Board Games

Excellent, how does War of the Ring play generally?

I have Titan on the iPad but haven't really played, I'd like a good example of play on youtube which I haven't found yet. The instructional videos were good but it looks like there's still going to be a lot of trial and error before I have any clue how to play it properly.

Sure, no problem. You just send me the $1,000 and I'll get right on that. :)

I was really hoping Print-and-Play Productions would make pro-level copies of the redesign, but the artist wouldn't give them permission because he thought it wouldn't be fair to the original designer for other people to make money off his work. Classy people are so frustrating.

Well, Battle of Westeros and Battlelore are both at their hearts like a fantasy skinned Memoir '44. I have Runewars and it's pretty good but it's more of a 4 player game - I don't personally think it's plays well for just 2. It's been a while since I played War of the Ring, but if you're looking for a 2-player game I recall that one being quite good.

It plays like a boardgame version of a three book epic story about hobbits and orcs and war and wizards and a quest to simply wander into Mordor. There have been a lot of LotR games but most of them focus on one or two aspects of the books, I really think WotR is the complete package. The characters do all kinds of cool stuff for you like helping to convince the various free nations to go to war with you, Nazgul are flying all over the place, you've got armies forming and giant battles at Minas Tirith, meanwhile Frodo and Sam are trying to backdoor win the game and Sarumon is totally being a jackass cranking out Uruk-hai and warg riders to throw at Helm's Deep.

The only game we play that comes this close to capturing an existing property so completely while still being an amazing board game experience is Battlestar Galactica (although I haven't played Dune and a lot of people tend to put that one up there as well). I'm not the world's biggest Tolkien fan--I've read the books once and seen the movies a couple of times--but this game captures the spirit of it so well that it's hard not to totally geek out on it. In every game you'll do things right out of the books and other things that become awesome what if's. Here's my session report of my first game for some examples. We tend to play with the movie soundtracks on shuffle in the background. I'm even considering buying a couple of giant steins and getting the free people and shadow powers icons frosted on them.

So War of the Ring is a ~3 hour war game where each side can win the game through either military conquest or by doing something with the ring (destroying it or forcing Frodo to use it so much that he becomes corrupted). If there is a downside to it I'd say it's the complexity of the rules but seeing as you are a Mage Knight fan who is looking for a war game I'm gonna say you'll be fine. The complexity of the rules is about on par with Mage Knight but they're actually slightly easier to learn since a lot of the rules will make sense to LotR fans. That said, while I think the rule book is actually well written and pretty clearly explains all of the rules it is not written in a way that is easiest to read for first time players. I had to read the whole thing several times to wrap my head around it and even then got a few things wrong in our first couple of games. Still, I'm sure you had a similar experience with Mage Knight.

Actually, there is one bad thing I'll say about it which I will then turn into a good thing because seriously there are no bad things about this game. It does come with like 200 awesome minis which at some point you'll start thinking about painting. I don't know if you paint minis, I didn't before I got this game, but even a first time painter who isn't great at it can still get phenomenal results out of painting these minis. The main reason you might want to paint is that there are actual gameplay reasons that you need to tell the difference between soldiers from, say, Rohan and Gondor. Unfortunately all of the good guys are the same color blue plastic so even though there are distinct differences in their models it still is just one more thing to add to the learning curve. Having each army painted its own color is a huge help, especially when you try to teach it to friends. The bad thing is that this can take a long time. The good thing is that when you're done it's fucking awesome.

Yeah Titan is a really tough game to learn. I've only played against the iPad because I can't get anyone to spend the time learning the board game version of it, but I really like it. I actually bought the Valley Games edition which I'm really happy with. I mean, as far as games that just sit on a shelf go it's pretty great.

The thing with Titan is that each of the subsystems in the game (movement, mustering, and battles) are pretty complicated and have a bunch of tiny exceptions or rare cases you need to learn. The iPad really is the best way to learn it though since it figures out all of that for you and just highlights your options at any give time. I'd suggest just making a 2 player bot game so you don't have to wait long between turns and sort of muddle your way through a game or two, then go back and read through the rulebook.

