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Thread: Munchkin:: General:: how about this Munchkin fans?

rickert — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:10:47 +0000

How about this idea?

http://plixi.com/p/43095159

Review: Snakes and Ladders:: Big Bird is a fat yellow prevaricator: exposing 8 blatant lies about life, love, and the board game hobby found in the Sesame Street edition of Chutes and Ladders

pete belli — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:10:06 +0000

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The colorful Sesame Street edition of Chutes and Ladders was published in 1990 by Milton Bradley. It is a delightfully crafted version of the classic game which features characters from the children’s television show.

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The introduction to the rules explains the theme of the game to parents:

“The Sesame Street friends can help kids understand the rewards of doing good deeds as they climb up the ladders and the consequences of naughty ones as they slide down the chutes.”

I was shocked by this mendacity, particularly when these falsehoods are an important element of a manipulative game cleverly disguised as a harmless diversion for young children!

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Here are just eight examples of the cunning prevarications hidden in the Sesame Street edition of Chutes and Ladders. The large image of the game board has been provided as a helpful reference.

Chute #16 -- Zoe won’t share her toy block with Elmo.

Good for Zoe! This should be a ladder instead. Never lend people your games. They might spill Mountain Dew on the board or smear Pace chunky salsa on the cards. Sharing is for shaggy hippies living in a commune.

Ladder #36 -- Elmo helps Zoe get up after she falls while roller skating.

Chivalrous behavior has a place… in a romantic tale about a gallant knight and a beautiful princess. In the cold, cruel world of board games you offer a treaty to France while secretly plotting with the Turks.

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Chute #87 -- Cookie Monster sits on a beach ball, flattening it.

I’ll bet the beach ball made a loud “Fart!” when it deflated. Cool! The thing was probably a cheap piece of junk produced in a Chinese labor camp anyway. Recycle the rubbery plastic debris in next week’s trash collection and move on with your life.

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Ladder #21 -- Big Bird mails a letter to his dear, sweet mother.

Sure, Mom was thrilled to hear from her beloved hatchling but once a kid sets this kind of precedent the whole thing can snowball like an avalanche! Before long Mom will be asking him to visit more frequently and then she’ll start complaining because he plans to use his vacation time to attend BGG.CON in November.

Chute #48 -- Zoe’s building block structure is knocked over.

Wrecking things is fun. Any party animal Geek who has enjoyed a game of Arch Rival can vouch for that, particularly if adult beverages were involved. Was it Nietzsche who said destruction is a form of creativity?

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Ladder #1 -- Elmo plants a flower bed.

Any man who shows up on Valentine’s Day with a bunch of flowers he picked in the backyard is asking for trouble. Unless he wants his precious game collection to be thrown into a heap out on the sidewalk he should cough up the $50 for a dozen roses.

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Ladder #71 -- Bert (or is that Ernie?) builds a wooden birdhouse.

Bad idea. Birds might poop on your car in the driveway. Tree branches are good enough for those feathered dive-bombers. This illustration should be a chute that drops a kid’s token back at least 20 or 30 spaces.

Chute #49 -- Elmo rides his bicycle without a helmet.

What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. I rode my bike without any head protection and look how ~~gud goud~~ good I turned out! These components from the 1990 Cabbage Patch Kids Bicycle Race Game features tokens without helmets… maybe the nanny-state bicycle safety lobby put the squeeze on the board game industry by 2004.

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I paid three bucks for my copy of Chutes and Ladders at the thrift store and that was a fair price for such a high quality game. I was going to donate this copy to a children’s charity but now I’m not so sure. I just can’t believe that Big Bird and the rest of the Sesame Street gang would do us wrong like this. Maybe they sold out for a bigger residual payment in their contract…

Thread: Priests of Ra:: Rules:: Bidding - Number of Rounds

peltazoid — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:02:31 +0000

by peltazoid

In each auction is it just one round of bidding, or do you keep going round till all bar one pass?

Our 1st game we played that you can keep bidding until all players bar one have passed and we upped the bid by using replacing the previously bid sun.

I have re-read the rules and I feel that we played wrong and there should only be one round of bidding which starts with the player to the left of RA and ends with RA, is this correct?

I also realized that it is only the people/priests that are discarded at the end of each epoch as we discarded buildings as well, It looks like it will make a difference.

Thanks.
Andy.

Session: Summoner Wars:: Summoner vs Summoner

ronster0 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:00:43 +0000

by ronster0

I have a few games under my belt now, but I have always played as the Elves. I have a pretty good strategy going now. With that in mind I decided to play the game with my long time friend and part time gamer.

I let him choose the faction and he wanted the Elves. That would leave me with the Orcs and to find a way to win.

I explained the game and away we went. He's a fast leaner and a great gamer so I knew I was in for a battle.

Things were going pretty good and we had traded a few jabs at each other to build up our magic deck. I was saving to my best to bring out Krung and make him pay. With my luck he had the two cards that let him take my magic if I had more units on the map....He used TWO on the same turn...ouch.

This gave him an advantage in magic that was hard to over come. He was able to bring out his champions over the next two turns and do damage to my summoner. I was able to kill them slowly and use freeze to slow him down. Between freezing and relentlessly attacking him I was able to whittle down his champions and brought out my own. I managed to get some damage on his summoner also.

As our units were whittled down, we were both left with our summoner and one other unit. These would only commit suicide if they went up against our summoners. There was only one thing left to do and that was to go head to head with our summoners.

He came first, it would take all of hits to kill me, if he missed one I would win. He picked up his dice, threw them down..... and came up one short. The next phase I killed his summoner. It was a great ending to a close game that we both enjoyed. He liked the game and said he wanted to play again.

Review: Talisman (Fourth Edition):: Unboxed Review: Talisman Revised 4th Edition

The Duke BGG — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:59:59 +0000

by The Duke BGG

A while back some of you may remember I reviewed 3rd edition, you may also remember that I had played the game to death and was rather fed up of facing the same challenges time and again.

Well, as a treat, I bought 4th Edition to take with me on my summer holiday. The following review will focus on the game itself, although I will comment on the differences/improvements between 3rd and 4th editions, along with a quick note on the current expansions. This review is available in full colour with 100% more pictures of my painted minis on the Unboxed Board Game Blog

The Concept

Talisman is questing fantasy game, where you take on the role of a mighty hero or villain in an epic race to the Crown of Command. Unfortunately, as they say, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” upon reaching the Crown, the player becomes corrupted and turns his gaze on his fellow adventurers, until he alone possess the Crown, unchallenged. Perhaps he believes his vengeance is somehow justified, but he will not rest until all others are defeated.

Unboxed

Although I have the Black Industries edition of the game with the FFG upgrade pack, I’m largely going to talk about the FFG version of the game.

1 Large 6-fold Game Board (slightly revised)
Revised 4th Edition Rulebook
14 Character Cards with matching plastic character figures
104 Adventure Cards
24 Spell Cards
28 Purchase Cards
4 Talisman Cards
4 Toad Cards with matching plastic toad figures
4 Alignment Cards
6 Six-sided Dice
120 (40 each) Strength, Craft, Life Counters (8 large and 32 small plastic cones in each set)
36 Fate Tokens (cardboard)
30 Gold Coins (plastic)

If you do own the BI edition, the upgrade pack gives you everything listed above except the Board and the Strength, Life and Craft Tokens. Fixing the board is easy if you have some label paper and a colour printer or a good memory. Just go here and download the 4th ed revised overlays. Also I recommend downloading the FFG PDF Rulebook.

Also I “fixed” my tokens by giving them a quick wash with some GW washes and then repainting the numbers white. To make them easier to see from a distance.

But what about the rest of the stuff? Well, the board is very big and very nicely illustrated. As a 3rd edition player I find the spaces a little disorientating because they aren’t all where they “should” be.

The cards and chits are very nice and the artwork is stunning, much better than the cartoon artwork of previous editions. I love the coins and the dice, the fact that one die has been included for each player is a nice touch. I would consider adding a couple of extra dice in different colours for marking the duration of effects, number of creatures remaining etc, as “someone” kept picking up and rolling the dice marking the number of Pit Fiends the leading player had left to fight.

Once again, my only complaint is the that the figures aren’t as detailed as they could be. I think this is partly due to the fact that I’m a miniature wargamer and I am used to really good quality minis. However, once I got my brush out and gave them a lick of paint they seemed to come to life and make the game even more thematic.

Playing the Game

The game play is almost identical to previous editions. Roll a six sided die, move either clockwise or counter clockwise then draw some cards or perform the action listed on the space. This is what many people complain about with this game and I can see why.

Being able to pick your direction of travel does give the illusion of choice, however, if your choice is one card or one card then there really is no choice because it is the same card. I’m not sure if there is a fix for this short of putting facedown adventure cards on each space.

However FFG has attempted to fix this random move and draw in small ways. The first is Fate. Each character starts the game with some amount of Fate which means you can reroll any one dice you have rolled, including movement. A second is the introduction of powers and items that allow players to discard cards they don’t want to encounter.

In addition, you have the option to enter a new region without needing to land exactly on the space that leads to it. In fact you must have enough movement to move beyond it. This means that you can often have three or more spaces to choose from on your turn. It also means that getting to the Inner region is quicker and far less annoying now that you don’t need to land on the Causeway (Portal of Power) by exact count.

Combat too is almost identical. Each character has a Strength score for Battles and a Craft score for Psychic Combat. Thankfully these two terms (Battle/Psychic Combat) are very clearly defined on all cards and special abilities in this edition, clearing up all questionable areas. To determine your score in battle you add your strength, all bonuses from items and followers and a roll of a d6 together. The monster then does the same, the highest score wins. Not particularly thematic but it gets the job done. Again the ability to spend fate to affect your roll is a great boon and helps to mitigate the chances that you will die due to poor dice rolling.

Psychic Combat functions like Battles except that the character fights on Craft instead of strength. Only items that give a bonus to your craft can be used in Psychic Combat. In addition Armour cannot be used to save a life lost in Psychic Combat, which is a nice thematic touch in my opinion and it helps make the two types of combat different.

When you defeat an enemy on a card you take the card as a Trophy. When you have enough trophies in Strength to equal 7 (i.e. a Strength 3 and a Strength 4) you can trade them in for a point of strength. You cannot make change, so if you trade in a Strength 6 and a Strength 2 you still only get 1 point of strength, however you can choose to wait and trade them in when you have the correct change or enough to take several points at once. Gaining Craft is done in the same manner. This is a good change from 3rd edition as it means you will struggle to improve in the weaker of your two stats.

If a player lands on the same space as another player, they may encounter them as opposed to the space. Unless a character’s card says otherwise they must fight the battle on strength, making Psychic Combat between characters much rarer, but generally much more deadly. Winning a battle against another player entitles the victor to a reward, either a gold or an object or they can force the player to lose a life.

Once you feel that you are strong (or lucky) enough, you can attempt to get to the Crown of Command and win the game. To do so you must brave the inner region. Firstly you must pass the Portal of Power by rolling less than your Strength or Craft (decide before rolling) on 2 dice. Success grants you access to the Plain of Peril, failure causes you to lose a point of strength/craft depending which stat you were using. Obviously failure is bad!

Once inside you progress at one space per turn and must face three different challenges. Depending on whether you excel at craft or strength will usually determine your path. You may attempt to break through the Crypt using strength, or puzzle out the Mines using craft. Roll three dice, minus the appropriate stat and you need to end up with a result of 0 or less otherwise you’re likely to be kicked out of the region altogether.

Once through you must test your luck, either against the Vampire (if you came through the mine) or against Death (if you came through the Crypt.) There is no skill here, although rerolls can be helpful. It’s worth noting that when you spend a fate point you may only reroll one dice once, after that you can try and spend fate till you’re blue in the face and it’ll make no odds.

With those nasty places behind you you have arrived at the final battle. You must either fight d6 Pit Fiends with a Strength of 4 each or a Werewolf with 2d6 Strength. Defeat your opponent and move on to the Valley of Fire. Here you need a talisman or you can progress no further.

Finally you enter the Crown of Command. Here you must roll a die each turn and (depending on the number of players) if you roll a certain number all other Characters lose one life. You continue to do this until all players are dead. If another player reaches the Crown the two of you must duel for control. Last man standing is the winner.

Admission

I have to say that we don’t play the “everyone must die” rules. Mostly to stop people bickering and shorten the game length. That said, we’ve had quite a few games which have been won by a single space and may have turned out differently if we had been using the full rules.

Unboxed on Luck

I will happily admit that I don’t enjoy a game which plays itself but I also don’t like games that give you no control because they are purely luck driven.

But, I do like the new version of Talisman. Yes, it’s very luck driven and sometimes you can play for an hour and get no further. But, the addition of Fate Points can really help you out. Because of Fate Points I’ve only seen one player turned into a toad in seven games. Because of Fate Points I’ve seen players survive when they should have died or found a way through the mine when they shouldn’t have.

The ability to enter new regions without needing the exact count means that movement is much less random, especially when you add the four corner expansions (there are obviously only two at the moment.) For example, rolling a six in the Chapel would offer you 5 different movement options if you have the Highlands expansion.

In addition to that, the expansions offer a lot of cards that affect movement and card draws and allow players to rid the board of other cards. It is very nice to see FFG attempting to resolve the issues with the game, without changing the core mechanics which some player are very nostalgic about.

Thoughts on the New Edition

Overall I like the new edition. I think it’s very very pretty. It’s no longer set in the Old World but rather in a fun and gritty generic fantasy setting.

Of all the Fantasy style games I own, Talisman is the easiest to play with new gamers and the new edition is very very clear and concise with the rules. Just the introduction of sub-titles like Armour, Weapon etc, makes it so much easier to know what effects other Adventure cards have.

The Fate Points and tweaked movement rules I’ve already mentioned. I also enjoy the tweaks and clarifications to combat, in particular the strict adherence to the terms Battle and Psychic Combat.

The characters in 4th edition are more powerful than previously which generally leads to a shorter play time, but also makes the characters more flavoursome. For example, I had a lot of fun playing as the thief, intentionally landing on other players and stealing their stuff (and then suffering their wrath) In 3rd edition the theft ability for the thief (bonus White Dwarf Character) was almost not worth using because you had to land on the character and then pass a test. Meaning if you failed you’d wasted your turn. In the new edition you can automatically steal and still encounter the space!

I also enjoy the fact that the number of options on the board spaces have increased. The temple for example now has 8 or 9 different effects. The City and the Village offer 3 different encounters for players landing there. The inner region was a rather big change for me and judging the stats you need to succeed is a little difficult for a player of previous editions.

Although I have refrained from using the proper ending, I think that in some games it would have been quite rewarding. I certainly look forward to using the Alternate Endings in the expansions.

All that said I do have some problems with the game. For a start it needs an expansion. With most games, this is optional, but for this one it is not. In our 5 player games we burnt through the entire adventure deck, bar the last four cards or so. If you want to keep this game fresh you probably want a stack of Adventure Cards in excess of 300, meaning players can’t count on getting a particular card, thus reducing the amount of metagaming going on at the table.

Also, having played 3rd ed with all the regions available, playing the game confined to the basic board feels constrained to me, like I know there is more adventure to be had.

Finally, I wish that the mini’s were better, I think they look better painted than not but you do need some serious talent to get the best out of them. Other than that, this is a great game if not taken seriously.

Players who are looking for D&D lite will not be satisfied with this one. There are no skills, no way to really “build” a character, no opportunities to roleplay and your options will always be limited. Likewise players who are looking for a story game are looking in the wrong place. Talisman is not Tales of the Arabian Nights, your quest will not feel like an epic tale spun by J.R.R or Mr. Eddings.

But if you are looking for an hour to two hours of fun with your mates, where you generally only need to be able to add up to ten then I think this is your game. Talisman is great gateway into heavier Fantasy/Dungeon Crawl games like Runebound or Descent, you have two stats and no complicated dice and everything you need to know is printed on the cards.

Expansions

There are currently 4 expansions available for this edition of the game, with a 5th expansion due out this month. The small box expansions are a great way to bolster this game. Currently there are two of these:

The Reaper
Frostmarch

These expansions add close to a hundred cards to the adventure deck for that much needed variety. They also add twenty or so cards to the spell decks, again increasing replayability through variety. They also introduce various alternate rules, such as The Grim Reaper, Alternate Endings and Warlock Quests as well as 4 new Characters. The best thing about these expansions is that they are cheap. I got mine for a mere £15 each which when you consider they include 4 or 5 plastic models, it is practically a steal. The Sacred Pool is the third in the line of small box expansions and is due out very soon.

There are also two big box expansions. These two are still pretty cheap. For around £20 - £25 you can pick up:

The Dungeon
The Highland

Each of these adds a beautiful (absolutely gorgeous) new board, much much bigger than I thought. Around 150 new adventure cards, as well as 6 new characters, a load of new spells, Alternate Endings and lots more. With at least two more of these expansions still to come in the next two years, Talisman will be one of the most replayable games on the market and no where near as expensive as a second hand copy of 3rd edition on ebay! In fact, I bought my copy plus three expansions for £71 including shipping, how can you beat that!

Sorry that took so long…

Wow, that was longer than I thought it was going to be. Hopefully you stuck with me throughout. I have another ten games due to arrive in the next few weeks so you can all look forward to some new reviews. Until then, don’t forget to vote in the poll and let us know how many games is too many!

If you want to, you can see a list of all of my reviews (along with those by Contributors to the blog) in this Geek List

Thanks for reading... sorry it was so long!

Thread: Race for the Galaxy:: General:: Which is the more popular online platform at the moment?

crushedguava — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:54:31 +0000

by crushedguava

I haven't been playing much Race recently, due to placements but more likely due to Starcraft 2 . Either way, where do most players play online at the current point in time? Keldon's AI or Flex?

Thread: Nuns on the Run:: Variants:: Alternate Visual Theme: Monster Castle or Museum Heist

Bizowikc — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:52:33 +0000

by Bizowikc

The first time I looked at the board and the nuns I thought... how cool would this be if the guards were monsters (zombie / vampire / Frankenstein) and the characters were kids who were dared to go in the house after some certain object in the spooky house?

- OR -

Art thieves each after a different painting in the museum?

- The starting rooms instead could be represented by the entrance they came through (door, window, tunnel , etc.) to enter the house.

- The game could even be adapted to have stairs to separate floors in the building.

Review: Zombies!!! (Second Edition):: A Zombies!!! review by Kaos

Boundkaos — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:46:05 +0000

by Boundkaos

Before I start, I want to say alittle about myself.
I love board games.

OK, enough about me, on to the review.

Components - Inside the box you'll get some tiles that are pretty thin but strong enough to stand the test of time.
I recommend placing something on the table first to help hold the tiles in place. I use a rubber matting, but I guess you could use alot of coasters or a really good friend that can stay still for a long time.
You'll also get some cards that are near normal playing card quality.
You'll get a red and a blue die, so if you've been looking for those colors, look no further.
there are six different pawns called, shotgun guys, what can I say, they are colorful, light weight, and look like there holding shotguns.
If you look hard enough into the box you'll find a few zombies...well ok, maybe alittle more than a few. there is one hundred zombies in the box... yes 100. It could be a factor in their decision to call the game "Zombies!!!"... I could be wrong.
Also you'll find two different kinds of chits. some are hearts others are bullets.
They are small. I think the smallest I've seen, but don't worry, they are big enough to get the job done.

I give components
(the sheer number of zombies deserves an extra )

Artwork - The tiles look nice. they have decent artwork on them. not great but they could be worse.
The figures are alright. The shotgun guys look like guys with shotguns and the zombies look like zombies. I must add that the zombies do have holes in their chest which makes em look like they were a victim of a shotgun blast.
The bullet chits have a picture of a bullet on them....yep, I have nothing.
The heart chits though look cool because it's an actual human heart drawing. No "legend of Zelda" hearts for this game.
The cards, on the other hand, have some of the best artwork that I've ever seen in a game. Yes most are alittle on the gore side, but I love them. Just look at the galleries and you'll see what I mean.

I rate the artwork
(Yes I love the cards that much...not divorce my wife and marry them love, but very likeable...ok maybe.)

Gameplay - In this game, everyone plays as a shotgun guy running around a city completly overrun with zombies. (that fact alone made me buy this game...I mean I had no choice.)
Apparently the only living beings left in the city are the players...which is AWESOME!!!.
The object of the game is to either "get to tha choppa!!" or collect 25 zombies before anyone else.
Every turn you will place a tile to increase the size of the city and place more zombies...woot.
You have a hand of cards, but you can only use one card per round, not turn, so you have to choose wisely.
It really is simple to play but could be hard if your unlucky with the dice rolls.
When you move onto a space with a zombie you must fight it. 4+ on a die roll kills it, which you keep for scoring. if you don't kill the zombie you could either lose a heart and roll again or discard a bullet chit to increase the die roll result by the number of chits you use.
If you lose all of your hearts you lose half of your zombies and your pawn is moved to the start tile.
The cards can give you weapons, or some other advantages. You can also use some to anger your opponents.

I rate gameplay

Theme - Playing this game didn't make me feel like one of the only living people left in a zombie infested city. It made me feel like a bad-ace running around a maze shootin' the heads off of zombies!
Theme, I feel, isn't too thick in this game but there is enough. alot of the cards are humorous, which helps keep this game light-hearted.

I give theme

Overall - I think this is worth playing. My first game wasn't a good experience, because we were playing with 6 players with the worst luck ever. it took us seven hours to finish.
But don't let that keep you from this great game. I'd recommend only playing with 2-4 players, at least for your first game. I think this is an easy game to learn and play, with enough strategy to keep you coming back.
This is a sure buy in my book.

Overall I give Zombies!!!

Thx for reading my review and I hope it helped. If you look at my profile and see a game I own and would like me to review it just let me know.

Session: Twilight Struggle:: TS sucks ...

carol12 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:32:51 +0000

by carol12

... or actually sucked up until yesterday evening .

I am not sure if a lot of people will share that opinion but after my several initiating plays (+/- 10) when I always won as USSR (solidly) and always lost as US (god bless me if I made to turn 8) I was kind of totally depressed.

Depressed but at the same time totally frozen and blank when I needed to play US side (even with optional cards and Chinese Civil Variant) – I simply did not know what to do to outweigh the sudden flows of red “blood” across the map in Early War. I was simply scared. You know this feeling? No matter what you do it turns out to be wrong?

But all of this changed yesterday . I will spare you details about the cards, how they were played, what coups we made, etc. I believe it depends a lot on strategy of your opponent, situation at stake on the map – which is always different. But one thing for me as US player this time was different – I read all the US strategy sections on BGG and guys I need to tell you – you did great job! It works.

So once again for everybody really upset with playing US side and this may not work all days but surely enough some day it will work. So my motto for yesterday was:

• Do not LOOSE Italy – it was the only way to keep USSR from total control – we ended up with influence marks 18 US / 16 USSR
• Red cards are all not that bad – before I was always scared to play USSR events. I realized that in fact they can very beneficial (i.e. playing Vietnam revolts and couping it back, or playing Che while there is only one non-btgl country that can be couped). That works great! But in order to do that you need to…
• … know the cards – what they do and why to use them or not. Can be hard for the newbie as we hardly ever get to Late War to play these cards
• Do not spend a nickel on non-btgl countries in early stage of the war
• Realignment rolls in America and Africa – go for it. I managed to wipe USSR totally our of Cental America and left them 2 Ops in Chile while playing Allende in Last Turn
• Play with Reshuffle – I was holding some nasty USSR cards and playing them only after reshuffle happened

And you know what? The life begins only when you win TS as US. Nothing more matters.

Thread: The Great Pacific War:: Rules:: The Great Pacific War

amusgar — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:15:37 +0000

by amusgar

Reglas en español por favor

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: 'Eldarin' Power Card

superdupergeek — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:03:47 +0000

by superdupergeek

I just noticed, one of the 'Wizard's Power' cards is Race Specific not Class specific. The card is - Fey Step.

The same for one of the fighters power cards. Its a 'Dragonborn Power' card, not a 'Fighter' Power card.

All the rest are class specific.

I didnt notice before and the distrinction is not mentioned in the rules so it is interesting!

I'm trying to think why that might be now......

Answers on a postcard!

Thread: DungeonQuest:: Rules:: Combat in solo rules

eferreira — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 22:00:54 +0000

by eferreira

Hi again, I have another question regarding the rules. This time regarding the combat in the solo rules.
The rule book says exactly this about monster's counterattack:

"If the Monster is able to make a counterattack, reveal the top five
cards of the Combat deck. If any of those cards are able to be used
for a successful counterattack, the cards must be played. All of the
remaining revealed cards are then discarded."

So, for example if the monster can counter attach using yellow (magic) cards and all 5 cards revealed from the combat desk are yellow, must it use all of them regardless of the total attack value on those cards? Wouldn`t that be just to much damage?
The multi-player rules seems to be different. During the counter attack you reveal cards from your hand one by one until your total attack value is higher than your opponent`s

Thanks again

Session: Founding Fathers:: D'oh! Major error mars our first play

qwertymartin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:55:31 +0000

by qwertymartin

I'd been excited about Founding Fathers for quite a while so I was delighted when I heard my friendly local Boardgameguru was bringing a copy along to London on Board last night.

Five of us got set up, but none of us had played before so there was quite a bit of poring over the rulebook. The scores were incredibly close (all 5 players within a couple of points) all the way through to the end of the game. Then the winning player leapt from 9 to 26, with 7 points in the Assembly Room and 5 points each from the debate tokens for large states and small states, which tied for first.

The game had taken us about 2.5 hours, including the rules reading, and none of us felt particularly satisfied. The main complaint was that it was very difficult to take in all the information on the cards, particularly the ones in opponents' hands, though this wasn't helped by the rather dim light in our pub basement. This had caused a lot of downtime, as people read and re-read cards, and I used Washington to end Rounds 3 and 4 early more because I wanted to end the game than because it benefited me.

But I still really *wanted* to like the game, so I did my usual post-game re-read of the rules to see if we'd slipped up. Amazingly, we'd got almost all the small details right BUT we'd made one glaring error. We'd been placing the cards in the draw pool face UP not down! This simple mistake had a huge effect, mainly on the pace of the game, because everyone wanted to read all three events available at the start of each of their turns. Additionally, events became much more significant (and I imagine more frequently played) than they should be, because you could cherry-pick one to fit your situation rather than grabbing cards just on the state/faction mix you were looking for.

I still have some issues with the game, but I'm sure it will be a lot better as a < 90 min game than a > 120 min one. I'm keen to play again soon, preferably with fewer than 5 players, as that adds to the downtime and chaos.

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: if there was a retheme, what would you want it to be?

abodi — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:48:44 +0000

by abodi

if there was a retheme, what would you want it to be?
and would it work?

do you think there is a way for guns to work? perhaps just harder to hit if more tiles away?

Thread: Liberty Roads:: Strategy:: Operation Cobra Discussion - Redux: How to Win as the Allies?

cmontgo2 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:43:46 +0000

by cmontgo2

Well, I have played the Operation Cobra Scenario twice solo and twice against a face-to-face opponent. I had read about the difficulty in playing the Allies, so I played the Allies in each of my face-to-face games.

I am more frustrated than ever with this scenario.

I read the advice that one has to get Patton on the board as quickly as possible and keep him there. I read that you have to use the support markers carefully.

I tried all that.

In both face-to-face games, I never even captured St. Malo.

