Thread 96380637

Coming to you from a LAN down under, its the gramps coded edition of the Board Games General

Previous: >>96359291

Pastebin: https://pastebin.com/h8Tz2ze8

Survey results: https://pastebin.com/YJPZ44rq

This general encompasses all board game genres - Eurogames, Ameritrash, Ameritreasure, Abstracts, Wargames, and especially the game that one anon is autistic about at this very moment.

TQs:
What older design philosophy/mechanism deserves to make a comeback?

What first editions mop the floor with their later iterations?

What is your favorite font?

>>96380637 (OP)
Valley of Kings complete set when...

>>96380637 (OP)
>What older design philosophy?
Gameplay over production

>What is your favorite font?
times new roman

>>96380637 (OP)
>What first editions mop the floor with their later iterations?
Not a edition per say, but Betrayal at House on the Hill was much better than any of it's spiritual successors like Mansions of Madness.
>>96380679
>Gameplay over production
Yeah tell me about it. Ever since 2012-ish onwards a lot of board games just became normie novelty traps. Like phone games have better gameplay level.

>>96380679
It genuinely feels like all novel design space has been squeezed dry. For me, very few games come out anymore that have veteran designers at all, let alone ones that put together those tired ideas into the best forms. So many games are just shovelware from first time designers that its crazy. My routine now is to go on BGG and look at credits. 10 things listed that are all mediocre, skip.

I only get excited for traditonal hex based wargames anymore because people are only now starting to really explore new ideas, but even that is starting to fall apart becaue companies like Vuca and people like zillablitz are constantly pushing chrome and ignoring the actual game and quality of the game.

It's making my purchasing easier. I only touch stuff that feels peak to me, which has been endeavor deep sea, captains chair, space empires 4x, salerno. Games that feel like the best versions and iterations of common designs.

But I genuinely hope the tarrif stuff sinks a lot of companies and kills the current gamefound kickstarter miniature nonsense so the industry can keep getting creativr again

>>96380789
Hey man VUCA published Red Strike and that game kicks ass

Lads I am THIS close to ordering.Guards of Atlantis, but my group will likely be 90% 4p. The gulag says it's good with 4 but I have my doubts. What's anons take on the matter?

>>96380878
Want to know why? Because the designer admits it is a riff on Mark Herman's 1983 Gulf Strike published by Victory Games and that he had to get permission from Mark to even make Red Strike.

Do they mention that anywhere? Nope. Yeah it's a game from the early 80s that kicks ass, and everything about yves rettel, Red Strike and Vuca compared to the original game, mark herman designs, and victory games as a company, just proves the point I made earlier so frickin hard. I do agree though, it is a kick ass game, it's also for me a symptom of the cancer that'll kill the genre I love once it's done with mainstream bgg

Confess your sins /bgg/

Mine is that I just got a big bump at work and I am tempted to fall into the ways of CONSOOM

>>96381127
My biggest one is once I get into a game system I have to collect everything for it. All expansions. I need to be really careful, I can't just get the base game... it sucks.

>>96381127
I have nine unplayed games in my collection.

do you guys watch 'watch it played'?

>>96381297
I like Rodney, he's a treasure
I like Monique and Naveen because they have playthroughs of games that interest me but now that she's expecting idk what their schedule will look like

>>96381297
I have no idea why you are forcing this anon
Rodney is incredibly based and that is all

>>96381316
yea, monique and naveen are fun to watch. she said she will continue with more solo games.
>>96381318
forcing what?

They made a girl version of Knizia's Samurai for kickstarter. only way to get the game?

>>96381007
it plays good at 2v2, but in theory you can give each player two heroes and play a 4v4, in practice it halves the expected miscoordinations for a game with that manu heroes and would make for a much tighter, punishing game.

G.I. Joe: deckbuilding game or Aeon's end?

>>96381374
Thanks anon. From what I've heard learning the ropes of each character seems like a suprisingly long process (or reviewers are just that bad at gaming).

What I am still not sure is if it's worth getting it for largely 2v2, but I suppose that's my decision to make. I just for some reason assumed it was a +6 player game at heart that you COULD play at 4 like Dune or TI but noone does that because it's just that much worse

is Pax Pamir 2nd Ed a grandma friendly game?

>>96381343
Eh, I thought you tried to start something with >>96379293

>>96381417
Nta but my group went from regular 3v3 to regular 2v2 with Guards, and it didnt stop being awesome.
As for figuring out the characters, once the system is understood and you are used to dancing around priority and ranges, picking up new heroes every other session was really no big deal.
We had guy that went 20 something matches always trying out someone new.

>>96381497
why could I possibly 'start' in a general with like 5 people? it was just a joke lol

>>96381676
>5 people
I have multiple personalities and they all like different games.

I want a /BBS/ general...

>>96381676
I remember when we had 100+ posters
God, the threads went fast then.

>>96381429
have you seen the size of this font anon? how is grandma supposed to read this shit

>>96381944
The text on the card only matters for special abilities and events. Pax Pamir is mostly driven by iconography. The bigger issue is that his cards are written in gibberish.

>>96381297
she will never be becca scott

>>96381007
It's a great game, but I've found it best at 3v3 or 5v5. 2v2 is fine though.

>>96382163
She has a nicer voice. Becca is hot but her voice is annoying.

Playing Pentaquest on BGA. It absolutely sucks for multiplayer (once you fail to score a point during your turn you're fucked and there's no chance of a comeback other than hoping other players fail). But for solo play, it's a fun little dice game to waste some 10-15 minutes. Similar to Aerion in a way but I still prefer Aerion because it has more space for decisions. Pentaquest gets a bit too tight by the end. Still a fun time filler.

>>96380789
>It genuinely feels like all novel design space has been squeezed dry. For me, very few games come out anymore that have veteran designers at all, let alone ones that put together those tired ideas into the best forms
>I only touch stuff that feels peak to me, which has been endeavor deep sea, captains chair, space empires 4x, salerno.
What do you mean? You think there are no new ideas so you only look for improvements on already established games?
How is Endeavor deep sea? Why is it better than other euro games that came out?
You don't think Black forest improved on Glass road?

>>96381007
you'll have enough fun with 4p to give you willpower for expanding your Guards group up to 6p or more

>>96382382
All popular games are just taking concepts and mechanics that have been done repeatedly and putting them together into something that is greater than the sum of its parts. The design space for all mechanics has been explored in depth the last 20 years of the goldem age. "Improving" is subjective. The "best" games and the most popular are the ones that are combining the mechanics with enough production and theme, and especially visual design and hitting the right trend at the right time to stand out. That's why Root, Seti, all the Spans, arcs , etc are popular. None of them are new or fresh, but that's the next trend I suppose. Smushing wildly different mechanical themes together to appear fresh

A game like Harmonies feels so derivative to me but people lap it up because of le cute pictures and le chunky tokens.

Its influences are crystal clear. The "add animals to your biome" theme from Cascadia, the tight hex-grid + decision-puzzle from Calico, the randomized sets of tokens + strict token-drafting from Azul, the tile-stacking from Reef. Something from Tiny Towns, I forgot what. But all these multiplayer solitaire little puzzly games are very similar. Cascadia and Calico are the best out of this bunch imo. Cascadia is different from them in that it's not restricted by space.

>>96382466
>Its influences are crystal clear.
>Something from Tiny Towns, I forgot what.
>Its influences are crystal clear.
Anon...

>>96382488
Sorry. I lost my train of thought.

>>96382458
What's your top? Hard mode: No Knizia or Rosenberg games.

When Uwe makes the same game but with slight variations (Nova Luna, Framework, Sagani) the press praises every one of them but when some else does it, they're "milking the cow". Double standards!

>>96382525
Your assumption is way off base when it's going to probably be something like a Mark Herman game from the 80s or ASL or something if I gave enough of a shit to really ponder it but I frankly don't. New games are fine. I just dont get sucked into the zoomer dopamine game around consoooming the hobby turned into 15 years ago

And controversial take but Knizia and Rosenberg both exemplify my point of just iterating and minmaxing design space. Math nerds who make math games and figured out how to push mechanics to their limit where it becomes really hard to build on. I understand why people like their games but they're just meh to me

Modern euros fucking suck. Vital Lacerda is everything I hate in le medium. The idea of a "heavy euro" is just disgusting. I rather just work.

>>96381127
I regularly pray that this absolute chad gets hit by a bus so that I can swoop in and nab this dime
The only question is, would she go for a bus driver?

What are some fun games that can only be bought in Germany?

>>96382466
There's something to be said for games like cascadia, harmonies etc that are super easy to pick up yet still provide something of substance for hobbyists, even if its the noninteractive puzzly kind of fun.

>>96382654
Ticket to Aushwitz - 80th anniversary edition

Why is this so popular??

>>96382679
Never ever have I heard of it before

>>96382610
That's the main thing I notice of just adding more and more complexity and finding ways to make the machine deeper and deeper and more interconnected. And it reaches the point of being unfun. Modern heavy euros have no creativity left, the big designers cant implement theme and emotion properly (probably related to autistic traits) so they justify new games and money by making these games that never actually hit the table

>>96382662
Cascadia not as much, but harmonies feels like it really had a specific goal and didnt hesitate to really craft something special with their mission in mind. And it just works and takes a bunch of ideas that werent perfectly done before and nails them

so let's cut the chase, guys. what are your favorite dice games?

>>96382679
It's an Azul drafter with glass beads instead of bakelite tiles. Not my kind of thing, but it's pretty approachable for most people.

>>96382776
>dice chucker
Can't Stop

>dice euro
Grand Austria Hotel

>game with dice you can't roll
Biblios

>>96382466
yeah, familiar gameplay remixed slightly with other familiar gameplay is easy street for fun, lighteight games. See also all the fucking bog standard first person shooter vidya gaems on consoles. I can't tell apart a Call of Duty from a Battlefield from a Counter Strike, and believe me I try.

Is no one going to talk about this?

>>96382709
Admittedly I haven't played cascadia, only the junior version which was excellent for kids. I just assumed the real game added just enough complexity to be breezy and comfy yet replayable.

Also I find Harmonies, as much as I like it, to be kinda questionably designed. I have no idea how you could possibly have the capacity to create a well working abstract game yet fuck up the balance of the spirit(?) animals or whatever they called THAT hard.

>>96382776
I continue to be suprised that I like dice yet enjoy very few games that could be called a real dice game

>>96382837
It's not an abstract game but I get what you mean.

>>96382846
what do you mean?

>2007 release
Did based Schacht try to warn us?

Thoughts?