I'm still hopeful that I will get 2 or 3 other people to learn the boardgame and then we're going to have a pretty amazing epic board game day.

Brilliant, thanks a lot. Though I like LOTR it's not my favourite setting, and it sounds like you're similar so you being a huge fan of the game without being a crazed hobbiter helps a lot. I'm sold. Not that it's hard to sell me on games like this these days, the only reason I don't buy every single one of them is San Francisco real estate. Each one costs about $10 per month in rent.

I'm definitely not a miniature painter though, I'll have to find some other way to distinguish the miniatures. I guess I could just paint the base or something, even that fills me with the fear of screwing it up and looking like crap. String bandanas maybe.

I can't improve on what Mike Cathcart wrote. It's a superb game and a 2nd edition is out now that is improved from the 1st edition. Maybe you can nab it through CoolStuffInc, Amazon, or a local retailer this holiday season...I certainly will be looking for it. And a new expansion for 2nd edition is coming out right now, though I don't know much about it.

I've had too much caffeine, I just bought the 2nd edition and expansion from Amazon.

Titan is such a rough game to learn because new players don't realize how potent aggressive play is (the goal is to teleport stomp opponents ASAP, not build stacks indefinitely), and passive play makes the game take forever to finish. It's bloody long enough even if you play cutthroat.

Legendary arrived yesterday and I got a chance to play it with my wife. They do give you quite a few cards, and the board itself is large and of good quality. Considering I got it for <$40 shipped on the CSI BF sale, I have zero complaints regarding value.

We only had time to play the suggested starting scenario, but I was pleased with just how fast-paced the game is. It's not a heavy game and it's not going to lead to AP, and for a deckbuilding game that's absolutely perfect.

We ended up winning and my wife won on victory points. Beating the Scheme was not hard, but I can see that the real trick is working out how to "win" the VP contest among heroes. I focused early on increasing my ability to draw cards and recruit more powerful cards, while my wife picked up some of the early high-attack cards. That left her able to take out the minor villains for points, and she was still able to tag the Mastermind twice. I finally went Super Saiyan and drew my entire deck in one turn and scored multiple hits on the Mastermind, but it was too little too late. Which I liked - the game doesn't try to make it hard to do incredible shit, but that doesn't necessarily mean you win.

So it worked pretty well I think for just the 2 of us, and turns are so quick that I don't think 3-5 would pose much of a problem. I like that the game is very goal-oriented - you've got a clearly defined objective and everyone is loosely working together to accomplish that. The variety of card effects and bonuses for combining cards of similar types all provide enough positive reinforcement to encourage players to pick a theme for their deck and run with it.

So yeah, I'd recommend it - a surprisingly good use of the licensed property.

It has a LOT of components. Not really practical as a print-and-play game. I have an original set, and to be honest, I like the original art better (especially the tiles). It would probably cost a fortune to get another one, though. Sigh.

If anyone wants to try out the game, there's a Java version floating around out there. I think it may be linked on the BGG page for the game. I have no idea if its still supported, though.

RealmSpeak is the Java version. I can't get it to run in Windows 8.

The graphics in the Vassal module are horrid scans.

So I was looking for some stuff at CSI, and I saw that Dreadfleet just got marked down to $40. I almost feel bad for Games Workshop. Almost...

I'm still just amazed that they cast both fleets in the exact same plastic. LK's painted set looks amazing now, but before that I can't even imagining trying to keep track of the game.

I paid $60 for Fleet Captains and it's hit the table a few times even though I've not taken the time to paint it. It's at least playable out of the box with grey and green components for each side.

Does anyone here have any experience with Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game or Star Trek TNG Deck Building Game? I'm looking for a gift for my brother. He's isn't that into BGs but plays Dominion on occasion. He's really into Star Trek and Marvel comics, so I thought that one of these might be a good fit for him.

