited location (e.g. Holland). Does anyone have a definitive answer? Thanks!

Session: Panzer Grenadier: Airborne - Introductory Edition:: Scenario 9 - Holding the Lock

Joshuaaaaaa — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:15:03 +0000

by Joshuaaaaaa

Panzer Grenadier: Airborne
Scenario 9 – Holding the Lock
7 June 1944

Back at the La Barquette Lock, the paratroopers of the 501st Parachute Regiment had been unable to move from their positions all D-Day night and most of the second day due to heavy enemy fire. At 1500 in the afternoon of the 7th a large force of German was observed approaching their position from the northeast.

Game Length: 20 turns
First Turn: 1600
Other: Ignore the road railroad and the bridge in hex 0412. The bridge in hext 1013 is in play, just not the railroad and embankments leading to it.

German OOB
Elements, 919th Infantry Regiment
Set up first, within one hex of hex 1009.:

[c]7 x GREN 2 x HMG (reduced)
2 x 81mm[/c]

Leaders: 1 x MAJ, 1 x CAPT, 1 x LT

Morale: 7/6
Initiative: 1 (lowered by 1 for every 2 step losses)
OBA: None

American OOB
Elements, 501st Parachute Regiment
Set up within one hex of hex 1013. May begin Dug In:

[c]3 x PARA 1 x PARA (reduced)
1 x PARA HMG[/c]

Leaders: 1 x COL, 1 x CAPT, 1 x 1st LT (all para)

Morale: 8/8
Initiative: 1 (lowered by 1 for every step loss)
OBA: The American player rolls one die at the start of each turn. On a result of 5 or 6, 1 x 18 is available this turn.

Special Rules:
1. The Germans were shaken by their sudden change in fortune. The American player may ask the German player to surrender at the beginning of any turn. When asked, the German player rolls two dice, subtracts his or her current initiative value and adds the current number of German eliminated and demoralized units (not steps) and leaders. If the result is more than the morale value of the highest ranking German (or more than 6 if all German leaders have been eliminated), play ends. If the result is greater than the leader’s morale, the Germans do not surrender, German initiative increases by 1 and play continues.

Victory Condition

The American player wins if the German player surrenders, or if at the end of play hex 1013 is American-controlled. The German player wins if at the end of play hex 1013 is German-controlled or five American steps have been eliminated. Any other result is a draw.

**********
Initial deployment
**********
This is a very small scenario, and rates to be confined to a small part of the board. The Germans start just outside or inside the swamp, and the Americans are in the swamp, so visibility is essentially 1 hex until untis start firing. With the +1 shift for direct fire into a swamp, there are going to be a lot of high column shots from relatively low firepower. The Germans have to take 1013 or inflict a lot of casualties to win, so subtlety is not an option. They are just going to charge ahead and hope they can pass the surrender rolls.

The Americans do very little here. They are going to sit back and wait for the Germans, hope to inflict some casualties or demoralizations, and force the Germans to surrender.

Because of the small number of units in the scenario, I did not use Fog of War.

Set-up:

***********
Turns 1-3
***********
The Germans advance adjacent to the paratroopers, and the GREN and HMG platoons that enter 1011 from 1010 promptly get demoralized. The OBA is ineffective; however the German mortars do manage to disrupt a paratrooper platoon.

On turn 2, I decided against calling for surrender. Even with a +1 to the die roll, with a “9” leader floating around, that would require rolling a 10 or higher (1/6 chance) or have the Germans add 1 to their initiative. As it turns out, the Germans get initiative this turn anyway and start to recover units, and the Americans don’t get their OBA. By the end of the turn, some paratroopers have shifted to face the Germans who are coming down the south side of the lock.

Turn 3 sees the US receive OBA again and grab the initiative. They manage to kill off a step of German heavy machine guns, and are otherwise are unable to harm the Germans, who are now in contact with most of the American force.

End of turn 3:

***********
Turns 4-5
***********
The Americans get their OBA again on turn 4, making it 3 out of 4 turns they have made a 1 in 3 chance. They also get the initiative and a lucky break when a shot from the paratrooper platoon in 1013 (the reduced platoon is digging in and doesn’t fire) kills a step in 1013 and demoralizes the grenadier. The units in 1012 fire at 1112 on the 30 column and also kill off a step of grenadiers and demoralize the major and one of the grenadiers. The major ends up routing back to 1111. At the end of the turn, all US units have been spotted and several of the Germans have recovered. However, the major and a reduced HMG are still demoralized at the end of the turn.

On turn 5, the Americans call for surrender. German initiative is zero, and there is one demoralized leader and one demoralized German unit on the board, for a +2 to the die roll. The major was the highest ranked German leader, and since he’s demoralized, his morale is only 8. So, if the German rolls 7 or higher, they surrender. There is no question as a 6 and a 5 are tossed, and the scenario ends in an American victory.

End of turn game:

************
Final Thoughts
************
As can be seen by the brevity of this session report, this is a very quick scenario. I have a hard time seeing the Germans winning without some luck. The Americans just have to time their surrender checks carefully and I think they should wait until at least 2 German steps are dead to reduce German initiative to zero. Unless the Germans have a leader with a 10 morale, the US probably won’t need to roll more than 7 or 8 for the surrender. On the other hand, with a little luck, the Germans may be able to get a couple of very high column shots at the paratroopers, and the loss of just 1 or 2 could be a disaster for the Americans.

************
Historical Conclusion
************

Intent only on escaping the American forces advancing off the beaches and surprised by the heavy fire, the Germans went to ground and fought half-heartedly. After exchanging fire for a few hours, the Germans began to surrender. If not for a particularly zealous leader, they would have given up more easily. In all, 350 Germans were killed or captured.

Thread: A Most Dangerous Time: Japan in Chaos, 1570-1584:: General:: What to wear when playing A Most Dangerous Time

trif — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 04:11:36 +0000

by trif

Warring States Underwear

Review: Race for the Galaxy: Rebel vs Imperium:: 50 Games of RvI in 6 days.

Jimmer — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:47:16 +0000

by Jimmer

A friend was kind enough to pick up a copy of RvI for me from the Origins convention, returning to Seattle on last Tuesday evening. Since then, all of my Race friends have looked me up for some games during the day/night - every day.

This review is from a standpoint of ...a lot of... games pre-RvI. With the first and now the second expansion, you have to relearn the 'real' value of each card in a situation.

New Explore power: you get to merge your explore with your hand, then discard from the pool of cards. It's flexible, best used with a large explore range. A shortcut for explaining/resolving it - explore becomes draw X, discard Y. (Where Y is X minus the-number-of-cards-you-should-keep-from-a-normal-explore.) It does increase the slow-play factor for new players and existing players who spend more time studying cards.

Takeover: I've seen it happen in 4 games so far. It needs several elements for it to work:
1. The person drawing it, needs the military in play to make it work.
2. There needs to be the correct kind of victim - if you can steal rebel worlds from an imperium tableau, there needs to be someone with both of those cards, as well as a weaker military than you.
3. Stealing a planet has to be better than whatever else you would settle from your hand. Generally, if you can steal a planet, it's a weak planet from a weak military, while you have a fairly good military.

It was used twice to good effect - once to stop the end of a game, the second time to switch leader on most-brown+blue planets. The other two times was just to be able to say the player has done it.

New goals: "Most Explore powers" gets a lot of interest, especially with all of the 'smuggling' type planets with the new explore power. "First to 3 Uplift cards" is tough - getting enough uplift worlds is difficult. 3 Gene worlds, sure. 3 Uplift, much harder. It does give you a reason to choose Uplift worlds, before you find the Uplift Code sixer. "First to 8 cards in play" is often shared in multi-player, but really drives 2-player games to an even more frantic pace. "Most Rebel Military planets" and "First to have 4 goods" are sometimes a bit tough.

New starting planets, new start method: Universally welcomed, the new start method of "choice of 2 starting planets", combined with the ability to look at the starting hand/goals...it eases some of the pure-randomness of a start, mellowing out some of the harshness of the previous start method. It gives a much faster start in the beginning - one 2-player game started with 2 develops and 2 settles - a player ending with 5 cards in play on turn 1. The Imperium Warlord has demonstrated a lot of power in games - multiple sixers give points for Imperium cards, and the number of Rebel cards increased. It's worth 2 VP and has an explore - preferred to New Sparta, certainly.

Adds another player: Sadly, the game days and game nights I attended did not reach 6 players at a time. I can only imagine a crazier version of 5.

MVP cards of the set:
In the first expansion, Improved Logistics was often hoped for, along with the power of the Terraforming Guild sixer. The second expansion features a lot of quality power.

Galactic Advertisers: 3-cost development, granting an extra trade bonus as well as a card draw during consume. In a 2-player game, it grants a couple extra cards during your consume. In a multiplayer game, it grants an extra card nearly every turn...generally someone's always consuming. It also stacks with the trade guild & New Economy sixers, which were already pretty good. (It also improves the calling-trade-hoping-for-someone-else-to-Settle strategy - you'll get a card regardless.)

Pan Galactic Research: 6-cost development, 4VP. Played in the first half of a game, I believe that player always won. In 2-player games, starting with that card in one's hand frequently started the game with an explore/develop. And when I say frequently, I mean ALWAYS.

Galactic Exchange: 6-cost development, basically the bigger brother of Diversified Economy. The more colors you have in play, the more it's worth, as well as having a forgiving (and good) consume power. Get each of the colors in play, 10 VP. That's 4 planets, and you're generally getting consume-produce play in the meantime.

Some other cards get an extra boost, for duplicating effects. The Prospecting Guild sixer can help a SETI strategy, as well as Mining Guild (often doing more for bonus points than Mining Guild). SETI was boosted a fair amount, just by the amount of additional explore powers and the Most Explore bonus tile. Galactic Bankers provides a boost to the lovely develop strategy of Galactic Federation...a little slow to start, but a machine, also chipping in points for Interstellar Bank and Investment credits that were often also a factor in GFed strategies. Imperium Lords and Imperium Seat share so much of a bonus due to Imperium cards, I remember discarding Terraforming Guild, getting more from an Imperium card....and not just having that happen once.

Favorites that don't break the game:
Galactic Salon - a free VP during consume, can be doubled. In a develop-heavy strategy, you can leech a little on a produce-consumer, without calling Settle (which typically accelerates the produce-consumer). Towards the end of one game, with Salon and Galactic Trendsetters (as my only consume powers), I was able to Consume x2 several windfalls, as neither of us was willing to commit to ending the game.