In both games my opponent and I (both newbs to this game but very experienced wargamers) post-mortemed my playing style to see if I was doing something obviously silly or perhaps not following a strategy well-enough. We didn't really come up with anything.

So . . . two things:

(1) How do you win as the Allies?; and,

(2) Is anyone willing to play the Allies via Vassal and school me in the ways of the Patton?

There were a couple of quirky things, but nothing that we felt should have resulted in such a thrashing, namely these:

In BOTH GAMES Patton rolled snake eyes on an attack in Turn 7 resulting in no progress and no exploitation.

In BOTH GAMES, Patton was, the following turn, cut off from supply and the Allies hopes of capturing even 2 VPs dropped very suddenly.

In BOTH GAMES the final score was 3 VPs for the Allies (the ones they start the scenario with).

So, c'mon! Who's gonna show me how to do this right?

My opponent and I have a rematch for our next session in which he is going to play the Allies. Based on this third experience, we will decide whether its even worth the time playing the campaign scenario with the advanced rules.

As with all my complaining threads, I am ready, willing, and able to admit that the fault is my playing style, not the game design. But if that's the case, tell me about it - and schedule a Vassal game of Cobra to show me how it's done right.

Session: Commands & Colors: Ancients:: How the romans can loose at Crimmissos river in 3 turns

Haring — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:43:40 +0000

by Haring

After a couple of plays, yesterday we decided to have an other game of CC:A
We choose to play the crimmissos river scenario again.
Last time I lost with 1 victory block (we always play back & forth).

So it was time for my revenge.

]]>

Match 1: ME-Carthage, Frou-Romans:
Frou started as the roman commander, while I would be the fearless Carthagian supreme commander.
I knew I would have a hard time, but I figured out that if I could score a decent amount of VB's I would be in a winning position as soon as it was my turn to play the Romans.

Immediately I had trouble to get my important warriors across to river, and my sacred band was being slauthered by the roman heavy infantry divisions.

]]>

After about 4 to 6 turns I finally got one of my warriors units across the dreaded river and immediately started raging across country to destroy the weakened Roman-right-flank, where only a couple of auxilia units survived my long range sling attacks.

While on my left flank my heavy units where being destroyed (The Romans needed only 1 more unit destroyed to win), I made 1 final charge with my warriors in order to at least destroy the weak flank.

I succeeded, and was destroyed in the Roman next turn, but I managed to grab 3 victory blocks against 5 for the Romans.
I was in a good position to win, when the sides changed.

Second match: Me-Romans, Frou-Carthage:
After we reset the board and we switched sides.

Finally I sat at the command of the vast and strong Roman army, and I would break my losing streak to the wicked Carthagian Army.

My initial hand was pretty good; I had a command card for every section and a "double time" card to get my Heavy infantry to the enemy quickly.
I decided that my heavies would do the ground work, while on my right flank the Light sling and Auxilia would battle the "river crossing" left flank warriors of the Carthagians.

Although my plan basically worked, the battle backs from the carthagians where ruthless. With 1 "strike first" card, the Carthagian Sacred band completely wiped out 1 of my heavy infantry units.
I send in 2 more heavies to asses the damage, only to have the 2 units completely destroyed in the following turn.

So their I was..I lost 5 units in 3 rounds against an army that I should have conquered with ease.

]]>

What I learned:
CC:A can be a brutal game.
Never underestimate your opponent (even if she is a girl)
Don't rush your Heavy infantry units into battle when they have no back-up or leaders.

]]>
I know, different scenario, but this was how she looked after this win as well.
Cheers, Haring

Thread: Route Z:: General:: HO Scale

GreenM — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:35:35 +0000

by GreenM

I've been developing my prototype. My google is weak. If anyone can point me to the following at HO scale I'd probably give you a thumbs up.

Dump Truck
Gas Truck

Motorcycles
I keep finding kits for these online but they are meh.

People
I would like to turn some people into zombies. If there were HO Scale zombies somewhere that would be great.

Thanks

Thread: Ants!:: Variants:: Serv-ants (a potential solution to player elimination)

Turtle Freak — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:35:34 +0000

by Turtle Freak

Hello! I haven't actually played this game yet, but I just ordered it, and it's on its way! I love ants, and this looks like a great game for me. I've never really liked player elimination, but I've always tolerated it because I do enjoy playing games like Risk and such with my friends. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I've recently begun playing games like Settlers of Catan and Pandemic, and so my ability to tolerate player elimination is waning.

So! I began doing a bit of research in the BGG forums because I know that many people see player elimination as a problem, and I wanted to find out how other games have gotten around it. Mostly I found a bunch of bickering about whether player elimination was even a problem to begin with, but I did find some interesting ideas too. Out of those, I stumbled on one in particular that seems perfect for "Ants!" It's called the "Vassal" variant for a game called "VIKTORY" (or "VICTORY II"? not sure which). Here is a link to what I found, but I'll summarize:

http://www.viktorygame.com/viktoryiihistory/#eliminating

Basically, the idea is that rather than eliminating a player, you have the option of making them your vassal. As a vassal, they continue playing normally but are now your ally. They continue playing as your ally until one of two things happens: 1) you yourself become a vassal to another player, or 2) they turn another player into their own vassal. When these happen, your vassal is freed.

Now keep in mind, I haven't actually played "Ants!" yet so I don't yet know how well this will work, but it seems feasible given the structure of the game. I plan to refine the idea as needed once I have the game. There are, of course, issues that will have to be resolved regarding the nature of alliances since I don't think "Ants!" has any rules for that. In any case, let me just go ahead and outline the variant as it applies to "Ants!" and see what you think:

Serv-ants (an Ants! variant)

* When a player eliminates another's queen, rather than becoming eliminated, the latter player's ants become serv-ants of the former player's colony. When this happens, the two colonies are "connected" so the serv-ant player may continue collecting and spending food as usual even though that player's queen is missing.

* Food may at any time be shared between the serv-ant player and the master player (sover-ant player?) so long as both players agree, though it is doubtful that a serv-ant would ever want to give the sover-ant some of its food. In this way, a sover-ant may bring back a serv-ant that has been completely eliminated and has no food or ants of its own remaining.

* Serv-ants and sover-ants may not pass through one another.

* Serv-ants may gather food from stacks that have their sover-ant's sarg-ant standing on them, and vice-versa.

* Adjacent serv-ants and sover-ants may help defend each other as per the normal rules.

* If a serv-ant successfully kills the queen of another colony, the serv-ant is freed and immediately places their own queen back on the board. The player whose queen was elminated now becomes the serv-ant to the player who was just freed.

* If a sover-ant player loses its queen, then all of its serv-ants are freed and immediately place their queens back on the board.

* The game ends when a player makes all the other players its serv-ants.

End of variant

I think that covers everything. Once again, remember that I haven't yet played the base game, let alone this variant, so I don't know yet if it actually works as well as it sounds. The main issue that springs to mind as being a potential problem is game length. I have no idea if this will actually speed up games, slow them down, or have no effect. It sounds like it could go back and forth a lot, but I think that would actually make it a lot more exciting. Of course, players can still be effectively eliminated if a player chooses to kill all their peas-ants before killing the queen while they have no food left and just choosing not to lend that player any food. This could also happen if they just kill everything and leave the queen alive. I'm not sure if the game has any precautions for when a player has no food or ants left on the board, but if not then it may be necessary to add a rule for that case. Perhaps player can acquire one food every turn as a minimum? This would be kind of like in Risk where players get a minimum of three armies each turn.

In any case, I think I've said enough for now. I'll try to test this out after I get the game. I'm debating whether or not I should play the base game with my friends first or teach them this variant first as an experiment to see what they think. :-D

Review: Taluva:: Erupting volcanoes, forming islands. That's Taluva for you.

ZarqEon — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:30:51 +0000

by ZarqEon

Actually this is the first game, which I read about first, and then bought it.

First I came by Taluva by accident, searching on the Internet for another game. I saw a picture of the game, which immediately caught my attention.
I saw tiles on the top of each other, and I always thought tile laying is fun. Placing tiles over each other also seemed quite interesting.

[components]
The game is beautiful, the tiles features 3 hexes joined together. Every tile has 1 volcano an two other terrain hex. The game rules are pretty simple: You draw a tile, then place a marker on the map. There are four different ways of marker placing (there are 3 different markers), you can't place a marker on a volcano.
The tiles are made of thick cardboard. I mean really thick, it seems to last forever.

[rules]
There are some lakes on the tiles. The rules doesn't says anything about them, so it's up to you to decide whenever you can place a building on them or you aren't allowed. I prefer playing with no-buildings-allowed-on-lakes, it makes the game more interesting. Though the game could end up incredibly fast, like drawing a tile with a volcano and 2 lakes on it for the first time
]]>

[strategy]
Despite the simple rules and fast game play, this games has some really deep strategy. It's a bit like Hive, but with more possibility, and nicer board.
It's a bit like Carcassonne, but since Carcassonne has lots of expansions, (and if you have them, you won't really want to play the base game, and your Carcassonne would extend to more hours, because of the additional tiles) it's way much longer than Taluva.
If you prefer, it could be played cut throat by placing a new tile on the top of the opponent(s) buildings, or you can focus on your own at the corner of the island.
It is important to mention that there are three ways of ending the game: the regular way is to place all the tiles, but if you manage to place all of you markers of two types, then you win by instant. Also if you can't place any buildings, then you loose.

[theme]
There is some theme, mentioned on the back of the box, though it isn't mentioned in the rules, and the game play not really includes it. That's why this games is a bit like an abstract, but with nice art. Because of the size of the hexes on the tiles, the forming island looks a bit chaotic. The perfect illusion of an new island with active volcanoes, jungles and lakes. Play it on a blue table cloth, and it's get even better.

game play
Played by two player, the game is pretty straight forward. You can predict your opponent's move more or less. With more player, you need to recalculate you strategy more often. If you fancy a nice predictable game, then play with 2 player. If you'd rather like a more fun game, then involve more people. At the end of the game, you won't feel that you don't know why you lost/won.

summary
I'm a strategy kind of man. I fancy good strategy games and Taluva is definitely a good one. Lots of fun, deep strategy. Who needs more? Of course it won't replace long and heavy strategy games.

Don't play Taluva if you want to play a round for hours, with lot's of thinking, or if you want a game with a strong theme.
There is always time for a fast game of Taluva

Thread: Power Struggle:: General:: Any changes in the Z-Man release?

wwscrispin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:26:04 +0000

by wwscrispin

I am not sure anything would need to be changed but just curious.

Thread: Descent: Journeys in the Dark:: General:: Descent Monster Compendium

Soliddus — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:24:52 +0000

by Soliddus

Hi there everyone!

so far I'm loving this game. I recently got Road to Legend as well and as Overlord I found it a bit chaotic at the beginning to follow all the monster abilities in their different levels through the campaign and the normal game.

That's why I did the Monster Compendium!

In it you'll find all the information you need as a player or as an Overlord regarding monsters from all expansions.

It's designed following FFG's graphics, so if you print it I'll follow the theme. I printed mine in a DIN-A5 booklet (from folded DIN-A4) double sided, so it feels pretty good like if it was a small magazine.

To do so, select 'horizontal' in the page format, 'multiple pages per sheet' in Page Scaling, print double sided and input this sequence of pages in Print Range -> Pages: 1,1,2,7,3,4,5,6.

Please, if you find any error (although I checked it carefully) or you have any comment on how to improve it, please message me .

My intention is also to have it up to date as new expansions come out.

You'll find the file here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/filepage/58723/descent-monster-...

Please leave comments! and if you like it, will be welcomed

If you really like it, and you're planning on using it for your games, some will be highly appreciated to get a badge.

Thanks everyone and enjoy it!

Thread: Generic Racing Game:: General:: Tracks

mttbstrd666 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:22:22 +0000

by mttbstrd666

I know that all you need is some graph paper for tracks but are there any nice looking tracks for download anywhere?

Thread: Dominion:: Strategy:: Databases : Average number of treasure cards drawn -- Smithies, Villages

irchans — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:16:35 +0000

by irchans

While building an engine in a Dominion game, I have often wondered whether I should buy a smithy next or a village next or a silver. In an effort to solve this problem, I made an excel spreadsheet. If anyone is interested, I can upload it and create similar ones. Currently, the only spreadsheet I have made gives the average number of copper drawn if a deck consists only of villages, smithies, and copper. It has 3720 rows. Each row corresponds to a different distribution of cards.

It would not be hard to change the villages to festivals or to change the smithies into council rooms or moats. It also would not be hard to calculate the average number of smithies played, the average number of villages played, and the probability of drawing your entire deck.

If you are interested in these spread sheets, send me a message. If you are interested in some other similar information, I can try to calculate and upload that.

(Note that if silver, gold, and victory point cards are mixed in with copper, you can just multiply the number of coppers given in the spreadsheet by the average value of the treasure and victory point cards.)

Thread: Mare Nostrum:: Rules:: Combining sets

Aratar — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:06:20 +0000

by Aratar

Are you allowed to combine sets of cards to buy more expensive stuff? Fx 3 different goods + 3 tax cards to buy a market instead of two things with a value of 3?

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: Hard mode

HeroQuestFrance — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:05:33 +0000

by HeroQuestFrance

The rulebook says if you wanna play hard mode you have to play with less surges.
Some people said it was easy anyway.
Ok here is a hard mode :

Now each time you have to draw a monster card, draw a monster token instead and draw 0. 1 . 2 or 3 monster cards to place on the tile.
Good luck !

Thread: Great War at Sea: Pacific Crossroads:: Rules:: Supply Mission?

sguard — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:00:44 +0000

by sguard

It states that "suppy missions" do not use Fleet markers,but are placed on the map;can these Oilers and or Colliers on the map,can they also be escorted,can the escort also be placed with the Colliers on the map or do they have to be put into a Fleet Taskforce box?

Thread: Clash of Giants II:: Rules:: Column shifts in the combat resolution chart.

plust — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:55:46 +0000

by plust

Does a column shift in combat apply to both attacker and defender, or only to one side?
Example: the Germans attack the French with odds 2-1. The French are in city terrain, so the defence gets a column shift. Which DRM and loss limit apply to the Germans? Those from the 2-1 column or those from the 1-1 column?

Thanks,

Pieter

Thread: Conflict of Heroes: Price of Honour - Poland 1939:: General:: The ultimate firefight

Felkor — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:53:56 +0000

by Felkor

]]>

All 12 mapboards from the Eastern Front.

Anyone up for an epic firefight?

Thread: Saint Petersburg:: General:: Similar to San Juan?

mcszarka — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:33:16 +0000

by mcszarka

I see many positive comments on Saint Petersburg as a two-player game. I am primarily interested for another game to play with my wife. It sounds somewhat similar to San Juan, which we both found pretty dull. For the record, the games my wife most enjoys playing with me are:

Pandemic
Balloon Cup
Carcassonne: The Discovery
Cribbage
Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers

Games she did not like:

San Juan (she thought there was no tension)
Battle Line (she finds there are too many options, although I am still pushing this as I like it)
Ra: The Dice Game
Campaign Manager 2008 (although she will play if I insist)

What do you all think? Hit or miss?

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: In the middle or really start of my first game.

Dead Sea Cow — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:26:32 +0000

by Dead Sea Cow

Hi, I just got my game in the mail and set it up for my first solo. I choose the dragon hybrid. So in my first turn I went to open up the next tile and a wraith appears. I got hit by an encounter and the wraith missed. So now Im at 3 hit points. I used a precision attack to get the wraith down to 1 but now I'm back to encounter phase. Do I need to pull another encounter card in the middle of this fight? Thanks.

Thread: Thunderstone:: General:: Preset Dungeons using WotE and, occasionally, Promos

Bobby4th — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:25:06 +0000

by Bobby4th

One of my friends has created an online deck randomizer for Thunderstone. I was playing with it last night and decided to keep my eyes open for certain things and then copy and paste the lists to use later. For each of these I modified them some to try to get a playable set of cards.

The Death Sentinel isn't important to any of the layouts. I included it because it came up. If you don't have the card, either replace him with the Dark Champion or ignore him.

Short and Sweet
I stopped the first time I saw both the Clan and Dwarf characters at the same time. I then tweaked the Village cards to have three weapons.
Dungeon: Dark Champion, Death Sentinel, Dire Trap, Dragon, Humanoid, Undead Doom
Heroes: Clan, Diin, Dwarf, Runespawn
Village: Ambrosia, Amulet of Power, Blacksmith, Claymore, Hatchet, Magical Aura, Short Sword, Trainer

Rank and File
I stopped when I saw one of the archers with the Short Bow and then noticed that the Magic Missile and Banish were in the village and theme that lept out was cards that were rank specific or changed the order of the Dungeon. I added the Foresight Elixir and the Elf.
Dungeon: Dark Champion, Death Trap, Abyssal, Elemental Nature, Ooze
Heroes: Amazon, Elf, Feayn, Thyrian
Village: Banish, Feast, Foresight Elixir, Lantern, Magi Staff, Magic Missile, Short Bow, Warhammer

Masses and Steel
This time I wanted to see the Horde and the Humanoid monsters together. Getting the Golems as the third monster type works since they could be the muscle for the masses of humanoid monsters. I think I changed one of the heroes out so there was one of each base class and swapped the Sage for Arcane Energies since none of the monsters require a magic attack.
Dungeon: Dire Trap, Golem, Horde, Humanoid
Heroes: Divine, Lorigg, Outland, Runespawn
Village: Creeping Death, Feast, Flaming Sword, Lightstone Gem, Magi Staff, Sage, Short Sword, Town Guard

All About Chemistry
I was looking for a Dungeon set-up with both Elemental types. Toss in the Doomknight - Humanoids and you have some powerful foes. Luckily, the Outland and Selurin characters are available. I was going to switch out the Blind character for something else, but there are three light items in the display, so I decided to keep things as they were.
Dungeon: Doomknight - Humanoid, Elemental Nature, Elemental Pain
Heroes: Blind, Outland, Redblade, Selurin
Village: Amulet of Power, Arcane Energies, Cursed Mace, Lantern, Lightstone Gem, Magic Missile, Pawnbroker, Polearm

Potpourri
This one just seems to have a little of everything.
Dungeon: Death Sentinel, Death Trap, Dire Trap, Dragon, Elemental Pain, Humanoid
Heroes: Chalice, Dwarf, Elf, Redblade
Village: Amulet of Power, Blacksmith, Foresight Elixir, Goodberries, Magic Missile, Polearm, Short Bow, Trainer

Thread: Dominion:: Variants:: Card Idea: Tutor

kops — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:19:43 +0000

by kops

Based off of MTG's Diabolic Tutor

Action - 6
Name a card. Reveal cards from the top of your deck until you reveal the named card. Put that card into your hand, and the rest of the revealed cards into your discard pile.

If you don't have an action splitter, you can minimally get gold (which makes this better than Adventurer in most decks).

My main qualm is that in a set that doesn't have action splitters, you will always search for gold (or perhaps a green card if you already have a province-ready hand) which makes it a bit uninteresting. The obvious fix is to give it +1 Action but that might make it too overpowered.

Perhaps Cost 7 with +1 Action attached? I haven't play-tested this but have been trying to convince my group to try it.

Thread: Descent: Sea of Blood:: General:: Lack of monsters for SoB

B4LL_P1T_G03M — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:57:29 +0000

by B4LL_P1T_G03M

I recently bought Descent and the SoB expansion and while looking through the stuff for SoB, I noticed it came with no monster figures. It was later I realized the monsters I need come in different expansions for Descent. I really don't want to buy all of the expansions, but I want to play mine to the fullest. Which of the other expansions do I NEED to buy in order to get all of the stuff I need for SoB?

Thread: Lord of the Rings: The Black Gate:: General:: Searching for a copy

throwingmuse — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:57:00 +0000

by throwingmuse

If anyone knows where this item may be obtained, please GM me.

Thanks!

Thread: Call of Cthulhu LCG:: General:: Geek Rating

solidhavok — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:52:24 +0000

by solidhavok

Is it just coincidence, or is there a cult of fanatics that manage to keep the rating at a steady 6.666?

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: What D&D minis would you have chosen instead?

ImhotepMagi — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:32:34 +0000

by ImhotepMagi

If you had been in charge of picking an existing D&D sculpt for the miniatures in this game, what would have you chosen?

Personally, I would have used the Ghast from Giants of Legend instead of the Gravetouched Ghoul for the Ghouls and the Dragonborn Fighter from War of the Dragon Queen for, well, the Dragonborn Fighter.

Also (personal musing), of all the figures that needed a new sculpt altogether, why not Strahd himself? I find the Vampire Vizier a little less impressive than it should be (fine for the Young Vampire) and the existing sculpt is horrendous!

Thread: World at War: Operation Garbo:: General:: So, What's with the Uber-Swedes + Super-Spetsnaz?

Kozure — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:30:16 +0000

by Kozure

Swedish infantry and Soviet Airborne in Op Garbo, unlike every other almost every other infantry unit in the game thus far, has 3 firepower for both AP and HE firepower factors. The only other "official" variant in terms of infantry has been an AP range of 1 instead of 2 for US and British infantry (German and Soviet infantry having an AP range of 2 hexes).

Soviet Airborne, I can somewhat understand... but ordinary Swedish infantry being 33% more powerful than comparable NATO units? What's the justification?

Jeff Schulte apparently voiced similar concerns previously - I hadn't really noticed the difference until he pointed it out again in his forum at CSW.

Not complaining, not whining, not stomping my feet and wanting it to be changed - just curious about the reasoning. Game balance? Swedish bikini teams improve morale? Fatalistic, Ingmar Bergman-esque approach to combat?

Just to put a HE rating of 2-3-5 into perspective, this means at range 2 (300m), a Swedish/Soviet airborne platoon of 30-40 men puts out as much firepower as four M60A3 tanks or BMP-2 IFVs do at ranges of 4-5 hexes.

Session: Race for the Galaxy:: A quick, tightly played game over lunch--the best kind?

bfundak — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:29:30 +0000

by bfundak

Starting Worlds: Old Earth (Terry), New Sparta (Jason), Alpha Centauri (Brandt[me])

Jason and I started off by trying to expand the "discounts" we received from our start worlds. Jason solidified his military might by playing the Expedition Force, while I played the Replicant Robots for a -2 discount on settling worlds and a -3 discount on rare element worlds. Meanwhile, Terry gave himself a discount on developments with the investment credits. Since I had a big discount on settling mining worlds, I made settling planets a priority, while Jason was concerned with increasing his military value. Terry and I both had windfall worlds early, but Jason took an early trade action that forced us to take victory points for our goods. He drew the drop ships during that sale and managed to get it into play, taking his military might to 6 early on. I was lucky in that I kept drawing mining worlds, and managed to get two into play, as well as the Mining Robots and the Mining Conglomerate (which was why I had to take victory points early on.) I eventually also got the Space Port into play, which combined with the Mining Conglomerate got me 6 cards for the sale of a rare element. I also had a chance to play the Plague World, but because it was worth 0 victory points, I passed.

About 6 worlds/developments into his tableau, Jason began taking the Explore action almost every turn, as it was obvious that he was fishing for either the New Galactic Order or the Galactic Imperium cards. On one of his fishing expeditions, I drew the Galactic Imperium and held on to it to make sure he wouldn't get it. However, I was soon to start some fishing of my own, as I had the perfect tableau for the Mining League (3 mining worlds, 2 mining windfall worlds and the Mining Robots and Mining Conglomerate.) Terry continued to follow a more business oriented approach, as he got the Interstellar Bank into play, as well as the Contact Specialist. Jason continued fishing, and I drew the Merchant Guild, which I kept in hand as a backup in case I couldn't get my hands on the Mining league before someone ended the game. When Terry got to 11 worlds, I decided I had to play the Guild and take my chances, which seemed like it was going to work in my favor when Terry decided he wanted to produce. But instead, he went ahead and played a development, getting to 12 worlds and developments.

Final Score: Jason-30, Terry-29, Brandt-29

In the end, even though Jason was stymied in his attempts to get the New Galactic Order and the Galactic Imperium, he ended up pulling out the victory by 1 point, as the Merchant guild only got me 8 victory points. (The Mining League would have gotten me 12.) Terry did pretty well, considering that he had no 6 cost developments in play, but the lack of those developments prevented him from winning in the end. Jason's military might enabled him to conquer some high value planets that he pulled during his repeated +7 Explore actions. Had I played the Plague World, I would have won, as it would have been worth 2 points from the Merchant Guild. However, as I was hoping to draw the Mining League, I had no idea that the decision to not play that world would cost me. Still, it was a pretty even game across the board and those are usually the most fun.

Thread: Agricola:: General:: Agricolaonline closed by Lookout

ldsdbomber — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:21:03 +0000

by ldsdbomber

oh no! this was a great thing for me and the missus to play while I was here in the USA. oh dear. Does that mean play agricola is going to be closed too. The wording of the announcement seems like Silverlight was mentioned, not sure if that was significant or not.

Review: Tanto Cuore -Dokidoki Vacation-:: Dominion in a Japanese maid costume III – review of Tanto Cuore Dokidoki Vacation, complete with card list.

Zimeon — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:16:55 +0000

by Zimeon

Disclaimer and introduction
I got a review copy of this, to write a review for the magazine Game Link. Writing a review for the Geek, however, was not part of the deal. If that influences my view on this game or not, I leave up to the readers to decide. I've played the game about 10 times by the time of this review, about five of them 2-player, the rest divided between 3p games and 4p games.

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Tanto Cuore Dokidoki Vacation (which shall henceforth be known as "DokiVaca") is the second standalone expansion to the Dominion-clone Tanto Cuore. 'Dokidoki' is the Japanese soundeffect, and word for "heartbeat", with the implication of a blushing heartbeat (not the YEEEEEAH! Feel the SOUND of my HEARTBEAT! kind of heartbeat). And obviously, the heart is beating on a vacation. The theme this time is summer vacation, quite focused on vacation by the sea.

Note: This time, I'll take for granted that readers are perfectly aware of what Tanto Cuore is. If not, read the first half of my [geekurl=thread/520000]Tanto Cuore review[/geekurl]. If you can't be bothered, but know about Dominion, well, Tanto is basically a Dominion clone with cute maids on the cards and some twists. Biggest difference is that you can set some cards aside, mostly VP cards. End of description, read the review of the base game for details.

Components
DokiVaca comes in the same box as all Arclight deck building card games: a box with a height and depth slightly larger than a card, and about 20cm width. Quite handy, actually. There's some extra room in the box for those who want to sleeve their cards.

Being a standalone expansion, the game comes with heart cards, 2 maid chiefs, 18 general maids and, this time, 16 "reminiscence" cards. The last ones there being the special rule thingie for this game. Yep, there are no Private Maids in this box.

The game also comes with the placeholders in pretty thick cardboard. I've found these placeholders to be great, actually. They have the card art in b/w printed in a light shade, and each expansion has a different colour, so it's very easy to distinguish which has come in which box.

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Game description and verdict
Yeah, I'll skip my usual game overview and stuff; I'll just ram straight into the juicy parts; what the Tanto player will notice, and in some cases, what a Dominion player might find interesting (which is something I'll find hard to judge, not having played anything apart from the vanilla Dominion).