The card game thread has a lot of info on Legendary and a bit on Stat Trek.

Thank you for the prompt reply. Mentally I just lump board games and card games into one entity and I forget that there is a card game thread.

I recently bought both of these and have played each a few times now. I'd recommend Legendary, hands down, no contest. Star Trek is probably bound for resale at this point.

For those who don't pay attention to the BGG Hot Deals thread, you might want to start. Amazon has been selling things at crazy prices all week. The latest markdown of note is the new A Game of Thrones Card Game (the revised set based on the show) for $14.99. They also have Descent 2nd Edition for $39.99.

Okay, so I'll apologize ahead of time for not reading the whole thread before posting this, but I'm looking for a recommendation for a game. I have a pen-and-paper RPG group that meets once a week, but the GM is getting burned out and needs a break. I blithely proposed a board game night as a breather that everyone said sounded like a good idea, but I none of us actually owns any games. And none of us is really a board gamer per se.

As I said, though, this is a pen and paper RPG group that I've played D&D and Star Wars RPG with, so they're certainly capable of complex rules but at the same time I don't want to go some gnarly German resource management game off the bat. They're more than comfortable with fantasy or sci-fi themes. There are five to six of us on a given night and we have maybe four hours to play.

So, any suggestions for something I could go pick up?

Thanks a lot, jerk Baker. Now I know that the Netrunner core set is 20 bucks with Prime shipping. I really don't need another LCG but...Android theme is so cool and...holy shit it's number 15 on BGG? Number one under Customizable? When the hell did that happen? Jeez. Guess I'd better buy 2 :)

Netrunner is the rare LCG where you only need two cores if you plan to play in tournaments. Save that extra $20 for an expansion that will provide more deckbuilding options.

Netrunner was $18 yesterday. Insane.

Five or six is tough. I recommend killing one or two and playing Chaos In The Old World (it goes to five with the expansion).

Otherwise, start with Citadels and 7 Wonders. Get Battlestar Galactica if they're into that. Cosmic Encounter with an expansion would also work. And The Resistance.

Netrunner only manages that feat at the current time by having no cards in print outside of the core set. The top-end of the current tournament scene is dominated by HB/Criminal decks because the limited card pool does not provide the depth to make the strengths of all the factions flourish. I expect this to change dramatically once FFG gets their "data packs" going later this month, and much like staying current with AGoT I'd expect to spend maybe $10-$15 a month to keep up on things.

Arkham Horror may work as well if your group really likes strong theme. BSG is fantastic with 5 (less so with 6). Eclipse is a great game for 6. Game of Thrones: The Board Game 2nd Ed. is perfect for 5 or 6 players.

Netrunner is brilliant. Natus has spoken.

Just so we're clear, this is NOT the multi-player LCG that was marked down to $18 last December, IIRC. This version is a streamlined, 2-player version not compatible with the former.

I agree with Baker. Though if you don't want to kill anyone, you could always make two new friends, then play two games of Chaos. Or a game of Chaos for people who thirst for the blood of the innocent and a game of Dungeon Petz for people who feel like swelling with pride as their prize monster goes for judging at the latest monster show only to deflate as it poops on the stage. Or Homesteaders. For people who are just awesome.

For five, though? BSG. For six, if you have the time, Rex.

He did say 'the revised version based on the show'. Which, dangit, I paid $19.99 for not long ago!

The AGoT card game is a really well designed game, and that shines through even with this edition. I picked up this HBO-based version to check out the cards and played a game and it's a great game for 2 people that's not just a dumbed down version of the regular game - just one in which the card pool the decks are built from has been trimmed to eliminate extraordinarily complex card interactions. You've still got claim-raising/lowering, kneel and standing effects, Deadly (after a fashion) and Stealth. They retained some of the most powerful plot effects (Valar Morghulis (kill everybody on the table) and a version of Wildfire Assault (kill all but 3 dudes for each player)) and split those effects between the two sides - plot imbalance was a massive problem with trying to play the game out of the Core Set with the premade decks.