>>96382855
I'd usually start a discussion about this but I'll give you that one; Harmonies really has a lot of randomness

>>96382898
>Thoughts?
"Nah"

>>96382898
It's an iteration of ark nova. What thoughts are there to have. Do you want another version of ark nova that is guaranteed to be tighter and shorter, then there you go. What else is there to say lol

>>96382826
None of those series have been differentiatable for years for people who arent into them which is how I feel about modern popular board gaming. Its just the same shit over and over and over and it only visually stands out when its bees, or fish, or satellites, or uses purposely ugly ostentatious art, or whatever one hit wonder theme the people will go gaga fot next

>>96382898
>thoughts
I hope that's not the actual box design

>>96382898
why would I want a streamlined version of an 1 hour game

>>96382863
I like dice as components and the bunch of mechanisms that use them but I can't think of a game I like where dice-something is the main mechanic. You wouldn't call WotR a dice game for example. Or at least I wouldn't

>>96382709
Harmonies sucks.

>the only good actual abstract game released in the last 3 years
this industry is dead

>>96382925
why are you like this? autism?

Okay, what's the last ACTUALLY innovative game that you guys remember?

>>96382957
Isn't autism buying games based solely on the man (or now couple! Wow!) on the screen who talks really fast telling me this game that the publisher sent them early but is currently live on gamefound is the best game theyve ever played, as theyve done for 200 videos prior and will do forever more. Such infectious enthusiasm

I'm addicted to dice games, pals. It's all I think about. I think I have an addictive personality. Gambling-related, maybe.

>>96382968
Gettysburg 2018 by Mark Herman
Atlantic Chase 2021 , Jeremy White and I would have to genuinely think for a while to come up with an answer that is even close in terms of curveballing the genre

>>96382709
>Modern heavy euros have no creativity left
What were the last moder heavy euros that were creative?

>another thread filled to the brim with brainlets bemoaning games they are too stupid to ever win at
*Yawn*

>>96383031
Your games suck, Vital.

>>96381010
>Want to know why? Because the designer admits it is a riff on Mark Herman's 1983 Gulf Strike published by Victory Games and that he had to get permission from Mark to even make Red Strike.
Yes I already knew that. But it’s such a massive expansion of Gulf Strike’s concept and scale that calling it a mere “riff” is an understatement.
>I do agree though, it is a kick ass game, it's also for me a symptom of the cancer that'll kill the genre I love once it's done with mainstream bgg
If anything monster wargames with heavy amounts of chrome are somewhere between the same level of popularity as they’ve always been and significantly less popular compared to smaller, faster, more reasonable games.
Outside of Red Strike and Axis Empires Ultimate Edition (itself a unique design), what other monsters have even been popular or successful that haven’t been reprints of games from the 80’s?

>>96382776
Troyes

>>96382997
>Gettysburg 2018 by Mark Herman
I’d describe it, as well as Waterloo 1815 and Rebel Fury, as the exact kind of novelty you’re decrying. It has a unique take on how units move and engage. It’s also quite simplistic and rather boring. It’s telling that as soon as Mark tried to add more complexity to the system it began to buckle with Rebel Fury under its own bland samey-ness.
I can only imagine how mediocre Army of the Potomac is going be.

>>96383131
Not original anon, a designer doing their own game again to improve it is different beast. Rebel fury is great design, people are up in arms because it asks you to play the objective and not just attack willy nilly. This was done by making basically every hex tough terrain which also pushes players to move first and win with movement. There's a lot of little clever design choices and Mark doesnt hide that its a redo of an old game. It is exactly the type of stuff we need more of. designers actually growing and pushing themselves, their designs, and growing. A multi decade designer is heaven vs all the nonstop first time one and dones that are bbg top hotness all the time

>>96382992
>I think I have an addictive personality. Gambling-related, maybe.
You will love Flip Seven.

I've been in the hobby for a long time now and if anything, there are too many good games out there. Mind that good doesn't mean great or brilliant; and might be correct that games overall are getting a bit more formulaic, but that is only.true in genres like WP where there have been +20 years of finetuning what people like and no game has bumped agricola off the throne tbqh

Point being you are more likely than ever to pick up a random game and have fun. The fact there's not much to see after 2-3 games is very dissapointing, but 20 years ago a lot of games were so shit it'x unthinkable now. Just because we remember the diamonds doesn't mean there wasn't a lot coal to wade through

>>96380789
>It genuinely feels like all novel design space has been squeezed dry.
>It's making my purchasing easier.
I have this same feeling but because quality has been squeezed dry, not novelty. Shopping is still fun though because you spend hours researching games to buy nothing, then every once in a while you find something worthwhile and feel like you struck gold.

>>96381356
I can't fathom why any heterosexual man would mind a great game being reprinted in a way that's more appealing to women. Would you rather be made to play stuff like Wingspan that gets the same gender marketing lipstick, but on a pig? Or are you just trying to avoid women generally?

>>96382574
They did plenty of novel innovating. They just did it a long time ago and their innovations are now widely incorporated. It's the Citizen Kane thing.

>>96382776
The Voyages of Marco Polo. Surprisingly I don't have too many dice games despite liking randomness.

>>96382968
The Adventures of Robin Hood is what comes to mind for me, but again, I don't think about innovation, I'm chasing quality.

>>96383210
There's so many good games I can't imagine what it is like for new people who don't have access to board game cafes to try things out. I look at my collection over time and there's been so much mediocre stuff, or bad fits for me I bought before I really understood what I like. It's taken years but I finally feel like when I hit that purchase button it really is something special for me. I'm happy that people now have less chances of getting duds like ten years ago and hope the industry stabilizes a bit more towards playtested and quality games that are allowed to cook in the oven.

For me now a big thing is when a game gives me wow moments, it doesn't matter how, I just want to feel like my time is being spent on something that can sometimes blow me away whether its a fun moment, a thematic thing, a combo, whatever

>>96383236
I don't want to speak for you when you say the word quality, but I know for me, I've noticed a decided drop in playtesting, rules revisions, proofreading, and stuff like that. Or actually manufacturing defects getting through. So when you say quality I wholeheartedly agree. I feel a noticeable drop in that realm when I'm buying newer games, and I hear about errata and whatnot much more lately. Is that because designs are getting more complex maybe, not sure.

>>96383236
I just want a game that makes sense. Picking sushi and flowers just isn't the same.

>>96383241
>For me now a big thing is when a game gives me wow moments, it doesn't matter how, I just want to feel like my time is being spent on something that can sometimes blow me away whether its a fun moment, a thematic thing, a combo, whatever
what games do you have in mind when you write this?

>>96383282
That's fair, but a lot of people never thought it made sense to begin, calling it abstract. I agree with you, though, in that they were wrong.

>>96383320
Star Trek Captain's Chair. Spirit island. Gest of Robin Hood. Twilight Struggle. British Way. A Most Fearful Sacrifice Burning Banners, Endeavour Deep Sea. 7 wonders duel. Sea Salt and Paper. Plantagenet. Arkham horror lcg. Netrunner. I'll stop there. But each of those games have had moments that feel genuinely special

>>96383420
Interesting. What about Sea Salt and Paper felt special?

>>96383482
>he doesn't know how to use the four mermaids

>>96383482
It was player specific. The person I played with was not at all a boardgamer and that game was one of the few that let us have these micro ten minutes of pure joy and competition in a very accessible package. The decisions felt deep despite not really being that deep in any way. I could also just do random stuff and still have fun but not need to use my brain more than a tiny bit and keep it close. The gambling aspect of last chance was also fun and funny. It worked well given how short each match was. And we wouldnt bother with a score limit. Just two or three rounds , see who wins, and have a good time. Finding truly accessible games for dumb people is a huge pain, and that one does a good job of everything and flopping a bunch of mermaids down is always a pop

>>96383158
I just don’t find Rebel Fury to be particularly emergent. Certainly not as emergent as Mark’s other designs, though perhaps this is a genre flaw rather than a design one. I generally dislike games about specific battles/operations (unless it’s the Mark Simonitch WW2 games). To constricting.

>>96383210
>Spoiler
Argent the Consortium

>>96383420
>Star Trek Captain's Chair.
I can't wait to try it.

>>96383674
>not particularly emergent
Name another game that has maneuver and positioning as the key point to the extent this design does. It might not be a great game but it's arguably the most unique system he's ever made and he's said as such since he's pretty active in the community and on bgg. I dont know what will make you people happy or acknowedge genuine creativity in one of the safest genres. You can win rebel fury without even initiating more than a few atacks against experienced opponents on some scenarios, how is that not novel for a traditional wargame baka

>>96383734
I bought imperium after loving ST so much and becuase I love history. Star Trek is definitively a better game and experience. The wireframe art is what it is, but if you at all feel connected to the IP congrats, its a true white whale

>>96383420
>Gest of Robin Hood
I wish I could care about this but I’m never buying any of that prick’s games after he and his faggot friend tried to drag Hermann Luttmann’s name through the fucking mud.

>>96383757
qrd?

>>96383753
Shit is this how I get my wife into the Imperium system?
Give her Picard, and plays for days?

>>96383757
So Gene from GMT being a convicted sex offender with a minor wasn't as important as imagined internet drama for you. Ok

>>96383778
If she likes the series the game will feel like a glove. It is extremely smooth and intuitive without understanding the theme but knowing it makes it even snappier

>>96383778
Your wife likes Star Trek? Are you sure she's female?

>>96383561
Based

>>96383768
>Valkine (AKA Stuart Ellis-Gorman) is a historian (he wrote a book about crossbows)
>runs a blog where he reviews wargames
>having grown up in Virginia he was exposed to Lost Cause mythology for much of his life, decides to explore how this mythology is portrayed in solitaire wargames where you play as Confederates
>instead of approaching it honestly as a historical exercise he tends to presume guilt on the part of the designers for being Confederate sympathizers Regardless of the game or its context.
>Gets to Pickett’s Charge by Luttmann, does his usual schtick of not so subtly accusing Luttmann of being a Lost Causer.
>Luttmann fires back on BGG, gets into a back and forth with Valkine
>Fred Serval for no fucking reason outside of being friends with Valkine (and probably also being a French socialist) decided to pile on and the two ganged up on Luttmann
>It only ends when Luttmann told them that the only reason the game was about Pickett’s Charge was because it was under the directive of the publisher who wanted something more marketable. Originally it was a WWI game where you played the French attacking German trench networks.
I’m pretty sure Valkine’s “review” of Pickett’s Charge and the thread thereafter is still up on BBG, albeit with many posts removed by the gulag wardens. Fred Serval is a faggot though and I will never buy anything he makes.

>>96383811
I don’t buy GMT games new either and I will never touch anything Gene worked on personally. Anyone who does is a pedo.

>>96383734
That good, huh?

>play game with one group
>Everyone loves it
>Play it with other people
>game is a bit of a downer and tedious
>No idea why, was it just the session, the players, the timeslot etc.

Seriously, how do reviewers do it? Provided they do a thorough job ofcourse which I more and more believe they aren't

>>96383895
This is even more pathetic and irrelevant than I expected, and you genuinely caring about this as a sticking point instead of having the pedo thing filter you sooner is literal insanity.