Gambling World - I think in the previous 400 or so games, it was useful in one game, needed for its consume in a tight economy. The new one is excellent - ante a card, reveal its cost/defense in cards, keep one if any of them had exceeded the ante's cost, in addition to keeping the ante. Depending on the stage of the game, you can show a 1-cost you don't plan on using for an extra card, somewhat reliably. In late games, show a Consumer Markets for a decent shot at a random 6 (a mid-range explore).

In short, I've really enjoyed the past week. A fair mix of multiplayer and 2-player games showed that Rebel vs. Imperium will be an excellent long-term value for Race players.

Thread: Carcassonne:: Variants:: New fan made expansion - The Ocean

skipboris — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:45:54 +0000

by skipboris

Let me know what you think of this. It adds many new things like reefs, beaches, islands, boat followers, and much more. I tried to upload it here but too big? You'll have to get it from mediafire for now: http://www.mediafire.com/?g2uoykwfoy1

Developed over at www.carcassonnecentral.com

Session: Loco!:: It's a Mad (Mad, Mad) Game

cardshark28800 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:42:50 +0000

by cardshark28800

For the first gaming done at my new home, I had Ryan and Sylvia over. The first game out was Loco!. It was the first time for Sylvia, and Ryan hadn't played in a while. It was decided that the winner would be the player who had the high score over three rounds, and by Homeowner Fiat the rule of calling "Loco!" was out.

Round one was where we felt everyone out, and unfortunately I let Ryan and Sylvia get away from me. The round ended a bit sooner than I wanted, but not before Sylvia jumped out to an early lead with 25, Ryan finished with 17, and most of my chips ended up being junk and I had eight.

Round two was a long one. Ryan jumped up to 50 (33), Sylvia tied him with 25 more, and my 27 brought me into the ballpark. This is the second round where I've had lots of the power cards, but I was unable to put the zeroes where I wanted and the five on my majority.

So now my goal is simple. I have to have Ryan and Sylvia cancel each other out in order for me to win. Sylvia goes nuts for the green, and I take up all the yellow. Ryan takes a little bit of everything. The round goes down to the nibs, and one of my last plays is to make the green cards worthless.

Unfortunately, everything else was worth five. I add 40 to finish on seventy-five. Sylvia added fifteen to finish with 15, but every one of Ryan's eight chips paid five, so he ended on 90 and the win.

The reception was warm, and we felt like we got all of the dumb mistakes out of the way. I look forward to this hitting the table in the future.

Session: Power Grid:: Failure! – Deep wounds inside

emunkki — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:31:55 +0000

by emunkki

On the Saturday night gaming session we finally got Power Grid on the table again - many of us had waited this moment literally for months.

In our 6 player game we had two newcomers (also a bit new to board gaming in general) "K" and "T", one who had played once, "H", and three who had played many times (me, "I" and "R") and my wife as a spectator.

We used the German map, as we think the US map is not that good and we didn't want to bring any new rules into the game with the Korea/China boards. We also used the Power Plant Deck 2 to make it slightly harder for us who have played PG quite a lot.

Me and my friend ("I") have always been the favorites of any PG game, but this was not brought into public knowledge this time, but we definitely knew what we were getting from each other... After drawing the first round order, we were on the 5th and 6th places, so we got to bid last. What a start!

After explaining the rules to the newcomers, we went on a really fast start. Everybody were starting quite steadily and that lasted for a few rounds.

Then I started my little experiment. I bought a plant that was capable of producing power to five cities, even if I had two cities and couldn't afford to buy more as I bought the plant.

I was already slowly beginning to drag behind, but the big hit was that I went for another 5-city plant, still unable to build my third city! I was really dragging, I barely could buy some resources (:nuclear even if I got the lowest prices. Just after buying the second big plant, I couldn't buy the resources at all - that really made it clear i was going to finish last! At that time I already noticed that the other favorite was quite strongly going for the lead.

While the game went forward, another of the newcomers, "K", kept on wondering how could I be in the last place and lose the game, seemingly sincerely but OH so in her ironic style which made my loss even more hard to take...

I finished finally with 10 cities with a spurt beginning some rounds too late (remember I basically didn't need to buy plants when the auctioning was the rawest) when my friend ended the game with exactly 15 cities. The places 2-3 were tied at 14 cities, "K" finished second, "R" third. Places 4-5 were tied at 12, "H" won "T" by a few electros. A really painful loss for him!

The game lasted a whopping 3 hours plus reading the rules. Most of the playtime I didn't have much choices as I was totally broke and couldn't do many things to change the game course. I still had surprisingly fun watching the game and making fun of myself. I think even my wife was surprised on how well I took the victory... outwardly. I got really deep wounds inside losing to two newcomers and with a gap that big.

I am not afraid of taking PG on the table again next week when we are playing again - revenge is sweet

Session: Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game:: LNoE; My First Wins and Loses Sessions.

elfrododumbo — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:30:22 +0000

by elfrododumbo

Having a little break after playing 11 times Die Zombies Die scenario.
I played the Heroes 7 times and the Zombies 4 times.
The Heroes had a very bad time in the first two games and lost badly. But then, I used the Hero who had a lucky break in getting a long range weapon to ward off and kill quite a number of zombies while the other heroes searched, grouped together and finished the spawning zombies off. Good win. Used this method for the two of the remaining games but was unlucky because the zombies turned ten Hero cards over from our deck on both occasions The zombies kept spawning with lucky dice rolls. However, the last two Hero game went very well and we spread out, searched and re-grouped,had the right weapons and saw the last of the Zombies off.
So, Heroes won 4 out of the 7 times they played.
Now, the zombies won all four of their games based, I believe, on their lucky dice rolls and spawning left, right and centre (well, not centre exactly ...buildings) and the Heroes did not seem to have planned their strategy very well as hardly any of them searched long enough ; they seemed to group together and tried to fight the living dead with the few weapons they found. No amount of Blessings helped the heroes, they were simply out-numbered.
All in all, I think that for a newcomer to this game, I learned that it is best to take the time to search and spread out, get the right weapons and try to keep the Zombies as far away as possible until the Heroes are ready to face their undead enemies.
Well, I can now go and have another two or three sessions knowing that the next time I play, I will do so with other scenarios and added characters from the expansion. Confidence comes with knowing the basics and I used Die Zombies Die scenario as the intro to this most enjoyable game.
BTW: The CD is a waste of time, it got on our nerves We played Tublar Bells for a while !

Thread: Blood Bowl: Living RuleBook:: General:: Beginner's Questions

RagBear — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:17:38 +0000

by RagBear

I'm interested by what Blood Bowl has to offer but I have a few questions that only a beginner would ask:

-From reading reviews, I'm given the impression that teams are made up of a single race. Is it possible to mix and match and are there guidelines for this process?
-I'm not into the 'painting the miniatures' aspect of GW games but the base game seems to require it for the initial Human and Orc teams. Is this the case and, also, is this avoided in the future when purchasing the add-on pre-made teams?
-Does who wins the game essentially boil down to whom has spent the most money on purchasing their teams and add-on players?
-Is the current edition of Living RuleBook (or at least the much vaunted 5th edition that is often referred to) included with the base game or is it the the BB Complete Blood Bowl Rule Book that can be downloaded in the Blood Bowl Resources section of the GW website?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help with these questions!

Thread: Fury of Dracula:: Rules:: Newspaper Reports

djmsms13 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 03:11:06 +0000

by djmsms13

Early my friends and I were playing and someone played the Newspaper report event card. When he played the card it said he could reveal the oldest location in Dracula's Trail.But the one on the reference cars says to reveal the oldest unrevealed location. Aren't the cards suppose to be the same and the event card itself is just a way to do the action without spending a resolve? We were thinking that its just a typo on the event card itself.

I also read the errata which says:

Both the Newspaper Reports cards and the Hunter
Reference Cards refer to the “the oldest (left-most) unrevealed
location” in Dracula’s Trail. However, from the
Dracula player’s perspective, the oldest location in the
Trail is the right-most space.

So am I correct to assume that it is the oldest unrevealed? Because it did make a difference in the game we were playing because we had most of the cards revealed except for 2.

let me know if I'm totally off lol

Thread: You're Bluffing!:: News:: New edition?

Mr Thijs — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:29:26 +0000

by Mr Thijs

On the website of a game shop I found this:

Koehandel Master (NL) ---SEP 2009--- Koehandel € 14,95

Does anybody know more about this new you're bluffing edition?

Thread: Le Havre:: Rules:: Subtle question maybe only Uwe can answer...

Dennisdore — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:26:42 +0000

by Dennisdore

This seems to be clearly a rules interpretation as it's not explicitly answered by the rules. My group is split 50-50 on the answer. The rules allow me to build two buildings from the same pile... one after the other if I put my worker on the construction firm that enables me to build two buildings. The rules also state that I can buy a building at any time. Here's my question: When on the 2-build construction firm can I from one pile only build the top building, buy the next building, then build the building under that effectively splitting up the two builds with a buy in between? To me it seems like a bending of the rules. If it's come up, how have the rest of you resolved this question? And Uwe... what's your final answer?

Thread: Galaxy's Edge:: General:: Missing Die/Stickers

Nap16 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:13:00 +0000

by Nap16

I just bought the game and it had a blank die. Anyone else have this in their box? Did the die come with stickers on it or a separate sheet to put them on the die? I sent an email to ASSA Games asking for a replacement, so I hope it is on the way . . .

Review: Santiago:: A Girlfriend's Perspective on: Santiago

cerenycus — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:04:48 +0000

by cerenycus

Santiago was not always on the top of my list of playing board games. Mainly, I think, it's because it is not a 2 player game, and the only person I really play board games with is my boyfriend. The last couple weekends, we have had another couple come over to play games, and it was my turn to choose the game. I figured, meh, we haven't played this game in a while, might as well bring it out.

Contents

150 bank notes of play money
110 yield markers (22 of each colour)
45 plantations
15 blue canals
5 proposal canals
1 spring
1 game board
3 palm trees
1 canal overseer

Recommended Players

This game is a 3-5 player game. My most recent play was with 4 people, and this is what the review is mainly going to be based on.

Setup

The game board is going to be placed in the center of the table. Depending on what leve of difficulty you are wanting to play, depends on where you will place the spring. If you are wanting to have a easy game, the spring will go towards the center of the board. If you are wanting a medium game, it will go along the edge of the board. Difficult will have the spring on the corner of the board.

The blue canals will be placed on the side of the board. If this is a 3-4 player game, you will put 11 canals. For a 5 player game, you only use 9.