Something I like with Tanto is that the maid chiefs (VP) actually differ from box to box. In the first, the 1VP chief (cost 3) gave a 5VP bonus if you had most of her. In Expansion, she just cost 2 and gave no bonus. In DokiVaca, she costs 2 and gives 0VP – unless you chambermaid her, in which case she gives 2VP. (Yeah, I'm choosing the terminology "chambermaid" for the set aside maids. Using "personal" and "private" maids just messed things up. Chambermaid is a better word, too.)

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But the main point is of course the Reminiscence cards. They're pretty similar to the buildings in Expansion, i.e. they're basically VP cards that never enter your deck. There are 16 of them, in 10 types, and only 3 cards are available at each given time. They all represent "typical summery romantic (?) events". Like, "fireworks festival", "exploring underwater grotto", "watching the stars", "canoeing" and stuff like that. Whatever. Point is, apart from being straight VPs, they also trigger a one-shot effect that sometimes is pretty overpowered.

The weird part is that you can't buy them for hearts. Instead, each Reminiscence card states which cards you must discard from your hand in order to get it. Most specify that it has to be General Maids of a special cost, or just any number of maids costing a total of X or above. Some Reminiscence cards just mention card cost and nothing else, allowing for even heart cards to be used.

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As I see it, this is a way to give a secondary use for general maids when they've played out their role – I guess the designer wanted more uses for action cards, and create another strategy for winning than merely getting hearts and buying maid chiefs (or chambermaids). And in fact, it works. The Reminiscence cards are pretty darn strong. I haven't seen them largely affect what general maids players employ, but I've seen people buy "just any 3-maid" early in the game in order to get a shot at the Scary Night (discard a 2 and a 3, worth 3VP and works like a Militia). And I've seen players buy cheap maid chiefs (VP cards), explicitly not chambermaiding them, in order to get a shot at Island Adventure (discard 4 maid chiefs, worth 6VP, take another turn). But mostly, they give an alternative as to what to do with your hand. They do have a quite large effect.

They do, also, randomize the game in a sometimes unfair way. "Canoeing" requires you to discard 5 heart cards – ANY heart cards. Gives you 3VP and "gain any maid from the pool". That card out when the game begins, and the guy getting a 5–2 gets a pretty darn good start, especially if there's a specifically awesome 6-cost or 7-cost general maid in the game. But generally, I haven't seen them break the game per se. I like them better than the buildings in Expansion, just for the fact that they present an alternative way to play your hand – the point isn't always to get as many hearts as you can, sometimes you just want to draw those two 4s and one 3 so you can get the Hot Spring – 3VP and TWO 3-hearts (that usually cost 7 hearts each!). They are important mainly in the middle of the game, before the maid chief rush, and are sometimes really good to have to build your deck. Also, not to forget, there is a Reminiscence card that immediately ends the game – Camp Fire. Provided you can draw maid cards worth a total of 24 or more, of course. I'm a little "hmm" about this one, though. Generally, it benefits those who already have bought a lot of expensive maid chiefs, so in most cases it's just a runaway for the already leading guy.

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What about the general maids, then? Well, mainly two maids stand out: Laura and Riya. They sort of dominate the game if they're out. If both are out on the same time… ouch. Laura gives a +2 cards AND the ability to instantly chambermaid (for free) any number of chambermaidable maids from your hand. There is a cards like that in the infamous hot-anime-nazi-chicks-invade-Russia-game Barba*Rossa, so perhaps inspiration comes from there. Riya, on her hand, gives a +2 cards, and if you fire her (return her to the pool), she increases the number of cards you draw in your Cleanup phase with FIVE. Meaning you draw ten frigging cards for the next turn. At first, we missed the part with her "immediately ending your action and buy phase" if you fire her, so we got to some using and rebuying Reeya, drawing 10 cards forever more… but she's still pretty powerful, especially if you aim at the Camp Fire Reminiscence card.

Among the others, those that stand out are Daphne (cost 3, +1 action, gain a silver (heart 2) on top of your deck – basically a Bureaucrat with a +action and no attack), Margareta (cost 3, +1 card, +1 heart, +1 action, but she gives you –1VP if you have 3 or more of her (she's worth it!)), Florence (cost 5, if you chambermaid her she's 5VP, but only if you have 7 or more chambermaids), and the weird Clorinde (cost 6, basically Village with 2VP – although those VPs are negated if you have 7 or more maid chiefs, which, like, you ALWAYS have!). There's also Valencia, who as a chambermaid allows you an extra +2 cards if you discard her from chambermaid status.

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Generally, it's peaceful – like Expansion, almost to make up for the aggressive base box. The only attack card is a +2 draw that forces the other players to put 1 card on their deck. Then there's some cards that has you discard the top card in another's deck, and the occasional Reminiscence that works like a Militia, but that's it – very few cards that affect the other players. Instead, it's more a race for the Reminiscence cards, really, they're the only ones where you have to grab the one chance you have (as it might be gone the next turn)

To sum up, the Reminiscence cards are fun. They're powerful, and sometimes a bit "wtf OP!", but they present an alternative way to spend cards, which is nice. But beside them, there are some really interesting new general maids in here. As a standalone game, this works well. Combining two Tanto boxes is always a bit of work, as you have to add the special cards for that specific box (curse cards and private maids for the base box, all buildings and private maids for the second) and keeping track of all things happening with two boxes active is sometimes a bit too much for such a simple game; I have yet to try with all three boxes at once.

Generally, this is good one. I like it. If someone was to buy only 2 Tanto boxes, I'd actually recommend base box and this. The private maids from the base box (and Expansion) are nice, and so are the Reminiscence cards. And base box curses gives a cutthroat feeling to it all. With base and DokiVaca, you'll get all.

Rule notes for those wanting to play DokiVaca;
* Reminiscence deck should be face down, with the '1' cards on top, followed by the '2' cards. Also, when playing 2 players, remove all duplicates. At all points, the top 3 Reminiscence cards should be face up. You acquire Reminiscence cards during your Serving phase, and you may only acquire 1 per turn (but it doesn't end your Serving phase or anything)
* Remember that "maid cards" means general maids, maid chiefs, private maids.

Card list

Maid chiefs

Sophia Marfil
Maid chief
Cost 8
5 VP

Beatrice Escudo
Chambermaid chief
Cost 2
? VP
Chambermaid: 2 servings
Chambermaid bonus: 2VP

General maids

Nonnette Large
Dolphin caretaker maid
Cost 2
+2 cards
+1 employ
You may put a card from your hand onto your deck.

Hyacinth Arrow
Chambermaid
Cost 2
? VP
+1 heart
Chambermaid: 1 serving
Chambermaid bonus: If you have 2 or more Reminiscence cards in your house, each chambermaid Hyacinth is worth 2VP.

Germaine Mahle
Juice serving maid
Cost 3
+2 cards
You may gain a chambermaid chief costing 3 or less. If you do +1 card.

Daphne Coraille
Sea people maid
Cost 3
+1 serving
Place a "Heart 2" from the pool onto your deck.

Margareta Torrente
Island food cooking maid
Cost 3
? VP
+1 card
+1 action
+1 heart
Game end bonus: If you have employed 3 or more Margareta, each is worth –1VP.

Evita Catala
Water melon smashing maid
Cost 3
+1 heart
+1 action
Discard the top card in a deck of your choice. If it was a heart card, +1 action.

Valencia Prêtre
Chambermaid
Cost 3
1 VP
+2 hearts
Chambermaid: 1 action
Chambermaid bonus: At the start of your turn, you may discard Valencia. If you do, +2 cards.

Chinatsu Kooriyama
Interpretor maid
Cost 4
You may exchange 2 maid cards from your hand with a maid card costing 7 or less from the pool.

Caldina Alley
Sea bear maid
Cost 4
+2 cards
Each other player with 5 or more cards in their hands, puts 1 card from their hand on their deck.

Fea Primrose
Beach maid
Cost 4
+2 actions
+1 buy

Riya Naragasi
Fireworks maid
Cost 4
+2 cards
You may return this card to the pool. If you do, your serving phase and employ phase immediately ends. The number of cards you draw during the Cleanup phase is increased by 5.

Romina Vautrin
Job-skipping maid
Cost 4
+2 cards
+2 hearts
Your Serving phase ends immediately.

Lydia Leon
Adventure maid
Cost 5
+1 action
Draw and reveal the top 5 cards of your deck. Choose 1 of them to keep. Discard the rest.

Florence Spring
Chambermaid
Cost 5
? VP
+2 hearts
Chambermaid: 1 Serving
Chambermaid bonus: If you have seven or more Private/Chambermaids, each chambermaid Florence is worth 5VP.

Cynthia Lakes
Napping maid
Cost 5
+4 cards
Each other players draws a card.

Laura
Island maid
Cost 6
+2 cards
You may chambermaid any number of chambermaid or chambermaid chiefs from your hand, without paying the Serving cost.

Clorinde Si
Mer maid
Cost 6
2 VP
+1 card
+2 actions
Game end bonus: If you have employed seven or more maid chiefs, Clorinde is worth an additional –2VP (meaning, 0VP in most cases).

Frida Viento
Oceanics scholar maid
cost 7
+2 cards
+2 hearts
+2 buy

Reminiscence cards

Scary Night (1)
2VP
Discard: 1 card of cost 3, 1 card of cost 2.
All other players must discard down to 3 cards.

Finding a hidden hot spring (1)
3VP
Discard: 2 cards of cost 4, 1 card of cost 3.
Gain 2 "heart 3" cards from the pool.

Picnic (1)
3VP
Discard: Maid cards for a total cost of 10 or more.
Gain 3 "Heart 2" cards.

Watching the Stars (1)
3VP
Discard: Maid cards for a total cost of 15 or more.
You gain +1 hearts and +1 buy.

Canoeing (1)
3VP
Discard: 5 heart cards.
Gain 1 maid card from the pool.

Trek into ancient ruins (2)
6VP
Discard: 2 general maids costing 5 or more each.

Island adventuring (2)
6VP
Discard: 4 maid chiefs
After your Cleanup phase, take another turn.

Fireworks festival (2)
6VP
Discard: 1 card of cost 7, 1 card of cost 5, 1 card of cost 4.
The number of cards you draw during your Cleanup phase increases with 5.

Camp Fire (2)
6VP
Discard: Maid cards costing a total of 24 or more.
The game ends immediately.

Underwater grotto discovery (2)
10VP
Discard: 4 General maids costing 5 or more each.

Thread: Battles of Westeros:: General:: Help with class

Varduk — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:10:34 +0000

by Varduk

I drew the command card ordering 3 units of the same class. I presumed that this meant the class being infantry,ranged,cavalry etc and that rank referred to banner colour. Reading the posts in the forum I am not sure I got this right. Any ideas?

Session: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Coreth the Mad

Thoamas — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:10:02 +0000

by Thoamas

My first play of Ravenloft. I chose the escape scenario and instead of the Dragonborn fighter I used a human.

Coreth awoke in the tomb below Castle Ravenloft. He still had his weapons, armor and the family heirloom The Horn of Valor, but he had no idea what evil force brought him here. He must escape! There were several corridors leading from the tomb and he chose one and set off. He fought his way down the seemingly endless hallways and through tombs.
He was set upon numerous times by skeletons and zombies. He could find no sign of a way out and a couple of kobolds had began to to track him and throw javelins at him from the shadows.

He suddenly heard a loud grating sound in the distance and he knew the evil master of this foul place was awake. He struck down another skeleton and noticed a glow beneath a nearby corpse. He moved the body and discovered a glowing sword beneath. The cloud of madness he had suffered under cleared as he took up the sword. The words on the blade said "Holy Avenger". Just then the vampire stepped from the shadows and
and said "It is not your time yet"

Coreth found himself back in the vampire's tomb. He chose another corridor and quickly set off. He was set upon by more undead and wounded badly. He managed to destroy these and ahead he saw a set of stairs heading up.He limped forward when suddenly a Wraith blocked his way to the stairs. He did not think he could win this battle when he remembered the Horn of Valor. He blew a mighty blast and the Wraith fled leaving the way to escape clear.

Thread: Mogul:: General:: Any news on a reprint?

kendahlj — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:08:47 +0000

by kendahlj

Haven't heard anything in a long time on this one. Maybe someone with a relationship with Jay at RGG can ask him about it...

Thread: Mousquetaires du Roy:: General:: Prepainted Minis?

Cyberian — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:02:35 +0000

by Cyberian

Just a quick question: Are the minatures of the characters prepainted? If not, do yo plan to have these as an expansion or maybe goodies with Essen pick-up? That would be great!

Thread: Robogear:: Strategy:: Infantry - any use in Robogear?

fishysoldier — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:56:18 +0000

by fishysoldier

Hey all. How do the (limited number of) other Robogear players out there view infantry? Are they worth the points, or are they a lost cause? My thoughts on the core infantry types are as follows:

Rifleman - quick but lacks punch. Handy at short range but likely to die before he gets there.

Sniper - +1 to hit is a great bonus and he can damage at long range. Useful if you sit them at the rear and chip away at the enemy.

Machinegunner - Firing twice is a great ability. At short range, he can inflict the same damage as a bomber but costs less and moves further.

Bomber - hideously over-costed and painfully slow. Barely better than the machinegunner in terms of firepower but more expensive and slower.

I'm toying with using large swathes of riflemen. On the right table with the right terrain I think they could get in close enough and from there inflict some serious damage. But then, I might as well just take Raptors. At 30 points, they cost the same as 3 riflemen, have the same total number of hit points but can deliver a whopping 14 points of damage at close range, compared to the riflemen's 6.

I'm at a quandry. Any tips?

Thread: King Philip's War:: Rules:: Ports

Spielfreak — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:52:57 +0000

by Spielfreak

When a port settlement is razed, does it cease to function as a port? That is, can the English still use a razed settlement with a port symbol as a terminus for ocean movement? I would think not, but would appreciate a definitive answer.

TIA

Thread: The Republic of Rome:: Rules:: Fighting Wars

ilgoga — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:52:40 +0000

by ilgoga

Is it only the Field Consul and Rome Consul who can fight wars (unless a dictator is around) or does are they just the ones that have to go to first (and then an other senator can be sent to war)?

Thread: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader:: General:: MIssing Pages

stoneman63 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:41:09 +0000

by stoneman63

I have a copy of Rogue that has pages 68, 69, 72, and 73 missing. Just wondering if anyone knew about this quirk and how I could get them..I still have the quick refernce in the back of the book so I have always played withthos just I dont have the fluff in the book itself... Any input from WH40K Gurus would be appreciated!!!

Thread: Puzzle Strike:: General:: gem question

rickert — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:39:47 +0000

by rickert

I asked this in a different thread and nobody attempted to answer it so I'll try it here. What is it better to give your opponent 3 1-gems instead of a single 3-gem?

Thread: Wings of War: Miniatures:: General:: Plano Case plus Foam plus Occasional Curse Equals Mini Storage

ElCid91 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:37:11 +0000

by ElCid91

After a couple of false starts I finally got off my butt and … well sat down on my butt and started working on my storage solution for my Wings of War minis. I had already picked up a four box Plano case and I had some foam lying around …

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… so it was time to start cutting. The first thing I did was modify two of the Plano boxes themselves. I had to remove two dividers from each box so it would have room for the planes. This was done with an Exacto knife and some cursing.

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Once this was done I cut out the foam to fit. There are three pieces of foam for each plano box.

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After I had cut the foam to conform to the inside shape of the box I laid out the planes, marked the foam, then cut it out. Again with an Exacto knife but with much less cursing (foam cuts easier that plastic).  Each plane has a nice little space to call their own.

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Once the planes were done I went to work on the top. This is why I bough this box in particular. It had enough space to store a Balloon Mini. I had planned on using two pieces of foam so the Balloon would sit tight when the top was closed but after cutting the bottom piece I had in inspiration. A piece of Velcro could hold the Balloon in place. The Velcro is an 8 inch piece that runs under the foam. I also had room for the balloon’s stand and card. Under the balloon card are the firing range rulers.

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As far as everything else you need to play the game, it fits nicely in the two plano boxes NOT being used to hold minis.

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This is the finished product.

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All told this probably took me about 6 or 7 hours to do on three different days. It cost $35.00 for the Plano Case (I had a coupon and I already had the foam for free). I had thought about putting the planes closer together but I liked the symmetrical look and I wanted to make sure they were protected. I’ve looked at other people’s layouts and I realize they could be closer and maybe I will move them closer when I get more planes.

Oh Yeah, I left room for expansion. I can either move into one of the remaining two Plano boxes (I can get those bits and pieces into one box if I have to) or cut new foam for the current plane storage boxes. You know, now that I think about, if I do both, I can get a EVEN more planes.

I hope you like what I’ve done; I thought I would share my storage solution with the rest of you. Any suggestions on how to make this a better setup would be greatly appreciated.

Thread: Neuroshima Hex! Babel13:: General:: How does the game play with five and six players?

weishaupt — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:36:30 +0000

by weishaupt

Well, it's all in the title.

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: New ideas for encounters

RedMonkeyBoy — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:31:43 +0000

by RedMonkeyBoy

In another thread, mst3k came up with some great ideas for new ways to improve this game series:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/562121/making-a-good-gam...

I sort of barrelled in and highjacked his thread a bit with some of my own ramblings, but mst3k was very nice about it and suggested I create a new post. So here it is...

Basically, I was thinking of ideas for encounters that are persistent, and need certain conditions to be met before they go away (similar to the Rumours in Arkham Horror - a truly great mechanic). These events will cause problems while active and can sometime give bonuses when resolved. Here are the few I came up with. Feel free to post more (not just persistent events, but anything you think is cool).

Cheers.

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Chasm:
Suddenly the floor gives way, creating an impassable chasm. Place a chasm marker (1 square wide, 4 squares long) in the active player’s tile so that the chasm cuts the tile into two distinct parts (i.e. not along the edge of a tile or a wall). Any monsters on the chasm space are killed (except villains). Heroes and villains take one damage and are moved to an adjacent space to the chasm (player’s choice). The chasm remains in play and cannot be crossed, forcing the players to retrace their steps or blocking off their escape route (depending on where the chasm was placed). If the party was split up, they will have to explore to find a way to meet up again.

Flood trap:
You trigger a switch and water begins to flood the dungeon. You must deactivate the trap before you drown. Place a token three tiles away from the active player (or as far away as you can) to represent the "off" switch. All heroes are slowed but monsters are unchanged. Each villain turn, add a timer token to the "off" switch. If at any point there are five tokens on the switch, the heroes drown. If at any point the active hero is on the switch he can attempt to disarm it (instead of fighting) and drain the water from the dungeon. Roll a D20 and minus one for each timer token. If the result is 5 or more the water is drained and slow condition is removed. If failed, remove all timer tokens from the switch. The heroes can try again until successful.

Cave-in:
Part of the roof caves in. Place a 1x4 square cave-in tile along one unexplored edge of the active player’s tile. Every hero, monster, and villain on the tile takes 1 damage, and the cave-in blocks all movement through that tile edge for the rest of the game.

Cursed:
A witch curses the party and will only remove the curse in exchange for gold. Place a token on the active hero’s tile. This is the witch. At any point an active hero on her tile can discard three treasures from his possession to remove the curse. While the curse is in place, all heroes are -1 on all hit rolls and disarm trap rolls. Once the curse is lifted the witch is removed. If the heroes discard five treasures, she will bless them and all rolls will be +1 for the rest of the mission.

Alarm bell:
Place a token on a tile three tiles away from the active player (or as far away as possible). This is the alarm. Each turn the alarm is ringing, draw a monster and place it on an unexplored edge of your choice on a tile where there are NO heroes. If there is no available tile, no monster appears. An active player on the alarm tile can use his attack action to smash the alarm. Remove the token (no roll required).

Poltergeist:
The party are plagued by poltergeists. At the end of each hero phase, the active player must discard one permanent treasure. At the end of each villain phase, the active player picks one treasure item he owns and hands it to the person on his right. If, at the end of the villain phase, the active player has no items, the poltergeist leaves the party.

Stolen torch:
A kobold rushes out of the darkness and steals your torch before escaping. Place a kobold three tiles away from the active player and mark it with a counter. The kobold works like a normal kobold except he activates in every villain phase and if he cannot attack, he moves one tile AWAY from the nearest adventurer. Any hero that is not in an adjacent tile to the kobold is at -1 to hit and disarm traps. Once the kobold is dead, the heroes retrieve their torch.

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Thread: Ghost Stories: Jean-Claude Van Rice:: General:: Back of the card

Alealogist — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:27:06 +0000

by Alealogist

Only the front of the card is available to print.

It would be nice to have the back as well in the correct printable size. Someone knows where to find that?

Of course I would prefer to get the cardboard version of this card which would solve my problem

Thread: The Fires of Midway:: Rules:: Bombing Phase and the SoD deck

evanbrooks — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:23:46 +0000

by evanbrooks

(1) During the Bombing Phase, one must chose two (2) SoD cards from the deck in order to determine actual damage.

Initially, I thought that these would be reshuffled after each use, but when I look at the Staging Mat, it shows SoD ("reshuffle when empty") and discards. Thus, am I correct in now assuming that the SoD cards are discarded after each use and would only come into play again during a single turn if there were more than fifteen bomber penetrations? (what is the design reason for this?)

(2) May a player intentionally not reveal a fleet discovered marker? This could allow him to await the discovery of the second fleet marker and them be able to secure the starting edge when he now "selects" the third fleet.

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: Treasure Panic - A Competive Game Mode

ilikesanta — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:22:24 +0000

by ilikesanta

I made a variant for competitive play where the heroes try and escape the Dungeon with the most treasure. I know the rules are a little long, but I'm implementing a couple new play mechanics in there. They're simple ideas and I'm hoping they're not to complected, it's just explaining and making them clear is the tricky part. Give it a read/play and let me know what you think. Suggestions are welcome.

Treasure Panic!
Count Strahd is bored and feels like putting on a show. He takes his strongest looking prisoners and forces them to fight though his dungeon for their freedom.

Goal: Grab the most items and gold and escape before the Dracolich or the other heroes defeat you!

Number of heroes: 3-5 players.
Adventure Setup
Special Components in this Adventure: Start Dungeon Tile, Crypt Corner 1-5, Crypt Corner 6-10, Chaple, Dark Fountain, Magic Circle tile, Secret Stairway, the Adventure Treasure cards and treasure tokens for (Feywalk Amulet, Silver Dagger, Dimensional Shackles, Wooden Stake, Torch, and Icon of Ravenloft), and a bunch of pennies (or something else to act as gold coins)

Place the Start tile on the table. To the left of it, place the Workshop so the white arrow is pointing towards the Start tile. To the left of that, place the Crypt Corner 1-5 so the white arrow is pointing at the Workshop. To the right of the Start tile, place the Dark Fountain so the white arrow points towards the start tile. To the right of that, place Crypt corner 6-10 so that the white arrow points to the Dark fountain.

Shuffle the Dungeon Tile stack. Take 3 tiles from the Dungeon Tile Stack and mix them with the Secret Stairway tile, then put them face down on the table, creating Exit stack. Take five more tiles from the Dungeon Tile stack and shuffle the Magic Circle tile with those. Then put those on top of the exit stack. Then draw six more tiles and put those on top to the exit stack. Put the remaining tiles under the exit stack. That way the Magic circle lies somewhere between tiles 7-12 and the Secret Stairway lies between tiles 13-16.

Each hero starts on a different tile. Roll to determine who goes first. Player 1 Starts on Crypt Corner 1-5. Player two starts on Crypt Corner 6-10. Player 3 starts adjacent to the stairway on the Start Tile. (On a 4-player game, Player 3 starts on the Workroom tile). Player 4 starts on the Dark Fountain tile. Player 5 starts on the Workroom Tile.

Special Adventure Rules
Hero’s act alone: Each hero receives their own healing surge. Heros also don’t share Exp. Unless they want to (see Bargaining)
Gold Coins: Whenever a hero can draw a treasure card, they may take a gold coin from the gold coin pile instead. Gold coins are not considered items.

Dropping items/gold: Whenever a player would take damage, that player may choose to drop an item card (of their choice) or a gold coin to cancel up to 1 point of damage each. A player can drop as much or as little as they like and take any remaining damage. Dropped gold is placed in the closest, empty square to the hero. Dropped items cards are placed in a dropped item pile and then place a gold coin, from the gold pile, on the closest empty square. There can be only one gold coin per square.

Picking up gold: At the end of a Hero’s hero phase, if they are adjacent to any gold coins, they may pick up to two. When picking up gold coins, a hero may choose to return that coin to the gold pile and randomly pick a card from the dropped item pile (if any are available).

Hero vs. Hero: Heroes can attack other heroes. As far as powers, treasure, or encounter cards go, the other heroes can also be considered monsters. A hero may choose if they want another hero to be considered a monster or not. If a hero would cause damage to another hero with an attack power or by any other means, instead of taking damage the hero must drop items/gold coins instead. The "attacking" hero only gets one item or gold coin ("damaged" hero’s choice), any reaming items/gold coins are instead "dropped". If a Hero damages multiple heroes or kills a monster as well, the "attacking hero" can only choose one victim to get treasure from. (They still get Exp. for killing the monster). The other damaged hero(es) still have to drop the required amount of items/gold. There are no direct consequences if a "damaged hero" has no items/gold to give/drop from being damaged from another hero.

Bargaining: On a heroes’ turn, they can bargin, trade or give items, gold, experience, call truces, put out bounties on other heroes/monsters, offer/request services with any other hero(es) for gold, items, experience or other services a hero can provide.
Magic Cirlce: When the magic circle tile is drawn instead of drawing a monster, place the Dracolich inside the circle. Place the Treasure tokens on the wall space of the magic circle tile. Instead of attacking, a hero on the magic circle tile can pick up one random item token. The hero then receives the corresponding Adventure Treasure card. If a hero drops an encounter item card, they put the card off to the side and place the corresponding item token in the closest empty square. When a hero picks up that token up, they then receive the corresponding Adventure Treasure card.

The Dracolich acts as normal with a few exceptions; on it’s monster card, where is say "hero with the most HP," it should now read "hero with the most points" (see scoring). When a hero does damage to the Dracolich, they receive a gold coin for each damaged dealt. (A Hero can only still only receive treasure from one source if they damage multiple monsters/heroes). A hero who deals the killing blow to the Dracolich, receives four additional treasure cards and the Icon of Ravencroft Adventure Treasure card, on top of any other treasure they also may receive.

Secret Stairwell tile: A player who ends there turn on the hero phase on the stairwell tile, can choose to escape. Escaped players remove their figure from the board and are considered safe.

Death: If a hero starts their turn with 0 hp and no healing surges, they are considered “dead.” Dead players immediately “drop” any and all item cards, Adventure Treasure cards or gold they may have, and they remove their figure from the game.

The Safe and the Dead: Safe and dead players still get to activate monsters on their turns. If the Dracolich is dead or hasn’t appeared, and the safe/dead player is controlling less than two monsters, they draw monster cards until they have two. They can place each new monster on an unexplored edge of their choice.

Game Over: The game ends when all players are either safe or dead. If there are any safe players calculate the score:
Gold coins = 1 point each
Item Cards = 2 points each
Adventure Treasure Cards = 3 points each

The Player with the most points becomes "Strahd’s Champion" and wins the game! In case of a tie, add in any remaining exp. If there is still a tie after that Strahd kills the tied heroes for "cheating" and the next eligible hero wins!

If all heroes are dead then all players loose and Strahd is the winner for putting on such a bloody show!