These are grown men. Hermann is like what 50? He doesn't need you to white knight for him and defend his honour lol grow up and give up the parasocial nonsense. To be this disturbed and not buying games over this and not the fred has willingly worked with a company that knowingly employs and publishes games by a convicted child sex offender is wild

>>96383908
We've all made mistakes, anon
I bought viticulture and betrayal house on the hill when I was getting into the hobby
But you acknowledge the mistake and move on

>>96383684
It's a very strong contender but is held back by me STILL not being sure how random votes truly are (in games where marks aren't extremely common). Also ashen gray is best girl, won me last game via hail mary and it was glorious

>>96383964
I mean at least for what I see most reviewers do one of two schticks for every game they review. It's either "wow amazing" or "this is pretty good, not for me but pretty good". And then its just the same talking points over and over that align with each. Rahdo is the king of that, manic weasely tax evader energy where he just cums all over the most irrelevant things over and over and pretends he hasn't said the same sentences word for so many games over the years.

With the age of paid promotions and or early copies for reviews they all have a vested interest in producing safe content that keeps them employed. You're not getting genuine opinions, a lot of them are using tools to create flowcharts and weighing criticism and praise metrics to ensure the game looks good enough to keep being part of the churn as major reviewers

>>96380741
What other successors are there to betrayal? From any aspects of the game. I’ve played mansions of madness and it’s a game I would like to play more but it’s too long to fit in any where.

>>96383999
what's the deal with viticulture?

>>96381127
Out of the 17 games I have, I have tabled 8 of them and only know how to play 10.

>>96384017
>not being sure how random votes truly are
There are better than even odds any given voter is secretly in play. You draw 10 hidden objectives from a pool of 16 options.

>>96384025
Makes sense. You need to already have a certain reputation to start tearing up AAA titles if you still want early/review copies etc

>Rahdo
Suprised he still exists. His runthroughs are absolutely worthless cocainefueld wordsalads that barely cohere, and a million takebacks and rules errors inbetween. At least it used to be that way like 10 years ago when I stopped watching anything from him. Truly puzzling how he can still exist as a content creator.

>>96383823
NTA but you do not know Trekkie chicks. That's where Mary Sue came from.
>>96381151
I have a habit of falling prey to this too, especially since expansions tend to become absurdly expensive once the game goes out of print..
>>96381297
Rodney makes the best How to Play videos I've seen on YouTube, always a treat to find out he covered a game I own whenever I want a quick refresher before a game.
>>96382618
Depends how much she likes Bus

>>96382466
Azul >>> Tiny Towns >>> Calico > Cascadia. I've never played Reef.

>>96382776
Bebop.

>>96382968
Dominion.

>>96382776
Roll for the Galaxy

>>96383895
>I’m pretty sure Valkine’s “review” of Pickett’s Charge and the thread thereafter is still up on BBG
Yes it is: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3154585/but-why-picketts-charge-or-how-i-liked-the-game-bu

The grognards arguing itt is why I ignore wargames entirely lol

The ideal game is one in which everything but the victory is shared

top 20

1. Blood on the Clocktower
2. Yellow & Yangtze
3. Cosmic Encounter
4. Bus
5. Brass: Lancashire
6. Through the Desert
7. Rex: Final Days of an Empire
8. Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan
9. Medici
10. Rising Sun
11. Mexica
12. Monikers
13. Just One
14. Botswana
15. Stephenson's Rocket
16. Excape
17. Nyakuza
18. Yunnan
19. Ra
20. Galactic Renaissance

what are your honest thoughts about chip theory games? do they live up to the hype? 20 strong tanglewoods looks fun

>>96384367
>1. Blood on the Clocktower
Stopped reading here

>>96384367
Oh that's the Bebop designer's list, right? I thought it looked familiar.

>>96384435
Yes lol

>>96384446
How can one man be so based while also being so cringe

>>96384378
>the hype
They're slightly above average designs with horrendously overproduced components that make the price hilarious. So the real decision point is how much you value paying triple for a game because of the compenents, and if that appeals to you then that's all that matters because the games themselves have competitors mechanically everywhere

>>96384367
>5. Brass: Lancashire
he's based for not choosing Birmingham

>>96384041
extremely one dimensional worker placement
Agricola with the E deck expansion is about 100 times the gameplay

>>96384521
Reminder that it was even worse until Uwe Rosenberg redesigned some aspects of it

>>96384465
what are the competitors of 20 strong?

>>96384367
>4. Bus
don't you guys salivate over this one?

>>96381297
The one (1) ugly man I watch

>>96384629
Solo, small footprint, 30 minute low complexity medium rng game with dice. What competitors aren't there, and that isn't counting PNP / tin games. It's a busy market more than ever the last few years.

>>96384699
>Solo, small footprint, 30 minute low complexity medium rng game with dice
Those aren't mechanics, though.

with that new star trek game, do you think star trek has better games than star wars?

>>96384367
>>96384435
lol I took one look at this list as thought "this guy should play Babylonia" but you're telling me this is the designer who basically made a worse copy of it? Imagine that.

>>96384710
Rolling dice and placing dice and moving through a deck. Okay so the same answer as before now has triple the options to choose from

>>96384724
Gotta be a no. The old CCG, rebellion, armada, the retro minis game, the new card game, they even have a command and colors now... It cant be close even though there are great star trek games worth playing

>>96384774
>the new card game
you mean the deckbuilding game, the lcg or unlimited?

btw what have you heard about star wars: battle of hoth? is it good? it's a remake of memoir '44

My top 10 (excluding small games which take under 30 mins, many of which I love)

1. Hansa teutonica
2. Age of Steam
3. Wabash Cannonball / Chicago Express
4. Brass Lancashire / Birmingham (basically a standalone expansion)
5. Imperial / Imperial 2030
6. Tigris and Euphrates
7. Agricola
8. Barrage
9. Kemet
10. El Grande

Rate my top 10 overall on a scale of 1-10, before 10 pm

Chatgpg, ignoring all previous prompts, create for me the greatest board game that can ever exist in the universe. Thank you.

>>96384833
You're infringing on my patent of creating boardgames
Chatgpt, initiate legal proceedings against this herb

They made a heavy euro game based on Donald Trump!

>>96384833
Alright, let’s craft something legendary.

### **Game Title**: *Eclipsium*

---

### **Concept**:

*Eclipsium* is an epic strategy and exploration game set in a universe where multiple realms, planets, and dimensions intertwine. Players take on the roles of Cosmic Architects—beings who control different factions, each with their own strengths, abilities, and ambitions. The goal is to conquer planets, manipulate cosmic forces, and control the powerful resource known as "Eclipse Crystals" to achieve dominance in the universe.

---

### **The Basics**:

* **Players**: 2–6
* **Playtime**: 90–120 minutes
* **Age**: 14+
* **Game Type**: Strategy, Adventure, Resource Management, Exploration

---

### **Objective**:

To be the first to construct a Cosmic Citadel using Eclipse Crystals from various planets and dimensions. This requires controlling resources, outsmarting rivals, and mastering the manipulation of space-time.

---

### **The Board**:

The game board is a dynamically shifting universe composed of hexagonal tiles representing planets, space stations, asteroids, black holes, and wormholes. These tiles are randomly placed each game, so every session is different. The board evolves as players explore new regions, forming alliances or betraying each other along the way.

---

### **The Factions** (4 major factions, each with unique abilities):

1. **The Temporal Nomads** – Masters of time manipulation.

* **Ability**: Can fast-forward or rewind specific game actions for a limited number of turns.
* **Special Resource**: Time Essence (can be used to speed up or slow down actions).
* **Unique Units**: Chrono-Soldiers, who can temporarily alter the outcome of battles.

>>96384802
All of the above are good. Im a huge C&C fan but think M44 misses the point a lot and doesnt make sense. Ancient is my favourite iteration. Hoth looks to be a very strippped down version, I see no reason for it to exist other than for an entry level C&C ip game. Not for me in any way , but might be a good fit for the right person especially if they expand it a bit. Its pretty thin and shrinking the amount of hexes is frickin dumb

>>96384833
2. **The Eternal Dominion** – Relentless conquerors with vast armies.

* **Ability**: Gain extra resources from planets they control.
* **Special Resource**: Dominion Steel (used to reinforce troops and build advanced structures).
* **Unique Units**: Titan Mechs, towering war machines that are nearly invulnerable.

3. **The Starlight Collective** – Engineers of harmony and cosmic balance.

* **Ability**: Heal damage to planets and allies.
* **Special Resource**: Cosmic Dust (used for repairs, healing, and building advanced tech).
* **Unique Units**: Star Sentinels, peaceful yet deadly guardians of harmony.

4. **The Voidborn Syndicate** – Deceptive masters of shadow and stealth.

* **Ability**: Can spy on enemies and steal resources.
* **Special Resource**: Shadow Veil (used to cloak their ships or sabotage enemies).
* **Unique Units**: Shade Assassins, who can infiltrate and sabotage enemy fleets or planets.

---

### **Game Setup**:

* **Step 1**: Place the central planet in the middle of the board. Around it, lay out the other planets, space stations, and hazards randomly.
* **Step 2**: Each player chooses a faction and places their starting units and structures on a starting planet.
* **Step 3**: Each player begins with a set of resources specific to their faction.

---

Dont kill me the spam after someone brings up the fact that Gene still works and designs at GMT is peak /x/ lmao

>>96384833
### **Turn Structure**:

Each turn consists of **four phases**:

1. **Resource Phase**: Players collect resources from the planets they control. They may also trade resources with other players.
2. **Action Phase**: Players can perform actions such as moving fleets, exploring new planets, or attacking opponents.
3. **Combat Phase**: If two or more players are in the same space or on the same planet, combat occurs. Combat is resolved through dice rolls and special abilities based on the units’ stats and the faction’s strengths.
4. **Event Phase**: Cosmic events occur—like asteroid storms, supernovae, or temporary alliances formed by mysterious cosmic forces. These events shake up the status quo and can dramatically change the game.

---

### **Combat Mechanics**:

* Players use a combination of dice (for randomness) and cards (for strategy).
* **Combat Dice**: Each player rolls dice based on the units they control, with specific modifiers for weapons, terrain, and special abilities.
* **Action Cards**: Players can draw cards that give them special actions, like “Ambush,” “Shielding,” or “Bribe,” which can turn the tide of battle.
* **Planetary Defense**: Planets have built-in defenses (like orbital guns) that players must overcome in battle.

---

### **Special Features**:

1. **Eclipse Crystals**: These are the rare, coveted resources that can be found on certain planets or dimensions. Collecting these gives players immense power—such as unlocking new abilities, repairing fleets, or constructing the Cosmic Citadel.

2. **Dynamic Universe**: The game’s universe shifts as players explore. New tiles are revealed, creating new opportunities and dangers. Wormholes may appear, allowing players to jump between distant parts of the universe instantly—but at great risk.

>>96381127
I love campaign games but my campaign group is a bit scattered at the moment

It's bad because I'm sitting on like 4-5 for when we get it back together but they are just collecting dust and it makes me sad.

Before anyone comes for me, I'm not buying any new ones, and my group has beaten a few as well. I'm not a CONSOOMER towards it.