You will then shuffle all the plantation tiles face down. On a 3-4 player game, you will stack 4 piles of 11 tiles. The left over tile will be placed back in the box. If you have a 5 player game, you will make 5 piles of 9.

Each player is going to choose what colour they want to be, and take the 22 markers and the proposal canal of that colour. Each player will also take a blue canal as well. Each player is going to start with 10 dollars.

It is noted that players should keep the money hidden from other players' view. I haven't played this way, but I can see how this would probably be a good thing.

The last thing you will need to do before you can begin is to randomly choose who the canal overseer is going to be.

How to Play

There are 7 different phases per round in the game.

Turning over plantation tiles and bidding on them

The canal overseer will turn over 1 plantation from each pile. Players will then bid on which one they are wanting.

With the bidding, you are only able to bid once, and you are not bidding on a certain plantation. You are simply bidding on who gets to choose first. Bidding always starts with the current overseer, and goes in clockwise order. It is possible to have several people bid 0 (or pass), however, the remaining bids are only able to have 1 person bid it. The bidding is done openly, so there is no chance on bidding the same amount. Plahyers are nt able to change their bid once they plae their bid.

Changing the Canal Overseer

A new overseer is immediately put into place. The person who bid the lowest is the new overseer. If several people have chosen to pass, the person who passed first, is now the new overseer.

Taking and placing plantation tiles

Once the bidding has been complete, the person who has bid the highest is able to choose which plantation tile they would like to choose, and place it on the board.

There will be planter markers on the tile. If there are 2 planter markers on the tile, you will place 2 markers on top of the tile. If a tile has 1 planter marker on it, you will place 1 marker on top of it.

If a player has chosen to pass, you are going to choose your tile, and place 1 less marker on top of it. If you chose a tile with 2 planters on it, you will place 1 marker. If you chose a tile with 1 marker on it, you will not place any.

When placing your tiles, yo uare going to want to make sure you place your tile pile plantations that are similar.

Trying to bribe the overseer

Each player now needs to try and get the overseer to place the water canal where it would best suit their plantations. There are some rules that need to be looked at when placing the water on the board. The water has to be somehow connected to the spring, whether it is beside the spring, or beside an existing canal.

To bribe the overseer, it will start with the player to the left of the overseer. They will place their coloured canal where they want the water to go, and put money along with it, in order to entice the overseer to build your canal. Each player is going to take turns doing this. A player also has the opportunity to pass (give up their action), place another, or give more money to an existing one, to entice the overseer even more.

When it gets to the overseers turn, they have the option to choose a canal to build, or pay $1 more in order to build one of their choosing.

Extra irrigation

Each player at the beginning of the game, was given 1 free water canal. If a player so chooses, starting with the player to the left of the overseer, is able to place their canal for free. Once they have placed their canal, they are not able to place another free canal, and each player is not allowed to place one for the remaining round. The canal still has to connect to the spring in someway, whether it is directly beside the spring, or beside another canal.

Drying

If a field has not received water this round, it will start to dry up. If a field has 1 to 2 markers on it, you will remove 1. Example: If 1 field has 2, it will now have 1. If a field has 1, it will now have 0.

If a field has no markers on it, you will flip the tile over, and it is now empty land. No other tile is able to be placed on it. In the future if a canal is built beside it, it does not come back to life.

If this is the last round, any tile that does not have irrigation will immediately dry up, even is markers would remain.

Collecting Income

At the end of the round, each player will receive $3.

How to Win

The game will end as soon as all piles of plantations have depleted. The player at the end of the game with the most money will win.

The Good vs The Bad

Lots of interactions with other players with bidding
Very little luck factor
People are able to get a massive amount of points focusing on one thing

Survey Says

I would give this game . It is definitely not a game I would want to play all the time. I am more of a fan of a well rounded game, not just try to get as much of one land as you possibly can.

When the game ended with the 4 of us, another player as I just focused our gathering on one particular tile, while the other 2 worked on everything. It was no surprise when the people who focused on one ended up with the most points. I think there was about 3 points difference between the two of us.

I would definitely not recommend this game to newcomers. Players would get too confused about the concept of the game, and would easily get frustrated. This is more of a intermidate to higher level game.

I could see how soe players may take advantage of the different fields by purposly trying to block off other players, but that may lead to more hurt feelings than anything.

I will definitely be playing more of Santiago in the future. More than we have done in the past, but it probably won't be brought out everytime we have a boardgaming night.

Thread: Kupferkessel Co.:: General:: Two print runs?

tommynomad — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:54:07 +0000

by tommynomad

Just got my Kupferkessel and am overjoyed to finally be in posession of this great little game.

But I noticed that the deck seems to have been printed by two different printers, and then thrown together. Some of the cards have the matte, linen-like woven texture that I'd expected after borrowing a friend's set. But others are smooth and glossy.

It's purely an aesthetic problem, as gameplay is open.

Anyone else have this issue with their sets?

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Card Mat for organizing all cards (including discards) near board

Typhon — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:50:40 +0000

by Typhon

In my quest to organize the playing area and reduce clutter, I've created the following Card Mats.

I wanted to make printing and using them as easy as possible, so they're simple MS Word docs, and sized to print on standard 8.5 x 11 paper.

For the two files, see:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/44390
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/44391

Thread: Illuminati: Deluxe Edition:: Variants:: 'Conspiracy at the Top' Variant

cptwacky — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:37:46 +0000

by cptwacky

Before the beginning of the game, after drawing the initial 4 uncontrolled groups, seperate the deck into the number of players (eyeball it). Players get 5 minutes to stack thier own personal draw piles. There is still only one discard pile.
This variant actually makes for a much shorter and exciting game. The time limit to stack your deck is frustrating, but necessary. This variant can be used in combonation with other variants, but not recommended.

Thread: Illuminati: Deluxe Edition:: Variants:: Intelligent Design Variant

cptwacky — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:29:23 +0000

by cptwacky

Draw 10 cards and keep 1 of them for every 1 card proscribed as a draw in the rules. Discard to a seperate pile (or not).

This variant guarantees that nothing but powerful cards and strategies suddenly appear. Unfortunately, time limits may be necessary if players take too long to decide, otherwise the game length is the same as a normal game. It can also be used in combination with other variants.

Session: Battlestar Galactica:: Humans lose. As always!

crunk_posby — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:29:13 +0000

by crunk_posby

I hosted a BSG game today at a local game store. Two of the players have played a few times, the other two players were brand new, and I've got about a half dozen games under my belt.

It started off feeling like we were being beaten down by drawing swarm after swarm of cylon ship cards (we drew like 7 before we even reached the sleeper phase) but somehow we were doing great on all of our stats (we also drew like 4 "good" cards, that got us back our ships, gave us fuel, etc.)

Then, as we got up to around 5 on our distance to Earth, one of the players declared she was a Cylon and threw one of our players into sick bay. Then a turn went around, and she moved to the Cylon location where she can draw crisis cards. After that, things were still looking good, until the player to her left, who was also the President, played executive order on her! Allowing her to draw more crisis cards for us! This completely drained our hands of cards. We were now surrounded by ships, so I went to FTL and jumped, hoping to get a 3 distance card to jet us toward the end of the game. But we got a 2. We managed to get the President into the brig (but we should have taken the presidency away - I mistakenly thought players didn't get any actions while in the brig). So the Cylon drew more crisis cards, then the President player Executive Orders again on their turn and we get two more thrown at us! We are now at 0 on the jump track, and three of our resources are down to 2 or less.

We tried hard, but there was no way to get the jump track up to the minimum jump position before the Cylon player took her turn and zeroed out our fuel.

At first I wasn't sure the Executive Order could be played on a Cylon, but there doesn't seem to be anything to contradict it in the rules. Pretty shrewd!

This game continues in my long tradition of 0 human wins.

Session: Battlestar Galactica:: Worst President ever - of all time

sink74 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:27:37 +0000

by sink74

I absolutely had to report on this game, since the ending was absolutely hysterical.

Introduction

There are three of us, myself who owns the game and a married couple who have both never played. Rather than roll to see who goes first, we all agree to let me go first so they can watch my turn before theirs.

I select Starbuck, mostly because I've never used her. Player 2-- we'll call him husband-- selects Will Adama, and player 3-- wife-- selects Chief Tyrol. We mutually agree to allow me to change my selection to Apollo, so that a new player doesn't have to play as both President and Admiral.

Early turns

Our early turns aren't too bad thanks to a lucky shot from the Admiral taking out the basestar's hanger. By the time another basestar arrives, we are almost to our first auto-jump, which goes off without a hitch.

After this early fracas, things are smooth sailing until we arrive at the sleeper agent phase. Through a nice streak of luck, not a single Cylon ship arrives for a good while.

Even though no Cylons have attacked, things are getting a little tense as no one is showing any indications of being a Cylon.

Fateful decision

Our President is worried, since I am not a Cylon, and I have no clue who is. I've just about decided to play my Arrest Order on the Admiral. With no inclination as to who the Cylon might be, it makes sense to lock up the Admiral, since he is in a better position to cause us problems with our next auto-jump looming. Fuel is in the red, so a poorly chosen jump location could hurt badly.

Tyrol turns up a Declare Martial Law Crisis Card. Given the choice, the Admiral chooses to discard 2 Skill Cards rather than receive the President title. An unrevealed Cylon player wold surely jump at the chance to assume the Presidency, so that means the Chief must be the toaster, right?

Wrong.

So wrong, so quickly

I play my Arrest Order on the Chief based on Bill turning down a chance to become President. We auto-jump on my Crisis Card, and the Admiral chooses the Desolate Moon, costing us 3 fuel.

With our fuel down to 1, the Admiral reveals himself as a Cylon and throws me in the Brig. Now, we have only 1 fuel left, and the only player who isn't locked up is a Cylon.

Both of us fail attempts to get out of custody, and the former Admiral uses Caprica to call in a Heavy Assault, dropping two basestars on a ship that is apparently running on auto-pilot.

Aftermath

We finally make it out of the Brig, which is good, since our Cylon friend is using the Cylon fleet location to shoot at us with each basestar. We have 5 damage markers when the Chief repairs FTL Control and jumps the fleet.

The bad news is that both locations have -1 fuel, so the human fleet runs ut of gas one jump from a win.

Conclusion

I suppose we had a disaster coming after two full jumps with no Cylons ships showing up. On the plus side, I can now say that I have made the single worst move ever in Battlestar Galactica: TBG.