Thread: Fields of Fire:: Rules:: Friendly Higher HQ event

samplay — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:09:00 +0000

by samplay

Hi,
Mission one ,
A.Friendly Higher HQ Event#1:"Must spend 3 commands...".
What should I do if CO Hq does not have that many available?
A1. skip it all?
A2. play next turn(s), and discard commands granted to the CO Hq up to a cumulated total of 3?

B. Friendly Higher HQ Event#7 "must move forward this turn". But if it is obviously silly,
B1.am I nevertheless obliged to do it, or
B2.is it that I just do not get the Experience point if I do not 'obey'.
Thanks.

Thread: Grand Fleet:: Rules:: Grand Fleet Rules Clarifications

stephen newberg — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:07:52 +0000

by stephen newberg

I tried to put this in 'files', but it has not showed up as yet, so I thought I would put it in here too. I will update it periodically as things show up.

Grand Fleet Rules Clarifications, Errata, & Updates for V1.01:

1. There is no specific counter example for minor units and it might be good to have one, but the sole value on a minor unit is its movement value as indicated in rule 7.0.

2. In general definitions in the gun combat section also apply to the mine combat section, but on the Mine Combat Table, the number of hits indicated is the number of damage points taken, not the number of dice to be rolled to determine the number of damage points,

3. The BC Australia was intentionally left out of the counter mix, but if you want to add it back in, you need to add a UK 2-2-4 counter arriving on turn 5.

4. The Anti-Shipping VPs that the German player can earn for SS units are at a maximum of 2 per area per turn.

5. In 8.2 the Search value of the example for the German player should be 6, not 5.

6. The recalculation of the values for the screen battle in 8.3 should have given the Brits a 2 and the Germans a 3, not the other way around. Keep assuming the Brits win, though, so the rest of the example flows properly.

7. HMS Triumph is not listed on the left of page 10 (the graphic at the bottom of page 10 correctly shows 8 ships in the battle line, but only 7 are named).

8. The definition in 4.8 is incorrect, while that in 4.6 is correct, and BCs may be placed in the screen.

9. Battle Groups with no units in the battle line section cannot control an area.

pax, smn

Thread: Guardians of Graxia:: General:: Comparison with Panzer General Games

dcooley — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 18:06:29 +0000

by dcooley

GoG looks a lot like Panzer General: Allied Assault. Can anyone tell me what the basic differences are other than theme? I don't mind fantasy, but if given a preference I'll go with a historical wargame theme (and will be picking up Russian Assault when it hits my FLGS, but having *three* games with a similar ruleset is definitely overkill for me.

I am looking to pick up the deck building Heroes of Graxia, but that's a completely different system.

Thread: Aether:: General:: Bug fixed in the online version

Touko — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:55:56 +0000

by Touko

A perceptive player noticed that there was a bug in the scoring of the online version of the game: previously, at the end of the game, all players got points from the unplayed elementals of the first player . The bug is now fixed and everybody should now get points for each unplayed elemental of their own color at the end of the game.

Thread: Guards Tank: The Battle of Prochorovka, July 1943 (World at War #13):: General:: Map and turn track problems

albaron — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:49:12 +0000

by albaron

The map

Approximately 40% of it is no more than a collection of tables, CRTs,and so on. Just 60% of it is devoted to the play area. A strange approach, I thought. Looking at it the first time, the most probable approach to Prokhorovka for the IISS PzKorps, for me, was just south of the town, and that implied crossing the Donets near the starting positions.

Well, before stating a game I gave a look to some battle narratives I have at home and on the web. And I discovered that the historical approach was on the western side of the map, W of the Donets, where, in certain points, there are just 2-3 hexes between it and the margin! And that left me wondering: why the designer chose to devote so much of the map to charts, leaving outside the map part of the historical path of approach? If one decides to follow it, the battle is limited by the W margin, with an unhistorical feeling.

The turn track

The game finishes the 13 july (turn 13) or the 17 july (turn 17). Between the two, 4 turns. That implies 4 days, and that would mean that there are daily turns. But the game starts on the 5th of july, and that corresponds, per the rules, to turn 1. That means 12 turns for the first 9 days of battle. Why that strange approach?

Thread: YINSH:: General:: Draw percentage?

waddball — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:48:34 +0000

by waddball

How often do you see draws with this game (I would imagine you would only see them with fairly experienced players)?

I did a quick scan over at punct.biskai.net and saw a trend of around 4% (archives show 50/page, and it looked like 1 to 3 per page most of the time, but I didn't spend too long at it). Does that sound about right, maybe 1 game in 20 to 30?

Thread: Red Poppies: WWI Tactics:: General:: Solo Play?

atsgamer — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:47:32 +0000

by atsgamer

Can this played solo? Playing both sides?

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: Be your own DM!

fanaka66 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:47:05 +0000

by fanaka66

I think most people agree that while the rules are very simple, there are a lot of tricky situations that are confusing and not explained well in the rulebook.

It seems that you can avoid problems by using common sense. On your turn, you act as a player and then as a DM, controlling the bad guys. It seems like as a DM, you need to make basic decisions on how to handle rules clarifications. Just decide what makes sense and go with it! Don't get hung up on little problems.

Imagine you were the DM running the game, what would you rule to be fair and keep the game going?

Thread: Richard III: The Wars of the Roses:: General:: Solo Play?

atsgamer — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:45:40 +0000

by atsgamer

Does this play well solo? Playing both sides?

Thread: DungeonQuest:: Rules:: Determination Token Question

Wallabee_Champ — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:39:37 +0000

by Wallabee_Champ

Hey All,

I have a quick question that I'm sure will result in me being a dummy, but what the hey, I'm always up for public humiliation:

What's the maximum amount of determination tokens a hero is allowed to accumulate? I've been playing that it's 3 - so if I fail an attribute test 4 times in a row, I don't get anything for the 4th fail. (Actually, I failed 6 times in a row last night - Hugo is one unlucky dude!) But when I was perusing the rule book last night after I got done playing, I couldn't find any mention of the 3 determination token limit. So, is there a limit or did I just mistakenly create a really hard rule for no good reason?

Thread: The Napoleonic Wars (2nd Edition):: Rules:: Russo-Turkish War

Elhendil — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:26:09 +0000

by Elhendil

Hi,

The card sais that Russia has to reroll Unit draft in each interphase as long as the war has not ended.
The question is: are the reroll drafts added to the units already there or is it a new result?

Example: during the first turn of the war a "2" ir rolled. So 2 units and a general are sent. As the war has not ended, a reroll draft is done in the interphase and a "3" is rolled. How many units are now sent to the war: 3 (reroll draft) or 5 (2+3)?

Thread: Cyclades:: Rules:: No more territory markers

RobertDD — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:17:52 +0000

by RobertDD

The other day I played a 5 player game in which I owned 4 islands. The sphinx came up and I purchased her and used her to sell all my ships, all my priests and almost all my troops in a grand bid to end the game that turn. With the Zeus cycling power I then started to cycle until I found Pegasus, flew over to an opponents island with a metropolis with my remaining troops and invaded. I failed. This left me with four empty islands.

The general rule in Cyclades is that if you run out of a resource (cornucopias, priests) you are out of luck and just don't get any. I ran out of territory markers to mark all my islands. We solved the issue by laying down a soldier of mine on the island without a marker. Should I have given up an island (leave it empty)?

Oh, BTW, I did win two turns later because I was able to pocket and save most of the cash of the sphinx sale.

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: Villains

alboy01 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:12:04 +0000

by alboy01

It has been said by other members that Villains are not monsters.
How do you attack Count Stroud and the other villains if all Power cards and Item cards say to attack monsters.

Thread: Citadels:: Rules:: Clarification on Bonus Points

daggerheart123 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:08:52 +0000

by daggerheart123

Hi,

We recently played Citadel and love this game. When we played it for the 2nd time, we were in a situation that we were not sure what to do. Thought you guys could help us out.

Situation:
Player A just built his 8th district, therefore the game will end once the current round is complete. Player B built his final district which was his 6th district. Player C was also able to build his 8th district during the final round. Now Player D is the Warlord, during his turn, he builds his 7th district and uses his power, he pays the necessary gold and destroys one of Player A's districts.

Question:
Player A was the first to build 8 districts, but now he only has 7 districts, does he still collect 4 bonus points for initially building 8 districts?

Thanks for your help

Thread: Fury of Dracula:: Rules:: Newbie question: Maturing an Encounter (new vampires)

Evincar — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:07:47 +0000

by Evincar

Hi guys,

can i ask, when Dracula manages to mature a new vampire encounter, does the new vampire remains in play in the city it was 'matured' or does it just returns to the encounter pool and the Dracula player simply advances his vampire track by 2 (clearing down the trail of course etc)

Thanks in advance

Thread: Dune CCG:: General:: Deck list

Davestar2 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:07:00 +0000

by Davestar2

I'm looking for some mono deck list for new player using base-set card only.

somebody have that?

thank you

D

Thread: Evolution (Эволюция):: Variants:: Попытка сбалансировать игру

mkal — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 17:05:55 +0000

by mkal

Я тут сыграл в Эволюцию. Задумка мне понравилась, но механика явно сыровата. Основная проблема - если у тебя убили всех животных, то ты до конца игры ничего не сможешь сделать, а убить всех твоих животных другие игроки совместными усилиями смогут почти всегда. Да и один игрок, вырвавшийся в лидеры, способен при некотором везении истребить популяции противников.

Я немного помозговал и придумал некоторые изменения, дабы сделать игру несколько более сбалансированной.

1. Каждый раз, когда ваше животное убивают, вы получаете одну карту из колоды. (Вариант - если убили животное со свойствами, т.к. иначе стратегия выкладывать все карты в качестве самых примитивных животных может доминировать).

2. Очки начислять не в конце игры, а каждый ход. Самое простое и эффективное, что я придумал - это каждому игроку давать столько очков, сколько его выжившие животные съели красных и синих маркеров. Ну, просто сметаете все съеденные фишки к себе в саплай - быстро и эффективно. Фишек, конечно, придётся использовать гораздо больше, чем есть в комплекте игры, но можно без проблем использовать кубики или фишки из других игр.

3. Топотун может топтать еду, только если идёт есть сам. Иначе с учётом п.2. получается слишком мощная карта.

4. For fun - если съедаешь животное с паразитом, то бросаешь кубик. При результате 5 или 6 паразит не сбрасывается а переходит к хищнику, которые съел его предыдущего носителя. Так можно будет накопить несколько паразитов в одном животном. (Вообще с учётом всё того же п.2 паразит может оказаться гораздо полезнее, чем в оригинальной игре).

В конце игры тоже можно за что-то очки давать, но это уже для настройки баланса, и тут надо тестировать. Вообще всё это надо тестировать и настраивать ещё кучу времени, прежде чем получится приличная игра. Сам я это вряд ли буду делать, т.к. играть в недоделанную Эволюцию при наличии множества полноценных игр - довольно странное занятие. Так что это всё скорее мысли вслух для тех, кто купит эту отечественную игрушку в надежде, что это что-то интересное.

PS. Ну и ваши замечания и предложения приветствуются. Наверняка уже десяток разных хоумрулов придумали.

Thread: Summoner Wars:: Strategy:: Pheonix Elves Strategy Tips

AnotherHorrorFan — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:55:36 +0000

by AnotherHorrorFan

I have been very unsuccessful so far with the phoenix elves for reasons I do not understand. I have read and followed a lot of advice on how to play them properly and so far I just cannot come out on top. This just makes me want to get better with them all the more. I was hoping some players in the community who are not only good with the elves but also love to play them could post general tips for the faction. These can range from best usage of your favorite unit to winning approaches against other factions. Please help me love this faction.

Thread: Tribune Expansion:: Rules:: Use of Tribunus Plebis

Jonathan Degann — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:50:41 +0000

by Jonathan Degann

"He mus currently control at least two factions and a scroll. He must use both factions to claim the tile..."

What is the timing of this. Must one have two factions when taking the tile? I think that the most sensible interpretation is that the tile is used during Phase 5 Faction Benefits. If at that time the player controls a scroll and at least 2 factions, he may forgo the benefits and take a Tribune. Is this right?

Thread: Small World:: News:: Small World for iPad maintenance release (v 1.1.1) coming soon

Erich — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:38:42 +0000

by Erich

Just a quick note to let you know that earlier today we submitted a new maintenance release (version 1.1.1.) to Apple for release. It should be appear on the Apple Store as soon as approved (ie sometimes in the coming few days).

Thank you again to all of you who helped us track some of these pesky bugs on the Days of Wonder forums and here on BGG!

Here are the release notes for this version:

Version 1.1.1 is a maintenance release, solely focused on improving the game's stability and fixing known bugs.

*** BUG FIXES ***
- Crashes due to corrupted Champions leader board file
- Occasional crash related to Historians when going in decline
- Sometimes a race token would not flip when going in decline
- In some rare instances, an inactive token could remain on the map
- Occasionally, Gypsy tokens could not abandon some regions
- Troll's lair occasionally remained alone on the map
- Several bugs related to Hordes of tokens
- Amazons scored incorrectly when abandoning certain regions during redeployment
- Dragon Master: Dragon could attack its own race
- Various Memory leaks

*** AI IMPROVEMENTS ***
- AI now chooses to decline more appropriately, in desperate situations
- Better conquest of certain regions containing Lost Tribe tokens

*** OTHER IMPROVEMENTS ***
- Improved sensitivity of tokens for grab by 2nd player in face-to-face board game mode
- Improved a few minor user interface elements

Thread: Fields of Fire:: General:: Permanent Surrender to Rules Doubt Fatigue Syndrome (RDFS)

Chris Dorrell — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:38:11 +0000

by Chris Dorrell

Some time ago I announced that I was giving FoF a rest as I was overwhelmed by the rules doubts and queries ( see this thread ) . I was really enjoying the game but tired of the constant interruptions to the game flow while I debated a rule or checked it out here, in the FAQ etc.

What concerned me about leaving the game for a while was the task of getting back into it. My concerns were justified!

I set the game up last night and the old sinking feeling came straight back. I read through my notes and got started but I'm afraid I gave up.

My copy of Fields of Fire is now up for sale.

I'm saddened by this as I had a lot of support from FoF players here on BGG and spent hours on the game but enough is enough.

Thanks to all for your help
Chris

Thread: DungeonQuest:: Variants:: DungeonQuest Combat Dice Variant

eroc1024 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:21:33 +0000

by eroc1024

My friends and I have come up with a dice variant and have changed 4 of the 6 characters that has something to do with combat on their player cards. Please check it out and let me know what everyone thinks of it.

New d12 Roll Result
1 - 3 Character loses 1 LP (Life Point)
4 - 5 Miss (Monster loses 3 LP if playing Krutzbeck)
6 - 8 Character and Monster lose 1 LP each
9 - 11 Monster loses 1 LP
12 Monster loses 2 LP

Krutzbeck - If a 4-5 is rolled, he does 3 damage to a monster instead of missing.

Tatianna - At the beginning of combat, she gets a ranged "first strike" roll. Roll a d4 and determine damage on what is rolled. So, if a 3 is rolled, the monster will take 3 damage before combat.

Challara - Whenever Challara has 8 or more wounds, you get a -1 on your die rolls. The results can never be zero. Example, if Challara rolls a 1, then the result is still a 1.

Hugo the Glorious - When Hugo takes damage, he gets to counter attack. On a d4, roll for result. On a 1 or 2, the monster takes 1 damage. On a 3 or 4, nothing happens.

Escaping would stay the same. The cards for both the player and monster will determine escape.

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: Save my sanity!

Robshort — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:20:01 +0000

by Robshort

So this weekend we played the game for the first time and had a lot of fun going over the first group quest with 3 players. We took about 75 minutes in total including setup and rules explaining so, all in all, a good result.
However, the next day I couldn't get a theory out of my head so unpacked the game again and set about a 2 hour odyssey which ended in sanity loss previously only encountered in a 5 hour Arkham Horror session

Please help prove to me that it is possible to legally place all the map tiles, including the start tile, to form a single, legal, level.

I tried several times and always ended with 1 tile spare...

Photographic proof would be great.

p.s. I take no responsibility for loss of marbles, hair, sleep or other bodily functions during your attempts at this task.

Thread: The Big Idea:: Rules:: Questions about investment phase

simonk — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:09:17 +0000

by simonk

hi, I am doing a DIY on this game since it's out of print. I have some questions on the rules though as I can't find them here other than those I picked up from the reviews.

1. During the secret investment phase, I am not allowed to put an investment token on my own invention. If the invention attracts many investors, does it mean that I still have to pay them subsequently for a buy-in even though it's my own invention?

2. During the open investment phase, how many investment tokens can one put down on the inventions? Only one token or multiple tokens allowed per player?

Thanks.

Session: Dominion:: Introduced Dominion to my g/f's family.

phoenix1967 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:05:10 +0000

by phoenix1967

Every year my girlfriend's sister has a get-together over Labor Day weekend, and this year was no different.

I've gotten the reputation of bringing new and interesting games every year, so this year I brought Dominion into the mix.

After a couple of games to get familiar with the flow and the rules, it ended up being a big hit! And I think my g/f's nephew (who happens to be my age) and great-nephew will be asking for it for their upcoming birthdays.

We used the basic set and started with "The First Game" set up. We played a 4-player game, then a 3-player, then a couple of 2-players. I lost the 1st 4-player game (probably a good thing) because 1 of the new players went "Big Money" + a few actions (even though he didn't realize it) and came out with the extra province to win.

In the first 2-player game, I also lost that one (probably a good thing again) because I remodeled my gold to get the last province thinking I was ahead in points already...I miscalculated and lost 28-24.

After another game it was time for dinner and the game set for awhile. To which I thought...okay, maybe it wasn't as popular or I didn't teach it as well as I should have. But a couple of hours after dinner, my g/f's nephew asked if I'd like to play more Dominion and obviously I jumped at the chance.

We ended up playing about another 4 or so games (one 2-player, a 3-player, and few 4-player), swapping cards in and out for new setups. They especially liked Library, which is obviously very useful since we had Militia in the setup. We also had Thief in the same game one time and it wasn't as dominant in a 4-player game as I thought it would be; granted, having Festival and Market in the game helped a lot! They really liked the variety of the game and the fact that it's never the same game twice. Eventually, it was getting time for me to have to leave for home with the g/f. I asked if they wanted me to leave the game with them to play some more, to which one of them said: "You should probably take it with you or we'll be playing it all night".

I call that a success! Too bad the g/f doesn't like games with a midieval theme...

Session: Europe Engulfed:: Three-Player Campaign Game - Part 2

John GL — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:01:05 +0000

by John GL

Martyn and I finished the game today, in about two hours - there are a few pictures in the gallery.

During the winter of 1944 the Russians drove forward, recapturing Leningrad and pushing the Germans back into Poland and Romania. The Western Allies, handicapped by the bad weather in most of France, took Marseilles and sent their Free French forces into Italy. The Germans, devastated by bombing (26 bombers on the track at the peak), could do little to react.

As soon as the weather cleared in May, the British advanced into Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, destroying the Bulgarians and capturing Belgrade by July. The Russians drove westwards to knock out Romania and clear Poland, wiping out significant German forces. The US forces cleared France then took Belgium and advanced into the Rhineland and Ruhr, cutting off a German army in Holland.

At this point, after the July/August 1944 turn, the Fuhrer shot himself... the prophet who forecast an Allied Operational Victory was spot on.

Once the Allies start rolling, it looks almost impossible to stop them. US income of 50 WERPS a turn enables them to build up armies very quickly, and with German income and flexibility reduced by shrinking territory, bombing and reduced SAs (only 2 a turn due to bombing losses) there's little the Germans can do.

I'm more and more impressed with the way this game captures the real-life events, while still allowing alterative strategies. The only real departure from historical choices in this campaign was the British move to Greece instead of slogging through Italy - it turned out just like the WW1 Salonika campaign as the terrain and German reinforcements penned them in until near the end.

I aim to play this one many more times.

Thread: Where There Is Discord: War in the South Atlantic:: Rules:: San Carlos Event Cards - Landing Delays

Owsley — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:56:22 +0000

by Owsley

If you delay the landings for 24 hours (choice a) does choice b take place on the next turn or is the card resolved?

If the card is not resolved by choising the delay, what is the point of the delay?

Thread: Magical Athlete:: Rules:: use ability on character who reaches end?

Hatchling — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:44:13 +0000

by Hatchling

One character finishes the race first. The next character in turn order is the Merchant. Can the Merchant change places with the character who finished first?

Here's another example. One character finishes first. The next character is Siren, who is one space behind. Does Siren's ability move the finisher back one and thus allow the Siren to win first?

My assumption is that the race ends only when all characters cross the finish line, and before that the abilities work as normal. How does your group play it?

Thread: Heroscape Master Set: Rise of the Valkyrie:: General:: Slyde's Heroscape Spreadsheet Version 12 is on the way!

slyde — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:31:38 +0000

by slyde

Hi guys.

Just wanted to let everyone know who has been emailing me that the newest version, which contains everything up through the latest release, Champions of the Forgotten Realms, will be getting uploaded to BGG for approval, hopefully in the next week or so. I'm having some issues with the comments transferring incorrectly to the my new version of Excel, but as soon as i work it out, i'll put it up to BGG for review.

Sorry all for not putting up a version when the last expansion came out. RL got in the way.

I will post again when it is out for you all.

p.s. For those that use my database, you might have noticed that i also include a second panel, with condenssed information, that is to be used as a printable one-page cheat sheet. Does anyone still use this? If not, i think its time i retired it.

Thread: DungeonQuest:: Rules:: Chamber of Darkness

eviltofu — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:27:45 +0000

by eviltofu

Does the chamber of darkness work like escaping from monsters? You move out via the rolled corridor but encounter the monster/chamber in the next turn? Otherwise it seems like the adventurer is moving two spaces!

Also what if you get two chamber of darknesses next to each other. This happened during my first game. You stop in the second chamber and on your next turn roll to see where you exit?

Thread: Talisman: The Sacred Pool Expansion:: News:: Preview: A New Reason to Quest

Terefor — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:26:42 +0000

by Terefor

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=1591

Thread: Duel of the Giants:: Variants:: Solo variant?

nightbomber — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:24:17 +0000

by nightbomber

I recall a quite fine solo variant included in my beloved Duel in the Dark game. Is there any chance for a solo variant in this Duel? Any concepts, Friedemann? I have just briefly ran thru the DoG rules booklet and don't really know if it's possible anyway?

Thread: Agricola:: Rules:: "After Renovation Build Fences" after already playing with a stone house

JMac85 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:24:02 +0000

by JMac85

If I have already upgraded to a Stone House by the point the "After Renovation, Build Fences" action comes up, can I take this action and just build the fences (since it is not possible for me to renovate further)?

Thread: Disk Wars:: General:: Anyone Selling?

MinnowKhan — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:21:42 +0000

by MinnowKhan

I would be interested in giving anyone's collection a good home if you are looking at or thinking about selling your Disk Wars collection.

Thread: Torres:: Variants:: Game Elements Not Used - Proposal for variants?

af7hqs — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:17:37 +0000

by af7hqs

Hi,
in an article of Kramer describing Torres ( http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/InventingTorres.shtm...), it seems that some elements were initially playtested and then removed from the game:

- Knight duels: this allowed an attack and a defense system but did not work as well as we wanted.
- Guards for the protection of castles.
- Building bridges to connect the castles.

Some time ago I asked Kramer if had still any details about the rules of these removed elements, but he asked me that they are lost.

Anyway this could be the starting point for a variant or an homemade expansion... Have you any idea how to implement it?

Thread: Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer:: Rules:: Are card Effects/Rewards optional?

Barliman — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:09:56 +0000

by Barliman

I am wondering when the Effects or Rewards on cards are optional. In some cases it is easy to tell: if a card says "may", it is optional, if it says "must", it is obligatory. But most of the time the cards say neither "may" or "must", and I'm not sure there's a consistent rule of interpretation we can use.

Examples:

I believe all of these are intended to be optional:

- Twofold Askara: Copy the effect of a hero played this turn.
- Arha Templar: Defeat a Monster that has 4 Power or less.
- Tablet of Time's Dawn: Banish this Construct to take an additional turn after this one.
- Druids of the Stone Circle: Acquire a Hero that costs 3 Runes or less. Place it on top of your deck.

Here is a pair of cards:

- Void Initiate: Gain 1 Rune: You may banish a card in your hand or discard pile.
- Arbiter fo the Precipice: Draw two cards. Then banish any card in your hand.

Comparing these cards gives me the impression that the banishing in the second card is obligatory.

But this card makes me wonder:

- Temple Librarian: Discard a card. If you do, draw two cards.

I would have thought that the "Discard" effect was required, but it then says "If you do", showing that it is not.

So, are the instructions in the Effects and Rewards always optional, unless they say "must"? Do the rules allow us to ignore instructions to draw/discard/banish/acquire/defeat/etc. if we want to?

Review: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Castle Ravenloft GB review by a D&D4e veteran

Lakoda — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:09:02 +0000

by Lakoda

My background

Sorry to put you all through this, but I want everyone to understand my point of view, as I feel that that had a heavy influence on my opinions with this game (or any, for that matter).

First, I started playing D&D with 2nd edition and moved to 3rd and then 3.5. After buying everything twice (for 3rd and 3.5) I took a break after college. When 4th hit, I jumped at it, especially because I could use the character builder to avoid buying any books - well I still bought the base set. When 4.5 (oops, I mean essentials) dropped I stopped playing. Honestly it wasn't even that they got me twice (which I any company trying to make money would do, so no hard feelings there) but the game hadn't been satisfying for a long time. Combat was so long we didn't have time to role-play before we stopped for the night after 1 encounter. A lot of people have been saying (from the begining) that 4e was a no-RP game but I feel any game can be RP if you take the time...the problem was just that. Combat ate so much of it, we just didn't have the time to take.

First Play

So I got my first play last night. Here is what I noticed. The game was really easy to pick up and it was made even easy by the fact that I knew 4e and D&D in general. The theme of Castle Ravenloft was non-existent, save for the environment fog effects. The power card system was actually an interesting fit, in that they game didn't need them. Now bare with me here. The game could have used the powers and abilities and had it work perfectly well in any system. Unlike 4e the powers sub-system wasn't an integral part of the super-system. So it made it a nice familiar thing for people who love 4e and yet independent and light enough that those who hate or haven't played it to not be turned away.

The rest of the game is pretty simple. Movement and combat is dumbed down from from 4e. You do not have zone of control (Opportunity Attacks) or line of sight/effect to worry about. The tile as a unit of measurement is pretty high level but keeps with the light and quick - this really only applies to special movements from powers or monster tactics. Ahh, the monsters - they worked. It was way to easy to follow their tactics and still help yourself though.

That brings me to the ease of the game. In our 4 person game we used 2 dailies, 2 utility, and maybe 2 treasures between up as skipped 3 cards and levels one player. That was it, no healing surges used. We smoked the first scenario. I do not see it getting harder by scenario as all that would really change is the tile you 'hunt' for and the BBG (big bad guy) at the end. Though the deeper the target tile is the longer the game would take the more difficult it would be as you get farther and farther behind the monsters (it helped we were pretty much able to drop 1 monster each turn so there was rarely more then 1 out at a time). If you kill them 1 per round as they come out you are fine but it is easy to fall behind that and have to play catch up. Had we had 2 or 3 more tiles there would have been no chance at victory, as we would have been overrun.

