Mobile Board Games

I missed this thread somehow only to see that I have posted in it. This forum is confusing.

I actually reviewed this right when it came out - my opinion was much like Baker's though, I think he's spot on: http://pockettactics.com/2012/11/08/review-phantom-leader-for-ipad/

I did end up buying it, though I haven't had a lot of time to dig into it yet. Probably over the holiday. The UI is a little... unfortunate. But something I'm willing to put up with if the underlying game is good.

They've released two patches so far. Nothing that improves the interface, but it's nice to see them actively squashing bugs.

http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/15461/ios-board-games-gift-guide-2012

So, Penny Arcade Gamers vs Evil.

I've played it a half-dozen times now. Every time has been a blowout.

Is there anything to this game? Focus on tokens or power, then take shots at the boss over and over and over until the game ends. I've never been a big fan of base Dominion (I recently got to play Dark Ages, which I liked a lot more) and this seems even more bland than that, with the exception that now and again you see a card called Touch Wieners. Am I missing the in-depth synergizations of core gamer concepts or something?

I'm kind of wishing I'd spent my money on the Nightfall expansions instead.

Well, heck, I guess $5 isn't too much to be certain I'd never want to spend $30 on the physical game.

(Man, between this, Spell Wizards and Food Fight, I don't think I've ever played anything by Crptozoic I didn't actively dislike.)

I didn't hate Spell Wizards. It's not stellar, but as dumb-fun party/filler games go it seemed pretty okay.

Just finished the Le Havre tutorial. I think I understand about 37% of the game, but that percentage appears to be filled with fun and interesting choices

So who has Stone Age?

I'm pretty good at beating up the AI, so now I need humans to show me my place.

I have heard precious little about it, but if you would like someone to throttle you on a regular basis like they do at Ascension I will see what I can do.

It's going to take a few games to really wrap your head around it, and a few more to start to understand the strategy. It's worth the time, though!

I have it, but I'm not sure how well it's going to work as an asynch game, since you'll have to hand it off every time you place a worker.

True that. It's going to take ages if you're not all free to take turns.

So. Many. Options.

Played about 4 games and I am really digging it, but still using the hint button as a crutch when I have no idea what to do or to check and see if what I think I should do is what the A.I. would do.

The learning curve comes partly from needing to become familiar with the functions of the basic buildings (presumably you are playing "short" games for now; if not, I'd recommend it) and how they can contribute to victory, and also partly from learning the steps needed to accomplish some of the game's "strategic" actions. Stuff like planning for shipping or constructing steel ships, which requires a bunch of setup actions that have to be played out over a number of rounds, in between whatever actions are required to secure food. You need to acquire iron and coal, you need to turn the coal into coke, and if you don't own that building, you need to provide the entry fee. You need to use a wharf, and if you don't own one you need to watch for opportunities to use someone else's. And then what do you do when that opportunity comes on your last turn in a round and you still haven't secured food?

It's good to have a long-term plan in Le Havre--not too specific a plan, since the actions that the other players take have a impact on what you can do, and so it's good to keep your long-term goals flexible. But you should consider up front what your general food strategy is going to be, and where your money-making focus is going to lie. Shipping goods? Building ships? Going after victory point buildings? Etc. There are a lot of ways to win in Le Havre.

I have not been playing short games, but will for a bit now. Slowly getting a feel for it. Thanks for the overview and tips!

No, wait, I have been playing short games. It defaulted to that it looks like

Yeah, short game is the default. Turning it off adds an extra pool of random buildings, which is great for replayability, but not so much for learning the game.

Alright getting the hang of it. I have won about 4 games in a row and the last was on Level II A.I. Time to move up!

So is using the Construction option if you go first a no brainer each time? Probably not, once I get some more strategery going, but it seems like it is a great jump start on your first turn. I have hit the part of the learning curve where I get it, but optimization of my goods is the next step. Nothing worse and more frustrating than ending the game with a whole bunch of useless, worthless mats.

It really depends.

Protip: if you really need to build something RIGHT NOW and all the construction buildings are occupied and you own one of them: sell it. This moves it to the purchasable buildings area and boots out whichever player is inside, freeing it up for your immediate use. The downside is that you lose the building, but you can buy it back.

And now I have an iPad and it is even more awesomer. Now to mine this thread a tad deeper.

I need people's favorites. I have Le havre and Carcasonne and love them. I am looking at Caylus and San Juan and Puerto Rico. So, give me your top three, if you have a moment.