Thanks for reading the session report. Feel free to share your own tales of woe and misery.

Thread: Dominion:: News:: Donald X Vaccarino....your first time design wins SDJ ....are you for real?

pusboyau — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:26:41 +0000

by pusboyau

I've search and rather than wade through 90 odd pages to find out if anyone has asked this question, has anyone seen him?

Reason I ask is because of the designer credits from http://www.spotlightongames.com/list/sdj.html
came as a bit of a shock.

Next I'll be told Michael Tummelhofer doesn't exist....

Nick

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: General:: Storage solution for BSG: a Plano 3650 box

Typhon — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:17:39 +0000

by Typhon

Hi folks,

For those interested in a quick and easy one-stop storage solution for all of BSG's cards, tokens, and minis, a Plano 3650 box works wonders.

All the plastic and cardboard bits get their own compartments, while all the playing cards, character sheets, and Basestars fit on the right.

You can keep this thing easily accessible near the game board, and pull out bits only as needed. This really helps avoid clutter and keeps the playing area clean. No more loose stacks of raiders, heavy raiders, civilian ships, and damage tokens sprawled out near the board, waiting to get buried under cards or knocked on the floor whenever things get exciting.

Thread: Mage Knight:: General:: Castle Wall Pack 2 Contents....

scubadawg1 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:16:49 +0000

by scubadawg1

Does anyone know how much actual "wall" comes with the second pack? There's lots of Set #2 available, none of set #2. I was wondering if I bought a bunch of those sets if I might be able to make a nice little fortress....

Thread: Acquire:: Variants:: Market Share Variant

cptwacky — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 01:11:20 +0000

by cptwacky

Each time stocks of a certain chain are purchased, one share of that type of stock is set aside as a market share. When a merger occurs the market share total of the chain acquired counts as an additional player (without money), eliminating or halving a majority or minority pay out for another player(s). When available shares for a chain run out market shares are sold.

Credit the old DOS PC version of the game from the 90s.

Thread: Brass:: Rules:: Some rule clarifications

rhino — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:40:46 +0000

by rhino

Thanks for your participation. I am a big fan of Brass, but new to it and these questions have us hung up at some point. Answers will get highlighted during an edit. In this way we can clear up confusion and hopefully help the introduction of such a great game to other gaming communities without much head scratching or loss of research time.

1) Removing tech one tiles from the board at the end of the Canal phase, what happens to the tech one tiles with a canal on them that are off the board on the top of players stacks?

a) They are also removed from play.

b) They are kept in stacks and must be built to get to better tech levels.

c) None of the above, I'll explain in my reply.

2) In the rules it states that developing buildings is faster than building them. This is true because,

a) during a developing action you may develop twice. Every tile costs one iron cube when developing plus any iron that may be a requirement which may be printed in the corner of the tile. In addition the cost of the tile must be paid with money.

b) during a developing action you may develop twice. Every tile costs one iron cube when developing plus any iron that may be a requirement which may be printed in the corner of the tile.

c) during a developing action you may develop twice, thus faster; however, the cost and requirements for iron and coal remain the same as if you built - which are located on the tile(s) being developed.

3) If Lucy-in-the-Sky-with-Diamonds, developed a tech 1 cotton mill into a tech 3 cotton mill with one action, what would it cost her?

a) three iron, two coal and 30p.
b) one iron, two coal and 30p.
c) three iron, two coal.
d) one iron, two coal.
e) none of the above (please explain your answer).

3b) (a sub question of #3) Could she do it if the tech one cotton mill wasn't already fliped from shipping cotton?

a) No.
b) Yes, but there would be almost no reason to develop without the industry first being fliped.

4) If Jonny Rotten had a coal industry tile with 2 remaining coal on it in Oldham, and he wanted to develop it into a tech 3, how would he go about it?

a) Similar to question 3, but both coal would have to be used up first.

b) Similar to question 3, and only two coal would be placed on the new tile.

c) Similar to question 3, but the two coal already on the tech 2 tile would be removed to the stock pile. The tech 3 tile would recieve four coal.

d) Similar to question 3, and both coal would have to be used up as well as the coal on the demand track before it could get developed into a better tech.

5) When bulding a ship yard during the rail phase you must,

a) first build a tech 0 ship yard at no cost other than the use of an action. Later, it may be developed straight away into a tech 2 ship yard following the procedure in question #3.

b) build action: tech 2 ship yard.

c) build action: tech 0 shipyard then flip it. Second build action: tech 1 shipyard then flip it. Third build action: tech 2 shipyard.

d) build action: tech 0 shipyard then flip it. Secondly (following procedure in question #3) develop action: tech 2 shipyard.

e) build action: tech 0 shipyard then flip it. Secondly (following procedure in question #3) develop action: tech 1 then tech 2 shipyard.

Thank you very much for your help!

Thread: Monsterpocalypse:: General:: Q: Recommended Monsters / Factions to teach new players?

Xanthos — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:31:37 +0000

by Xanthos

What monsters and / or factions would you recommend in order to teach new players (including myself) the game. Also, would you limit the number of buildings per side to keep things simpler at first?

And a similar note are there any monsters or factions that you would avoid with new players? This could because the monster might be difficult to understand or difficult to play well such as Yasheth I'm gathering. Or, it could be any reason from your experience.

------

As of right now, I'm thinking that the GUARD with Defender X would be one good choice. I think Zor-Maxim seems straight forward but would Zor-Maxim win easily with two new players?

Thread: Warhammer 40,000:: General:: All my Codex, is any one interested?

casterlyrock — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:01:37 +0000

by casterlyrock

I would like to put all my codex on ebay. I would like to sell them once and for all. Anybody interested?

Including: Space Marine, Dark Angel, Blood Angel, Space Wolf, Chaos(original), Chaos(new one), Tyranid, Tau, Necron, Orks, Armagedon, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Craftworld, Chapter Approved, Imperial Armour 1+2, Imperial Guard, Catachan, CityFight, Eldar(old version}, Rulebook, Eye of Terror, Necromanda rule+source, Gorkamorka rule+source, Digganob, Index Astartes 1+2, Daemonhunter, plus old Citadel Catalog red and blue

Thread: Arkham Horror - Dunwich Horror Expansion:: Rules:: Paranoia

bigtex01 — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 00:01:37 +0000

by bigtex01

The Paranoia card states that you lose 1 Sanity if you are in the same Area as another investigator. "Area" seems kind of vague to me.

Which of the following would trigger the loss of a Sanity?

1) Paranoid investigator in the same Other World location as another investigator during upkeep

2) Paranoid investigator in an Other World location with another investigator in the same Other World but not the same "half" (i.e. in the other location of that same Other World) during upkeep

3) Paranoid investigator Lost in Time and Space at the same time as another investigator during upkeep

4) Paranoid investigator in the same neighborhood but not the same location as another investigator during upkeep

5) Paranoid investigator in the Final Battle against an Ancient One with other investigators during upkeep

Thread: Tales of the Arabian Nights:: Variants:: Superhawk’s two-player variant for TotAN.

Superhawk2300 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:53:24 +0000

by Superhawk2300

Superhawk’s two-player variant for TotAN.

Part of TotAN is cycling through the encounter deck to alter the state of the day (morning, noon, night) which influences which encounters are played. Also there are certain circumstances where it is helpful to encounter a fellow player. The problem with a 2-player game is both using enough cards to cycle the deck and thus the time of day and encounter another player can be difficult. Hopefully this ghost player variant helps. I see this as a living document which I will add to as I rack up plays and I see opportunity for improvement.

1.Both players agree on one additional character they will share their adventures with. Each player then picks 3 skills the ghost player character (GPC) will start with.

2.Each turn this ghost player will take a turn by having an encounter card drawn for it.

3.If the encounter card is a city card, move the GPC to that city where it will have an encounter. If the card drawn is any other type of card the GPC stays where it is currently located and its turn ends.

4.If the GPC was moved to a city then he has an encounter by rolling the destiny die. If the roll is a "+" than the GPC will gain a skill, if the roll is a "-"then the GPC will lose a skill, if the roll is a blank the GPC’s turn is over.

5.If the GPC gains or loses a skill each player rolls a die. The person rolling the higher number chooses which skill to add or to subtract from the GPC and then the GPC’s turn is over.

6.If the GPC loses all of his skills then he has succumbed to the perils of his adventures and he is removed from the board. Put one of the GPC’s destination markers on the board where he met his demise and the first player to visit the space may draw one treasure card.

7.If the GPC gain all of the skills in the game then he has amassed so much fame and wealth that he retires from adventuring and his character settles down in the city where he acquired his final skill. He is still in the game but he will never move from this city. Bring something nice if you decide to visit as a player can learn any skill by visiting this city and discarding one treasure card.

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Rules:: Nyarlathotep, Mask creatures, and clue tokens

bigtex01 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:50:25 +0000

by bigtex01

1) When Nyarlathotep is the AO, it says put the five Mask monsters to the cup. Mask monsters have been added by expansions, so there are now more than five Mask creatures. With Nyarlathotep, ALL of the Mask creatures go into the monster cup at the beginning of the game, not just the five that came with the base set, correct?

2) The "The Masks" Sinister Plot card for Nyarlathotep states that an investigator is devoured for each Mask creature that is drawn from the cup. At the time of the Final Battle, we had a couple of Mask creatures on the board and in player inventory. There was nothing in the rules about preparing for the Final Battle that stated that preparation includes putting all monsters (on the board as well as trophies in player inventory) into the cup prior to starting the battle, so we didn't. Should we have?

3) Roland Banks (The Fed) gets a clue token during his upkeep if he has fewer than two. Nyarlathotep takes at most one clue token from each investigator as his attack. Therefore, the only way I can see Roland Banks losing to Nyarlathotep (assuming he starts the battle with at least two clue tokens) is if the Epic Battle cards are used and the auto-lose red Epic Battle card comes up. If the Epic Battle variant isn't used, then Roland Banks against Nyarlathotep is an auto-win, since there will be no way for the AO to beat Roland, right?

Thread: Livingstone:: Rules:: Scoring question

Colorado_Jeff — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:49:35 +0000

by Colorado_Jeff

We're playing with the Playroom rules, and the final scoring is a bit confusing to us.

After each round during the game, the rules say each tent scores using the numbers on the left side of the board. So if I placed a tent with a "1" die, I receive 1 point, if I placed with a "2" die, I receive 2 points, etc. That makes sense.