This is exactly how I'd go about teaching the game to new players. It's almost tailor made for that purpose.

I finally broke out my X-Wing minis over the weekend and tried a 60-point match against a sixth-grader. He played the Imps and took Darth Vader in a TIE Advanced along with two scrubs in TIE Fighters, and armed Vader with short-range cluster missiles and an ability that let him give one of his underlings an extra action each turn. I had the Rebs and took Luke in an X-Wing (with proton torpedoes) and a scrub Y-Wing pilot armed with an ion cannon. The ion cannon is great because it fires in a 360-degree arc, and if it hits it forces the ship to move forward one space as its next maneuver.

The basic flow of the game is that each pilot has a pilot rating (ranging from 1 for the TIE scrubs to 9 for Darth in our game), and each ship moves in ascending order, but shoots in descending order. Each ship comes with a spinner that has all its potential maneuvers printed on it, and each turn you select one and place it face down next to the ship. Then the pilot with the lowest rating reveals his spinner and makes that move, and so on, until everyone has moved. This meant Darth moved last and fired first every turn, which is a nice position to be in.

My opponent was tactically inept, which proved to be my undoing. Every time he had what I believed to be an obvious move, he would do something completely different and to my mind incredibly stupid. This put his ships at risk, but also put mine out of position so he could whip around and take potshots at me. It was fun as hell.

I was worried that his TIEs would go down too quickly because they have no shields and can only take two hits before exploding, but the game does a great job of simulating the differences between the various ships. Attacks are made at range 1, 2, or 3. At 1 the attacker gets to roll an extra attack die. At 3 the defender gets to roll an extra defense die. Simple, and awesome. The attack dice are d8 and have blank sides, eye symbols, normal hits, and one critical hit. The defense dice are d8 and have blank sides, eye symbols, and evade symbols.

The symbols are important because after they move, each ship gets to take one action (unless they are piloted by Darth Vader, because that badass gets to take two actions). The four basic choices are Evade (evade symbol), Focus (eye symbol), Lock-On (target symbol), and Barrel Roll. Not all ships have all these choices available, though. For example, the basic TIE Fighters can't select Lock-On, and the X-Wing can't select Evade or Barrel Roll. Evade lets you put a token next to the ship that you can spend during combat to cancel one hit. Focus lets you put a token next to the ship that you can spend when attacking to change all eye symbols on the dice to hits, or spend when defending to change all eye symbols to evade symbols). Lock-On lets you place a lock marker on a ship, and you can remove the lock after firing to re-roll any number of attack dice. Barrel Roll lets you use the smallest one-move template to nudge your ship to the left or right without changing its facing, and is extremely useful for getting someone into your firing arc or getting out of theirs.

During play he would move his TIE fighters and put an evade token on them, then use Darth's ability to give the TIE in the most danger a Focus symbol. TIE Fighters roll three dice when defending, against the X-Wing's standard attack of 3 dice (or the Y-Wing's 2 dice (3 for the ion cannon). Between his high defense, and damage mitigation via evade and focus I had a hard time getting any hits through, and Luke spent much of the game maneuvering to get back into position after my opponent made a boneheaded move. At some point he managed to get Vader pointed at Luke within range to use his cluster missiles. These let you make two separate 3-dice attacks, and he scored one hit on the first one and two hits on the next (one critical). X-Wings have two shield tokens which must be stripped before any hull damage is done, so I took those off and resolved the critical hit. These are pulled from a deck of cards and do all sorts of nasty stuff, most of which cripples the ship in some way for the rest of the game. The card I drew immediately did two hits of hull damage, so Luke was down to one hull left the first time Darth hit him. I wanted to fire back with my proton torpedoes, but they require a target lock I stupidly hadn't done since I selected Focus as Luke's action. My lasers missed completely, and it was all downhill from there. Y-Wings can absorb a ton of punishment but roll only one defense die and are not maneuverable, so although I took out another TIE, Darth put him out of his misery with little trouble.