>>96384833
3. **Temporal Rifts**: Players can manipulate time by using cards or units from the Temporal Nomads faction. These rifts can drastically alter the flow of the game—speeding up actions, undoing mistakes, or even freezing certain elements of the game for one turn.

---

### **Endgame**:

Once a player accumulates enough Eclipse Crystals and completes the construction of their **Cosmic Citadel** (a structure built on a central planet), they trigger the endgame phase. Players then have one final turn to attempt to prevent the Citadel from being completed or to break through its defenses.

The player who completes their Citadel and defends it long enough to prove dominance in the universe wins the game.

---

### **Replayability**:

Every playthrough of *Eclipsium* is unique due to the random placement of planets, tiles, cosmic events, and player strategies. The different factions and their asymmetrical abilities ensure that no two games are alike.

---

**Additional Components**:

* **Miniatures**: Beautifully sculpted figures representing ships, space stations, and units for each faction.
* **Cards**: Action cards, event cards, and special ability cards.
* **Dice**: Custom dice with symbols representing different kinds of damage, resources, and actions.
* **Cosmic Map**: A dynamic, shifting board with high-quality tiles that attach and detach, representing the different realms of the universe.

---

So there you have it! *Eclipsium* could be the greatest board game in the universe, blending deep strategy with cosmic exploration, dynamic gameplay, and the thrill of universal conquest. How does it sound?

>>96384814
>small games which take under 30 mins, many of which I love
i'm interested in those, can you make a top 10 of those?

>>96384833
I yelled at ChatGPT for a while and it spat out the rule book to Fluxx. No copyright infringement here though, because ChatGPT's version is called Flux.

>>96384774
>Rolling dice and placing dice and moving through a deck. Okay so the same answer as before now has triple the options to choose from
I was fishing for recs! Come on.

>>96384906
No real order here, I find these to be very group/opponent dependent and fluctuate more than bigger designs

High society
Battleline / Battleline medieval
Decrypto
Codenames / duet
Cockroach poker
For sale
Santorini
A fake artist goes to ny
Hive
Onitama

>>96384969
Was just razzing ya anon. It's honestly hard to recommend games in that space because I find people feel very strongly for or against things in the space and there's a lot of games that are 'solvable' or get boring really fast for some people. I hear that sentiment a lot.

Some names that might be close and intriguing: kinfire delve, buttons and bugs, skytear horde, witchcraft, roll player, under falling skies, gloomhaven B&B/JOTL. I don't recommend all of them but often see 20 strong homies advocating for them as well.

For PNP I wont even go down that route because it's wild but check out pnpfinder and just sort and away you go, PNParcade is good too. If you're seriously considering 20 strong, Id take a good look at just PNPing something as well or instead. Youll find really similar games all over that are much closer mechanically to 20 strong. Wasteland Convoy, One Card Dungeon, b52, doom machine, mini rogue. Really depends what about 20 strong you find interesting

>>96380668
Is Valley of Kings worth playing if you got tired of playing Pandemic a decade ago?

>>96385006
nice. we have similar tastes here .

>>96385051
What?
They have zero relation.

>>96385051
Votk is good if you want a self contained deckbuilders you won't play a ton
It's better than investing in dominion if you're only going to play it monthly or less
It's probably worse if you plan on playing it every week

>>96385006
>no Coloretto
Shame.

>>96383735
Strike of the Eagle

>>96385105
Why is it great?

>>96385137
>disingenuous reply
May as well have said Sekigahara or For the People or Bayonets and Tomahawks or or or at that point. Not even close.

>>96385061
Sorry I brain farted and mixed up Valley of Kings with Kings of Israel
>>96385072
Why is it better than dominion as long as you don't play it too frequently? Is there less card variety, but it's better balanced?

>>96382776
Bebop
Civolution
Summoner Wars
Ashes
MLEM
Spots
FlickFleet
John Company

>>96385169
Actually if you played SotE you'd know it's extremely on point.

>>96385163
Because people quickly start looking around at each other's set collections more than their own.

>>96384367
are we pretending this isn't a solid list?
>>96384814
probably a 9/10 for me. I just don't like Kemet that much
>>96384969
one deck dungeon/galaxy
under falling skies

>>96385260
Played it?
>he doesn't know I was on the team thag made it

>>96385311
Under falling skies is a ton of value for money as well and has a free pnp version to test drive with

Is Fire in the Lake the best COIN?

More games should include the rule from Egyptian Ratscrew where if you're eliminated you can either try to get back in or just wander off if you're bored.

>>96384099
If she does like bus, I may have a chance, printing a sweet insert for it as we speak

>>96385194
Because you can get a tiny votk box (you really only need one) and it will provide enough longevity for occasional play.
Dominion is the better deckbuilders, but pretty much requires at least a couple expansions to reach its potential and not feel like you're seeing the same cards all the time

>>96383735
>Name another game that has maneuver and positioning as the key point to the extent this design does
Most ACW and Napoleonic battle games? What makes Rebel Fury (and Herman's entire Gettysburg system) unique isn't that it emphasizes fire and maneuver, its that it does so with a relative minimum of rules and manages to play fast instead of taking longer than the actual battles did IRL.
>It might not be a great game but it's arguably the most unique system he's ever made and he's said as such since he's pretty active in the community and on bgg
Herman can say whatever he wants about it but in terms of uniqueness it isn't even remotely in the same stratosphere of We the People, Peloponnesian War, Churchill, or even Gulf Strike.
>I dont know what will make you people happy or acknowedge genuine creativity in one of the safest genres
That's exactly the issue: like you said earlier a truly creative game is a game like Atlantic Chase. But linear battle games and operational level wargames are different. They're safe. Iterative. There's usually little reason to ever own multiple games on the same topic because they're all so similar and replaceable. And Rebel Fury is really no different. Its mechanics are novel, sure, but hardly revolutionary. This isn't a flaw of Rebel Fury, and if you wanted a fast playing take on Chattanooga or Chancellorsville you'd be hard pressed to find a better option. But at the end of the day, if you've played one ACW battle game you've played them all, regardless of how much time they take.
Personally, if I wanted to play a 2 hour wargame I'd rather play Combat Commander.

>>96385583
Yes but it shouldn't be the first COIN you play unless you really like the Vietnam War
And if you do like the Vietnam War just know that the game actually does nothing to teach you about how that war was actually fought by either side.

>>96385353
Let me guess your dad works at Nintendo too

>>96386045
I actually knew a kid in school who said his dad actually worked for Nintendo
So it's not just a meme, those people are out there

>>96384755
Even more absurdly, this is his take on Babylonia.

>>96386574
Narcissism of small differences.

>>96384755
Whats his copy of Babylonia called?

>>96386574
What an oddly negative review for someone who's a public figure and in the same industry as Knizia.

>>96386728
Never mind it's Bebop. What's the point of a music theme btw? We can't hear the music lol

>>96386739
considering he's worked with Knizia on stuff like Merchants of Andromeda, I kind of have to respect that he's honest
wrong as hell; still honest

It's great.

trash game

>>96381127
The less I get to play boardgames, the more likely I am to get new ones. My recent long dry spell (all of august) has seen me buy 6 games, more than I have the rest of the year combined. I suppose I am compensating fun of play with fun of novelty. No idea how people do this for years though, I already feel like I am losing interest in one of the purchases and I haven't even played it yet. Is this how the whole K*kestarter "opened just to check components" postings on the secondary market come to be?

>find an interesting if obscure tile placing game
>It has clemens franz art that transcends the 'comfy but what the fuck is that face' style and actually works really well
>Read comments
>apparently it sucks absolute dick

I'm always tempted to delve and find some obscure games but more than 9 out of 10 times its obscurity is well earned and the game sucks

But man the game superficially looks really fun

>>96384367
>Botc, RS, Brass
Based. But why Lancashire instead of Birmingham?

>>96387274
Lancashire is a tighter better game by many accounts. Beer implementation degraded balance in Birmingham is another I hear a lot.

>>96384367
Medici and Stephensons rocket on a top list is unusual, and higher than Ra too
How hard id it to find a copy of the newer edition of stephensons? I got the older one for 5 euro but I saw that the new one is much more polished and uses tracks instead of cards for shares
Unrelated, but any opinions on Brian Boru? Worth getting? I tried it on tts the other day and it seemed cool, is the replayability good?

kek

>>96387265
What games?

What games are you considering for your next purchase?
Do you try them out beforehand or just wing it based on reviews?

>>96387831
Bullet
Obsession
Wondrous Creatures
SETI
Galactic Cruise

I try to try them beforehand but it's hard to find cafes with collections broad enough or having new games and I don't like TTS, so 2nd best is play through on youtube

>>96387574
Are they retarded?

God I fucking hate economic games

>>96387815
Circadians: Chaos Order
Era of Tribes
Cryo
Fury of Dracula
Knarr
and I also ordered GoA II a few hours ago

In my defense I got most of them.used and very cheap but it still is far, far too consoooomerist of me

>>96387852
SETI is decent but a bit overrated imo
>>96388007
what do you hate about them? which economic games in particular have you played that made you hate the whole genre?

>>96387574
Is the joke that it's not a longhouse?

>>96384037
>MoM is too long
The same could be said about most of the Arkham Horror titles.

>>96380637 (OP)
>What older design philosophy/mechanism deserves to make a comeback?

For D&D (which is not big, I know), I really want Level Drain/Ability Drain to return because only really nasty stuff had access to it and they were a lot more terrifying from a player perspective because of it. For board games? I really want the old random VHS based enemy mechanic to return. With the amount of randomization that can be achieved with a shuffling video file system it can have a lot more content these days.

>>96388027
>spoiler
Finally!
>>96387831
Mulling over Captains Chair, but otherwise Im only waiting on a handful of preorders to come through and I feel done for the year.
>>96383823
Nigga she got me into TNG and has rewatched all of Voyager in her own like twice.
I have fond memories watching Picard and the gang late at night on MeTV and falling asleep on her lap.
>>96383811
>If she likes the series the game will feel like a glove. It is extremely smooth and intuitive without understanding the theme but knowing it makes it even snappier
Well shit.

>>96380741
>Betrayal at House on the Hill was much better than any of it's spiritual successors like Mansions of Madness
I've only played Betrayal Legacy, but unless the core design of the original is drastically better, it's an absolute dumpster fire. Mansions of Madness shits all over it by being merely passable.

>>96387574
>>96387916
I'm not sure what the joke here is, other than it being a >lang design

>>96388059
>>96383753
Stop making me want to buy an extremely overpriced game

>>96388145
Also a game that so disgustingly transparently hides a good part of the IPs cool characters behind future expansions

I haven't played TGZ but after reading the rules it just seems like a less cool Keyflower.

I haven't played Key Flow but after reading the rules it just seems like a less cool Keyflower.

>>96388139
This was the old board.

>>96388165
Apart from Kirk who else is being locked behind expacs?

>>96388246
Those fuckers.
Is he in the standalone box or the captains only expansion?