The End of Game scoring says:

"After scoring the last column, the game ends and the final scoring begins. First all six Tent rows are counted. This time, only the player with the most Tents in a row receives points indicated on the left side next to the row. In the case of a tie, all points are divided evenly between the tied players and rounded down if necessary. The available points are indicated in the grey Tent symbols on the right."

I've underlined the word "left" in the previous paragraph. I believe it should say "right", not left. Is that correct? In other words, the left side numbers are used for scoring each round, but the right side numbers are used for scoring the final round, based on the most Tents in each corresponding row. That makes the most sense, but I want to be sure I'm reading it correctly.

Session: Descent: The Road to Legend:: The Spider who wanted to be God - Session 3

Hankroyd — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:41:52 +0000

by Hankroyd

After a month hiatus we continued our descent campagn.

Here is the previous session :
Session 1 : http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/411731
Session 2 : http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/413227

So here is our heroes and Ispher:

Ozyree as
Landrec the Wise (26/37)
12 / 5 / 1 / 3 (8 wounds)
Magic : 3 black
Talent :
* Blessing
* Prodigy
Equipement :
* Fire Cone
* Leather Armor
* 1 Stamina Potion
* 1 Power Potion
Unequiped : Sun

Matt as
Astarra, Witch Runes (26/37)
12 / 5 / 2 / 5 (4 Wounds)
Magic : 1 silver, 2 black
Talent : Inner Fire
Equipement :
* Chastise Staff
* Heavy Leather Armor
* 1 Stamina Potion
* healing Potion
Unequiped :
* Immolate
* Leather Armor

Kakael as
Lord Hawthorne (6/37)
16 / 4 / 3 / 4
Melee : 3 black
Talent : Mighty
Equipement :
* Dragonteeth Hammer
* Chainmail
* 1 Stamina Potion
* 1 Healing Potion
* 1 Power Potion
Unequiped : Axe

Toramal as
Ispher (26/37)
12 / 5 / 1 / 6
Melee : 1 black
Ranged : 2 black
Talent :
* Tiger Tatoo
* Boggs the Rat
Equipement :
* Magic Bow
* Leather Armor
* Amulet of Archery
* 2 Stamina Potion
Unequiped : Iron Shield

And of course, here is your humble servant as the Spider Queen

Overlord
Ascension Plot (2 cards)

Upgrade :
* Siege Engine
* 1 Trap Threat
* Silver Eldrich

Lieutnent : Sir Alric Farrow (On the Whispering Forest)

Last game ended with Matt and Toramal pretty demoralized by their failling of a dungeon.
Will this campagn will end today, will the Heroes get over their pityful last session. Just read for the anser !

Week 10: First Encounter (Continued)

So the session began with Heroes ambushed by a bunch of Naga in a zone where everyone gets Armor-1.
There was an instant of ... malaise, when I asked who will be awake at the beginning of the encounter.
Players wanted to put Landrec on guard duty ... but choose not to do so and instead choose at random who will be awake.
Why ? Because, they have no way to know when they will be ambushed during the night and so they have no way to put the 'right guy' at the 'right time'.
I take a preventive step and explained the communist squad that it's not because it's an outside encounter that the game has become an RPG. It's still a boardgame and they can choose anyone without cheating. It's in the rules !

So Landrec was awake, ready to use his new powers.

Nagas and the ogre was put far away from each other to prevent a multikill from Landrec, blocking the exit to try the total party kill.
Ispher awakens in the first turn, and guard order began to be played to kill Nagas before they attacked.
I tried my best but Landrec alone manage to kill them one by one (with a little help from Ispher).
Lost for lost, The nage boss grips them all to prevent them escaping and have a +2 armor bonus.
It was at this time that the two others choose to awaken. My poor naga was killed without manage a single kill.

Not very important, but for the players, it means that this session will be better than the previous.

And they arrived at the Cavern of Thull, ready to steal as many gold as they could.

Cavern of thuul Legendary Dungeon

Level 1 : The Invocation (13)

I choose to began with 5 sorcerers and 4 skeletons. Hoping the skeletons would hold the heros long enough to let the sorcerer invoke the Demon.
Halas, with a no trap starting hand, I could do very much, so the sorcerers forgot about the Demon and went for the kill.
Ispher especially proved very vulnerale against the new silver eldricht, allowing me to (barely) stay ahead of the heroes in term of experience.

Level 2 : Call from the Deep (35)

I made a big error during the setup : I protected every items near the Boss with monster EXCEPT the glyph.
Ispher, immunised to pit, runned and activate it while others Heroes went to Tamalir, planning to come back next turn directly in the melee.
Of course Ispher died (again) but so did my monsters and my poor sorcerer boss.
On the good side for me, They were so afraid of failling in the poisonned pit, they left without the gold.

Level 3 : The Citadel (22)

Strategy for the Heroes was very simple : 'Whatever you do, don't stop in the trapped hallway.
I learn from my previous mistake and manage to protect the Treasure and put some Elite Beastmen near the (again) Sorcerer Boss to protect the glyph.
But ... Gosh ... is level is strange : A so big place, with so few monsters to protect it.

Ispher decided to go its way to try to get the Treasure, while the others go for the boss.
A little spawn (basic sorcerers) allowed me to dispose of Ispher (The only one to have died so far !) and take the others heroes by behind.
With Sorcery 4 and 2 command, the Boss, in fury, killed Landrec just after from very far away. (Why Landrec didn't die before ? For a simple reason, he's as easy as Ispher to kill but he worthes only 2 while Ispher worthes 3)
After that, the configuration of the map, allowed me to play a little game of cat and mouse with the heroes. Of course, heroes have the upper hand in this given their 'guard' orders, but it doesnt matter : It allowed me to get a very good hand and lot of threat for the last level.
And then after the demise of the Boss, I got a good surprise ... No not a successful immortalty roll ...

Overlord: O...K... Will he resurrect ... **Dice roll** ... No ... Why did I got the feeling I won't manage an immortality roll today. (I didn't know where this feeling came from, but unfortunately, it proved to be right : On 4 or 5 immortality roll I didn't manage a single one.)

... but the Heroes choose to allow Landrec and Hawthorn to make a 'rest' order before the last level while Ispher and Astara was protecting them with 'guard' order.
I didn't know why, but they though that I wouldn't pay 15 extra threat for a spawn before the last level. But I would, and a skeleton patrol entered the dance.

The first was killed by Astara, but the second manages to hurt Landrec and denied him the rest.
The Master Skeleton was intended for the kill but ...

Ozyree: Now, my rest order is out, I guess it's your turn Kaekael.
Overlord: So I attack Lan... what did you say ?
Ozyree : huh ?
Overlord: Oops, I forgot Kaekael, you were right, thanks Ozyree. I attack Kaekael.
Other playes: Geez, stupid moron, why did you tell him ????
Ozyree: Errr... to ... stay alive ?
Everyone: ...
Ozyree: To be fair, I was just thinking out loud. That wasn't mean to hear by Hankroyd.
Kaekael: Good job ! Next time, less talky, more thinky.

... but my cunning strategy was from the star to cancel the two rest orders ... so I did !
After that they spend some time discussing. Theme of discussion : Should we try to rest again or not ? Hopefully for them they choose not to try it again and they escaped to the last level.

To my regrets, during one trip to Tamalir, an 3 points armor against Magic dans Ranged was bought and given to Ispher, so he's becomes slighly harder to kill with sorcerers alone. Still not a major problems for skeletons though.

Level 4 : The Caverns of Thull

It has been a very long time since the player saw a level so big ... jeez ... a level with ... zones !
The starting zone was cleared and securised without any problems.
They choose to go to the right wing, assuming than the dragon would be in the central aera and that maybe they needs keys from the side aera before going to it.
Again in the new zone, monsters were easyly killed and the loot just waiting for them.
Surprise, when they took the 1000 Gold reward the dragon appeared. Unfortunately, everyone except Ozyree had played.
Forgetting that Hawthorne was just next the dragon, Landrec began to harass him twice, and then it was Astara with her 'guard' order : In one round, they managed to deal to Hawthorne more damage than I have done to him since the beginning of the session, making his 4 conquest point at kill range from my traps.
A cooper dragon doesn't deal that much damage, But Astara was really weakened, and if the dragon didn't kill her directly, the burn killed her the next turn.
After the demise of the Dragon, a new discussion arose : "Should we stay or should we go ?"
They choose after the overlong debate, to try another zone knowing that I will certainly gets 12xp (from the soon demise of Hawthorne, Landrec and Ispher and the cycling of the deck), but having been broke one time, they go for it.
Second overlong debate : The left zone or the central ?
Fews hours later (Relative time perspective from an overlord listening to a stupid and useless debate.) they choose the central zone because "there is less distance to cover".
But ... While going back they get careless with spanning, and a troops of skeleton attacked them from behind giving me immediatly the experience that I should have gained on the central zone. Worse, on next turn, more skeletons appeared on the starting zone, taking heroes by surprise : I was litteraly crawling on experience and in control of the start zone, pushing the heroes to withdraw, but they are reasonning in another way : Since I got so much advance, they have to catch me before leaving. They cleaned the starting zone and tried to go for the central zone, heading to an Manticore and retreating immediatly to be striked by the few remaining skeletons.
But they saw two glyphes aka 6 experience, so they still didn't let go.
Again they used guard order to kill the razorwing and the manticore. The poor beast tried to kill Hawthorne, but cooper manticore only deals 3-4 damage per attack, so the four furied attacks didn't weakened him significantly.
After that, this time they prepared themselves to fight the dragon. In two turn, the affair was finished.

Last zone was anticlimatic : Only Ispher went, taking the gems and activating the glyph while other waited 'outside' the dungeon for Ispher to die (Wich was fast thanks to some sorcerers).

At end of session, everyone was happy, Heroes choose spend the money in the secret training zone nearby. Near Lord Farrow. I guess it will be time for others lieutnents to come and serve me.