The Experience

I look for games that make a memorable experience. DungeonQuest, for example, made a big one on me as I had a bottomless pit as my first tile and failed the skill check and died. I will remember and retell that story for a while yet. Castle Ravenloft had no such experience for me. I finished and went 'meh'. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. It was rather bland.

So why no notable experience? Well the game felt lost between a D&D themed (albeit poorly so) Shadows over Camelot meets DungeonQuest. Only it couldn't make up its mind which it wanted to be. It tried to have tactical co-op decisions that would haunt you and screw you over if you messed up (Shadows over Camelot like) and have the game just try and kill you (DungeonQuest like). We made some not good decisions and found some problems, but the biggest hurt was the encounter deck which we tried to avoid but it was inevitable some times (black arrow tiles). Maybe I just need to play it more but it felt like the most of the mists just ticked away hit points regardless of what we did - this created an urgency or forced a particular path but we couldn't get ride of it so we were left to its devices. I love DungeonQuest and I like Shadows over Camelot (though I have played it too much recently) but Castle Ravenloft fell between the crack of these two games. I guess, for me, having random bad is fun and having bad decisions hurt if fun, but some of both doesn't play well together.

The Components

Bland here too. Sadly, the minis were not painted, as I have come to expect from WotC. Though they do not always do a good job of it so that is a mixed bag. Knowing the BG community would prefer to paint their own more so then the RPG, it was probably the right call. Just not for me, personally. The tiles also were different then the DungeonTiles I have used, also from WotC, for D&D. This game really is different then D&D4e and is just another thing slapped on. The tiles are just boring...not must to look at...just a lot of grey.

The cards were the worst quality component, being a bit thin, but the rest of the components were quality chipboard (carc tile thickness or so).

Will a D&D4e player like this?

Well, I don't think I can answer that as this game is so different. You will certainly find common elements but that isn't enough to answer definitively (or to call it D&D IMO).

I think people who dislike D&D4e shouldn't shy way from this. The reason being that it plays so much quicker and lighter. That does not mean you will like it but the pieces that are some of the worst about 4e are just not present here, IMHO.

Would I play it again?

Yes, but only if others really wanted to. That being said, I currently have this at a 6. The re-playability OK, the different scenarios and cards are there but don't fool yourself. You will be doing the same thing with a different coat of paint on the walls.

The quick and dirty

The Good

-Plays quick and light.
-Easy to teach/learn.
-Moderate re-playability.

The Bad

-An awkward mix of tactical co-op and why does this game hate me.
-Not a whole lot of variety but I am sure the expansion machine will solve that.
-Dull looking components (though they are of a good quality)

The Ugly

-The box is huge.
-Failed to be memorable for me.

Thread: Puzzle Strike:: News:: Deluxe Version Shipping to East Coast!

Bridger — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:04:45 +0000

by Bridger

Just got my notification via Email today. W00t!

Thread: StarCraft: The Board Game:: Variants:: A little more TI3 in your Starcraft...

Axensmash — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:04:20 +0000

by Axensmash

I am not sure if I like this game or not. But I don't think I have played it enough that I can form a solid opinion on it or not. I do know that I have never won a game of it yet which might be coloring my opinion a tad.

One thing I do know is that I don’t like how the point scoring works. With the command points accruing throughout the game. I much prefer the way points are awarded in Twilight Imperium – based on objectives.

With that in mind I propose the following variant:

Whichever player reaches 15 conquest points first wins the game.

Receive conquest points equal to the number of Conquest Point Territories that your faction controls. You retain these points only as long as you control these areas. If you lose control of the area you lose the points. If you build a base on the territory you double the conquest value of the territory.

If, at any time, you achieve your special victory condition you receive 4 Conquest points. Once received, these points may never be lost. You may only qualify for your special victory objective once per game.

You receive conquest points for completing the following objectives. Each may be only qualified for once per game.

This round I eliminated a faction from the game – 4 conquest points.
This round I destroyed another faction’s only remaining base – 2 conquest points.
I control the most areas on the board – minimum 7 – 2 Conquest Points
I control more areas containing minerals and/or gas than any other player on the board. - 2 Conquest points.

I have 3 bases on the board – 2 Conquest Points
I now spend 10 Gas – 2 Conquest Points
I now spend 10 Minerals – 2 Conquest Points
I control every area in at least 2 different planets – 3 Conquest Points

These are just off of the top of my head. To take the variant further one could make many more objectives and randomize them taking it even further in the direction of TI3.

Feedback is welcome.

Thread: Onirim:: General:: Okay, so how is this pronounced...?

jrbentley — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:57:20 +0000

by jrbentley

Onirim.

Oh-near-rum...?

One-ear-um...?

Oh-nye-rum...?

Oh-nuh-reem...?

?

Thanks,
jrbentley

Thread: Prolix:: Variants:: The UNCIRCUMCISIONS variant

Randy Cox — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:38:44 +0000

by Randy Cox

Maybe that wasn't the best title for this thread. I guess I could have called it the MERCINARINESSES Variant and it would have accomplished the same goal.

Anyway, I've been cluttering up the play-by-forum thread with talk of my take on this game (which I don't even own yet, as I await my order). But my lone concern is that as soon as a splay of letter tiles appears on the board, someone will grab the timer and scream "ANTIDISESTABLISMENTARIANISM" or "UNCOPYRIGHTABLE" or some other long word which happens to contain a bunch of common letters. After all, that's the goal of Prolix--to come up with a legal string of letters which contains as many of the tiles (and the higher-scoring ones, at that). Perfectly legit.

But not very sporting, I say.

Sooooo, I propose that a word's score be calculated as per the rules with one modification--remove one point for each letter in the word which does not add to the score.

Let's go through an example.

If the board shows these tiles:

N S F T

R C M B

4 4 3 2

Then Clarence might just blurt out the aforementioned "UNCIRCUMCISIONS!" To which Lady Jane says "You could have used MERCINARINESSES, you dolt!" Whatever.

The scoring would be:

UNCIRCUMCISIONS

.44.4..3..4....

for a total of 19 points.

Very good.

Now, Ward has pondered this a bit more and would love to say that he has a better word (because, in fact, he does). His word is:

CRIMSON

44.34.4

= 19.

Now, I ask you, my fellow Prolix fans, which is the more elegant word? And, for purposes of solving the puzzle, which is the better word?

To me, it is obvious that CRIMSON is far superior to UNCIRCUMCISIONS, for many reasons.

While this philosophical debate is brewing, Wendy says, "You're wasting precious time, I'll just come up with a much better word..."


RECONFIRMATIONS

4.4.43.43.2....

= 24 points.

And, almost instantly, Ward the Hero as he will forever be called says, "Ah, dear Wendy, you know it's much more elegant and sophisticated to say...


CRAFTSMAN"

44.3243.4

"yet, per the rules, I am again not considered to have come up with the better word"

Now, with my proposal, the scores would be as follows:

UNCIRCUMCISIONS = 19 - 10 = 9

CRIMSON ------- = 19 - 2 = 17 (minus 3 as an interrupt = 14)

RECONFIRMATIONS = 24 - 8 = 16 (-3 would be only 13)

CRAFTSMAN ----- = 24 - 2 = 22 (-3 would be 19)

So, in this count-the-dots variant (tallying and subtracting the dots in my examples above), we work from the ridiculous to the sublime. And everyone knows that playing the craftsman is always good for the table.

Thread: Road Kill Rally:: Rules:: the +2 in the Cow Hazard

Mirth123 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:30:28 +0000

by Mirth123

I just wanted to be sure about this. As the cow hazard uses an addon reference of +2, that means that its only a +2 dice if you are going fast enough to warrant having to roll. If you are going slow enough the cows pose no hazard correct? I just wasn't sure if it was a typo or not

Thread: DungeonQuest:: General:: The (Non) Session Report

Nevin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:28:50 +0000

by Nevin

The mods declined the following session report I submitted becuase it was too short:

"Hugo the Glorious, seeking fame and fortune, confidently takes his first step from the Tower Room into Dragonfire Dungeon - and into a bottomless pit. The end."

Short was the whole point since the dungeon killed me on the first turn! Perhaps if I added that I needed to roll a 3 or less using 2D6 on a Luck Atribute Test and got a '4' that would have been sufficient enough for a "real" session report.

Thread: Arkham Express:: Rules:: Is Cthulhu too easy for you? Try this..

dwillems — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:19:30 +0000

by dwillems

Mark Cookman (mcookman65) suggested this variant if you find you're beating Cthulhu too easily:

"We decided that in solo and 2 player games, Cthulhu has 6 for each stat. For 3 player games he should have 8 in each and for 4 players he should have 10. He is an elder god afterall, he should have a fighting chance."

Thanks Mark.

Thread: Munchkin:: General:: Why do you play munchkin (A question for munchkin lovers only)

jcikal — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:16:50 +0000

by jcikal

I know this game gets little love here in BGG, but for those who like the game, why do you like the game? What makes you come back to it again and again?

We all know that the humor flies out the window after 2-3 plays, so that isn't it. The randomness of the cards where you get a level 16 monster while you're at level 6 and you fail to run away and it kills you, thereby losing most of your stuff it's more of a put off than anything else.

So, what is it about the game that you like so much that there are tons of expansions and re-themes (including an upcoming Zombie theme) for the game? Either someone out there is buying all the copies or this thing is the monopoly equivalent of card games.

Please no flaming. I don't want to read from those who despise the game and find it a brain-dead dud. I want to hear from those who actually enjoy the game so much that they purchase not only the expansions but actually play with them again and again and enjoy it every time, well after the humor has worn off.

If possible, please state an approximate number of plays of Munchkin (or its derivatives) you've played.

Thread: Thunderstone: Wrath of the Elements:: Rules:: Combined glossary plus further clarifications

firewizard — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:14:53 +0000

by firewizard

Sorry if this has already been suggested elsewhere (couldn't see it).

What I'd really like (and don't have the time to produce at the moment) is a document combining the glossaries from the basic game and this expansion, plus any further clarifications from these forums.

Thread: Small World:: General:: Any other Artwork Details I'm missing?

RiffRaff14 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:11:49 +0000

by RiffRaff14

I've played Small World dozens of times, but the other day I noticed for the first time the artwork on the Active and In-Decline side for Wizards is slightly different:

The book on the active side is: "Magick for Dummies"
]]>
The book on the in delcine side is: "1000 Card Tricks"
]]>

Are there any other cool artwork details I'm missing?

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Rules:: Annoying error in the french version

super_bruno — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:58:57 +0000

by super_bruno

I own the French version and they made an error when translating the game which lead to some confusion. They translated combat in English to combat in French. That's fine so far, but they also had the brilliant idea of translating Fight to Combat. So you have the skill that is called combat and the special skill check which bears the same name.

So the question is, when am I allowed to use weapons? Only in fight against monsters? When sealing a gate? In card encounters?

And the combat skill cards: do they affect the base skill or only the special skill test?

Thanks!

Thread: Small World:: General:: "Necromancer Island" Speculation

RiffRaff14 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:58:08 +0000

by RiffRaff14

I don't think "Necromancer Island" is the new "Be not afraid..." expansion, here's my wild speculation:

Necromancer Island is an expansion map. You set it up next to the current map. Any time a race token is killed it isn't removed from the game, it is placed on the Necromancer Island map. When you go into decline, your in-decline race tokens stay on the board and the other active tokens are removed as normal.

But, your killed tokens come to life on the island. You then conquer regions in the underworld with new special powers that you draw. In the underworld you gain undead victory coins worth negative points. These are used to drop on your opponents and/or place on un-picked power/race combinations. Any of the undead coins you hold are subtracted during the end of the game to determine your final score.

Some of my initial thoughts:

Elves - Aren't so special now...?
Spirit - Would prevent the killed tokens from going to the island, only the 2nd in-decline race would go?
Tales & Legends - I have no idea how this would work as I don't have nor have I played this expansion.
Going after the Point Leader is harder - If you kill his units he just gains strength in the underworld....

But it might be kind of cool... thoughts?

Thread: Mousquetaires du Roy:: General:: What is the gameplay like?

lfisher — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:51:07 +0000

by lfisher

It is a little hard to get a feel for the game from the rules. It sounds like it is something like LotR with sauron, tracks, etc and something like Shadows over Camelot with going to locations and playing cards, dice, etc vs. Quests.
The siege also seems something like camelot.
Is this correct?

Session: Battleground: Fantasy Warfare:: First Plays from a new General

LukeHeinz57 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:37:35 +0000

by LukeHeinz57

After reading an interview with Chad Ellis on StarCityGames where he mentioned Battleground Fantasy Warfare I was intrigued and came here to check the game out...I was soon enthralled with the units, the miniature gaming without the miniatures concept, battle reports from users that described fantastic crashes of opposing lines with archery fire and large, even colossal units wreaking havoc. I was (am) hooked.

I ordered starter decks + reinforcements for Hawkshold, Orcs, Elves (Ravenwood), Dwarves, Monsters & Mercs and the kingdoms pack and scenarios. I introduced BGFW to two good frineds of mine who are thoroughly enjoying it and already talking about picking up an undead army and looking forward to playing more.

Our first game was a 1500 point skirmish where my Hawkshold line of Swordsmen and Heavy Infantry withstood the Orcs and their erratic Bomb chucker and generally questionable morale. We got the rules 95% right I'd say and I was impressed how little time we spent looking things up and how much we spent playing.

My one friend wanted a rematch and this time I went for some bowman with lots of spearmen to protect them. Sadly he bought a bomb-chucker that actually worked this time in fact his rolls were 11, 8, 8, 6, 6 no doubles! I lost a spearman by the time I got in archery range and had another badly wounded. His Orc Maruader and crazed goblins did some pinching and my heavy infantry was too slow to join the fray. A few rounds later we agreed my situation was hopeless and resolved to play again soon.

I can't wait for many more exciting battles with this fabulous game. Thanks Chad and the rest of the YMG guy's this game rocks. Hard.

Thread: Ra: The Dice Game:: General:: very fun game that allows a bad roll to turn good!

bmwrider — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:37:26 +0000

by bmwrider

One of the things that people should know about this game is even a bad roll (the RA) is only bad if it is 1 or 2 RA's but 3 or more give points or allow you to take points from opponents with 2 rerolls this is not that all that hard to do.

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: Expansion Idea: Make your Own Adventure (Theme Packs)

SamuelF — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:37:00 +0000

by SamuelF

Thought I'd try out a concept on you guys that came to me whilst making lunch today.

I figured that making my own adventures could be kinda limited by the tiles and cards available. I'm aware that Peter has already kindly encouraged people to make suggestions for the kind of blank cards they would like to see released (I would vote for the monster and treasure deck). I'd like to take it further:

- Generic Encounter Deck
Whilst Liking the idea of customising my own encounter deck, I know I don't have the time or brains to develop a decent balanced one. The present deck is very theme based. A generic deck would solve that and enable it to be used with your own missions. This could be released alongside some blank treasure and monster cards in a 'card expansion' perhaps.

- Varied new tiles
I know WotC already do great tile packs for D&D. It'd be nice to see some forest/cave/dessert/temple/manor house tiles etc. I can see that it would be a problem mixing environments that are too different in this game. You would therefore need to provide a good many tiles incorporating that new environment. These would probably need to be released separately or in groups I am guessing.

- Dressings
Some people don't dig it. I do. Markers for: tables, altars, fountains, doors, portcullis, chests, magic circles etc. would all help to further customise the game. These could be released along side the sheets of tiles, matching the theme.

These theme packs could be released without the cost of cards or miniatures, making them a more realistic buy for us cheap-skates (you know who you are ). They could also maybe come with a few ready-made missions for generic heroes? I'm probably dreaming!

Anyways that's me done for now. If anyone who worked on the game happens to read this I'd like to thank them for giving us such a great game! Seriously good job.

Cheers.

Thread: Tien Zi Que:: General:: What game end condition do you use?

newuser — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:31:14 +0000

by newuser

Which game end condition do you prefer:

(1) From the rulebook, play 4 rounds with the highest score at that time determining the winner.
(2) From the BGG game description, the "first player [to collect] 30 points wins the game".

It seems to me that playing to a set score offers a better game and provides more incentive to chase high scoring hands when the opportunity arises. Four rounds just isn't long enough to really get into the game.

As a side-note, this also is an excellent betting game for two players. In that case my preferred ending condition is when someone runs out of money...
;)

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: Item Glyph of Warding

alboy01 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:26:39 +0000

by alboy01

If Count Strahd moves to a tile with the item Glyph of Warding does he take 1 damage. Is he classed as a monster.

Thread: The Resistance:: Play By Forum:: Interested in some online resistance.

jayrosam — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:17:35 +0000

by jayrosam

Hi all,

I discovered this game in wishlists of people going to Essen 2010 and it looks great.

If someone is organising a play by forum game, I would be interested !

Thread: Pocket Rockets:: General:: UK availability

Phantomwhale — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:17:32 +0000

by Phantomwhale

Hi,

Can't seem to find this game on the UK retailers websites - anyone know if / when it's available ?

Thread: BattleLore: Horrific Horde:: General:: Ease of Assembly as compared to Battles of Westeros

galfridus — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:17:24 +0000

by galfridus

I assembled both of these (using glue and clippers) at the same time, and I found that the Horrific Hordes pieces went together much more easily than those of Battles of Westeros.

Maybe this is just chance, but just in case...whatever standard of quality was used for Horrific Hordes, keep using that one please!

Thread: Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer:: Rules:: Buying and fighting in the same turn, how to count my sums of symbols?

MacTele — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:11:21 +0000

by MacTele

Hello
Lets say I have a hero who gives me 2 crystals and have 2 atack.
Can I using him buy a card with cost up to 2 and kill a monster of up to 2 power or should I have to choose one of this?
The same concerning all my hand. Do I sum all crystals and atack from my cards and then buy and kill for that sum, or do I have to choose which points I take from every hero (like in example above)?

Thanks for answers

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: Scroll of Teleportation

alboy01 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:08:55 +0000

by alboy01

Can you use the Item Scroll of Teleportation if your Hero is Immobilized.

Thread: Thunderstone:: Rules:: When do you refill the hall?

blizzardb — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:59:10 +0000

by blizzardb

We generally tend to refill the dungeon hall every time immediately after a monster is removed, unless a card specifically tells us not to do so. Is this correct? If not, when exactly are we supposed to refill it?

For example if you defeat a monster and have a second level Elf, do you refill the hall before using its ability? How about when Creeping Death kills a monster (there is another thread going on about this, but I wanted to ask the question in general)?

Thread: Puzzle Strike:: Rules:: end game conditions

rickert — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:54:03 +0000

by rickert

If I'm reading the posted rules right there is no way to win the game other than by making your opponents lose. Is that right? I don't have the game but am trying to figure out how to play.

Thread: The Awful Green Things from Outer Space:: General:: Help please - re: box images

Clockpunk — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:35:48 +0000

by Clockpunk

Hey guys,

I was just wondering if anyone could help me with a scan/image of the side panel of the AGTFOS box?

The reason being a few of my games have been badly damaged, and so I have decided to try and convert DVD cases into suitable holders (also clearing up a bit of shelf space for... more purchases! win-win situation). But I'm struggling to find a good image of the game for use on the spine... I have low quality images of the front and back, s those aren't really needed (but would be very appreciated)

Any help would be fantastic.

Thread: Summoner Wars:: General:: Boards arrived in Europe!

yvesvanherp — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:34:21 +0000

by yvesvanherp

I just wanted to thank Colby because I just got my game boards AND the new faction decks! My wife and I are very glad because we like this game so much!

Thanks again,

Günter & Kristel

Thread: Hamburgum:: General:: Antverpia

Tim Love — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:29:17 +0000

by Tim Love

Hi,
This new expansion has been mentioned on the PD Verlag website along with Spielbox and BGN.

Is this a brand new map for Hamburgum, or a reworking of Lisboa?

If it is brand new is it going to be a print or a proper folded board, (need to work out if my Essen visiting friends will bring it back for me !), and also is it a limited edition?

Anything else I need to know about this!
Thanks
Tim

Thread: Kult:: Rules:: 2 card questions

Sudenlumi — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:14:57 +0000

by Sudenlumi

Just in case Bryan is still reading this, I have questions about two cards from the Inferno expansion. Just to get an "official statement"..

1) HELLER states that it is affected by cards that affect DRUG ADDICTS. Does this mean that Heller is affected by DRUG DEALER, which would give it +3 to CV and make it a spellcaster? I can't think of any other cards that would specifically affect Drug Addicts.

2) STONE TO FLESH says: "It may attack and be attacked (while in a Cast).." If a region infuenced by Stone to Flesh resides in a stage (Yesod, for example, could play the influence there), could it be attacked with a Tracking Device or Hunting Instinct? Or, if any card that permits beings in a stage to attack is played, would that enable a region affected by Stone to Flesh to attack as well?

Thanks for a great game! I was introduced to it last October, and was instantly hooked (I was familiar with the Kult RPG, of course). It's been a bit tough (and expensive), but after almost a year of collecting, I have nearly all the cards from the basic set, and some goodies from the Inferno as well.

Thread: Fury of Dracula:: Play By Forum:: Play by Forum - Character Banners

Paul_Edgar_au — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:03:32 +0000

by Paul_Edgar_au

]]>

I have updated the listing of character banners for use in Play by Forum postings.

The listing is here http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/57603/fury-of-dracula-...

Please add your own if you have them

Thread: Animal Upon Animal:: Rules:: Adding Two Animals and Stack Falls on First - Do You Still Add a Second Animal?

fallond — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:56:18 +0000

by fallond

If, during adding the first animal of two, part of the stack falls - do you take two animals then try and add the second animal (and if this knocks the remaining stack again you then have to take another two animals)?

Thread: Alien Ascendancy:: News:: JKLM/Prime games will not be publishing ‘Alien Ascendancy’

bucklen_uk — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:53:30 +0000

by bucklen_uk

Please see this announcement

Thread: Panty Raider:: General:: Present at the Essen fair (2010) ?

Limp — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:52:45 +0000

by Limp

If anyone knows...

Thread: Breakaway Rider:: Rules:: rules question

dries1965 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:41:27 +0000

by dries1965

I am new here and I don't know the change of anyone responding to my question, but here it is...

Can you play a mountain card when becoming the leader, or do you have the be the leader already before you can play a mountain card in your next move?

Thanks for the respons!

Regards,

Dries.

Session: Descent: The Road to Legend:: Campaign #3 - Demon Slavemaster - Session 1

BastiRand — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:39:17 +0000

by BastiRand

Back by popular request! This is another session report from our regular Descent gaming group.
I'll try and stick to the format of other reports that I found to be excellent, for example by PaulGrogan and edroz (and many others I missed). And I will adopt links to www.descentinthedark.com as that makes it easier to look things up, thanks corkysru for that idea.
So (+X) indicates Conquest Tokens CT for the heroes, [+X] indicates CT for the overlord.
Red highlighted text will be used for possible rule problems we had and blue highlighted text will mark personal comments (will change color some time later due blue being the inherent link color). We're playing with Altar of Despair and Tomb of Ice.

So here we go:

Introduction:

Hero choices:
Player 1: Andira Runehand, Mad Carthos, Sir Valadir
Player 2: Varikas the Dead, Lyssa, Aurim
Player 3: Landrec the Wise, Steelhorns, Bogran the Shadow
Player 4: Ronan of the Wild, Battlemage Jaes, Corbin

Varikas was the only sensible choice from Player 2's lot, but would still have been a good choice even with other characters in his draw. Ronan was kind of the only ranged character so Player 4 chose him (and because we just played with Jaes), but he also is a very good character by himself. With melee and ranged heroes already chosen, Landrec was a no-brainer (Steelhorns and Bogran not very good choices, either), while Andira was chosen over Carthos because of better survivability.

I chose the Demon Prince with Obsidian Shackles, first upgrade being Endless Hunger. Basically this is an avatar we haven't played with yet. It's also the last plot we haven't played yet and variety is always good. I've actually thought about getting Kar-Amog before a monster upgrade to see if he's so tough as he seems but we'll see how the game goes. If I manage to milk them for CT I just might try it. Too long without an eldritch upgrade leaves him short-handed, too, though, I think.

Anyway, next up: the skills.

Player 1 (Andira[/U]) drew Quick Casting, Inner Fire, ??? and ??? (inferior stuff, no doubt)
Player 2 (Varikas) drew Mighty, Tiger Tattoo, Able Warrior and Necromancy
Player 3 (Landrec) drew Boggs the Rat, Holy Aura, Vampiric Blood and ???
Player 4 (Ronan) drew Pick Pocket, Deflect Arrows, Shadow Soul and Brawler

Ronan had a rather bad draw, Player 4 picked Shadow Soul as it was the only decent skill and plans to use it in running tactics. Player 2 had a tough time deciding between Able Warrior and Tiger Tattoo (he has played Thalia with TT and found it amazing) but through group discussion picked Able Warrior, an action enhancing skill. Andira picked Quick Casting because of training location and because it's a great skill in general. Landrec went for Vampiric Blood with Boggs as a close second but second nonetheless.

We play the feat rules similar to the skill draw: Draw feats according to your printed skill values plus one additional card but keep only one of those. Later each hero draws one feat card when a glyph is activated, as per normal rules.

For starting equipment they want to gamble on a good market draw and buy nothing but potions, vitality of course (let's see if they will pick anything else during the game since invisibility is in as a new entry).

WEEK 1
[+1], Alric moves to Nerekhall.
Heroes train in Tamalir, revealing a Crystal of Tival and Crystallize, buying the latter for Landrec.
With market equipment we have the following hero setup:

Player 1 (Andira): {Quick Casting}; Immolation Rune, Leather Armor
Player 2 ( Varikas): {Able Warrior}; Axe, Chain Mail
Player 3 ( Landrec): {Vampiric Blood}; Crystallize, Leather Armor
Player 4 ( Ronan): {Shadow Soul}; Crossbow, Leather Armor

I don't know why they don't like the robes. Price does play a role here on the first turn but they never even consider them. Maybe if I tell them that eldritch are mostly magic or ranged?

WEEK 2
[+1] (2/2), Alric moves to Greyhaven as Nerekhall has no skills of interest anymore. Wow, these first OL weeks are short!
Heroes move (no encounter) to Starfall Forest (+1).

Starfall Forest Level 1 - #1 Broken Columns
After a little discussion they decide not to do it and flee right away. Money piles and chests are too far away and the rubble will give too many spawn opportunities over the course of the level. They want to control the game a little more, basically blitzing a little bit more. Fleeing without doing anything on the first level might be a little unorthodox but it sure is different than before.

WEEK 3
[+1] (3/3), Greyhaven +1 Siege Token (now at 1).
Heroes are a little frustrated about their first draw but keep playing, of course. They head for Thelsvan Highway and have an encounter on the way.

Red Necromancer @ [url=]Ancient Grove[/url]
Trees block movement in addition to LoS.
The Necromancer hides way in the back. The heroes advance but as he makes his first undying roll they flee.

ENCOUNTER SUMMARY: 3 turns; Heroes: +0 (1), OL: +0 (3/3); Total: +0 (4)

They reach Thelsvan Highway (+1).