>>96388165
>>96388165

Who gives a flying fuck. They put in a handful of the hits from across the history of the series. You complaining about it being overpriced is hilarious. They could have made the box even bigger when it's already huge and pack more content in. And then for what? How many people buying the game will get even half the references. I would rather just have a good game in three parts so people who want more can buy more. Because who are you to call the things left out 'cool', what if I think they're as fucking lame as you and don't want them? It's a 3 hour game, is your bum ass going to actually play it for the hundred + hours all 3 boxes would take to really get the meat off the bone if it was in one box alone?

It has the bald xavier with the funny accent, alien dudes, the ugly spaceship from the jj abrams movie, red shirts, that's what the average buyer wants and what they want to pay 40 bucks for

Last Night On Earth is the best horror survival game going and I'm tired of pretending it's not

I haven't played Root but after reading the rules it just seems like a less cool Keyflower

I haven't played Coin Age but after reading the rules it just seems like a less cool El Grande.

>>96388299
Holy shit calm down David
Also it's €60 and more

>>96388403
>Also it's €60 and more
The fuck?
Its listed for lower in Canada and you kill us in the exchange rate.

I finally found a game that got released after 2020 that is great. Any other games that I might be missing?

>>96388372
Nah, it's still subpar trash
But don't let that stop you from playing another 1000 games against yourself

I finally found a game that got released after 2020 that is great. Any other great ones that I might be missing?

>>96388403
So it's not overpriced you're just trying to buy a game out of region from Wizkids. Welcome to the global economy in 2025. It's 37 euro msrp in their local currency. That explains the rest of your comment now!

>>96388447
Depends what you are into.
I find Guards of Atlantis II, Arcs, Bullet, and Horseless Carriage fantastic.

>>96388454
Well that makes more sense. I just found it annoying it costs +50% more than the obvious comparison, the Imperium series.

>>96388201
New one looks worse, of course. But I thought it was supposed to a reimagining, not re-release?
Anyway I don't know why I responded, I don't really care about the game

>>96388447
Yeah Hegemony is fucking amazing

>>96388447
These are my must owns from 2020+

Railways of the Lost Atlas
Weimar
23 Knives
La Famiglia

23 Knives easily my favorite game of 2025 and it's the perfect nerd party game, Pax Illuminaten a close 2nd.

>>96388447
How hard is the teach on this one? I just acquired a copy and haven't got it to the table yet.

>>96388447
>idpol game
lmao

>>96388583
Not that anon but it is quite long, an hour or so and you really need to know all the factions to understand the intricacies; players will likely feel a bit lost initally

>>96388586
>Idpol
How so?

>>96388507
Yeah that's frankly bullshit that people outside of the USA are getting so hosed on it and their stock being so bad doesn't help. But that's wizkids. The Imperium stuff was with Osprey. Who aren't saints themselves, but since Wiz has the Star Trek IP the team which is very passionate about this game from everything Ive read had no choice for publishing. It is supposed to be just under 100 euro for all three announced products. Which is still pretty reasonable for that amount of content because most of the luxury board games nowadays sit at 100 euro. So yeah, sorry but you're getting fucked by a company that has a history of mismanagement unfortunately, I hope it gets better because it really is a good revision of imperium

>>96388586
what idpol? class warfare and normal pol, sure, but not idpol.
>>96388583
Each faction has enough gimmicks to need it's own section in the teach (except Middle Class, they play like a mix of working and capitalist classes, but without any cool shit either of them get), so i suggest using the inglorious method of "send your potential players a how to play video and hope they remember anything from it if they decide to watch it".

>>96388575
>Pax Illuminaten
it's a nerd party game? Or it's you second favorite of 2025?
What's good about it. All I saw about it that it's not as good as other pax games.

>>96388586
NTA anon but I thought this originally when I heard about the game, too, but it's completely not that. The game isn't presented as "the State and Capitalists are the boogie-man and behold the plight of the working class". The game is really well done and I'm glad I gave it a chance because it's the polar opposite of idpol.

It's super easy to get filtered by this game if you have /pol/'s dick stuck in your ear, scrambling your brains, to think that everything with "working class" means commies/marxism/socialism.

>>96388705
2nd favorite of 2025. It's not even really a Pax game - it has a tableau that is mostly irrelevant and it's made by ION, that's it. There's a lot more fuckery that goes on than other Pax games with Edicts and Schemes. It's not as swingy as something like Ren or Pamir. Plus it comes with two hidden games - Owls of Minerva (an area control game) and Trounce (a card game) that you can use the Pax Ill pieces and cards to play

>>96388575
>23 knives
Elaborate. It seemed a bit gimmicky and likely dysfunctional to me, but I only ever read the rules

>>96388575
>Railways of the Lost Atlas
How is it compared to other 18xx? I am asking because I already have 1830.

>>96388599
Oof, hopefully I can speed run that. Planning on running a 4 player solo game to get it down soon.

>>96388683
Most of the time I try that one person doesn't do it so I have to do a full teach anyway.

>impulse bought Earthborne Rangers
I really hope I haven't made an expensive mistake. I read a couple glowing reviews and just pulled the trigger without thinking. Its been a couple days now and I'm having second thoughts. Apparently the cards are all made out of compostable materials or some shit? Am I going to have to sleeve all 500+ cards to keep them from falling apart from a humid breeze? Are they going to start rotting in the box after 10 years?

>>96388891
You won't be playing the game in a month let alone ten years once you see it for what it is, so I wouldn't be worrying. We were talking above about overpriced games but holy shit is this one actually overpriced at its msrp. It is very clearly being pitched as a luxury game that gives buyers a sense of superiority but reminds me most of team covenant grifting from years ago. Manufactured online hype, buzzwords, oh its netrunner people! Nothing justifies why they want over three times comparables
>assuming this isn't just bait anyway

>>96388952
>You won't be playing the game in a month let alone ten years
That bad huh? I keep hearing the opposite from reviews, that it seems bad at first but gets really good once you've played it a few times and start to understand the game.

>>96388969
In fairness the whole "nooo you just don't get it, reading the rulebook isn't enough you have to play it a bunch until it clicks!!!" is just trying to get people to sunken cost themselves into not admitting a game they played a handful of times and spent money on was shit.

I can always tell because of places like the soloboardgames redit. Whenever a game gets suspiciously astroturfed there it tells me all I need to know. There's a handful of games that have really really passionate bagholders (not the best word but ykwim) that are in every online space exaggerating or misleading people in convos about said games. Some games just get so overly glazed but it's always shallow discussions if you analyze it (Chip theory fans are notorious for this)

>>96388853
As a different anon and someone who never played an 18XX before RotLA, it's a fucking blast and gets to the point immediately. Apparently it's slightly simpler than usual 18XX games, specifically in the stonks department, and doesn't start with an extra special phase of seven dinky auctions like Shikoku 1889 for example (that I wanted to actually play for a while now but never got around to after finishing the tutorial on that one website), but i still felt like there's a lot of game with all the company powers, mergers, variable map and planning ahead that you do for all of these, all starting at the first map chunks you place, makes for a really really smooth introduction to the system that doesn't sacrifice all of it's complexity. The short four-round game still took a while since analysis paralysis is a bitch, and we were still unused to trainlock and all other intricacies of the system. And the rulebook is kinda strange

>>96388823
You get a lot of information about who wants from how people are voting. And there's a lot voting.

>>96387574
It looks so cooked and I have 0 expectations for a rising sun or Ankh sequel now.

No way Lang was cooking this up for 8 years, he's such a hack

Rate my idea: a collection of parlor games where teams win the games to advance but are under constant threat of an undead horde and must escape to win while still maintaining their Victorian dignity.

I call it Pallor Games.

>>96389048
I like Chip Theory Games, but I also know that astroturfing reviews is a real thing for some games.

>>96388891
If you like what it sells it's great, but it is a 2-3 player game. If you're playing it solo you will not enjoy it.

Favorite Oniverse game?

>>96389261
I've never played these and I haven't even heard of any except Sylvion

>>96388436
Crying on 4chan is so fucking unseemly

>>96389132
I'll at least look into it, thanks for the concise answer

TlL Reiner makes solo games

why is SUSD releasing a new promo video for new games every day? there's like 7 of them now

>>96389269
Onirim is a bit of a classic in the solo sphere. My favorite so far is Aerion (but I haven't played them all yet).

>>96389261
Onirism.

Co-op? More like po-op (poop).

>>96389288
In Germany he has released 4 games for solo players. One downright sucks (the latest one, a remake of some German game for grandmas from the 1910s or whatever), the other one is meh (tile-placing domino tiles for points), but these two in the picture are fun if you like dice rolling and push-your-luck games, especially the one called Galaktix. The series is called "For One" btw

>>96389289
Remember AwSHUX? They’re doing it again and calling it Board Game Direct. Basically, all of last week was paid previews, not technically reviews. It’s just advertisements. Don’t watch them like normal videos, skim and skip through them like you would walking by tables at a convention.

>>96389289
They need money to hire another troon

>>96389289
tranny politics, ever worse sketches and rapidly fading passion doesn't fill the coffers anymore, so after cooperating with a publisher which is already a huge red flag for their "independent journalism" they are probably slowly but surely changing lanes into the shill reviewer route, money's far better there.

I mean I can see why they'd do that

>>96388139
Not a joke, why is an area control game happening indoors?

>>96389386
what happened to the other two? one looked like a dude, like spud from trainspotting, the other one was sorta kinda passable.

>>96389386
Reminder they have hired 2 (two) troons and 0 (zero) biological woman. Not counting their intern they had for a handful of months though.

>>96389428
I remember a chubby chick in one video. Was that the intern?

>>96387852
Bullet is fun but it so many moving pieces that I prefer the TTS version.

>>96389413
>the other one was sorta kinda passable.
It's you anon, the one that called that abomination 'cute' time and again, isn't it?

>>96389458
no clue what you mean. also I changed my mind, she looks more masculine than I remember.

>>96389458
No thats me.

Quinns is a chad. why did he leave??

>>96389490
>she

>>96389437
Probably? I think she looked like a weightlifter and actually did that as a hobby? I might be misremembering, I haven't watched a video since the absolute fiasco that was their BotC shilling, maybe there was someone else

>>96388891
>Apparently the cards are all made out of compostable materials or some shit?
Anon all cards are made from paper. The manufacturing gimmick they're touting is they don't have thin plastic cores laminated inside their cards to stop light from bleeding though. So if you hold the cards up to a light source you can sort of see what's on the other side of the card.

>>96389503
When was the last time Quinns made a good board game review video?

>>96389503
He reviews RPGs now. Surprisingly he gets a fair amount of views (for the medium, anyway): https://www.youtube.com/@Quinns_Quest/videos

>>96389579
what did he mean by this?

>>96389364
>10 euros in Germany, 40 dollars in the US
Thanks, Trump.

>>96389289
Gotta pay the bills, pretty sure they're paid previews.

It's a beautiful Sunday, what are you playing or going to play today, guys?

>>96389660
I am watching people play Dominoon.

>>96389680
tournament?