At the end of session :

Overlord : 30/70 xp
Heroes : 65 xp & 6800 gold
Campaign : 135 xp

Landrec the Wise (26/65)
12 / 5 / 1 / 3 (8 wounds)
Magic : 3 black
Talent :
* Blessing
* Prodigy
Equipement :
* Fire Cone
* Leather Armor
Unequiped :
* Sun
* Petrification

Ispher (26/65)
12 / 5 / 1 / 6
Melee : 1 black
Ranged : 2 black
Talent :
* Tiger Tatoo
* Boggs the Rat
Equipement :
* Magic Bow
* Elven Robe
* Amulet of Archery
* Stamina Potion
Unequiped :
* Iron Shield
* Leather Armor

Astarra, Witch Runes (26/65)
12 / 5 / 2 / 5
Magic : 1 silver, 2 black
Talent : Inner Fire
Equipement :
* Chastise Staff
* Heavy Leather Armor
Unequiped : Crystalization

Lord Hawthorne (6/65)
16 / 4 / 3 / 4
Melee : 3 black
Talent : Mighty
Equipement :
* Dragonteeth Hammer
* Chainmail
Unequiped : Axe

Group Enhancement :
* Magic Boat
* Bazaar

Overlord
Ascension Plot (2 cards)

Upgrade :
* Siege Engine
* 1 Trap Threat
* Silver Eldrich

Lieutnent : Sir Alric Farrow (On the Whispering Forest)

Miscealenous comments :

At least, the third was the good one : Heroes finally saw the power of silver and gold dice, and used them effectively.
The sceance was a big dungeon crawling, like vanilla descent. In the last level, I made everything to force them to quit but failed utterly, maybe if they didn't saw the two glyphes in the central zone ... As a player, I knew that in a zone roaming with sorcerers and skeletons with a runnaway Overlord, I would have escaped.
History is written by the winner. And if at first I rejoiced of their 'stupidy', I finished only with 5 more XP while I was previously at 10 more. They made the good choice.
I was fairly disapointed by silver Eldricht ... they don't last much longer than the copper ones ... but one the other hand, they last long enough, the amount of damage they dealt is really satisfying ... poor Ispher/Toramal.

One last quote to finnish the sceance.

Context :
Heroes decided to go to the central zone ready to give me 12xp.
One the next turn, I manage to steal 9 of those XP ... and a few more during the two next turn.
The starting aera is controlled by skeletons and ...

Matt: Hmmmmm ... Maybe finally, going back isn't a bad idea.
Ozyree: No ! We go on !
Matt: But the monsters, the kills Hankroyd makes each turn ... By taying we only give more power.
Ozyree: We have to stay ! We got a good reason for that.
Matt: Which one.
Ozuree: Three turns ago we choose to stay, we never talked about reconsidereing this if we get butt-kicked so we have to continue.
Matt: ~~But... but... try to use common sense !~~ ... Make sense to me, we continue.

Overlord (in this head): Wai ... What ?? Come on ! You've got to be kidding me ! You fall for that reasonning ! I'll have to send a Christmas present to Ozyree for all the XP he's giving me ...

Thread: Admiral Ackbar "It's a TRAP!" GAME:: Variants:: The C3-PO Geek+ Variant

MidKentGamerUK — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 23:04:29 +0000

by MidKentGamerUK

This variant is essentially the same as the 'core' game, except it uses a whole heap of tiles displaying either a '1' or a '0' on each (rather than letters). Players race to complete the winning phrase, only this time using the binary language of moisture vaporators...

There has yet to be a confirmed winner of this particular variant due to the added complication of pronouncing the winning phrase upon completion, but it's only a matter of time...

Thread: Fury of Dracula:: Rules:: SENSE OF EMERGENCY - Vampires vs. Vampire Track

yaqqay — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:59:21 +0000

by yaqqay

Today a fight broke out at the table, and a careful reading of the German and English rulebooks did not bring peace.

Here's our problem:

SENSE OF EMERGENCY says that "the Hunter must lose a number of Health equal to the number of Vampires Dracula still needs to win the game".

Our Dracula's Vampire Track showed 2 points.

In his eyes we would have to spend 4 points of Health to use SENSE OF EMERGENCY - because this is the number he still needed to win.

In the hunter's eyes we needed to spend only 2 points of health, because each matured vampire would give Drac 2 victory points and therefore "the number of vampires he still needed to win" was only 2.

So do VAMPIRES equal numbers on the VAMPIRE POINTS TRACK - or do VAMPIRES equal MATURED VAMPIRES.

Could anybody give us an answer to settle our argument?

Thread: Lord of the Rings - The Confrontation: Deluxe Edition:: Rules:: Rules about playing cards in combat

vhirvela — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:56:56 +0000

by vhirvela

Ok So could someone give me a rundown of the special occasions.

Lets say for example gandalf vs. mouth of sauron.

Gandalf forces sauron player to choose first. he chooses magic and uses it to play the eye of sauron then gandalf chooses?! a card and then if mouth of sauron wishes he can change it to card strenght 4 if that is allready been played he can still choose this but does sauron player lose that magic card either way?! or does it return to saurons hand?!

What if there is warg against gandalf?

What else can affect the order which cards are played and resolved in combat?!

Give me a list and is there a short rule of thumb so that i know how to play with different possibilities?

Thread: Colpevole!:: Variants:: Two little different rules

akarabat — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:49:44 +0000

by akarabat

First, don't declare at the beginning who is the killer, create some phrases for this character and let him talk like other characters; it will be more intriguing, not more difficult because all clues lead to ONE guy.

Second, let the game master finish its answer related to the last question also if time is finished (he was telling us something important but time finished and no one understod...so no one repeated the question);

Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark:: News:: Auction: Nara the Fang promo

GaryP — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:46:28 +0000

by GaryP

I have an extra Nara the Fang promo miniature and Descent stat card. Both are new and unused. (However, I cut open the baggie to get the Runebound stat card, which I am keeping.)

We'll do this as a blind auction (mostly since I have no idea what this goes for). GeekMail your bid to me. No additional shipping charges, even international! Highest bid by Saturday July 11th 11:59pm CDT wins it.

Paypal is acceptable ONLY if funded by Paypal Balance or a bank account (No credit or debit cards unless you make a BIG bid and cover the fees, too.) US Postal Money Orders also work. Again, international bids are acceptable if you can pay as described. The transaction will go through BGG Marketplace so they can get their commission and we can give each other feedback.

I will delete this post a while after the auction ends. Thanks for looking.

Thread: Descent: The Tomb of Ice:: News:: Auction: Nara the Fang promo

GaryP — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:44:40 +0000

by GaryP

Thread: Bitter Woods (4th Edition):: Rules:: Retreat - Nearest Supply Route[?] ...

WarBoy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:38:15 +0000

by WarBoy

What are the circumstances for an un- or supplied unit, cut off from all friendly supply-road paths leading towards friendly supply by enemy units - though not surrounded by enemy ZOC's - which must retreat towards the nearest friendly supply road, should the retreating unit not be currently on a road hex? May it then simply retreat to any hex(es) called for by the CRT as long as it does not enter any enemy ZOC's?

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Rules:: Taint of Evil epic battle questions

bigtex01 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:32:52 +0000

by bigtex01

The Taint of Evil epic battle card states that "each die rolled by the investigators this round receives a -1 penalty to its result (e.g. a roll of 5 becomes a 4)."

The Ancient One then attacks as normal.

A couple of questions:

1) Do the dice that the investigators roll during the Ancient One's attack also have 1 subtracted from all of them, or is it just during the investigators' attacks? We played it as just the investigators' attacks were -1, but then, looking in the rulebooks to figure out what 'this round' actually means, I found this:

Sometimes the Ancient One attacks first, and rarely, only one side or the other will get to attack during a round.

(Kingsport Rulebook, p. 11 under Epic Battle Variant/Gameplay.)

So, if a round were only the Investigator's attack, or only the Ancient One's attack, then the idea that only one side or the other could attack during a round would be redundant, since I'm already using ONLY one side's attack to define a 'round' in this hypothetical case. Therefore, a 'round' must refer to the ENTIRE CARD (both the investigators' attack and the Ancient One's attack). Therefore, the -1 should affect the investigators' rolls during the Ancient One's attack on that card, even though the effect is only written on the part of the card that is headed by the words "Investigators Attack," right?

2) The shotgun scores 2 successes when a 6 is rolled. If you roll a 6 with a shotgun while Taint of Evil is played, does the 6 still count as 2 successes because a 6 "is rolled," or does the 6 become a 5, meaning the shotgun only gets one success?

Thread: Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization:: Strategy:: The Hanging Gardens: Are They That Great?

meyerg — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:32:39 +0000

by meyerg

Obviously I like the Pyramids Better. The Hanging Gardens cost 2-2-2 and give you two happiness and one culture a turn. Obviously the culture isn't as important as the happiness.

But the Hanging Gardens are the second best Age A Wonder!

There are two ways to go with the Hanging Gardens. Stick with the standard mine lab strategy and build the Hanging Gardens when you have the spare resources and civil actions. Grow your population slowly and carefully, don't exceed two farms.

I propose a second plan. Build that third farm you were told not to build before your second lab and grow your population footprint early. Maybe even build that fourth mine. Finish the Hanging Gardens early. Look to grab the Basilica. Pour the population into a strong military.

The Hanging Gardens seem better to me when you use the two happiness as soon as possible.

Thread: Warhammer 40,000:: General:: need a bit of help getting a birthday gift for a friend

brentos — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:07:54 +0000

by brentos

Hey guys, a buddy of mine has a birthday coming up and he's recently (well, a few months now) picked up on warhammer. What'd be a good gift to get him, something special but also useful in the game? I don't know anything about warhammer but I do know that he plays "Space Marines" and was excited to win a "tank" at a tournament the other week. I think he's just trying to build up a good army. I"m also interested in any other things that he may enjoy (books, other accesories and such).

Any help would be appreciated!

Thread: The Republic of Rome:: Variants:: EMPIRE OF ROME II 400 BC - 600 AD

xmfcnrx — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:06:06 +0000

by xmfcnrx

This variant is an interesting spin on ROR that I found on the ConsimWorld site. It's done by Phil Jelley and MMP has expressed an interest in this project. I haven't tried it, but it looks delicious, with an amazing level of detail and a needed treatment of late empire politics. All the material you need to play it can be downloaded from post #81 to post #94:

http://talk.consimworld.com/WebX?14@851.uCobf8rHgUb.159499@....

Thread: Bitter Woods (4th Edition):: Rules:: Artillery - ZOC's/Adjacent Enemy Units[?] ...

WarBoy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 22:05:16 +0000

by WarBoy

Could a corps artillery unit (or German rocket artillery unit) still provide offensive/defensive ground support if adjacent to another enemy artillery unit?

Also, in the same example above, then - could the corps artillery still provide offensive/defensive ground support should the opposing adjacent enemy artillery unit be across a Meuse River (or cliff) hexside?

Thread: Mexican War:: General:: Release date?

Cosmid — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:58:08 +0000

by Cosmid

Any idea what the release date will be for Mexican War?