Of those three, I'd take Puerto Rico. It's not Retina, which is a shame, but it's the best game of the lot. San Juan is a great implementation, but it's just not as good as game, IMHO. Caylus is a great game, but the UI for the iOS version sucks. Also check out:

1. Elder Sign: Omens
2. Yggdrasil
3. If you want to do some nostalgia gaming, the new Lost Treasures of Infocom and Lords of Midnight are both great.
4. Summoner Wars is good for multiplayer.

Is the Android platform just generally a wasteland in terms of mobile game ports? I can't find one for Ghost Stories anywhere. :(

Mine:

1. Ascension (though I play it on the iPhone)
2. Tigris & Euphrates. I adore this game, and play it at least once a day.
3. Titan. Just starting to play this mp.
4. Hey, That's My Fish!
5. TTR.
6. And Elder Sign: Omens is brilliant but frustrating, as it should be.

Off-topic: Why hasn't Yggdrasil gone on sale ever? Really want to try that out.

There are a few board game apps that appear to be evergreen. Yggdrasil, Ghost Stories, Forbidden Island and Small World have never, so far as I can tell, gone on sale*.

*Introductory discount notwithstanding.

Thanks for the responses. And Natus, Ascension has been on my phone since April and between folks here and at Qt3 I have played about 1,400 games. So, if I can find another game half as good as that, I'll be set.

I have looked at all those you guys suggested, but there are soooo many to catch up on. I had forgotten about Titan, though.

Bear in mind that Titan, even more so than Summoner Wars, is primarily for multiplayer use. It has AI, but the AI is pretty awful. In the last game I played, two AI players suicided their Titan stacks against each other in turn 3. Nice move, guys!

How is Ghost Stories, BTW? I've always been curious about that one.

It's good, it's hard, it has no AI to worry about so when the game kicks your ass it's just cos the game kicked your ass.

You should read the instructions, though. It comes with zero tutorial and it's a relatively complicated game.

I tried Ghost Stories and bounced straight off. It seems like one of those games where you can't come up with a strategy the first time you play it. The first few games are just moving pieces around and watching what happens, so that you understand the flow well enough that you can start to come up with strategies. I can't deal with that style of "learn by watching" strategy. I want to be strategizing from my first game (even if hindsight later reveals I was doing it all wrong) otherwise I can't push through the learning curve.

That's a pretty good summary of Ghost Stories. I don't like these types of coop designs in general, and the theme does nothing at all for me, so I gave up on it quick.

It's also a sadistic design. When you eke out a win you feel more like you survived a traumatic experience than played an entertaining game.

I played some Ghost Stories on my old iPad (which is, unfortunately, on a different account from my new one, so it did not transfer over) and got thoroughly asskicked several times. So I gave up on it.

Then I read this review. So I decided to give it another shot.

And got my ass kicked again. But I didn't mind so much.

OTOH, I've never come to enjoy Small World.

So the long game of Le Havre is quite different. I really like this game.

It's a much better game with 4 players, if the players have good chemistry. A few minutes into my first game I was already helping strategize. :)

I played Ghost Stories the actual boardgame and loved the artwork and production aspects. But once I got the app, I knew I'd have to learn all over again. And yes, it needs people. If I want a brilliant design to make me feel miserable and joyless, I'll play Elder Sign: Omens.

It's been my experience that the "short game" of any game with a long game option is absolutely terrible, useful only as a learning game. The short game of Through the Ages put me off the game for years before I played, and really enjoyed, the full game.

The short game of through the ages is truly awful; and the inclusion of the short game made an already sketchy rulebook impossible to navigate. If you want to look up a rule, first you have to try and remember whether that rule was introduced in the learning game, the advanced game or the full game. Then you have to try and track it down within the appropriate section. Terrible, terrible decision.

Good game though, though it's no Agricola.

So what is the update as to when Agricola and Through the Ages will be out?

Also, are they making an Ora et Labora for iOS?

Ora's short game isn't bad. Especially since it's not all that short. It mostly just gives everyone more resources.

There's no real date for TTA or Agricola. TTA's released some screenshots, but that's it. Nothing on Agricola except that since it was announced Playdek has released like three other things.

Agricola news. Finally. They're gearing up for the beta. So I guess that means we'll be seeing the final release any year now!

Dave Sirlin also posted that Yomi would be coming to iOS. Before you get too excited, it's apparently just going to be an adaption of the webapp. It's likely that you'll need to be connected to play single player. And it will be free, with a rotating cast of two characters to use every week. From what has been explained, you can use real moneys to buy coins and then spend coins if you want to use your favorite character. Like at an arcade. It appears, at least so far, that there is no way to permanently buy any characters

Sounds like some real poop, bros.