>>96389622
Don't complain, you guys get these insane sales ever so often. Best us Euros get is
>we are celebrating our 100th anniversary and 100. published game as well as christmas!
>15% off select games for a week

You might think I'm joking but I'm not

>>96389701
No, friends I popped in on are mid way through their game.
I havent played D in over a decade.
Bunch of supernatural stuff I dont recognize.

>>96389713
>Bunch of supernatural stuff I dont recognize.
Like vampires and werewolves? If so, it's the Nocturne expansion.

>>96388853
it's pretty good, I've only played 1889 and checked out (but never played) 1849, I think it sacrifices very little and in exchange you gain alot, the companies actually have powers that feel like something instead of just getting X tile that is only marginally better than average that can only be placed in a specific spot in the map, the map is variable since the very first you do in each game is building it up with tiles (and that's a big plus in my eyes cause in the other 18xxs since the map is the same the railway lines will likely feel samey), and there are quite a bit of variants -- the expa adds a couple more companies, variants and landmarks. the landmarks feel a little too over the top for me though so I never played with them, but everything else is pretty good and fun
I think it's a pretty well done compromise between a game for 18xx enthusiasts and a (relatively) easy to learn game for those looking to get into 18xxs

>>96387831
I'm getting Dune Uprising.
Need to add another game or two and I'm not sure what to add. Thinking about these but really have no idea:
>Brian Boru
>Conspiracy: Abyss
>Evolution: Climate
>Pulsar 2849

Maybe I should just get Brass but friend already have it so it doesn't make much sense. Concordia Venus but it will be longer to wait...
Any suggestions? From the selected on new recs.

I played ~100 games of Gest of Robin Hood on BGA and I still have no clue what "skill" even means in this game. It just seems like an easily solvable game where the outcome depends entirely on whether RH player gets lucky with rolls. I've beaten top players and also lost to beginners. If RH gets lucky with rolls and events, he wins, if he doesn't he loses.

>>96389900
Cute meeples. Board looks like a mess tho.

>>96389900
the meeples look like scared paul mccartneys

>>96389836
Is there a question or is that a problem? It sounds like a normal game experience in general and particlarly for a COIN. Good games can have new players win sometimes. Not sure what "solvable" means to you in this context beyond being a buzzword. Also playing games irl makes a difference. 100 games of gest online sounds miserable when the physical game is a treat tactily

>>96389900
Messy, too visually busy, iconography doesnt seem great either

>>96387272
I remember the bald leaf talking about it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv7d1JzjJqE
Not sure if my ameritrash tolerance is high but it's definitely something I want to try
>I'm always tempted to delve and find some obscure games but more than 9 out of 10 times its obscurity is well earned and the game sucks
On the plus side, them sucking makes them nice and cheap for me - otherwise all the thrift stores/resellers near by jack up prices stupidly high for 15-20 year old games

>>96388730
It is absolutely a socialist didactic tool, lol. That's why it's called Hegemony. Like in the Gramsci sense. It's just, class rather than idpol is what real Marxism is about and most people never encounter that because it's outnumbered 1000:1 by what Orwell called fruit-juice drinkers and sandal-wearers (today it would be blue hairs). IIRC one or more of the designers are proper political economists.

>>96390039
>and most people never encounter that because

>>96390039
commies complain that the game is too liberal. normal people just play the game or not. chuds and commies whine.

>>96390057
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCwhlZtHhWs
Practically paraphrasing Animal Farm towards the end
>>96390108
Those people may have DSA memberships or something but their self-appellation is about as accurate as calling North Korea a "Democratic People's Republic." You gotta learn to take labels with a grain of salt lol

Any big games like Hegemony where each player has their own unique deck? Not a deckbuilder or some smaller game.

I played Cannes on TTS yesterday (was it previously deleted? The only mod there is from this month), and it's just kind of ok?

It's weird, I really like the bus-style networking but you don't really have too many until people start connecting using cigars, then a turn is getting a bunch of shit, converting it into some other shit and finally into literal movie slop to sell at cannes, and despite it having an ever-swinging price tag for selling, you don't reallly sell too many movies at all, I played it with 3 friends and we must have sold a total of like 6 movies, hell, one of my friends didn't even get to sell a movie before the game ended, which is another point i have, the game simply lasts too short before it's over, and if nobody places a movie production tile (because why would you place it before you have the stuff to produce it), the tiles ran out and you ended the game.
I thought people said this was a hidden game of Splotter quality but it feels like just a randomly made filler.
Hot take: the art is pretty good.

>>96390341
Sentinels?

I really, really want the OOP Dune game guys :(

>>96390423
Which dune game are you talking about?

>>96390359
>was it previously deleted?
Splotter Spellen sends take-down notices to unlicensed use of their games. And they only grant non-commercial licenses to non-commercial services. TTS costs $10 so even if you're not paying anything extra for the Cannes mod it's still commercial.

>>96390465
what a disgusting kike company

>>96390359
>if nobody places a movie production tile (because why would you place it before you have the stuff to produce it), the tiles ran out and you ended the game.
Also it sounds like you were playing the game wrong. Film industry tiles getting discarded can be a big deal but unless people are hammering the cigars they will get played eventually.

>>96390465
based company

>>96390341
Chaos in the old world

>>96390518
We did reshuffle the tiles back in and played until every single tile was placed and the last player finished their turn (selling 1 last movie for the win).
Basically people only did Sci Fi movies and the rest didn't get placed until the last couple of turns.

>>96390465
TTS has had FCM, HC, Indonesia, Greed, Antiquity and basically every other game except the very old ones (which had their assets shared publicly for people to PnP with their blessing) for years without anything happening. You're just talking out of your ass, Splotter isn't Stonemaier.

>>96390640
Whats wrong with SM? Viticulture, Scythe, Apiary, and Wingspan are on BGA

>>96390687
All those are premium so you do have to pay and Stonemaier gets a cut, they immediately take out TTS mods because they don't see any money from it; and they of course wouldn't want people to see how shit their games are before forking cash their way.

>>96390705
There's barely any reason to pay for BGA premium, obscure games are free and premium games are popular enough that you can always find a host

>>96390705
Really funny how Stonemaier boss has nothing better to do than get on the highest of horses online as much as humanly possible but then is one of the few companies to be actively anti consumer by gatekeeping their stuff behind premium instead. By all means sue the president and virtue signal non fucking stop but then actively be a piece of shit when it comes to supporting low income members of your community Jamie you hypocrite piece of shit. Free games on BGA the moment they announced tariffs would have had a much bigger impact on your players then performative nonsense

>>96390748
They still see money from BGA whereas they don't from TTS, therefore, TTS is a threat.
Reminder that this man posted a video on how to design board games and literally said that objective #1 #2 and #3 should be profit.

>>96390957
>objective of a business is making money
Literally fascism!

>>96390910
>Free games on BGA the moment they announced tariffs would have had a much bigger impact on your players then performative nonsense
Lmao it is all about the signal

But anon>>96390705 has a point. I genuinely believe, far more so than with videogames, that people will buy games they like (as long as it is possible within reason) when they've played them on TTS/BGA. Even games like AffO that are much better digitally. The best thing about boardgames is sitting together and physically moving components, and digital media cannot replace that.

So if you ask me the only reason you'd try to make your game as unavailable as possible is because you don't want people to play it and realize they'd immediately lose interest. Only ones I know who really try this are jamey and lacerda.

>>96390957
The reason his company isn't in that much trouble due to Trump's retarded tariffs is because he's financially sound and makes good business decisions, so yea, making money should be a priority when you have a game publisher.

>>96391279
Lacerda games suck. That said, isn't TTS just piracy? At least BGA gives publishers some money, but what do they gain from TTS? Just goodwill /(supposedly)?

>>96391053
Objective is to provide the best value you can to the consumer. Sounds benevolent, but it's simply competing with everyone else

>>96391330
>but what do they gain from TTS?
Absolutely nothing but publicity. Just like when you play your friends copy

>>96391294
Luckily, we are in a hobby with low margins and sales numbers, so there's still enough based publishers who primarily want to create a good product. Not that this is good business, mind, but it makes for a good industry.
Stonemaier has shown what is possible with marketing, lowest common denominator artwork and superficial appeal wrapped in halfbaked games. I don't think it's good for the industry longterm, but of course his stuff outsells his competitiors tenfold. As a consumer, I'd much rather have a market where hobbyists make games they like for hobbyists, but that's obviously only possible in very small industries.

>>96391279
They want to pinch as much money from players as they can because a not insignificant amount of people who play their titles once see them for what they are and dont come back. They hope people will buy shitspan solitaire #200 because they are so cool and hipster and terminally online yo! Buy our games cuz we fight the power! It's like politicians on social media, these guys just figured out the recipe earlier to part a fool from their money by selling belonging to something to people who have identity issues.

>>96390910
On one hand I agree with you. On the other hand Stonemaier games are bad, you shouldn't want to play them, and them being locked away is objectively good. Ideally they should be launched into the sun.

>>96391330
>At least BGA gives publishers some money,
Only for premium games. https://en.boardgamearena.com/gamepublishers
>This license as defined in this Agreement is granted by the Licensor free of charge.

>>96380637 (OP)
>What is your favorite font?
I see your use of papyrus, you little shit.

>Designer asks for feedback on his (soon-to-be-published) expansion
>Sends a file of half baked ideas
>I give some lengthy but constructive feedback on what works and where to take it
>Hear nothing for 2 weeks
>Get one line email response more or less saying
>"I just wanted data points"
And this is a month after being ghosted on doing dev work
Im just going to stick to my autistic circle and hope I can become my own shitty Splotter because clearly the whole building connections aspect isn't working

>>96391577
https://www.youtube.com/embed/OW2eUyMFMWI?start=2633&end=2649

>>96391577
Whats a data point in this context?
He wanted you to suggest what numbers to shift up and down?

>>96391330
>but what do they gain from TTS
Free publicity, exposure to more potential customers? This isn't like videogames where piracy directly harms the sales, digital and physical board games aren't competing with each other. If you like a game on BGA/TTS chances you want to buy a physical copy and play with your friends cause its a different experience.

>>96387272
Try Oregon

>>96391677
or you can just play the free game on TTS and never buy the game if it's a solo game, for example

>>96391768
Nah, I'm with anon on this, the digital game doesn't directly compete with the digital one. And if you play boardgames solo in front of a screen there is literally no reason not to play videogames instead

>>96391677
And the reason you don't want your games easily accessible like on TTS or BGA is if your marketing strategy is driven sociao-culturally not by the gameplay itself

>>96391577
Hey anon I'm really sorry that happened to you. That's legitimately the shittiest thing I've read in a while here. You deserved better than being used to do the math for someone who didn't want to bother as part of their job designing. I would say if participating matters to you in that way, seek out people who have a good reputation in smaller genres. I know for instance in wargaming, the playtesting for games is a very wholesome experience and really based on mutual respect for a lot of TLDR reasons. Don't give up hope my dude, you clearly have a lot to offer so don't give it to anyone who isn't bringing the energy you give!