Thelsvan Highway Level 1 - #2 The Alchemist
A rather big level with extra potions to grab, nice draw as a first level.
Sadly I don't remember much about this level. They move into the first room to cover a lot of spawn area (good move![/I]) but Andira and Landrec are too close together (bad move!) so the leader whacks them with Blast. Landrec dies soon after[+2], Andira is heavily wounded. At the end they argue about staying a little longer and grabbing the last potion or using potions to get out quickly. In the end they run for the portal (good move again!) not before getting everything: glyph (+3), empty chest (+1). Unfortunately I can't get a shot at Andira so she survives, but barely.

LEVEL SUMMARY: 5 turns; Heroes: +6 (8), 1050 gold + 4 potions, OL: +2 (5/5); Total: +8 (13)

Thelsvan Highway Level 2 - #25 The Arena
A lot to gain here with plenty of bone heaps but too risky. They flee, not before visiting the alchemist and the market (2x Crystal of Tival, none bought).

DUNGEON SUMMARY: 5 hero turns, 4 OL turns; Heroes: +6 (8), 1050 gold + 4 potions, OL: +2 (5/5); Total: +8 (13)

WEEK 3
[+1] (6/6), Greyhaven +1 Siege Token (now at 2). The group fleeing early is already annoying. I feel it's a long way to any reasonable amount of CT for me so I'm saving.
Heroes move to Blackwing Swamp and have an encounter again and this time, they are ambushed. Now we already have more encounters than on the whole campaign before! They wanted to try for more of them but not this early, I think.

Circle of Doom (Ambush) @ [url=]Snowy Path[/url]
Figures can only move once their speed.
They put Varikas on guard and realize later that it wasn't a great idea. They were only thinking about who can withstand attacks the best not about who can be dangerous. Ronan is the only one to wake up and places a dodge. With it Player 4 wants to protect the two sleeping heroes from the leaders' blast. But I move into a position where he isn't included and whack those two. Andira is heavily hurt and needs to be protected. Quickly fleeing is not an option due to the locations' special rule but they put up a good effort and protect Andira all the way to the exit. On their way they slowly kill off the monsters and the leader (+2). Again Andira slips through my fingers.

ENCOUNTER SUMMARY: 6 turns; Heroes: +2 (10), 475 gold, OL: +0 (6/6); Total: +2 (16)

They reach Blackwing Swamp (+1).

Blackwing Swamp Level 1 - #8 The Warrens
Another nice draw, two chests, two coin piles, two leaders.
Sadly I don't remember much, either! I need to write this closer to our actual game or expand my notes so you guys have something to read, not be a witness of me failing in remembering anything. They again try to move out more, cover more spawn areas. It works pretty good, Ronan sneaks in to the chests and money while the others kill everything. Landrec is killed [+2] by a lucky leader attack after he was only marginally hurt before.
There is a point in the level where they can try to move out and flee with the chests (+2, both empty), glyph (+3) and the money in the bag but the leaders still alive. While waiting to exit they would have had to endure attacks from two sorcerers and maybe a spawn. They decide against it and get to kill both leaders (+4) after a great group effort with split heroes. But the price was Andira. She was healing from the start but the naga and a leader hurt her again and I finally kill her on a late turn with a trap [+3]. Heroes exit through the portal to look at the second level.

LEVEL SUMMARY: 8 turns; Heroes: +9 (18), 1450 gold + 4 potions, OL: +5 (11/11); Total: +14 (29)

Blackwing Swamp Level 2 - #16 What lies beneath?
A level we haven't played yet but everything good is too far away so they flee. Not before visiting the alchemist and the market (Skull Shield, Bone Blade; the latter bought for Varikas with Morningstar).

DUNGEON SUMMARY: 9 hero turns, 7 OL turns; Heroes: +9 (18), 1450 gold + 4 potions, OL: +5 (11/11); Total: +14 (29)

We quit here for the day and will make a short break due to vacation.

At end of session:
CONQUEST TOKENS: Heroes: 18, OL: 11/11; Total: 29

Player 1 (Andira): {Quick Casting}; Immolation Rune, Leather Armor
Player 2 ( Varikas): {Able Warrior}; Bone Blade, Morningstar, Chain Mail
Player 3 ( Landrec): {Vampiric Blood}; Crystallize, Leather Armor
Player 4 ( Ronan): {Shadow Soul}; Crossbow, Leather Armor
Heroes have ca. 3000 gold (might've bought Staff of the Wild, then gold would be less)

OL Avatar: Demon Prince, XP: 11/11
Plot : Obsidian Shackles
OL Upgrades: Sir Alric F. (at Greyhaven), Endless Hunger

Comments:
After two dungeons and two encounters they don't have good enough items to tackle Alric. Maybe a stop at Riverwatch will change that but then Greyhaven will see a raze roll with two dice (plot special). But their blitzing game worked pretty good until that last kill of Andira. 9 instead of 12 CT would have made me think hard about buying Merrick. Now I will probably do it. Then two lieutenants running around in the north, possibly together, will force the group to deal with them. This will either gain me CT from weekly income or from dungeons when they try to grab the treasures from there. Not a good prospect for the heroes, I hope they will not become discouraged. Let's see if they come up with something next time. Maybe hitting the copper legendary before any monster upgrade?

Thread: Battlestar Galactica: Pegasus Expansion:: Rules:: Execution of an infiltrating Cylon leader

Torian — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:29:33 +0000

by Torian
Hello there!

Can an infiltrating Cylon be executed? If it is possible what happens after the execution???

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Ranger : bounding attack

HeroQuestFrance — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:22:21 +0000

by HeroQuestFrance
I woul like to know if by moving to the next tile, the ranger using this bounding attack can "jump" over a trap & a monster.
I'm not sure on this.

Thread: Space Hulk (Third Edition):: General:: New Missions Created by a Noob!

Dj Silent Bob — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:17:26 +0000

by Dj Silent Bob
Hi all, Firstly yes I'm a noob, but don't let that distract you...

I was so impressed by the map editor and mission creation aid, offered by CRasterImage and all in his thread over on Warseer(Major kudos to him and all that helped). That I just couldn't wait until delivery to create my own missions. The four that are *not attached are my first attempts at designing missions. I have tried to be a little different with the missions ideas, as this is why I'm certain it was designed for. To continue playing on long after the 12 original missions are dead and buried.

*It looks like I can't attach the PDF files so below is a link to My Warseers post where you can download them. (If you know how to post attachments here pls let me know)

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=268953

War & Feast: Is a rescue mission to save the sole survivor of a previous mission attempt. Namely a Librarian who is critical to winning the war. He is injured and thus can only use limited abilities until he is fully revived by another Marine. Reviving him though causes a new horror. The Broodlord who up until this point has been sitting back, knowing his flock can take care of the Space Marines and the injured Librarian. He senses the Librarian has now become powerful and comes to the aid of the Genestealer force.

Hex in the s.h.i.t.t.y: Has a squad of Space Marines stuck in a Virtual Nightmare. A virus has been planted in the Space Marines database at their barracks on their home planet, causing major glitches to their s.h.i.t.t.y (A Virtual Reality simulator of a Space Hulk, used by the Space Marines to train).

During a routine training mission in the Virtual Reality simulator, a five man team, have been trapped. Due to the virus the Virtual Genestealers are now ‘Hard Coded’ causing their attacks to kill, rather than stun. The only way to stop this unexpected nightmare is to destroy the Computer Console running the Simulation. If this wasn’t bad enough the virus is also causing another glitch, moving the Console between three rooms at random!

With mission three, the Genestealers have an objective to complete, and its up to the Space Marines to stop them! There are some special rules applied including, the injured Broodlord and the Genestealers receiving their allotted pieces positioned on the board at the beginning. With no blips and no reinforcements.

Geneie in a Bottle-Neck: Answering the call of their injured Broodlord, a flock of Genestealers have moved in to protect it. Twisting and turning, through a maze of corridors aboard the gigantic Space Hulk, and their instinctive desire protect the Broodlord. They have managed to pass through an unknown section. Taking a wrong turn has now led them to a dead end. They have only one route out now, and can sense the Space Marines closing in. Their only hope is to burst out fighting, take down the threat and lead their master to the safety of the hive.

Mission four is called C.A.T. In The S.H.A.T. Here's the Mission Fluff for it.

Another team of Space Marines on a lower level have found an important ancient relic that requires examining. They have called for the C.A.T. to be brought in to investigate. However after a previous failed mission the C.A.T. has sealed itself in a room and then shut itself down to conserve energy (Releasing only a homing beacon). Your team has been sent in to retrieve the C.A.T. at all costs and deliver it to the waiting team below.

Anyway hope you enjoy giving them a play through. If you can give me feedback on how they work out or if you think there needs to be changes made. It would be most appreciated.

Thread: Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer:: General:: Suggestion for new cards.

PollutedMonkey — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:16:09 +0000

by PollutedMonkey
I'm really enjoying Ascension. With talk of an expansion being made I though I'd contribute with a couple of suggestions for new cards - I don't have a suggestion of the cost of the cards, as that would require some playtesting; rather, I've focused on some abilities that would add to gameplay.

Grand Archivist - Enlightened Hero
Look at the top 4 cards in the Center Deck, rearrange them as you like, then put them back on top of the Center Deck.

Taunting Sprite - Lifebound Hero
Draw a card.
If you already played a Lifebound hero this turn, you may steal an honor point from one of your opponents.

Mechana Infiltrator - Mechana Hero
Once per turn, you may spend 5 runes to take control of a construct costing 5 or less, that one of your opponents have in play.

Soul Trader - Void Hero
Replace a card in the Center Row with a monster card from the void pile.

Banshee - Monster
Reward: x honor + each opponent discards down to three.

Beast of Legends - Monster
Reward: x honor + look at the top card of the Center Deck, if it is a hero card you may reveal it and put it into your discard pile.

Thread: Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge:: Rules:: Truck movement from edge

Sverre — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:13:32 +0000

by Sverre
We are confused over a line in the rule book saying something like this: "An empty truck on an edge hex may move directly off-board." (Not exact quote - I don't have the rules in front of me, as I don't own the game.)

As far as we understand, the rule will only come into play if you have a truck on the edge of the board and in enemy ZOC - otherwise, you would always move an empty on-board truck off the map without this rule.

However, this brings up a lot of questions:

1) Can the truck leave the map even if there is not a road leading off the board? (The rule does not specify this, it only states that you are allowed to move it off.)

2) Are there no restrictions on which map edge this can be done from? (In extreme situations, could the Allies do this on the East edge? Can the Axis do so at the North and South edges? Or even the West edge?)

3) Can a truck moved like this be used in the reinforcement step? (The truck did not move off-map at the start of movement, but during movement.)

Thanks.

Thread: 7 Wonders:: General:: german version?

Jan Torf — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:09:07 +0000

by Jan Torf
On the geek there is also a german version listed, but I do not find any information about german rules or distribution. Does anybody know something about it?
After all, an Essen release would not make a lot of sense when you are hiding your german version

Thread: Coda:: Rules:: What if all tiles are drawn ?

Bernie_be — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:05:59 +0000

by Bernie_be
If by the end of a game, all tiles are picked up, but code is still to be 'unlocked', how does one go about this ?

so, without any tiles left in the middle of the table, next person in turn, do you get one guess only in any case (correct or wrong) ? or you can guess untill you get it wrong ?

Also during such a phase, when guessing wrong, does on still have to display a single (not newly drawn) tile out of his code as a penalty ?

let me know your thoughts, anyone ?
Bernie

Thread: Gosu:: Rules:: GOSU 1.1. Tournament rules / Advanced rules

Ez Kimbo — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:03:32 +0000

by Ez Kimbo
Posted this morning on the MoonsterGames website ( http://www.moonstergames.com/2010/09/08/gosu-1-1-regles-de-t...):

I didn't tested yet, but it look very cool !

GOSU 1.1. Tournament rules / Advanced rules

The genesis of the Advanced Rules for GOSU is to be found in the growing interest of gaming groups and game shops for tournaments.

In order to make GOSU Tournaments really challenging, two adjustments were necessary:
- Improve the balance of the players’ starting hands
- Shorten the game duration by limiting the number of turns playable once one of the two opponents has passed.

Thus, 2 additional rules were added so far: Draft(*) with double first pick(*), and Turn Limit when the opponent has passed.

Please note that these two advanced rules are designed for tournaments, i.e. 1-to-1 or 2-to-2 game configurations.

Before starting the Draft(*), players randomly determine which one of them will start with the Advantage Token.

(*) What is the Draft?

Each player draws 7 cards and keeps 2 (he places them face down next to him). Then, he passes the 5 remaining cards to the player on his left, receiving 5 from the player on his right. Out of these 5 cards, he keeps 1 (that he places face down with the 2 firsts) and passes the 4 remaining to the player on his left while receiving 4 from the player on his right. He repeats the process (keeping 1, passing along the remainder on his left) until no card is left to pass. A player may keep 2 cards only during the first pick. When all players have set aside 7 cards, the draft is over. They may then take their drafted hand and start the game.

Turn limit … what’s that?

With two players, when one passes, his opponent is not allowed to play more then 10 turns afterwards (except as per the Infinity Rule explained below).

With 4 players (team play 2-to-2), once both teammates have passed, the opposing team is not allowed to play more than a total of 10 turns afterwards (except as per the Infinity Rule detailed below). “Total” means that each player of the team still in play will be able to play 5 turns. And if one of them passes before having played 5 turns (for example, after 2), then his teammate may use what is left (3 turns (5-2) in addition to his own 5 for a total of 8).

Precision: If a player plays a card that gives him an additional turn, then this turn is counted as one of the 10 allowed as per the Turn Limit rule (except as per the Infinity Rule below).

Infinity Rule: If during his 10th and last turn before reaching the turn limit, the player plays a card giving him an additional turn, he may do so and play an 11th turn. If during this 11th turn he plays another card giving him an additional turn, he may still do so. And so on until he stops playing.

These rules applies to GOSU tournament but may also be used for friendly games.
Please note that these advanced rules have not been tested yet with a 3 player nor with the 4 player-no team game configuration.

Team Moonster Games !

Ez Kimbo

Session: Cyclades:: "Pronounce it like Descartes"

thirdman — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:03:06 +0000

by thirdman
We were looking forward to play this game for a very long time after all hearing and reading so much about it. And looking at the pictures of the figurines, our saliva can't stop dripping. And for the whole period we were waiting for the game to arrive, we practice the pronunciation for the game. "It is not pronounced like Cycle + Lemonades! It is pronounced as Si Klei Diss... just like Descartes... or like "She-Want-Kiss". Then the other guy who is supposed to be quite well-versed with Greek mythology corrected all our pronunciation. Then one newbie watched Tom Vassel's video and corrected the expert. "Hear Ye! The master Tom pronounced it like Cycle + Lemonades". He has to be right!". The pronunciation is still under debate up till today.

Image above: The guy trying to find the right pronunciation in the book. But it is not there!

Okay, so much about the name. Besides that, we find the game to be really fun! The rulebook is well written and the play intuitive. The components are AMAZING!

Our first game went pretty much wrong. Not that we played the rules wrong but we play the game wrong. We were just busy waiting for Ares or Poseidon so that we can build armies and attack others. We did not pay attention to buildings at all! Of course we knew that the victory condition is that whoever owns two Metropolis, he is the winner but somehow, in our first game, the concentration was in building armies and ships and recruiting monsters to destroy other players.

After almost three quarters into the game, we took a step back and convinced each other that doing that is not good. The game won't end! And from there on, we started building buildings and since then, the game ended very quickly with one player building the Metropolis and then accumulated enough Philosopher cards to be ensured a victory.

We can see the potential of this game and how to play it better. The next game will be different and the next game, we will concentrate on building buildings, not going on an all out war and destroy everybody and build nothing. It is very easy to do that and fall into the trap.

We plan to play again this weekend!

Thread: Battlestar Galactica:: Rules:: Starbuck OPG ability question in combination with the caprica location for Cylons

Torian — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:02:13 +0000

by Torian
Hello there!

What happens when ...

....a Cylon activates the Caprica location, choose one Crisis card to be resolved by the humans and discards the second Crisis card....

and then Starbuck decides to use her OPG ability that the Crisis card is not valid and that a new one needs to be drawn

A: is a revealed Cylon immune against it?
B: does the Cylon need to discard the Crisis card he has chosen and then draw a new one
C: does the Cylon need to discard the Crisis card he has chosen and then draw two new Crisis cards and then again choose one of these two?
D: or anything else that needs to be done instead of any of these three options?

bye, ivica

Review: Puzzle Strike:: Puzzle Strike: A Review.

Large Deviator — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:00:42 +0000

by Large Deviator
[Note: The published game has chips instead of cards. However, I have the PnP version of the game, printed in card form. Throughout this review consider the terms "card" and "chip" as being equivalent.]

i]Disclaimer: This review suposes that the reader have some knowledge about Dominion deckbuilding mechanics. Otherwise it will be completelly useless.[/i

The enormous success achieved by Dominion implied that a new game genre was born: lots of games in which you build your deck to achieve some purposes are arising, trying to offer more in terms of gaming experience than his father does.

While until now I have rejected all Dominion sons (Thunderstone and Artic Scavengers increase the playtime, which for me is a critical mistake, and Ascension changes the deck building facet on a way that doesn't suit me), when I looked at Puzzle Strike I was completelly hooked: it seemed the first Dominion son able to compete with his father.

First of all, PS offers a more convincing theme than Dominion. The players are in the role of characters competing in a fighting competition. The flavour of the whole game is undeniable, especially if you have played to some videogames such any version of Street Fighter.

PS introduces some changes over Dominion mechanics. This changes can't be defined as "improvements", because objectivelly they aren't: they are different approaches that can be termed as "better" or "worse" than the ones taken by Dominion depending on everyone's tastes. The first change I cover is the deepest one, which for me is an outstanding success.

Change 1.-More roles to the money. Different ending conditions.

You use gem cards to buy cards. Gems have buying power between 1 and 4. However, buying cards is not its only purpose.

In PS, there aren't victory points. Instead, each player has what is called a "gempile", wich in essence constitutes both his life bar and his "ultra" bar, to make the videogame analogy. At the beginning of his turn, a player put a 1 gem to the pile. If at the end of your turn you have more than 9 gems in your gempile, you are eliminated of the game (which hardly ever is an issue, since the game tends to end so quickly after players begin to die). There are some cards (the purple cards) which allow you to interact with your gempile, combining 2 gems from it into a bigger one (which can be done with the "combine" chip), or sending one or two of them to your left-handed oponent (which can be done with a "crash" or a "double crash" chip, respectively).

After crashing a gem, you send as many 1-gems to your opponent gempile as its buying power (crashing a 3-gem sends 3 1-gems to your opponent gempile). Moreover, crashed gems disappear from you gempile (returning to the bank), so with an attack you are also increasing your life bar.

If you have a crash (or double crash) in your hand when someone crashes gems on you, you can play it, crashing a gem of yours. Then, the player whose group of gems has less value sends as many 1-gems as the difference from the bank to their gempile (note that if one player crashes a 3 gem and the other countercrashes with a 4-gem, the first player sends one 1-gem from the bank to their gempile, but, as the 3-gem he crashed returns to the bank, the total value of its gempile is 2 less than before playing the crash).

Other changes:

The rest of the game works similarly than Dominion, with the same turn structure (with the already commented part of sending a 1-gem to your gempile at the beginning of every). However, there are some differences which, despite being easy to explain, have a considerable impact on the game. This changes affect the initial conditions of the game, the bank, and the deckbuilding mechanics.

Change 2.- At the end of your turn, you draw extra cards depending on the number of gems in your gempile (the more gems, the higher the bonus is).

Change 3.- When you play a reaction card, you discard it.

Change 4.- The initial decks are different for every player, sharing 7 of 10 cards but having 3 specific unique cards depending on the character they have chosen (there is a pool of 10 characters to choose from).

Change 5.- Although the non fixed part of the bank (cards available to buy) works as the Dominion one (around 25 cards to choose a bank of 10) each pile has 5 copies of the card, instead of the 10 copies in Dominion.

Change 6.- Changes in the deckbuilding mechanism and chips effects:

6.1.-You must buy something in your turn.
6.2.-You have infinite buys. (Due to this, chips do not have the option "+X buys").
6.3.-There are chips costing 1.
6.4.-There are 4 types of actions: blue (reaction ships), red (attacks), purple (combines and crashes) and brown (general chips). Some chips can allow you to do extra actions of one specific colour or of any colour.
6.5.-In general, chips that allow you to make more actions are more expensive than their conunterparts in Dominion. Chaining actions is, then, harder.
6.6.- There is a new icon that allows you to "save" a chip from your hand, which means putting it appart and drawing it in your following turn (it is not an "extra" card, though, since you draw one less card from your deck than you would do in case you hadn't saved any chip).
6.7.- The attacks are more frequent and crushing than their Dominion counterparts.

Change 7.- PS is extremelly more interactive than Dominion. You will be messing a lot with your oponents deck, and you will hit them directly (sending more gems to their gempiles).

Personal opinion:

In my opinion, 1 and 2 are extremely nice features, which in fact constitute the meat of the game and make it to feel very different than Dominion. The optimum for you is to have your gempile almost full during the whole game, because in this situation you always get the highest bonus. But, well, this put you on the edge of losing. All in all, this adds a new strategical level to the game which I enjoy a lot.

With respect to point 3, I think it is not a huge change. It works well, although it does not improves the game.

I definitely dislike point 4. Off course, it seems nice to have different characters, and the designer has made a huge effort in order to balance them. The problem is that altough they are generally (not always) well balanced (in the sense that matchups are close enough to 1-1), this balance only shows up in the long run.

The main issue here is that characters are not balanced in some single games. Obviously, some banks will favour some characters (making their specific cards specially worthy), and this can make a single game extremelly biased towards one player. In my experience, this situation is common enough (1 -2 games out of 10) to be taken into account.

Moreover, there are some character chips that clearly hurt the deck-building strategy. As an example, there exists an attack forcing all other players to show their hands, trash their highest valued gem, and gain as many 1-gems as its value -Yes, its as crushing as it seems, imagine trashing gold and gaining 3 cooper and you will have a nice picture of this chip effect-. For me, this attack hurts an economy based strategy in a way that makes it almost unplayable.

I find point 5 is also disturbing, because it somehow restricts the deck-building options. Obviously, it is not the same having one copy of a particular card in your deck than 2 of them (or more), and having only 5 copies of each card in stock usually negates the option of buying lots of copies of the same card. Under my view, this change considerably hurts the tactical element of the game.

My major problem is with point 6, though.

First, being forced to buy something every turn is extremelly disapointing. It hurts the "trash strategy", and it is obviously inelegant.

6.2 causes another big problem. Not only it's also inelegant (as an example, there is one only chip which you can't buy more than once each turn. Yep, it is the wound chip, the equivalent to a curse in Dominion, and the only one costing 0), but also, combined with point 6.3, it makes perfectly possible for a player to buy 3 or 4 copies of the same card during their first turn. Combine it with point 5 and you will see that this can be a bit frustrating to the rest of the table.

With respect to 6.4, 6.5 and 6.6, I think that they are designing options that don't affect the game in a negative way (in fact, for me 6.5 is an improvement to Dominion, since it makes the endless chains less frequent).

6.7, though, is also a bit annoying for me. Consider an endless game of Dominion, with no +$ action cards available and totally dominated by thieves, which has begun to hit everyone before them being able to adquire golds. Players at large tend to consider this kind of games as disappointing, but they accept them as part of Dominion because, if you select your bank at random, the odds of having an "infernal" bank are really low. In PS, with stronger an more common attacks, this probability is not negligible.

Point 7 can be seen as an improvement or as the opposite, depending of your tastes. I consider than the "crasing" and "countercrashing" is a clear improvement, but, as I explained in the previous paragraph, I am not keen on the effect that PS attacks can have on the game.

Conclusion:

All in all, I believe that PS is the first Dominions' worthy son. The playing time of both games is similar, and it is able to use the mechanics of its father to provide a more intense gaming experience than the one given by Dominion. Special mention to all the mechanics surrounding the gempile. They are simply amazing.

In my opinion, the main problem of PS is that the deck-building mechanics and the action chips, which are the heart of the game, are definitelly worse than the ones provided by Dominion. A real pity, because otherwise this game would have definitelly beaten his father.

For me? A nice try, but a missed one. My group will play it occasionally, but Dominion remains in its throne for now.

Mark:

Thread: Cyclades:: General:: How do you pronounce the name?

mmotomb — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:00:28 +0000

by mmotomb

How do you pronounce the game's name.

Is it Sigh-Clay'ds or See-Cla-Dees?

Is it a greek word?

Thread: Battles of Napoleon: The Eagle and the Lion:: General:: Waiting for the FAQ

mythos999 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:39:45 +0000

by mythos999
We all waiting the faq of this good game,
In general most of the rules that we cant understand are more simple than we think, but when you arent sure for something you losing time while playing and this game needs time saving and not spending.
I would like the FAQ to have detailed examples for the several orders cause i think this is the most vague area of the game.
Thanks in advance for the FAQ.

Thread: Case Blue:: General:: This must be the place to ask..

Kurlski — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:38:17 +0000

by Kurlski
Simple question. What kind of tweezers/tongs do you guys recommend? Every place I look has lousy pictures so they like they'd be too small. That said, any links are appreciated.

Thanks all,

Jason

Thread: Battles of Napoleon: The Eagle and the Lion:: Rules:: attack movement 2

mythos999 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:29:19 +0000

by mythos999
When a unit is 3 hexes away from the enemy group A and 2 hexes away from the enemy group B, is this unit able to move towards the A group, so after the movement will be 2 hexes away, if this movement makes the distance from group B 3 hexes.

All i mean is when i am moving towards the enemy CAN I choose the enemy to move closer to, or i am moving to the already closer one.

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Variants:: More realistic and less exploitable monster movement (and makes the gameplay quicker too).

Freiduin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:24:45 +0000

by Freiduin
One thing that bugged my gaming group with this game, was that the monsters have a tendency to move in a way that is the most detrimental to their own survival. This, due to the fact that it often is up to the players to decide where the monsters end up.

The monsters can move in very strange ways, where they circle around the hero they are about to attack, trying to find the square to stand in that is the most beneficial to its enemeis (the heroes). This just doesn't make any sense (at least from the monsters point of view).

Here are 3 simple rules that my gaming group have been using.They made a BIG difference for the enjoyment of the gaming experience in my gaming group.
(Warning: These alternative movement rules do make the game a bit trickier and harder for the heroes (gasp!), but not by much. On the other hand it goes along way towards prevening the disturbing feeling that the monsters are actually trying to help the heroes kill them.)

1) When a monster "moves adjacent to the closest hero" - Place it on the square adjacent to that hero, that is closest to where it came from.
(This makes the monster essentially charge the hero by moving the shortest distance possible.)

2) When a monster moves from tile to tile - Move it from skull pile to skull pile.
(This also prevents the monsters from being placed on the square that is the most advantageous to the heroes, which f.ex. can be a square adjacent to the next tile, where a hero can melee it.)

3) When a monster is placed on a tile, and the skull pile is already occupied by another monster - Place it on a square on that tile that is as close to the skull pile as possible, but as far away from the heroes as possible.
(Also to prevent cheesy monster placement).

Note: These rules assume that the closest hero is the hero that is closest to the monster when counting the distance in squares.