Thread: Kaivai:: General:: 5 turns for fish to spoil with the new rules

BrenoK — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:58:03 +0000

by BrenoK

I've sent a geekmail to the designer and he told me that the new rules were just about shortening the game (to 8 rounds) and removing the luck from the dice (now all dice roll "blue", you get a fish for every god's shrine that you on that island, or in his words: "each cottage with a figure on it (old rules ="shrine"; new rules ="fisherman cottage") is giving you one fish per boat that is boarding this island at a cult square".

Now with the slightly shorter game wouldn't it make sense to make the fish spoil slightly quicker too? I mean, the way it stands, a fish caught on the 4th turn is already permanent, which means that a fish is only in danger of rotting in the first 37,5% of the game.

Was this intentional? Would you think this makes a big impact on the game? Shouldn't it be shortened to 4 turns, to keep with the game's proportions (half the game)?

I've only played it once (and we had to stop in the middle because of a serious rules mistake that pretty much broke all the players), so I'm a bit hesitant to defend this change, but what do you guys think?

Thread: Bitter Woods (4th Edition):: Rules:: Bridge Demolition[?] ...

WarBoy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:52:40 +0000

by WarBoy

Can an engaged unit or one that has a 'counterattack' marker still make an attempt to blow a bridge?

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Rules:: Deputy arrested

rcb2 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:38:16 +0000

by rcb2

Can the deputy be arrested?

Can he/she be arrested in Innsmouth?

Thanks

Thread: Bitter Woods (4th Edition):: Rules:: Multiple Unit Combat Hexes[?] ...

WarBoy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:30:03 +0000

by WarBoy

Can two or more units each make separate individual attacks - whether or not they are in the same hex - on the same hex of defending unit(s), during the same combat phase?

Can one or more hexes of units attack two or more hexes of defending units during the same combat phase, as one combined attack? If so, how would one go about the procedure in multiple hex combat, and how should one account for computing odds, multiple terrain features, and any opposing artillery, and other attack/defence modifiers?

Review: Goblin:: Review of Goblin

bielie — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:19:25 +0000

by bielie

Ok, so I am a cheapskate. After I blew my whole gaming budget for a year on Acricola I decided that the way forward was to build my own games, as in Print and Play. Since I am a fantasy freak I looked at fantasy themed PnP games. I already have the Karim Chakroun PnP version of Magic Realm. Gonlin seemed to be a good try.

The components: Fairly basic. The scan of the original print version game board at the official website is poor quality, but nothing Photoshop can't fix. You need to crop the big original image into six separate board segments, the photo shop the fold valleys out (the clone tool works for this), do the same with the vertical cut down the middle. Next you need to increase the contrast substantially. (Unless you want a washed out print you can hardly read) Increasing the contrast really brings out the colours and black, and reveals a rather nice watercolor artwork that prints very nicely. Print on six A4 sheets, stick to board, cut at the correct places, and voila. Someone has already remastered the chits, but one has to change the colour af the C Morale Goblins, since they are the same as the B-Morale Goblins. I made them a bit lighter.

The rules are rather straight forward, it is a typical hex-and-chit game. Each unit has and archery, melee and armour class value and a morale class.

As someone before me noted, battle can be a bit stale, with many battles ending without a result. Units are only lost if they fail a morale check and run for safety. Do they die from their wounds when they run or do they die before running? I still have to figure that out.

Game play: At the start of the game it seems to be a bit one sided: Goblins raided villages protected by only handfulls of militia, and there seemed to be little one can do about it. As the game developed I got sucked into the strategy and suspense of the thing. The goblins are supreme guerrilla fighters. They attack a village, and because they move first they invariably succeed in taking the loot. The feudals send an army to respond, but arrive only after the town has been taken, and then has to attack at the disadvantage of attacking into a town hex with a penalty of 2 on a die roll. The chance of the goblins surviving the attack is fair, and if they do, instead of engaging the feudals in the next round, they just move on to the next village. A problem for the goblins is that they have to send a unit back to the caves with the loot, and this gives the feudals a change to chase them down and get the loot back.

Strategy
Goblins: Stay on the move. You can cover a lot of ground in one move. If the humans engage you, just fight that one round and move off to your next bag of loot. Avoid big buildup of armies and big battles, and above all, avoid staying in one place long enough for the feudals to fence you in. Hit, grab and run. Stay away from the keep, you need attack at a +3 penalty. It is better to take the city from the north (If you have to)

Feudals: Never abandon a town. Even just one militia unit may delay the goblins a bit. You fight an elusive enemy, so you have to be everywhere at once. Do everything possible to fence the goblins in to prevent them from moving on. If they fail morale and can't run they are wiped out. If you concentrate you army in one hex when you battle, they will just run off the next round - to a new target town. (Remember battles often end with no result.) If you drop units all around a goblin army they will attack the weakest link to try to break out. If they do - tough luck, but if they don't - you wipe them out. Obviously you need a few commanders to do this.

When reinforcements arrive consider keeping the mounted units apart from the foot soldiers, and use them to round up the goblin units carrying loot back to the caves. They have a great speed advantage in open country and if they stick to the roads they can cover half the map in one go.

Conclusion
Pro's: A fun project for a rainy afternoon. Probably not worth spending a lot of money on, but hey, this is only 7 printed colour pages and four empty cornflakes boxes. And it it quick to learn and fun to play. Nothing hard or deep about this.
What could be better? : Battle can be a bit stale. I would definitely suggest revising the rules so that sides lose units even if the result is a standoff. This is not trench warfare after all.
The only real fantasy element is that fact that the guerrillas are goblins and not barbarians, Picts or pirates, or what have you. A bit of magic and enchantment would be in order. I would have included goblin shamans and feudal sorcerers who could blast enemies with ordnance or beguile them to get lost in the mists or something. What about conjuring up goblin sirens to call them to their doom?

As it is, it is not real fantasy. Just medieval loot, pillage and rape with the goblins slapped on as an afterthought.

Thread: Race for the Galaxy: Rebel vs Imperium:: Rules:: rebel alliance and rebel pact

sharkatt — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:10:55 +0000

by sharkatt

hi,
i have a question about rebel alliance and rebel pact. Are those the only cards helping each other or does replicant robots for example, help too?
What i am trying to say: if i settle a rebel military world with the help of rebel alliance, is rebel pact the only card that can help me settle this card cheaper, or can i also use replicant robots?

Thread: Agricola:: Rules:: Urgent (in-game)! Replenishing when missing resources

Jello53 — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:02:25 +0000

by Jello53

Hi everyone,

Playing my first game while reading the rules. We're at the replenishing stage and are out of wood to place on the action cards. Do we NOT replenish? Or should we create our own "chips" to have more available?

Thanks!

Jello53

Thread: The Napoleonic Wars 2nd Edition:: General:: Super Deluxe Edition Map - Is it worth the $30?

Brund the Decrepit — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 21:00:09 +0000

by Brund the Decrepit

Hello everyone I was planning on purchasing TNW 2nd Ed. and I have been looking at the SD map. For those of you that own/play this game and have the new map did you find that it was worth the $30? I have never purchased a SD map from GMT so I am not exactly sure just what you get other than some tables/charts on the perimeter of the map.

Thanks in advance.

Session: Panzer Grenadier: Airborne - Introductory Edition:: Scenario 8 - Second Try (part 2 of 2)

Joshuaaaaaa — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:43:04 +0000

by Joshuaaaaaa

Panzer Grenadier: Airborne
Scenario 8 – Second Try (Part 2 of 2)
6 June 1944

Though his division fought very well on D-Day despite its scattered landings, Gen. Taylor remained concerned that his troops failed to blow up or even attack the road and railroad bridges across the Douve River north of Carentan. Although the lock at La Bourquette and the two wooden bridges to the east were in American hands, the German-held highway bridge was an open door to Utah Beach’s southern flank. Taylor ordered the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment to attack.

Game Length: 52 turns
First Turn: 0830
Other: Ignore the railroad, but not the bridge in hex 1013 (it represents the La Brouquette lock).

Victory Conditions

The American player wins by controlling hex 0412 at the end of play or by destroying the bridge in hex 0412. Any other result is a German victory.

Note: See part 1 of this scenario at http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/3649267.

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Turns 19-21
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There is no US OBA on turn 19, bringing the Americans almost into line with 10 successes and 9 failures on a 50/50 shot. 2 rounds of fire into 0509 cause a grenadier step loss, as the first fire demoralizes a unit, and then it fails its morale check by 3 on the second fire. The German return fire disrupts one paratroop platoon and German off board artillery demoralizes another, however for the most part, the very high morale of the American troops holds up, and the turn ends normally.

The US does get its OBA on turn 20 (11/20), although it misses its shot at 0509 (and does not hit any adjacent friendly troops). The US then assaults the town with the Stuarts (M5) and 2 paratrooper platoons. Both sides are on the 18 column and both sides roll a 6 for 2 step losses. The Germans have one GREN wiped out and the other disrupted, while on the US side one paratrooper platoon and the Stuarts are reduced. The Stuarts also demoralize. Down in the long assault on 0614, one paratrooper is demoralized, however the grenadiers are reduced and the lieutenant leading the defense is killed. The turn ends after only 7 US and 5 German activations.

On turn 21, the US gets the OBA again (12/21) and again its not very effective. The Americans attempt to finish off the grenadiers in 0614 and only succeed in disrupting them. The Shermans, a reduced HMG platoon and a paratrooper platoon fire into 0510 and kill off a step of grenadiers, while on the German side, heavy fire from 0412 and 0513 kills a step of paratroopers in 0612. In 0509, the US attempts to rally, however the Stuarts fail their morale check and flee the assault. The turn ends after 8 US and 7 German activations. At this point, step losses are 12 for the US and 19 for the Germans.

End of turn 21:

Note: The left assault hex is 0509 (opportunity fire marker) and the right is 0614 (dug-in marker)

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Turns 22-24
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Turn 22 sees the Americans receive OBA for a 3rd straight turn (13/22), however its again ineffective, and except for finally clearing out 0614, it’s a very quick turn, as fog of war ends the turn on the very first roll. On turn 23 the US has to go without artillery (13/23) and renews its assault on 0509. They are on the 13 column while the Germans are on the 9. The Germans roll a 6 (1 step loss) and the US a 3 (M1). The Germans hold firm, while half a platoon of paratroopers die and the lieutenant colonel is disrupted. Farther south, heavy fire into the swamp kills another step of paratroopers and demoralizes a Captain. The Stuarts continue to be demoralized. All this in just a few activations, as for the 2nd straight turn, the first fog of war roll ends things!