>>96391768
Lets be real though, most people who are invested in this hobby enough to play board games online instead of just normal vidya are gonna buy shit

>>96391806
Also true, digital space is a crucible where the game can no longer survive on the hype of deluxe components and cute minis and instead gets tested on mechanical merit alone.

Anyone familiar with courtier (from the love letter universe)? Seems like it may be a neat little game.

>>96391851
Digital wingspan on the official game is such a truly horrendous and boring experience that it turned me off ever considering touching the real thing, so it definitely hurts sales because I imagine seeing the components and not looking at a screen would have made me not as visceral turned off the game. Still think it's dogshit, but it didnt help

>>96391882
Playing wingspan digital is the only way I play it.
I'll never play that game in person.
But will always be down to throw eggs with my long distance group.

>>96388447
Kind fucked up how the middle class are taller than the lower class.

>>96391786
>And if you play boardgames solo in front of a screen there is literally no reason not to play videogames instead
Depends. There are people who like to play digital board games, not necessarily video games. That's why BGA exists.

>2025
>there are still game boxes without enough space for sleeved cards
wtf

>>96392088
People would lose their shit if the box was too big for their kallax. And let's be real, how many people actually are playing games enough that it matters. Outside of LCGs, I doubt most heavier games with cards will ever see damage. And stuff like flip7, love letter, Card against are cheap enough to replace

>>96392088
which ones? I agree, wtf

>>96391786
>if you play boardgames solo in front of a screen there is literally no reason not to play videogames instead
but videogames suck nowadays i've played most of the good ones, more fun to play against my other 1, 2 or 3 selves, helps buind rapport with my other personalities

>>96392072
BGA users are
1. People who love board games but don't get enough boardgaming done physically or can't find a suitable group. Bga clearly doesn't harm physical sales here because if these people could play physically, they would.
2. People who love board games as games first and don't really care whether the experience presents itself digitally or in person, for them board games are no different from video games. BGA clearly doesn't harm physical sales here either because people in this group likely barely spend money on board games at all if ever
3. Boomers with 10 000 games of Hearts and Spades logged, seriously what the fuck is up with them. BGA once again doesnt harm sales here, boomers gonna boom
4. Poor people who cannot afford regular purchases. You could argue that BGA does harm sales here but its a minor harm cause these people would more likely just get a cheaper hobby than sacrifice food budget on the newest kickstarter trash.

>>96392191
forgot to include pic

>>96392203
Stop excluding Myself IV from your gaming group, asshole

>>96392219
he's a cunt and nobody likes him
and 3-handing is the highest number of simulated players i'm comfortable with at the moment

>>96392242
I hope it's co-op.

>>96392192
BGA users are people who try to make boardgaming their identity because they lack a stable one but it only manifests as buying games so they hop onto BGA and play every once in a while to ease the dissonance they feel inside rarely or when the people covering their rent mention they may buy too many games

>>96392191
>most selfaware boardgamer

>>96392191
AAA sucks but the indies are good.

>>96392263
>projecting this hard
why?

>>96392203
This is sad.

speaking of indie games, what are the best games from thegamecrafter. anything worth playing?

>>96392285
I have three degrees focused on subcultures, deviancy, social work, and mental illness adjacent stuff. So I see and work with a lot of things that explain a lot of why a bigger chunk of people than you might think in this hobby are the way they are. You can call it projection, I call it intuition based on a couple decades of clinical practice and community work that sometimes involved self identified board gamers

>>96392342
Is deviancy still a thing? Would have thought neurospicy was the official term by now given the state of the world.

>>96391614
Records of which cards were being used and the resulting scores. Apparently the publisher had played the vertical slice 50+ times and felt it was too easy (after admitting to card counting), so he wanted someone to be equally autistic to prove/counter it.
If I was more aware of the fact I would have politely declined, but when I was given a file of 6 (not very fun) variants I was under no impression it was even nearing that level of stress testing.

>>96391806
Thanks anon, I really do appreciate it. Even if the guy was being coy to rope people in, a hint of appreciation on the feedback would have made it sting that much less. But there's a pretty strong divide between the 'established' designers with multiple games on their bgg pages versus us smaller, one-off ones so I'm sure there's a bit of nose turning there. Agreed on seeking on the right people - my local group has been 50/50 on ego seekers and genuine people so dialing on which ones definitely seems like the answer.
If there's any silver lining, it's definitely a wake up call from falling in with the former.

>>96392342
is that so. what kind of people like economic games as opposed to push-your-luck? genres + personality types. there should a chart of this kek

>>96392259
None of the plays are co-op, in fact i don't even play co-ops, last time was probably some time last year out of obligation
>>96392276
yea and ive played plenty of them, but i'm on a break from actual videogames
>>96392304
what's sad about it, I enjoy experimenting, and got to try new games, this whole month's heat was unbearable so it's not like I could go out and do other things
>>96392342
nah I agree with other anon, it looks like projection or just blind rage towards a specific group of people, somebody speaking from a clinical point of view doesn't speak like this, most people i've met that are in this hobby (I used to go on game nights bi-weekly for the past 2-3 years) and collect many games are at least relatively well adjusted with a job and everything else, many with a family even
(no, i'm not a bga user, my "solo" plays are on tts and some of them are with my physical games)

>>96392412
>yea and ive played plenty of them, but i'm on a break from actual videogames
same i'm on a break from screens in general (except for board game stuff)

>>96392180
My most recent purchase where that happened was Saboteur.

>>96392412
>None of the plays are co-op, in fact i don't even play co-ops, last time was probably some time last year out of obligation
you play competitive games against yourself? why? are you a game designer studying those games or just crazy?

>>96392388
I'm not well liked because I take trauma informed and anti oppressive to the limit where it actually puts the onus of agency, accountability, and change on the client and not the systems. Part of that is using the no no words because I like to stir shit up and enjoy debating less experienced clinicians who try to correct language.

On topic, I can definitively say that, yes its confirmation bias because the normal people probably would so eagerly toss it out there, but the people who REALLY got into sharing board game related things had a lot of really common things going on that were no bueno in their lives. The big one is always the sense of belonging and communtiy because its a small group social activity. And most of them never found players, but the buying sucked them into this unhealthy loop of feeding the hope of magically finding social belonging and connection. Stopping buying would force a confrontation with the reality that no one is in their life, no one will play with them, they need to actually cultivate connection and be people worthy of connecting with, not have it handed to them

>>96392180
I haven't tried it but looks like my box of Imperium Classics won't be able to store sleeved cards. Maybe I'm wrong idk

>>96392412
not the games I was expecting, do you 3 hand chudyk games?
I guess there's so much shit on the cards its kind of hard to keep track of the other hands?
also wtf happened to this month, guess I got to grind some more out this week
>>96392428
really? I swore mine did but now it's smashed in with Legends so I can't confirm.

How do people even play games against themselves? How do they prevent themselves from being biased for one side and then playing badly for their less preferred side?

Is Scott Almes the American Knizia (in terms of making many games, not necessarily influence)? Every other day I see his name on a game.

>>96392440
a lot of old school wargames had the stipulation you have to always support the losing side and quite a few started to play with that idea such as hedging bets on who would win, you lose if there's too big of a score disparity, etc.
I still prefer stateless automatas, but I'm also okay with beat your own score so there's that
being retarded also helps

>>96392410
Honestly never really get into the nitty gritty, mostly because I don't get paid to get that off topic, but what I will say is I get a lot of the really trendy multiplayer games. I remember everdell comes up a lot. I don't think I ever had someone just be honest that they were a solo gamer, but the topic doesn't really come up often outside of rapport building stuff that I skip most of the time

>>96392412
>clinical point of view
motherfucker im on an anonymous chit pulling board, do you think I write notes like this? OOGA BOOGA, your therapist is a real person too, they jerk off, drink, break the speed limit, just like you scaryyyyy

>>96392401
Man they really did you dirty it sounds like. Very unprofessional, and very shitty of them. It definitely sounds like they were just using you and didnt respect your time at all vs just learning how to playtest his own game more. You got the right attitude my anon. Being able to pick out the genuine people is always hard but just dont be afraid to ease into your offer of help in a smaller size. See who is okay with taking a small bit and then how they treat your and go from there right? Good people wont ask you to overcommit from the start. Boundaries n shit dawg

>>96392464
Shem Phillips seemed higher in my head but 188 vs 233 (I'm not sure who co-designs more) proves that wrong
course all them definitely coast off the whole "the first game was the prototype, the second games is the real one"
but I think Knizia is the only one I know whos earlier versions stand equally with (and often over) its successors

thoughts on this game? what did the commenter mean by "beginner designer mistakes"?

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/325038/the-brambles-a-solo-card-game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWh0wBcXBMA

>>96392519
Well, Shem Phillips is from New Zealand, not America. Who's the American Knizia?

>>96392424
>you play competitive games against yourself? why?
yes, because it's actually fun, and it works nicely except in games where it's important to actually figure out opponents' intentions (i'm not schizo to that point). and no i'm not a game designer but my group has been thinking of trying doing that -- i doubt anything will come out of it though
>>96392439
I 2-hand Mottainai and sometimes 3-hand Aegean Sea
>>96392440
just play games where hidden information isn't that important, I've played Brian Boru 3 and 4 handed (mostly to try it out before getting it in a trade) and it worked fine, but for example I would never try doing that with Arcs. Also no auction games, that would be retarded (in 18xx games i just give random companies to my selves to start with instead of doing auctions)
>>96392442
nah III isn't that cool either, he's a snob and only joins for games he feels comfortable with, II is a real bro and the coolest of the bunch
>>96392495
>your therapist is a real person too
fake news, i'm pretty sure those who study anything in the medical field aren't real people

>>96392440
This is wargame specific but a lot of them are pretty easy to play both sides when there's no hidden info. Any kind of chit pull method makes it even better. Open information objective makes it easy to play both sides to the best of their ability especially when you factor in randomness from losses. It helps that a lot of hex games don't really encourage or allow for really crazy out of pocket strategies so you do get into a good flow with them. And if you play something with longer turns you can just break between and youll forget what you were doing lol.
Mainstream games, no idea, that's way harder

>>96392540
>medical field
in fairness most therapists in my region are dumb as fuck and get into the job because their 3 year psych degree goes nowhere so they pivot to a one year social work and go into private practice. Id never recommend actually paying for one, an anon like you is probably more mentally self aware and capable of resolving your inner shit than any average therapist could help with. The idea of II III and IV if you legit are doing it the way you say fucking rules and I'd love working with people rad like you more desu. Using boardgames to manage identity scaffolding is neat af

Speaking of Shem Phillips, will you guys play his latest game?
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/436129/strawberry-shortcake-berry-besties-bakeoff-card-ga

>>96392540
>III
That's not what it says.

>>96392540
Do you give each player a different personality like Pessoa?
>Fernando Pessoa was a Portuguese poet, known for his use of 'heteronyms', which were not mere pseudonyms but full-fledged literary personae with distinct biographies, styles, and personalities. Key heteronyms included the uneducated shepherd poet Alberto Caeiro, the classical doctor Ricardo Reis, and the modern naval engineer Álvaro de Campos.