I did have one moment of near-glory. I got my Y-wing behind a TIE that was near the edge of the map, and tagged it with the ion cannon. This forced him to move the TIE closer to the edge of the map on his next turn, and ships that go off the map are destroyed. One more ion cannon hit would have done it, but I missed completely and he was able to swing it around on his next turn. That would have been so cheesy and awesome. Oh well.

One thing that sucks is that the core set doesn't include enough dice. I have two cores, which is about just right. You can also get a mobile dice app that has sound effects, but I didn't want to pay $5 for it. Now I want to pay $5 for it. The main thing I didn't like is that the movement templates are a pain in the ass to use when you get ships close to one another. Since this doesn't use hexes you want to make sure you place templates and ships as accurately as possible, but things inevitably get nudged when you have templates passing through ships. Do not play this with anal people.

Overall I'm really happy I bought this, and there are all kinds of resources on BGG that make it even better. Someone came up with solo rules, there are awesome army builder spreadsheets, people are cranking out scenarios (some are included with the base game), and there's even a hex-based movement variant that would make the game faster and easier to manage if it works out. I was worried that the lack of 3D movement would hurt the gameplay, and that the TIE's would be nothing more than cannon fodder, but there's enough going on and enough ship differentiation that the game is just a blast.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand...bought! Thanks for the recommendation!

It's okay to admit that you apparently played a tactical supergenius. Think of it as your X-Wing Game of the Century, and every move of his was Be6.

My older son is in the 7th grade, and it's funny as hell when he beats serious gamers at boardgaming. :-)

Fortunately I can yet smoke him at most games, but he's a fricking wizard at Dominions and Core Worlds. I still can't quite grasp how he does it.

I agree about the charms of the original art, especially those hand-painted hex tiles. They are burned into my brain. I tried to learn Magic Realm when I was 10, and I don't think I ever recovered. Recently I tried the Java version (Realmspeak), and got a lot further than I did at age 10. But, honestly, not sure it would be worth learning the rules -- Magic Realm might be one of those games where the satisfaction comes more from mastering the complex rules than from actually playing the game.

I'll say this: of all the "fantasy quest" games out there--and I have played nearly all of them!--I think Magic Realm is probably the best of the genre. It's too complex, and some systems (the combat, in particular) could be replaced with much simpler systems without really taking much away from the game. It takes too long to set up. It's impossible to convince people to learn how to play.

That stuff aside, though, it really is a good game. Play times are very reasonable if you have a group that knows the rules (that's pretty uncommon with games of that era), it's a lot less random and has more interesting decision-making opportunities than most fantasy quest games, and the map tile system plus hidden treasure placement plus a large pool of characters that all play very differently make the game highly replayable. It's even a good solo game.

Sweet Jesus! If this game ends up being a winner, I'll have to bribe (heavily) my gaming group into playing it!

It looks like Mage Knight and the Civ board game had a baby.

Seems like an updating of Titan to me, really. Kinda.

I mean physically. The tiles for the map are really reminiscent of Civ and the monster tiles look like they were cribbed straight from Mage Knight.

So apropos of nothing at all, I just fought two of the Ben Hull Musket & Pike GMT battles, Lens and Edgehill. I'm not an incredibly serious wargamer, so this system is a bit heavy for my tastes, but I'm blessed with a friend who can not only do most of the mental heavy lifting, but who has condensed some of the rules to make the whole set more streamlined. Since I hadn't played M&P in a year or so, Lens was rough, but the subsequent Edgehill was great (and no surprise, I did better, too). It's a fiddly system, but rewarding when it all clicks, and somehow I've found myself with all, what, six M&P titles. If I can deal with M&P, I feel sure that I can deal with GBoH. Highly recommended if you don't mind the grit of the system.

The original KotE book wasn't that bad. It had some interesting ideas, though they were not, at all, Kindred. Most of the other books in the line were poops straight from a butt, though. The only thing I'd be at all interested in from the line would be the Changelings of the East book.