BONUS: With these rules the game actually speeds up make it play/run even FASTER . The reason is that it removes alot of the decisions that have to be made regarding what square is the most beneficial to place a monster in (taking future movements and actions of players into account etc).

Thread: World in Flames:: General:: WIF 5th edition vassal module

etagimbo — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:23:04 +0000

by etagimbo
Is there a vassal module for the 5th edition available?
Where can I find it?

Thread: Fury of Dracula:: Play By Forum:: Fury of Dracula - Play by Forum - Game #2: A Long Shadow

Paul_Edgar_au — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:19:47 +0000

by Paul_Edgar_au
Hi everyone,

this is a follow up to Andy's PBF Game for Fury of Dracula.

Players for PBF Game #2 have been recruited from the PBF waiting list (here thanks to DaveD).

- I will provide a board image at the beginning of Dracula's turn so that the dark lord can plan his move around the Hunters. I will also attempt to provide another image after Dracula's turn for the Hunters to work from. Since the game will probably move quickly, as mentioned, it's hard to know how well I'll keep up, but I'll do my best.

- If you guys want to do flavor text like telegrams across Europe and descriptions or vampire attacks, awesome. Really, I'd say that's the POINT of doing this game online. But I leave that to the players. I'm just here to deal the cards and roll the dice.

- When a Hunters move to a new city, either Dracula or I can tell them whether they have crossed the Trail. We're all here to have fun, and I don't feel I will (or should) need to verify each move myself if Dracula is around and can announce it. (This is also a chance for Drac to write a little flavor, if so inclined!)

- Boldface by the Hunters makes a move or card plays official, both to me and to Dracula.

- Whenever a player plays an Event card, the other team will get the chance to drop an appropriate countercard before its effects are assessed. Players can send Conditional Orders to me about when they will play their Good Luck/Devilish Power/etc, or just to pass for them because they don't have one.

- As discussed in the learnings from PBF Game #1, I will circulate a list of cards held to players after each draw (or as often as I can manage).

Thread: Days of Decision II:: General:: DoD II box versus DoD

etagimbo — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 10:14:38 +0000

by etagimbo
I am interested in buying the original DoD (I). From the pictures here it looks like the DoD II box looks the same as the DoD box. How do I tell the versions apart (without opening the box)?

Thread: Ringmaster:: Rules:: RINGMASTER 8.0 ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Presti70 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:59:41 +0000

by Presti70
Hello!

is there any one translating in English the version 8.0 and the expansion 5.0 of this game?

I'll pay 30 GEEKGOLDS to him!!!!

Enjoy!

Thread: Axis & Allies Pacific 1940:: Rules:: IPC's for Neutrals?

autumnweave — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:58:46 +0000

by autumnweave
Do you gain IPCs for taking over Neutrals? In the Pacific game that would be Mongolia. I know the numbers by the soldiers in each area represent how many units defend when invaded but do they also represent the IPCs? They aren't circled like IPCs in non-neutral areas, so the question came up.

Thread: Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization:: Rules:: Question concerning the card "Architecture"

MaacLeod — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:42:27 +0000

by MaacLeod

Hello all. we were playing this fantastic game Through the ages and at one moment, the 2 guys I was playing with didn't accept me to do something I would like your opinion on.

the card Architecture states :

"Your level I urban buildings cost 1 (stone) less. Your level II and III urban buildings cost 2 (stones) less. You may build up to 3 stages of a wonder for 1 civil action."

What I wanted to do is to use that card to build one stage of a wonder, do another action in between (I don't remember which precisely but I couldn't do it before I built the stage of the wonder) and then finish building another stage of the wonder.

My friends told me I had to build all the stages at once and then do the other action but I couldn't do anything in between as they considered this one only one action and it couldn't be interrupted.

My opinion is the card grants me for one civil action to build several stages of the wonder during my turn but nothing forces me to do it at once.

What do you think about it ?
Thanks for your help.

Thread: Arcane Legions:: General:: Which minis come in the Starter?

Shijuro — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:39:04 +0000

by Shijuro
I keep seeing how many minis come in the starter, but which ones?

I stumbled over some of the boosters and an Egyptian infantry set, and I can get some more but I'd like to know what I'll be getting when I get the Starter.

And I'd prefer names of the units to the obscure code numbers, please.

Thread: Strategy I:: General:: Scenario info

orcface999 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:34:00 +0000

by orcface999
I have lost my scenario sheets, and wonder if anyone would be kind enough to scan/email them to me. If need be I will pay for copies sent snail mail. Thanks, Mike

Thread: Memoir '44:: Strategy:: Operation Cobra - A Strategy Guide

Neil Thomson — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:28:11 +0000

by Neil Thomson
This continues a series of strategy guides for Memoir ’44.

These guides are meant to be short and to the point. I invite any alternate opinions as I can always learn something new. The key focus will be on the opportunities and weaknesses of each side in the battle and where possible I will make reference to cards that ‘could be key’ if you are lucky enough to pull them. All that said, I hope someone finds these useful at best or interesting at worst.

In the time it has taken for me to get through the base scenarios, Days of Wonder have released the Air Pack Expansion.

I still want these guides to focus on the original scenarios, but I will add an Air Pack Section at the bottom to highlight changes and additional implications as a result of those changes.

Operation Cobra

History – This scenario is balanced on a knife edge for both sides. After 766 logged battles the Allies only enjoy a win ratio of 53%, which equates to only 47 more wins than the Axis. (based on stats from the DoW website at the time of posting this report). My own stats have my success rate exactly even for both sides, so I think either side stands a good chance if they play well.

Axis

Shooting Ducks in a Barrel - Operation Cobra sees the Germans start in an extremely strong defensive position. The Allies are within range in all 3 sections and in the German Centre and Right, the Allies can be attacked where no retreats are possible. These should be taken advantage of at all costs and on the German left and centre it is a case of hold firm in those hedgerows and see what the enemy does.

The real decision for the Germans is what to do with that Armour unit on the right. If the Allies have not moved the Infantry out of range, it can easily stay put and get a 3 dice attack and this is likely the best option.

If the Allies have moved their vulnerable Infantry out of danger though, then the decision is whether to move the 1 space allowed by a hedgerow to get within attacking range. It is a gamble for sure but if the tanks can survive the likely retaliatory attack, then it can close in for a potential Armour Overrun attack and decimate the Allied left.

Of course all of this conjecture is exactly that. The great leveler for the Axis player is that they only have 4 Orders and this may well see no options for 1 section.

War of Attrition - The German player really needs to take advantage of their defensive positions and enjoy watching the Allies scramble for cover. This should allow the Germans several turns of 1-2 dice attacks that can weaken multiple units. This will cause the Allies great concern as they have many units to lose and only 5 are needed for victory.

The Germans really need to play more of a reactionary game in Operation Cobra. It is super important to hold your nerve. The Allies are best served by having Infantry attack the hedgerows. They are likely to try and get into Close Assault positions when attacking the hedgerows as this not only increases their attack value but it also gives them a chance to force a German retreat and take up a position in those hedgerows, thus turning the tables.

If this occurs it is a key moment that requires smart decisions. The German player really has two options at this point. They can either retaliate and look to take the hedgerows back or they can fall back to another terrain location as all 3 sections offer them. The best decision will depend totally on the relative strengths of both sides and what support the Allies may have to launch the next wave of attacks.

But always remember that the Allies will have a tough time taking 5 medals when the Axis only has 9 units to start with. Falling back could just make their objective that little bit harder.

The Thin Blue Line - The great concern for the Axis in Operation Cobra is the centre. Only a single Infantry unit stands in the path of 6 Allied Units and only 1 supporting Infantry and Armour unit are present for the Germans, but they are as deep as they could possibly be.

However, that Armour Unit can hold the key to victory for the Germans, it needs to be mobilised before the Allies really get moving in the centre. It will take the Allies time to get moving in the centre as they will likely be worried about their vulnerability on the left. If the Armour unit can be moved around the forest and behind the hedgerow clump, it can not only worry the Allied player about moving forward (thus gaining you time), but it can also roar into action to draw within range of the Allies should they move forward into vulnerable positions.

Just beware the Allied Armour in the centre. They do outnumber you and caution should always be shown. At some point it is likely that you will be forced to gamble. If the opportunity presents itself to attack the Allied Armour in Close Assault with your Armour (thus gaining a potential Armour Overrun), you should probably take it and hope for the best.

Village Objectives – The towns of Saint-Gilles and Marigny are major concerns for the Germans. Both are exposed to the potential of a final surge by an Armour unit to take the last Medal needed for victory. In the centre the simple option is to move the deep Infantry unit into Saint-Gilles as this not only protects the village somewhat but it also offers good cover against attack.

Cards to Dream of - The Germans are hoping for a decent variety of cards as they will need to react to the opening moves of the Allies.

Besides the obvious Tactics Cards (Behind Enemy Lines, Barrage etc) great cards for the Germans include Air Power and Ambush. Air Power may be weaker for the Germans but it may just be enough to eliminate a weakened Allied unit and gain a crucial medal.

Ambush is more valuable here than in most scenarios as the Allies may well launch a major offensive in one section based on having several orders there. If you can throw a spanner in the works by Ambushing their attack, you will keep those defensive units (most likely in the hedgerows) just that little bit longer and buy yourself some more time to get that Armour unit into position.

Firefight can also be useful as the Allies may well scramble for defensive cover. The ability to add that extra dice over 4 attacks can really help to weaken the Allied threat and limit who they can surge forward with.

Allies

Early Game - Take Cover - The Allies wake at dawn to find themselves with some real vulnerabilities. All 3 sections see Allied units within range of the German defensive positions. But none is more vulnerable than the units on the left. That German Armour unit poses a huge threat and several medals can fall quickly if the Allies don’t take action fast. If at all possible those units need to scramble to defensive terrain. The forest is the likely option but the far left Infantry can also head for the village. This isn’t the best option though as flags will still see a unit lost due to their inability to retreat.

Several turns may be needed to help those units in the centre and on the left that have no retreat options. An assault in the centre should only be considered in the opening turns if the majority of your cards are located there. It will cost you heavy casualties on the flanks but it may just be outweighed by the gains in the middle…maybe.

Early/Mid Game - Death on the Flanks, Go for the Tunnel! - Your left flank is a no-man’s land thanks to that Armour unit and the right is not much better. The centre offers the best chance to hurt the Axis and with 5 cards in hand you have a fair chance of holding at least 2 orders to help advance there. The only time that a flank assault should be considered is if you have the orders to maintain a sustained attack.

The trick is to use your superior numbers to your advantage. You want to be approaching that Allied hedgerow position with multiple units at once as you will take hits so it is important to make them hurt just as much. Infantry Assault is the perfect approach otherwise it is a case of inching up. Flag results are disaster for the Allies on both sides of the battle. Taking a flag means you will have a unit pushed back and out of step with other units. A flag in attack allows the Germans to fall back and make it harder for you to get at them.

Hold the Tanks in Reserve - Tanks may seem awesome but for the Allies they are almost a liability for much of this battle due to their -2 penalty against hedgerows. It is critical that only Infantry are used against the Germans early defensive positions. But those Armour units will become critical in the mid-end game. They need to be in a position to pounce on any German units that are forced out of their defensive positions or to attack the German Armour in the centre when they venture too far forward.

One move I like to make on the Allied right is to get the timing just right so that my Armour get in around the hedgerows at the exact same moment that I attack the hedgerows with my Allied Infantry in Close Assault. The plan here is to get a flag result and force the Germans out. This flushes them out into the open and allows the tanks to exact full toll on the fleeing German scum! It is a tactical risk should a flag fail to eventuate but if it works it can secure the victory.

Village Objectives – The towns of Saint-Gilles and Marigny represent a great way for the Allies to steal victory in Operation Cobra. They should never be primary objectives (unless the enemy is decimated in the relevant section). Instead they should be seen as targets of opportunity. If they can be taken by an Armour Unit or an Infantry using Behind Enemy Lines or Infantry Assault to take the win then so be it.

This means that the Allies can afford to be very tactical in the way in which the move forward in the battle. If the Allies find themselves only 1 medal from victory, it is not a bad idea to move within 3 spaces of a village (even if you cannot take it) just to keep the Germans guessing as to your motives. Of course one should never overexpose a unit to major damage unless absolutely necessary.

Cards to Dream of - Infantry Assault is great for the centre but any card that allows movement on all 3 flanks at once is gold for the Allies. Otherwise it is a case of the great cards being great. Behind Enemy Lines deserves special attention though as it allows a great shot on a defensive German unit and the ability to take defensive cover all at the same time.

Operation Cobra with Airpack

Changes - The only major change to Operation Cobra is the addition of a P-40 Warhawk to the Allied forces and it takes up a starting position on the centre/right dividing line, in-line with the Infantry units. If it is not ordered in the 1st turn it is removed from the battle.

Implications - Whilst having an Airplane may seem like a good thing initially, it can cause the Allied player a major headache. Unless they are holding a multi-section card like Recon in Force or Pincer Attack, the owner of the P-40 will have a critical decision to make. They must either leave the left wing high and dry in order to Order the Warhawk and keep it in play or they will need to sacrifice it in favour of minimizing the threat on the left.

Once past this dilemma, the Warhawk can be a major asset with its Strafing and Ground Support attacks. Strafing may be useful in finishing off weakened units, but for me it is the Ground Support option that offers the greater threat. If the Allied player can time his advances to get his Warhawk adjacent to the German Infantry in the centre and at the same time also have 2 Infantry units in Close Assault range with the same target, the Germans will be facing 4 dice in total with no retreats possible. This could be devastating.

Links to other Strategy Guides

Pegasus Bridge

Sainte Mere-Eglise

Sword Beach

Pointe-Du-Hoc

Omaha Beach

Mont Mouche

Vassieux, Vercors

Thread: The Siege of Jerusalem:: General:: Tips for a Beginner

Damjon — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:21:54 +0000

by Damjon
Hi All,

I've just got the game, and a copy of The General 26, is there anything I should know about the game, or should I just lob in and play it?

Thread: Nothing Gained But Glory:: Rules:: Light Infantry and Close Combat

meivin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:20:24 +0000

by meivin
I have a question regarding light infantry and close combat.

In the rules, 11.6, it states that if a light infantry unit of 1 strength point is attacked during close combat by anything other than another light infantry unit, it is automatically eliminated.

What is the rule if the light infantry unit has 2 strength points.
Does it engage in close combat?

If it does, what modifier would you use on the Close Combat Matrix, 11.3.8, as the modifiers for other unit types against light infantry are non-applicable?

Thread: Conquest of the Empire:: Rules:: Hola a todos, soy nuevo aquí

alexandermagno — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:18:57 +0000

by alexandermagno
Hola a todos, me acabo de registrar a esta página. La consultaba muchas veces, pero he decidido unirme para preguntar unas dudas que me han salido de este juego.

Bueno, después de leer las reglas 3 veces y poder convencer a mi hermano para jugar, jugamos anoche al COE clásico. Nos han surgido unas dudas, que creo que no importa si es el clásico o el II.

--Tengo claro (y viene un ejemplo en el manual) que un general moviendose con su legión por un camino puede dejar las unidades que quiera en cualquiera de las ciudades por el camino y seguir adelante sin gastar ningún punto para ello. ¿Pero también es lo mismo si lo que hace es recoger unidades de una ciudad unida por caminos?

Pongo un ejemplo, las ciudades A, B, C, y D están unidas por caminos y son adyacentes unas a otras. El general empieza en A y hay tropas en B y C. ¿Puede gastar el general un único movimiento para llegar a D y de paso recoge todas las tropas de B y C, o debería pararse en la ciudad B donde quiere recoger tropas gastando luego su 2º movimiento para seguir avanzando hasta C donde estan las otras quedandose en ese turno ahí porque no tiene más puntos de movimiento? Supongo que será lo segundo porque las tropas deben empezar su movimiento con un lider que los acompañe y para ello el lider debe estar parado en la misma provincia.

--Otra duda es cuando se decide huir de una batalla. ¿Es posible huir si no hay líderes presentes? Esto sería en el caso de que el atacante ataca una provincia donde sólo había unidades de combate sin lider. Yo creo que es posible ya que las reglas no dicen que no se puede huir, sólo dice que si hay líderes ellos si huyen mientras las tropas caen en la huida.

--La última duda, ¿los líderes deben estar presentes en la legión de combate para dar su bonificación de +1 unidad de combate o no es necesario? Lo digo porque si debe estar presente y cae la legión de batalla entera caería con el lider. Ejemplo: la legión de combate se compone de 9 unidades de combate y sus 4 lideres, y hay en reserva 10 unidades. Recibe 9 golpes del contrario, cayendo todas las unidades. ¿Eso qué significa, que caen también los 4 líderes y las 10 unidades restantes atacarían sólo de 5 en 5 al no tener lider (si deciden seguir atacando ambos bandos, claro) o se coge ahora otras 9 unidades de las 10 de reserva porque los líderes no caen porque en verdad no forman parte de la legión de batalla?

En las reglas dice: "Cada jugador, comenzando por el que se defiende, organiza sus propias tropas en una Legión de Batalla: de 1 a 5 Unidades de Combate, más una Unidad de Combate adicional por cada General o César que esté presente en la batalla" Eso de que esté presente en la batalla supongo que se refiere a que forma parte de la legión de batalla, con el riesgo que eso conlleva.

Bueno gracias por leer todo el tocho este que he escrito. Espero que me lo podais aclarar pronto, ya que le veo mucha potencialidad a este juego. Lo he escrito en español porque no se si en inglés podría traducir todo esto.

Saludos!!!

Thread: Sergeants! On the Eastern Front:: Rules:: Question on Placing and Removing Pin Markers

porkbelly — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:06:39 +0000

by porkbelly
I'm finding the luxuriously produced new version of Sergeants to be a terrific game for introducing my son to hex and counter wargames. Adding those little first aid kits into the box was a cool idea

But we have found ourselves getting stuck on a few rules here. Can anyone help clarify these statements on Pin placement and removal from the latest rulebook?

====

In Combat under section 10.1.3
• If the firing unit’s modified die roll is more than the
target unit’s but less than double, then the target unit is
pinned. Put a PIN 1 marker on the target if it is Side 1’s
Turn or PIN 2 if it is Side 2’s Turn.

====

Then, back to the turn sequence in section 4.

4.3 SIDE 1 TURN: The players on Side 1 take their turn.
At the end of their turn they remove any PIN 1 markers
in play and place up to two Overwatch markers on units
capable of Overwatch.

4.4 SIDE 2 TURN: The players on Side 2 take their Turn.
At the end of their Turn they remove any PIN 2 markers
in play and place up to two Overwatch markers on units
capable of Overwatch.

===

This seems to imply that Pin markers are removed in the same player turn that they are placed, which seems a bit unusual.

In our games we just decided to place a Pin-2 marker whenever a unit receives a Pinned result. At the end of a Turn (regardless of whose side), we first remove all Pin-1 markers, then flip the Pin-2 markers over to Pin-1. Isn't that basically the same intention, ie. the unit is pinned until the end of the next player's turn... or am I missing something?

Session: Memoir '44: Disaster at Dieppe:: Another Disaster at Dieppe

StevenE — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 09:01:08 +0000

by StevenE
So I received my copy and decided to give it a run through solo tonight.

First about the new pieces and the map. The jeeps are done very nicely, I am not terribly impressed with the halftracks but do like the machinegun... The rules for each unit are also interesting...My map seems like it was not folded very well or it was very humid when done because I have many extra wrinkles and the texture of the paper is limp. My other battle maps are pretty sharp and crisp. Just a minor complaint... Now on to the disaster.

With everything setup quickly I was ready to get things rolling.

The initial cards were great for both sides and a lot of action was seen.
The majority of the action was in the right center section.
As the UK player I was able to clear several wire pieces and get most of the infantry and advancing, but taking some heavy casualties.

As the German player I worked to bring forward units from the rear and fortify the town hexes. The infantry in the bunkers and artillery were able to poor on a lot of defensive fire. They were peppering the Tommies every turn causing losses every turn. Unfortunately the Britts were rolling enough flags and getting some hits to force some retreats with losses.

The best effort was seen by the Britts in center section. Several were able to make it off the beach but not into the back field. I was also able to get the jeeps penetrating as well with no losses.

The UK flanking sections made some progress but were chewed up pretty bad trying to make advances. I am not sure if pushing straight in on the flanks is a very good strategy.

The final tally was UK-1, Germans-10... The disaster continues.

This was a fun scenario to play and I am viewing it like a puzzle. I think it will take more than a few tries to figure out the best plan of attack as the Brittish. The Germans have solid deffensive positions and only need to wait for the Brittish to land.

The strategy I think I will go for on the next play through will be to try and shift the UK units in the flanking sections to their inner sections and then push inland. This should help to draw fire from the center section and allow the UK center units to advance with minimal losses. Also I don't think there will be much success for the UK player unless they get the armor on shore.

Thread: Die Minen von Zavandor:: Rules:: English rules up at Zman

Sorp222 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:52:40 +0000

by Sorp222
English rules can be found here:-

http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/files/mines_zavandor/Min...

Thread: Space Hulk: Death Angel; The Card Game:: General:: Release Date

bikerboy — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:21:42 +0000

by bikerboy
Anyone know when this is gonna be released to consumers?

bikerboy

Thread: Civil War in the Far West: The New Mexico Campaign, 1862:: Rules:: Questions

nicoavenger — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:53:40 +0000

by nicoavenger
I've played this game twice today and enjoy it very much. However I am not sure if I have played correctly.

When I march I can take supply wagons and artillery normally, right? What about forced march?

Can a leader move alone?

Is there a way (other then surrounding) to "lock" the enemy for combat?

Thread: Thunderstone: Wrath of the Elements:: Rules:: Question on Creeping Death

jimboclark — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:17:46 +0000

by jimboclark
Creeping Death states:

Dungeon: Al oher players gain one Disease card. Redcue the Health of each Monster in the Dungeon Hall by 2. If this would reduce a Monster's Health to 0, place it in your discard pile and refill the Hall.

Lets say I reveal 3 Creeping Death, one Militia, one torch, and one monster card in my hand.

Scenario 1
Monsters are:

Rank 1 = 6 health point monster

Rank 2 = 6 health point monster

Rank 3 = 7 Health point monster.

Can I use my torch and militia to kill the monster once the hall has been refilled, or is the effect of the spell finished and that monster is now 7 attack plus one light?

Scenario 2
Rank 1 = 7 health point monster

Rank 2 = 6 health point monster

Rank 3 = 6 Health point monster.

Can I use my torch and militia to administer the knock out blow to the monster in rank 1, and clear the dungeon?

If the answer is YES:

Do I gain experience points for the monster that the militia and torch knocked out?

I've been having fun with the Creeping Death cards in solo play, and want to know how to use them correctly.

Thread: "Oh My God! There's An Axe In My Head." The Game of International Diplomacy :: General:: Will anyone have this at BGG.CON?

kuhrusty — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:06:00 +0000

by kuhrusty
I know the Bucephalus printing won't be ready by then, but will anyone be bringing a different version? I'm curious to try this.

(Man, being able to copy & paste last year's post is a real time-saver!)

Thread: Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage:: General:: PBEM/VASSAL: Intecepts, Bad weather, etc.

SgtYork — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 07:03:17 +0000

by SgtYork
So my friend and I are planning to play H:RvC via email/VASSAL. Just curious how things like intecepts and bad weather cards are handled? It would seem to slow down the game too much if anytime you're moving an army next to another army to send only the single move. Then there are cards like bad weather which will cause a only two MP to be executed. How is that typically handled, especially with Major campaigns for example?

It seems if you don't peek ahead, even with a full turn log sent to you in VASSAL, if you want to attempt an intercept you can begin a log, attempt the intercept, if you fail -- you can keep pressing the 'play' button. If you succeed -- then end your newly created log file, send it back and allow them to re-figure out their turn from that point... and don't playback the rest of their log. And the same would go for bad weather? Is that how it goes for pbem?

-

We have the CRT in hand, any other recommendations for expediting the game?

Thread: Tichu:: Rules:: When does a trick end? (regarding # of passes)

CirrusPaxton — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:50:31 +0000

by CirrusPaxton
The rules state that a trick is taken once three passes have been made. When the game is down to three people (once someone has gone OUT), this leads to some confusion for me.

Do we still wait until three passes have been declared? If so, this allows one player to potentially dump a bunch of cards, playing, the other two pass, playing, the other two pass, etc.

OR, is it actually that once the other 2 people pass, the trick is taken?

I'm not sure which I prefer. In our game, we always wait for 3 passes in a row before a trick is taken, but we might be doing it wrong.

Thanks!

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Rule question: Conditions.

inlife9 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:49:27 +0000

by inlife9

I am reading over the rules. I have a few days before I get a chance to set the board up ex. Forgive me if something other than the rule book can answer this question.

Do the conditions: Slowed & Immobilized effect attacks?

Thread: Summonaria:: General:: Present at the Essen fair (2010) ?

Limp — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:44:27 +0000

by Limp
??

Thread: Innovation:: Strategy:: Ratings and comments for all the cards

SevenSpirits — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:33:53 +0000

by SevenSpirits
For some reason, I decided to rate every card in Innovation for two-player games, and write a little bit about each of them. I think I was insane. But here's the result. As with any strategy article, the disclaimer is that I've already played the game a bunch, and if you haven't, doing so and figuring it all out for yourself might be more fun than reading this. But when you think you've explored enough, please come back and we can have a good discussion about what is worth what!

Stars indicate overall strength of the card.

* dud
** weak
*** good
**** excellent

Cards designated (early) are at their best when players are still primarily in previous ages. Cards designated (late) are at their best when players have advanced past the card’s age. Both categories of cards should be treated as having a lower rating when outside their ideal time window.

All ratings are relative to your expected other cards when that card is first available to you. In general, cards in later ages are better, so it can still be worth it to tech ahead to an age with worse-rated cards.

I reserve the right to change my ratings with the excuse that writing this much text rendered me temporarily insane, and I might have just written some of it to get the whole thing over with. Not that I didn't enjoy it. It's interesting what trends you only notice when you force yourself to write everything down.

Age 1

Pottery: ** (late)
Almost completely worthless in age 1, Pottery gets a boost starting in age 2 when leaves start to become a useful symbol for powerful other cards. (Since leaves are rare in blue, having a 3-leaf blue card on top very often translates to a leaf majority.) It also grows in strength when the early decks are completely exhausted. This latter factor allows to to make plays like returning two 1s, drawing and scoring a 4, and drawing a 1; then using a shared Sailing to meld the specific 1 you left behind onto your opponent’s board and a 4 onto your own board. Or you can just do the effective action of “draw and score the lowest card in the supply” which is often fine.

Tools: *** (early)
Tools is best if you open with it and your opponent does not get The Wheel. The quick jump to age 3 can be quite strong, leaving your opponent to plow through the first two decks solo. After a few turns though, it loses almost all its value, and its symbols are pretty bad.

Writing: * (late)
One might expect Writing to be a strong early card, particularly in 2-player. However, jumping to age 2 is not that strong and can even be worse for you than continuing in age 1! Thus the main value of Writing is as a shared action to draw two cards to your opponent’s one. Its symbols are OK, too. (Having a Crown rather than Tools’ Tower is a good improvement.)