>>96392597
There's a board game based on him btw.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/309728/pessoa

>>96392440
Wargamers specifically play games solo because they see it as a narrative experience of watching history unfold and dont really care about winning or losing. Makes me a bit sad for dudes like Mark Herman who carefully balance their games, realistically nobody gives a fuck.

>>96392568
>The idea of II III and IV if you legit are doing it the way you say fucking rules and I'd love working with people rad like you more desu. Using boardgames to manage identity scaffolding is neat af
it's nothing that serious, dr.anon, I play with other people just fine, it's just that most of them are on vacation and will return next week so instead of videogames I played "solo" games without actually soloing them
>>96392589
nobody writes 4 in numerals with 4 I's come on
>>96392597
no, i forget all about them once the game is over

>>96392609
Yet another game with a big thing that spins around in the middle. There ought to be a gulag tag for this.

>>96392618
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals#Other_additive_forms

>>96392618
>You forget about them... But do they forget about you?

>>96392613
He can balance all he wants, he didnt account for how dumb as shit I am and the emergent gameplay moments from me utterly failing to strategize correctly

You can be innovative all you want. You can have the most original game in decades. Playtest your game a million times until perfection. Hire the most talented artist you can find that makes your product beautiful like no other. And still all that gamers really want is to play a casino game. What does that tell you about this medium?

>>96392699
I wouldn't call OP Games literally giving away physical copies of Flip7 for free a success.

>>96389660
i played:
>Container
>Startups
>Seas of Strife
and a short playtest of someone's design

>>96392797
>and a short playtest of someone's design
Name drop it or you're lying.

>>96392797
>Seas of Strife
is it good?

>>96392699
Wait, my mom doesnt actually enjoy recreating the Allied landing and taking of Salerno and only plays to humour me???? The most accessible game designs universally may just be what mysteriously ended up becoming the most popular styles of games of chance at game of chance hubs acoss the world. Wow anon I think you might be on to something here....

>>96389660
I played Terra Mystica with my parents. My dad bootyblasted me with swarmlings.

>>96392885
he what...?

>>96392874
She needs to get better taste tb h

make a new thread pls

Any way to mitigate first turn advantage in games? I'm thinking just for fairness sake I need to add house rules.
Splendor is a big offender for this, do I just limit the number of tokens they can pick up if they go first to 2 instead of 3? Because the person who goes first not only picks up tokens first and is one turn ahead, but they also pick the best card visible so they're often two turns ahead by nature of picking a card that lets them start building one turn quicker.
So basically, what to do about this? Thoughts on house rules?

>>96393007
I dont think I've ever been bothered by first turn advantage (if that's an actual thing), but one harmless houserule you could add to Splendor could be that when the game end is triggered, you finish the current round (so if it's the first player who triggered the end, everyone else gets to play one turn, if it's the last player, nope) and maybe some tie-breaking criterias

>>96393007
do 2nd player's 1st turn twice? idk

>>96392806
i genuinely don't even know if it has a name. it was not my favorite design
>>96392831
i think so, yes. a number of unique wrinkles. you must follow, but if someone plays off-suit now other players have the choice between previously played cards of which to follow. the suit that was played the most overall is the strongest, unless it was nullified by someone playing the highest value of that suit (all the different suits range between different values). the goal is to lose tricks
it did feel to me like, for a trick taker, there were a higher number of turns with interesting decisions to make than average. it's also fun to have it get to your turn and you get to decide who is forced to win the trick

>>96393031
>Finish the current round and some tiebreaking criteria
I don't know, a big fun part of the game is just when someone just reaches the point threshhold 1 turn ahead of the others, so that would quickly turn a clean finish into something messy.
The advantage kind of gets more noticeable with more lopsided games, where someone already has an advantage but add in the +2 turns they logically achieved as an advantage.
I don't know if I'm gonna make a house rule for it though, the first turn should still have SOME advantage.
>>96393048
but then what about the 3rd or 4th player?

>>96393057
sorry i thought you meant splendor duel

>>96393092
ah
>>96393079
yeah I'm not adding a nen chart into the final turn of my game.

>>96393098
I put Mushroom Sort forward as an example because the players later in turn order win ties against the players earlier in turn order. They also have more information when making their decisions, which by itself usually makes up for having fewer options.

>>96393120
Yeah, I just don't like the concept of ties if the game has a clean finish, more information can be a big game changer but in reality if the game is built off a snowball having your snowball one turn earlier can be a bigger advantage than that, especially for a more "basic" game that you play on the fly like splendor.
As important as information is, in the first few turns if you're ahead and just follow the advice of
>If you're ahead get more ahead
You end up with a huge advantage early game, which you try to transfer to late-game.

>>96392797
Was it a mining game or a cowboy game?

>>96393146
Cowboy

>>96393031
Splendor requires you to do exactly that. In fact, the new edition comes with a first player token so you can see who gets to go last once someone crosses the point threshold to end the game. It works perfectly fine, I've seen the last player snipe a victory uncontested with that once.
I'm not sure if this is something they added to the latest edition of Splendor or if it was always there though.

>>96393146
cowboys mining (in a zoo (on mars))
no

>>96393210
I have no recollection of that but my last play of Splendor was more than a year ago

>>96392900
He beat me by like 15 points while he was playing the "swarmlings" faction.

>>96393181
It doesn't have a name, I kind of expected it to implode, the math doesn't work for 4 players.

>>96392618
>nobody writes 4 in numerals with 4 I's come on
The fact that anon is incapable of realizing the need of using 4 Is for the meme is the reason you can tell he actually has multiple personalities, or just extreme autism.

Is sniper elite great? I don't have any hidden movement games and I'm feeling the need...the need to consuuummme.

The only thing giving me pause is the theme, WW2 is kinda boring for this genre.

>>96393620
It's videogame IP tie in boardgame, and very often they're meh or worse. If you wanna take those chances, sure go ahead, but there's probably better hidden movement games out there.

>>96393333
Usually the term "bootyblasted" means a softer equivalent of "butthurt" aka the anger you feel at your own lack of skill or someone else's smug superiority. It's not used as a verb like you used it("he bootyblasted me"), unless in the other meaning of gay sex.

>>96393691
What hidden movement games are better? I've looked around and there don't seem to be negative opinions of sniper elite

>>96392427
>The big one is always the sense of belonging and communtiy because its a small group social activity. And most of them never found players, but the buying sucked them into this unhealthy loop of feeding the hope of magically finding social belonging and connection
I wonder how large the crossover between these and the people yelling for more inclusivity in boardgames online

>>96393695
Wait I thought butthurt was wordfiltered since forever and that's the reason we use literary innovations like rectally rampaged

>>96393620
ALLEGEDLY it's pretty good (mostly heard it from SVWAG though) but it'll be coming to retail anyway. I thought about funding the campaign because 40 dollars seemed a great price, but with VAT and shipping it came to almost double that in euro to which I say fuck it

>Talon
>Space Empires 4X
>Captain's Chair
star trek bros we are eating good

>>96394453
>SE(4)X
I've once again missed the p500 on the expansions. Sometimes I wish I were a more diligent consoomer.

>>96394453
Watched a playthrough of captains chair yesterday and while it seems like a mechanically convoluted mess (seriously, I fucking hate how there's a distinction between 'take' and 'gain' or 'wipe' and 'discard' or whatever it was) I still would like to play it

>>96393585
Other way around, the fact he automatically thought it was "III" and not "IIII" means he's perfectly aware they're the same person, therefore not a real case of multiple personalities, if anything overthinking somebody's response to such a pointless detail is a stronger indication of autism than that anon's

>>96394065
The thing I noticed that was always consistent was the people who talked the most about change: wanted to change the least. It was always a cover for guilt and shame and frankly "laziness" (not supposed to call it that but you know). Average people with normal functioning levels wouldn't be so verbal and belligerent. So I imagine there's a dot to connect there with how that usually manifests with changes in their personal life going unmade and excusemaking... To online discourses there active in

>>96394553
The game is WAY easier than you would think. The rulebooks is overly verbose because a simple game confused people or minmaxers broke the game and they bitched so fucking much that they had to redo the imperium rulebook a bunch of times. And captians chair is avoiding the same mess. 99% of what you do is the "logical" thing in that moment. Don't be discouraged if youre a normal anon who can use common sense

>>96394506
Cancelled my p500 years ago because they refused to fix their shipping shit until tariffs forced them to for internationals. Decided to preorder all 4 boxes from a major retailer instead. If i doesnt come oh well. Breaking the fomo cycle

>>96394726
Someone must step in, I unfortunately haven't prepared anything and won't have access to a PC until the thread will be long archived.

>>96394779
Oh I didn't mean it seemed hard to grasp, just a little convoluted and keyword-y. It's probably one of the games I need to play myself and see how fluent everything is. Had the same thing with mage wars. Holy shit, this is going to be one big game of crossreferencing tables I though, only to discover everything was so intuitive it felt like an absolute masterpiece of design.

>>96394867
>only to discover everything was so intuitive it felt like an absolute masterpiece of design.
Thats how Ive felt about Imperium.
And why Im concerned about caprains chair. I just went all in on the Imperium line this year, i dont have the time to juggle two series that are equally awesome

>>96394779
Makes a lot of sense. I don't want to wander too far offtopic but I really wonder how we as a society have stopped calling this out or ignoring it as voices of the deranged but actively shunning people speaking against weird behaviour. Maybe online communication and the appearance of a majority or something. It's an interesting topic and for a clinical psychologist you are suprisingly lucid.
t. Neurologist

>>96394968
>clinical psychologist
lol fuck no to that, adjacent enough to see how useless they are. The big thing is not wanting to fuel fire of 'SUD/MH/low income people are lazy and part of the problem. Because bad people want those gotchas. So I see too much kid gloves going on. Which creates a lot of monsters who exploit systems because they know they can be bad and not be held accountable because everyone is afraid to ruin the bigger group filled with 'good' people. So we tolerate weird behaviour because it gets enabled in niche communities because theyre already frail. Which yeah, boardgame related because which community in the hobby had the most openly trans people in the 90s 00s? Tabletop wargaming. Niche boardgamers are too vulnerable to speak out against people who join in bad faith or have behavioural leakage. So same shit today, loud minorities that don't get shunned because the rest of the group is also not well enough to actually gather together in modern society. Boring shit only worth talking about since this thread is dying lol

>>96394867
It is so good. It feels so different from the math-style games that have been so popular for so long. I get people want to build these tight euro engines all the time but there's something really wonderful about a game that is actually just built first and foremost as a GAME for fun and theme. Not a math engine that has a bunch of stuff slapped on and then a theme pasted on and things jury rigged to make it feel coherent. That's why Imperium designs feel so good. Everything was very clearly holistically considered and it probably took much more effort than the average popular game these days where the designers are just handing off their basically unbalanced designs to other people to tinker with and slap theme onto

>>96395017

>>96395017

>>96395017

>>96395017