Turn 25 again sees the US without OBA (13/24) and the Germans grab the initiative and use it on some fire that doesn’t hurt anyone. The US hits 0509 again, now on the 18 column while the Germans are on the 9. The US rolls a 6 and wipes out the remaining grenadiers and captures the captain, while an M1 result from the Germans demoralizes the Shermans, a platoon of paratroopers and the lieutenant colonel. The turn ends after 11 US and 6 German activations (the Germans are doing more mass activations and are running out of units). After 6 hours of battle, the Germans have suffered 23 step losses and the US has suffered 14.

At this point, the US has 13 2 step units remaining, 9 reduced units and 4 artillery units, for 39 steps. The Germans have 6 2 step units, 3 reduced units and 3 artillery units, for 18 steps.

End of turn 24:

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Turns 25-27
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Turn 25 sees the US get its OBA back (14/25) and it once again doesn’t do much. This is mostly a positioning turn, although heavy fire from 0613 and 0614 does kill off a reduced German HMG platoon. Back in 0509, the Shermans are still demoralized, which may delay an assault on the objective hex of 0412.

The US gets its OBA again on turn 26 (15/26) and it starts pounding 0412, however its only 18 points, and with 1 shift left (-2 for town, +1 for 3 units) its not doing a lot besides making the Germans hunker down a little more. The Shermans still stay demoralized, which is frustrating, so the Americans send the Stuarts to 0410 to help with the assault down the embankment. The Germans have a lot of firepower in the town, however it isn’t able to see anything because of the embankment and because none of the Americans advancing through the swamps have fired, so they haven’t been spotted.

On turn 27, us OBA pounds 0412 again (16/27) and heavy fire demoralizes both German units in 0411. That gives those units something in common with the Shermans, who staunchly stay demoralized. Other than that, things remain pretty static. There as a lot of fire, a bunch of morale checks, and no major changes in the overall situation. At the end of the turn, the Germans have lost 24 steps, the US has lost only 15.

End of turn 27:

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Turns 28 – 30
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The Germans get a break from the US OBA on turn 28 (16/28) and prepare for the American advance. At least most of their remaining troops are good ones, and they manage to inflict step losses on the paratroopers in hex 0614 and 0612. For their part, the only major event this turn (besides the Shermans remaining demoralized) is the assault on 0411 that eliminates the HMG and causes the major to retreat back to 0412. The Americans are finally next to their objective.

There is no off board artillery for a second straight turn on turn 29 (16/29) and the Germans grab the initiative. The PZIVF2s in the town make short work of the remaining Stuarts (which apparently gives the Shermans more incentive to stay demoralized, which they do) and the other fire from the town demoralizes the HMG and disrupts the paratroopers in 0411. The Americans advance more troops into position.

On turn 30, the off board artillery shows up and starts doing counter battery fire against German mortars. There are too many troops near 0412 to risk friendly fire. However, that’s later in the turn. The Germans roll a 6 for initiative and the US a 2, for a 2 initiative bonus for the Germans. The troops in 0412 unleash their fury on an approaching stack of 3 paratrooper platoons in 0411. They have 22 firepower points and 2 shifts to the right (2 for adjacent, 1 for 3 units and -1 for the embankment) to put them on the 45 column and they roll a 10 for an X result. One step of paratroopers dies, and the rest just laugh things off. The Germans activate most of their units on a subordinate activation and that first fire from the town was the only real positive result (the rest of the fires were all 7s and 8s). Off board artillery hits 0411 to no effect and even scatters into the town, thankfully not hurting the defenders.

On their activation, the US begins the assault on 0412, with 2 paratrooper platoons and an HMG platoon. The Germans are on the top column, due to shifts for a leader, combined arms and an engineer in a town while the Americans are only on the 13 column. The Germans roll a 4 for a 2 stop loss, killing one paratrooper platoon outright and demoralizing the HMG and the captain. The Americans roll a 1 and miss completely. Next the Americans have 3 reduced platoons assault the reduced grenadiers in 0313 and eliminate it. German mortar fire from 0314 exacts a measure of revenge, killing off a step of paratroopers and demoralizing the 1st lieutenant. Again fire scatters into the town and onto itself, but both miss. There is a big celebration as the Shermans finally recover to disrupted. By the end of the turn, casualties are rapidly evening out with 22 for the Americans and 26 for the Germans.

End of turn 30:

Note: The left hand assault hex represents the assault in 0412 (the dug-in marker) while the right hand assault hex represents the Germans in 0513 (the moved/fired marker). There is no assault in 0513, I just couldn’t really spread out that many units and markers.

***********
Turns 31-34
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At the start of turn 31, the Germans have only 6 full strength units and 3 artillery units left, however they are all good units and they hold good defensive positions and the Americans have to charge the guns. The US is down to 10 full strength units, 7 reduced strength units and 4 artillery pieces, including the 2 57mm AT guns, which have been all but useless in the scenario. The Germans have a 1 initiative advantage on turn 31, and use it to assault the remaining Americans in 0412. They are only on the 24 column this time (22 FP + leader +combined arms + engineer – 2 for town and they roll a 5 for another 2 step losses. The Americans who are on the 13 column roll a 4 for an M2. The US loses the HMG platoon and has the captain killed and the paratrooper demoralized while the sergeant is disrupted. However, it’s a costly assault for the Germans as a lieutenant is demoralized and all of the other troops are disrupted. While the Americans are being bled heavily in 0412, numbers are still on their side.

The Americans don’t get OBA on turn 32 (17/32) and do grab the initiative. They are too weak to assault in 0412 so they instead assault 0513 with 3 fresh platoons. The Germans get first fire and roll a 1 and miss, while the paratroopers get an M2 and disrupt the Germans who spend their impulse recovering. Action in 0412 is calm as the Germans rally back from disruption. The US reinforces the assault, hoping to inflict some casualties before the Shermans, who have finally rallied, appear.

There’s no off board artillery on turn 33 (17/33) and the US renews its assault. Will it fare better this time? The US is on the 13 column and the Germans on the 30+. The US rolls a 3 for an M1, while the Germans roll a 6 for a 3 step loss result! The US reduces an HMG platoon and eliminates a paratrooper platoon. The sergeant and a 1st lieutenant are killed. The survivors are fine, and this was just ugly. The only positive result is that the Americans manage to disrupt the Panzers, which could mean no attack by the Germans on the survivors on turn 24. The Germans then assault the 2 reduced platoons in 0313 with the armored car and motorcycle platoons. One of the reduced platoons is destroyed, and the other is disrupted. Seeing the tide beginning to turn, the Americans send the engineers into 0412. They may not be able to take the town, and if they blow the bridge they will still win.

Turn 34 sees no off board artillery (17/34) and the Americans have the initiative. They start off assaulting 0513 and lose another step of paratroopers without dislodging the defending grenadiers. The Germans have one shot at winning the scenario…they have to either kill or disrupt the engineers. Having recovered morale on their impulse of turn 33, the Germans assault on the 24 column while the Americans defend on the 13 column, as the engineers cannot be part of the assault since they are busy wiring the bridge. The Germans roll a 3 for a step loss and the US a 2 for a morale check. The reduced HMG is eliminated, and the game comes down to the engineers’ morale check…they roll a 5, and pass easily. There is no way for the Germans to hurt them, short of calling down artillery on the town, and even there the chances are very small (rather than play out the turn, I just rolled the 3 German artillery shots, all of which missed) so the bridge gets blown and the US wins the scenario!

End of turn 33:

Note: This picture is at the end of turn 33, however things didn’t change much on the final turn as I ended the scenario as soon as the US fulfilled its victory conditions. The left assault hex is 0412, before the Germans rolled that 3 result on turn 34, and the right one is hex 0513. The top right assault hex is 0313.

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Final Thoughts
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This was an exciting scenario that I think could easily have gone either way. Had the Germans managed to disrupt/demoralize the engineers on turn 34, they might have won the scenario. Casualties were mounting up quickly for the Americans. At the end of turn 27, the Americans had lost 15 steps and the Germans had lost 24. At the end of the game, the Germans had lost 25 steps (only 1 more) while the Americans had lost 30 (15 steps lost in 7 turns). While the Shermans could now fire into the town with a small chance of taking out the Panzers (just under a 1/3 chance of inflicting a step loss), I also could have pulled the Panzers from the town and replaced them with the motorcycles, forcing the Americans to send in more troops and letting the Panzers shoot up the Shermans (about a 40% chance of a step loss) and frankly the Americans were running out of fresh paratroopers to send into the town. With the 30 steps lost, the Americans only had 23 steps left, 4 of which were artillery and couldn’t really help.

I thought this was a very exciting scenario and could have gone either way. I think what influenced it most was the late arrival of the German reinforcements. Had they arrived 3 or 4 turns earlier, they could have fed fresh troops into the assault on 0614 and the defense of 0509. The armored car and motorcycles could have run around the American rear areas, wreaking havoc on artillery and demoralized units, although the counter to this would have been the 57mm AT guns, which would have at least made the armored cars steer clear of anything they guarded. Had the Panzers been in place earlier, the result would most likely have been closer to historical.

Because this scenario placed no value on step losses, the Americans could afford to attrite the Germans and while they only had 23 steps left at the end of the scenario, the Germans only had 16. Most of the fighting was done at very close range because of the hedgerows and swamp, which I think definitely increased the casualty count. Mostly, though, this scenario came down to better American morale and better leaders. It was tough for the Germans to demoralize US units or keep them demoralized. This became more blatant when the Shermans were demoralized. Tank morale was 8/7, so a demoralized Sherman had morale of 7 with no leader bonus. Paratrooper morale was 8/8 and virtually every American leader had a +1 for morale, so even a demoralized, reduced paratrooper still had a morale rating of 8 and was likely to recover good morale quickly.

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Historical Conclusion
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German resistance halted the advance before the paratroopers even reached St. Come-du-Mont. The fighting raged all morning around the hamlet of Les Droueriers and ended with the withdrawal of the American force.

Thread: Bitter Woods (4th Edition):: Rules:: Supply Status[?] ...

WarBoy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:38:43 +0000

by WarBoy

Could German units that have exited the mapboard ever be cut off of their supply? Also, can any unit ever trace a supply path to the town of Liege, using it as a supply source?

Thread: Bitter Woods (4th Edition):: Rules:: German Rocket Artillery - Supply Status[?] ...

WarBoy — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 20:31:39 +0000

by WarBoy

Can German rocket artillery provide offensive ground support if out of supply?