Clothing: **** (early)
Clothing is the single most efficient scoring card at the start of the game (since it can score multiple cards, and is an add-on to melding which you want to do anyway), but it’s very dependent on how well your opponent can defend. If you manage to score three cards per action with it, you can even get Monument (and most likely the age 1 and 2 achievements). That’s a pretty ridiculous start. Clothing loses its value very quickly however, as your opponent should soon have a board to counter most of its scoring.

Sailing: ****
Sailing is the best card to start with and remains a very valuable card later on the in the game, if it doesn’t accidentally cover itself up. Early on its value is simply in taking two actions for the price of one. In later ages, this is still true (though you may well have better options) and it also takes on powerful tactical value as cards are returned to the early piles.

The Wheel: *** (early)
Yup, the age 1 greens are pretty awesome. The Wheel is good because the ability is fairly strong, plus its three towers block an opponent from gaining on your with Domestication or Metalworking, the best non-green start cards. Later on the ability becomes less useful and the Tower symbols become a liability.

City States: *** (early)
While not a great card, City States can be a fairly good counter to the actual good cards from age 1. It counters Sailing by matching it in Crowns, and can match and/or threaten to steal the good early tower-based cards, if you can supplement it with another tower card. (For example, if you also have Archery, your opponent must make themself vulnerable to City States if they try to outnumber your Towers.)

Code of Laws: **
Code of Laws is about as good as City States, but its value is more evenly spread out. Early, it defends only against Sailing and not against Tower effects, but later it can give you a couple extra symbols. Also the leaf symbol is very nice, being in the location that remains visible when you splay left.

Mysticism: **** (late)
Mysticism’s effect (once you have all your piles) is extremely powerful; equivalent to three basic actions! It can also be used tactically similar to Sailing later on. The downside, though, is that its symbols are less good than Sailing’s, and it can’t get your piles jump-started.

Archery: * (late)
Sometimes if can steal a card after your opponent teched ahead.

Metalworking: ***
Though it does not improve your position faster than just taking a draw action, Metalworking does score points at the same time. If your opponent doesn’t manage to block it, these points will add up to quite a bit over the first few ages - probably enough for one or two achievements, and possibly more. It also has three towers, which is good. Finally, much later in the game, you can sometimes use it to immediately re-score some cards you just returned to the age 1-3 decks. Metalworking actually has the most powerful age 1 ability, but unlike Sailing and Domestication it does not defend itself by increasing its symbol type, so it’s more easily shared by your opponent.

Oars: * (late)
Believe it or not, Oars has one major benefit over Archery: it has a Crown symbol for Translation. Once in a blue moon it’s worth activating, too.

Agriculture: ** (late)
Agriculture’s uses are similar to Pottery (shenanigans with near-empty decks, mostly) but it has the drawback of not helping Fermenting (since Fermenting is yellow too) and the benefit of sometimes being able to score just the right amount of points (usually 3) to eke out the next achievement (usually the 1 achievement).

Domestication: **** (early)
At the start of the game, Domestication’s effect is even better than Sailing, being worth the same two actions but with less randomness. Later on, the fact that you’ll multiple values of cards in hand makes its “lowest card” restriction annoying, though. Domestication’s main drawback is that it’s Tower based and only has two Towers. This enables quite a few age 1 cards to block it.

Masonry: **
Masonry has two interesting things going on. One is that it blocks (shares) Metalworking, Domestication, and the Wheel. The other is that hey, melding a bunch of cards and claiming an achievement for one action isn’t bad. The problem is that doing all the single draw actions beforehand IS bad. If you get it with The Wheel, that’s a great combo. Otherwise, you’d rather use other cards. It’s not awful to just meld a few cards including Domestication or Metalworking after drawing a few times with Masonry out. The achievement bit isn’t THAT amazing.

Age 2

Calendar: ** (early)
Ideally you get this after using Clothing or Metalworking a few times. It also combines well with Agriculture or a quick age 2 scorer. Teching ahead to age 3, drawing two cards, and having leaves on your blue stack are all nice benefits.

Mathematics: ****
This effect is quite powerful and stays relevant all game, unlike many tech abilities which only tech to a specific age. The most common modes of use are simply to draw/dogma until you get a good card, or dogma (bonus draw)/dogma (bonus draw) if your opponent can match your bulb count. Gaining an age on your opponent every turn is pretty neat. The trick is to know when to stop. (Generally, when you hit a good scoring card.)

Currency: *** (late)
With some planning this can be quite the scorer. For example, if the age 1-3 decks are empty, a single activation could return 1/2/3/4 and score 2/3/4/4 for 13 points! In some games though, Currency is just a dud, and it’s basically useless in its own age.

Mapmaking: * (late)
Mapmaking usually sucks. The only real ways you end up with scored 1s are Metalworking and Clothing, and you’re less likely to have a Crown advantage against a Metalworker (since they draw several extra non-Tower cards). In any case, the effect gets a bit better if the early decks are clear, but is often not worth using at all. To top it off, it has a single tower, which is a liability in the coming ages.

Monotheism: **
Monotheism can be pretty nice if you get stuck with some empty piles, totally stopping your opponent from developing that pile and even scoring points on the side. The main drawback is not being able to have a purple card with good symbols.

Philosophy: **
Bloody hell, I’m still in the 2s. This is nuts. Anyway, this is a somewhat useful effect, maybe a bit better than Code of Laws as it has the capability to sneak an early achievement. As a drawback, the symbols are less good than those of other purple cards you could be running. (Bulbs just aren’t that relevant.)

Construction: *** (early)
Early, because you’re not likely to get the free achievement later. The demand retains its value just fine.

Road Building: ***
This is one of those crazy cards that can be very powerful in the right circumstances, and those circumstances are hard to quantify. Basically though, it’s both an efficient way to play cards and can screw up your opponent in three different ways:
1) Forcing them to meld their only card.
2) Covering up their red card (e.g. Gunpowder), ideally after dropping Archery or Oars.
3) Stealing their green card, again ideally after dropping a crappy red one so they don’t get Road Building from you.

Canal Building: ** (late)
Another weird card, but less useful. Sometimes you have a bunch of hand cards from the same age, and you can score a ton of points. Other times, you want to recover the best card from your score pile, perhaps because it was a tech-ahead card. Figure it out.

Fermenting: ****
Fermenting draw many, many cards if you have some other leaves. Plus, the main method of hand-stealing is Leaf-based (Machinery), so you’ll be protected from that! What’s not to like? Well, the one problem is that Fermenting has a Tower, so it’s vulnerable to Engineering and Gunpowder.

Age 3

Alchemy: ****
Blue doesn’t get demands. Instead, it gets crazily versatile stuff like Alchemy, which is super action-efficient, techs ahead, scores points and destroys hands all at once . There are several different ways to use it.
1) As a crapshoot. It will probably work, and if it does, it’s extremely powerful.
2) To consciously destroy your opponent’s hand. Maybe they have a ton of Towers and you have two actions, or maybe you just know what’s left in the deck.
3) Knowing you won’t draw red, as a straight-up amazing action. This could be due to having seen some cards, or just because you don’t have enough towers to draw into a red card. Even just using Alchemy to meld a card and score a card is pretty nice.

Translation: ***
Another completely wacky card, Translation’s most obvious use is to transition from a point-scoring strategy to a gigantic board after having scored a couple early achievements, and picking up World for free along the way. Also remember that you can use if for just one half or the other. If you Tools directly into Translation, you might as well spend an action to grab World right away. And if it makes sense, you can do stuff like combine with Agriculture to tech ahead. It can evacuate your score pile if your opponent gains the ability to steal it, or suddenly meld a key card that you had stored away. Overall it’s a pretty powerful effect to have access to, even though it’s not constantly useful.

Compass: *** (late)
Compass is the trickiest of the Crown-based top card stealers, because the drawback of letting them steal a card back from you can make it unusable. In situations where it does work though, it’s pretty nice, and being able to lock down a leaf lead (when you presumably also have a Crown lead) can be debilitating to your opponent. Sometimes you can even force them to take a horrible card in trade, or no card at all. Strong Leaf-based cards become more common later on, hence it’s often not as useful right when you get.

Paper: **** (early)
Multiple draw, teching ahead, and splaying? Yes, it’s simply good.

Education: *
Occasionally, when it lets you tech ahead two ages, this works. Most of the time though, it’s completely worthless.

Feudalism: *
I think I’ve used this for the splay once, but that’s not actually good (compared, say, to Philosophy, which is mediocre). The demand is almost always awful.

Engineering: *** (early)
This can set your opponent’s board development back quite a bit, and also scores a few points. This card’s main effect, though, is already reflected in weakened ratings of Tower cards, and because players will play around it like that its actual usage is less common.

Optics: ***
Just like Sailing, draw and meld in a single action is good. The scoring can also be quite nice. If there’s a chance you’ll have to give away significant points, it becomes bad for you. Sharing Optics with your opponent who has a bigger score pile than you and nice cards on their board that they don’t want covered up can be even more useful.

Machinery: ***
It’s really nice to know where this is, and thus, whether you have to play around it. Like Engineering, its main effect on the game is not actual activations, but deterrence against drawing lots of cards if you aren’t safe from it. It still gets used effectively reasonably often. Like Fermenting, the single Tower symbol on an otherwise excellent Leaf card is an annoyance, making it vulnerable to Engineering and Gunpowder.

Medicine: ** (late)
The most common use of Medicine is as two symbols in a splayed-right yellow pile. Sometimes the ability is OK, like if you’re trading 1s for 4s.

Age 4

Experimentation: *** (early)
As always, two actions for the price of one and teching ahead are both nice.

Printing Press: ***
Quite a solid teching card. Splaying blue right is less useful than splaying other colors right, because blue doesn’t get cards with two icons on the left until age 5. It’s made better by the fact that starting in age 4, purple cards are suddenly awesome.

Invention: **
This card is pretty bad, and almost never gives you the achievement. But scoring a 4 once or twice is often worth doing.

Navigation: ** (early)
Only really worth it if you need to deny achievements to a score-happy opponent.

Enterprise: **** (late)
What a brutal demand! It pretty much locks down Crowns for good, as unlike other card-stealers it only strengthens your ability to steal more cards. In addition, the compensation of drawing and melding a 4 can actually hurt the kind of opponent you want to use this on, namely one who has teched ahead. Splaying green right is pretty much overkill on the Crowns.

Reformation: **** (early)
So yeah, starting in age 4, purple gets a huge jump in quality. Splaying your yellows and purples right, and tucking as many cards as you like, can give you leads in Leaves, Bulbs, AND Crowns! Plus it’s one of the cards most likely to award you Monument. Once you’ve used it twice, its usefulness has passed.

Colonialism: ** (early)
On average, this tucks 1-2 cards, probably closer to 2. But unless you have empty piles, that probably isn’t worth the actions. Colonialism’s main purpose is to block Gunpowder.

Gunpowder: **** (early)
Unlike Engineering which is Tower-based Tower destruction, Gunpowder is usually unstoppable when you draw it. And it can score quite a few more points as well, particularly if the 2s and maybe 3s are empty.

Anatomy: ****
Anatomy can drive an opponent with a small but high-quality score pile to madness. Losing your score pile and your good cards simultaneously just hurts. This is the best age 4 card to retain late into the game, and it’s also a nasty surprise immediately when you get it.

Perspective: *** (late)
This is a surprisingly important card for Bulb boards. It immediately solves the problem of what do if you reach a high tech level but can’t seem to draw any good cards. Who cares about good cards? Just take your 20 points and claim some achievements.

Age 5

Chemistry: *** (early)
As mentioned under Printing Press, splaying blue right isn’t as cool as it sounds (though starting in age 5, blue does get some cards that are good to splay right... like Chemistry!), but Chemistry can be good if you got a bunch of 1s or 2s scored early on. It lets your turns go Chemistry/Achieve, which pretty much forces your opponent to find an answer.

Physics: **
Early on this is a random, cross-your-fingers power play like a weaker Alchemy. Later, it can be used tactically to return your opponent’s hand (along with your own).

Banking: ***
Stealing your opponent’s powerful Factory card is often handy to stop a win by achievements, though giving them an extra 5 points on top of what they’ve already managed to score is kind of annoying.

Measurement: ***
This is the first card that can splay any color right, which is quite convenient and can grab Wonder if you have enough cards and time. In extremely rare circumstances you can tech up with it. More likely you get to tech down; maybe that’s what you wanted!

Astronomy: ***
It techs ahead, sometimes gives free actions, and occasionally gives you a free achievement. The average effect is to draw and meld 2/3 of a card, and then draw one card. Try to be aware of the blue and green cards you can end up with.

Societies: *** (late)
Nice stealing effect, and next to no compensation unless your opponent isn’t already in age 5.

Coal: *** (early)
This is the most powerful age 5 scoring card, but it also has a net negative effect on your position if you use it for scoring. Most positions will only want to use it once, as subsequent uses lack the splay benefit. Sometimes you can uncover a doubly-buried card you want to use, but I swear, 80% of the time the effect you want is an odd number of cards deep. The best use is if you have few cards out, so the tucking (possibly with the help of scoring the top two) is actually getting you new abilities while you build up your points.

Pirate Code: *** (early)
A pretty excellent find if your opponent was concentrating on scoring early and you were building board position instead. It lets you pull back into the lead and probably get 1 or 2 achievements.

Statistics: *
The demand effect is pretty dumb. Splaying yellow left is good, just rarely worth the two actions of playing and using the card.

Steam Engine: **
Unlike Coal, Steam Engine has a net positive impact on your board while it consumes it. The drawback is that it kills all your early yellow cards, which probably had half your Leaves. So if you use it you will become vulnerable to Leaf-based stuff, which is bad.

Age 6

Atomic Theory: *** (early)
Not much to say here. Blue being splayed right instead of left does mean something by age 6.

Encyclopedia: * (late)
While it’s occasionally useful to fish specific cards out of your score pile, Encyclopedia is a bad card.

Classification: **
It’s ability is often strictly better than just taking meld actions, but not much better.

Metric System: ***
Along with Measurement, one of the main ways of securing Wonder.

Democracy: **
A powerful scoring effect, but it does cost cards, and it’s better for your opponent than for you if you’re sharing it. Nice combo with Encyclopedia.

Emancipation: **
The demand is sometimes useful, but you probably won’t activate this unless you’re splaying red or purple too.

Industrialization: ****
Activating Industrialization a few times can actually give you a lead in every symbol type, and should at least earn you Empire. The catch is you’re not screwing with your opponent, you’re not scoring anything, and you’re not gaining any new abilities. Be sure not to fall too far behind in these other areas, as symbols aren’t everything!

Machine Tools: **
Yet another Factory scoring card. They’re all so interchangeable...

Canning: ***
Even more useful than Coal in how it reveals previously covered abilities.

Vaccination: ****
One of the most powerful cards in the game - it can wipe out arbitrarily large score piles in a small number of actions, and simultaneously it can cover up your opponent’s stuff with random cards and tech you ahead! The only bad thing that can happen is you’re forced to meld one of those awful yellow age 7 cards over itself.

Age 7

Evolution: *** (early)
Would you like to score large number of points or jump two ages into the future? Evolution isn’t the most action-efficient at either one, but it’s still pretty handy.

Publications: ***
Oh man, splaying your blues up is AMAZING. And reordering a pile and splaying up yellows can be good too. If this effect came earlier, it would easily rate four stars, but unfortunately it’s found itself up in age 7 and it doesn’t really directly help you win. One of the better things you can do is bring up Printing Press or Math, and use them to skip into age 8 or 9.

Bicycle: ***
Bicycle isn’t ever actually a three star card. It’s either two or four. It has the highest instant scoring potential of anything you’re likely to draw, but you need to have a big hand to take advantage of it. By the way, welcome to the Romance Era: Your hand is important to us.

Electricity: **
Probably the best thing you can do if you’re in age 7 and can get hand cards is skip to age 8. Electricity is the only way to do that! (OK, Evolution takes you to age 9... my statement is just technically true.) Depending on your board position, removing several top cards can be good, bad, or neutral. Usually, it’s bad, but maybe it’s worth it. Electricity can also be used offensively against more industrialized positions to blow up their civilian cards. Hopefully you don’t mind them drawing replacement 8s!

Lighting: ****
This is probably the best scoring card you’ll draw. 21 points, and the only requirement is 3 different-valued cards in hand that you’d like to tuck.

Railroad: **
Industrialization, Vaccination, Canning. That’s the short list of good age 6 cards; the ones you’re probably hoping to get when you activate Railroad. It also can splay up something that’s splayed right, which is hopefully your blue pile. Oh, and it’s notable in being the first Clock-based card.

Combustion: **** (early)
Amazing ability, but it’s already getting a bit late in the game to be spending a bunch of actions in a row doing the same thing repeatedly. Unless you get this early, your opponent will be teching up into the large numbers, and there are dragons there.

Explosives: ** (late)
As I said under Bicycle, age 7 tends to care about your hand a lot. Stealing cards from your opponent and then scoring them is nice, as is sharing Electricity with them and then claiming the bounty. But my experience for the most part is you’d rather just skip past these shenanigans.

Refrigeration: *
Oh no! I have to return half my hand! Nope, no one really cares. And if you use it to score single cards, various cyclists and kerosene salesmen will laugh at you as they drive by.

Sanitation: ** (late)
Again with the freaking hand cards! At least with this (and Explosives) it can help you catch up if your opponent makes it through to age 8.

Age 8

Quantum Theory: **** (early)
A very strong effect, nice symbols (possibly granting Empire immediately), and not too steep a cost. Hopefully your opponent is throwing Refrigerators or other age 7 trinkets at you as you run away to victory.

Rocketry: ***
If you need to tank your opponent’s score before you can win, this is a very efficient way to do it.

Corporations: **
Rarely worth the activation, but it can inject some randomness while scoring points if that’s what you need.

Mass Media: ***
Another score pile killer. Man, age 8’s stuff is SO much cooler than age 7’s. Mass Media is more of an emergency measure than Rocketry (as it can hurt your own score too) but splaying your purples up is nice compensation.

Empiricism: *** (early)
This gets you to age 9, and can splay a pile if you get lucky. It’s unlikely to result in a victory, as most bulb-heavy boards just don’t have enough cards by the time they’ve raced up to age 8. But if you spent a lot of time earlier with Fermenting/Reformation, or Industrialization, or something similar, it can be just what you need. Be aware that the only age 9 cards that add more Bulbs are Ecology (yellow, adding 2) and Genetics (blue, adding 3).

Socialism: *
I have used it once, and I don’t remember why. It should go hang out with the age 7 cards.

Flight: *** (early)
It’s good if Wonder isn’t already claimed, and you can also use the extra symbols (maybe for Empire).

Mobility: *** (late)
OK, now THAT is a demand. Seriously, scoring >10 points while destroying two cards is sweet. But you probably shouldn’t use it until your opponent is in age 8, or the draw will make them happy.

Antibiotics: *** (early)
The other way of teching up: just draw the whole deck! But it only works if you still have some hand variety left, and again, you probably just left the age of exploding garbage cans.

Skyscrapers: ****
This is the culmination of the cycle of Crown cards which steal top opponent cards based on a symbol and then offer them some compensation for their trouble. Except that with Skyscrapers, their compensation is that you get to stab them in the face with a chainsaw. This is basically the most evil demand in the game - be aware of what could happen to your precious piles!

Age 9

Computers: ****
When you have Computers, it’s kind of like having a 10 with a free extra splay-up or red or green! And your opponent doesn’t even get to share the 10! Seriously, it’s amazing, and if you’re ahead it points it gets you started immediately on blazing through the 10 deck, but it’s also pretty random.

Genetics: ***
Very strong, but it can also randomly lose you important symbol leads.

Collaboration: **
If you’ve been planning for it and built up lots of green this is an instant win. More likely though, it’s just a decent demand effect.

Satellites: **** (late)
Abilities that let you then use another card’s ability are all good.

Services: *
The only card I’ve never used!

Specialization: ***
This is often quite handy for assassinating your opponent’s best cards.

Composites: **** (early)
A generally powerful effect, as you’d expect by age 9. Best of all, in addition to massively messing with your opponent, it increases your score and offers no compensation.

Fission: **
Are you desperate? If not, you’re probably thinking about the card wrong. The demand effect is the compensation for the non-demand, which is the attack. Specialization does it without compensation, though. If you ARE desperate, then indeed, resetting the game might save you.

Ecology: *** (early)
Not as flashy for teching up as Computers, but still strong. It combines well with itself, letting you search through the 10 deck and score 10 points too.

Suburbia: **
This can be totally nuts if you have a big hand and the early decks are empty. Most of the time it doesn’t do much though.

Age 10

Bioengineering: ****
An achievable alternate victory condition, plus it steals your opponent’s good cards into your score pile along the way!

Software: ****
This can end the game REALLY quickly, and score you points at the same time. That’s a good combination.

Databases: **** (early)
If you reach age 10 and both players still have big score piles, this will destroy theirs before you continue on to age 11.

Self Service: ***
A powerful effect and a way to end the game, but it doesn’t do anything on its own.

A.I.: **
The second part? Not gonna happen. But it scores 10 points and slowly ends the game; maybe that’s good enough.

The Internet: ****
For most positions, this is the fastest way to end the game on score, plus it gives you points.

Miniaturization: **
This is a pretty quick game ender if you have a big score pile, but it doesn’t do anything productive.

Robotics: ***
Not as good as Software, but it still accelerates you through the 10 deck.

Globalization: * (early)
Though I’ve seen this win a game, that player probably would have won just as easily by exhausting the 10s.

Stem Cells: **
Potentially the best scorer in age 10. Hopefully you don’t need it.

That's it!

Thread: Campaign Commander Vol I.: Roads to Stalingrad:: Rules:: Retreat 1 or 2 zones if closest RP is 1 zone distant ?

Lugbar — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:24:53 +0000

by Lugbar
A disorganized unit must retreat 2 zones immediately towards the closest RP.
- If the PR is only 1 zone distant, the unit MAY stop there. Does it mean that the unit can continue retreat a second zone ?
- If yes, what is the target RP, the second closest RP ?

Additionnal clarification:
- as the target of a retreat is always a RP (if any), is it compulsory to retreat towards a PR even in very strange situations? For exemple, only Axis PR is in Stalingrad and a German must retreat from Kharkov. Sounds strange to retreat to the East while supply chain starts in Poltava...

Thread: Acquire:: Rules:: Late Game Question on Acquire

GROM TROM — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:18:11 +0000

by GROM TROM
Hi all,

I was just curious what happens when on the start of a players turn all his/her pieces are unplayable (either temporary or permanently).

I have not read about this situation anywhere in the rules and don't think it is likely to happen. I just want to know what to do when it does happen. If the rules do mention this scenario can you please mention the version of Acquire you found it in and on what page.

Looking forward to your replies.

Thread: 1873 Harzbahn:: Rules:: English Rules?

e.e.goings — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:07:43 +0000

by e.e.goings
Anybody out there know where I can find these?

Ler

Thread: Bang! The Bullet!:: Variants:: 4 amendments

ZealotInATuxedo — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:50:45 +0000

by ZealotInATuxedo
Here are four house rules that I've made up for BANG! Not only do these rules shorten the game's length and address certain problems I've noted, they add further tactical considerations.

1) When a player drinks an alcoholic beverage, the card must be kept beside the character rather than discarded. The Sheriff can arrest a player for drinking too much; the player then spends a turn in gaol. Note: the Sheriff is not obligated to arrest drunks. The Sheriff might NOT arrest a drunk because they suspect the wretch is their ally, or possibly to arouse other players' suspicions. This amendment should also do much to curb the high rate of alcoholism among BANG players.

2) Players can 'load' a BANG card in their weapons (by sliding the BANG card under their weapon card) at the end of their turn. A BANG card loaded in a gun cannot be used until the player's next turn, ie: it cannot be used to counter another card, such as 'Indians' or 'Duel'. The advantage to this is that on their next turn, players have two shots instead of one --very handy for administering a punishing reprisal, or for knocking out a weakened foe.

3) At any time, players can discard a blue card either in their hand or that they have played in front of them, and draw two new cards from the deck. The cards that they draw may be played immediately, even out of turn, ie: discard your 'Barrel', draw a BANG card, and play it to repel 'Indians' --or 'Duel' with an opponent, etc.

4) 'General Store' can be used as a monopoly card, ie: Player 2 calls a monopoly on 'Miss' cards. Consequently, players 1, 3, 4, and 5 must discard all of their 'Miss' cards. Conversely, 'General Store' can be played as usual (draw cards equal to the number of players), with the following two changes: 1) the first player chooses TWO items rather than one, and 2) the player that draws 'General Store' chooses a player who is to be skipped over, ie: the designated player will not participate in 'General Store'.

Thread: Infinite City:: General:: Is anyone compiling a FAQ for this game?

iidhaegn — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:37:28 +0000

by iidhaegn
It'd be wonderful to see a list of all the commonly asked questions for each of the tiles in the game. I can't imagine it'd be that hard of work. I'd even volunteer myself to do it if I figured it'd get done. Alas, someone far more ambitious than I will have to perform this task.

~Daniel

Thread: Infinite City:: Rules:: Salvage Yard and who to draw from

iidhaegn — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:35:35 +0000

by iidhaegn
(Let me start by saying I thought I already posted this, but could not find it in the forums, so if this is a dupe, please accept my apologies.)

My gf and I played our first game tonight. It was a delight. Pure and simple. We got finished, and I was declared the winner by like 1 point. However, after reading the faqs online and discovering the truth about the guild hall, we discovered that I lost, much to her delight. (She declared, "I love that game." But only after finding out she won.........)

Anyway, another question that sticks out in my head (and that I'm almost certain I played wrong):

1. Does the salvage yard require you to draw a tile randomly from your own hand?

2. If so, do you still have to do it randomly?

Thanks for any potential answers!

~Daniel

Thread: Race for the Galaxy: The Brink of War:: Strategy:: Disorganized Thoughts on Prestige

GreedyAlgorithm — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:32:57 +0000

by GreedyAlgorithm
I promised I'd write up a strategy article on Prestige. Unfortunately I discovered that I know too little about any one aspect to create a good strategy article. In lieu of that I will give a slew of observations I think are significant and ask for feedback on which are actually significant, which are wrong, and what subset would make a good article, as well as request more observations.

Winners Win More: Lots of relatively expensive cards come with or generate Prestige. If you've set up a good card generation engine, you're more likely to want to build these extravagant monuments of points than someone who has set up a somewhat less productive card generation engine, and when you end with more Prestige than everyone else that may well be simply because you ended with more of everything than everyone else.

Pan-Galactic Affluence: PGA with even moderate support is quite strong. If somehow you manage to have out PGA with any other two development discounts (Galactic Federation counts as two, as does Galactic Power Brokers in some circumstances), you can often call Develop over and over for an extra 2.25 points and a card per Development plus excluding your opponent from an easy Prestige lead. At the expense, of course, of placing a 6-Dev worth only 2 points.

Seeing More Cards: I'm pretty sure I would pay 5 points for the privilege of starting the game with 4 cards chosen from 16 rather than from 6, especially if I'm starting with Rebel Freedom Fighters or Galactic Developers. In general I think seeing more cards has become stronger and stronger as more expansions have been added, and of course it's always been strong for a spam strategy. I think this makes the card draw for Prestige leader slightly more powerful than I intuited based on The Gathering Storm and Rebel vs Imperium days.

Pan-Galactic Affluence: A major advantage of Pan-Galactic Affluence over Galactic Federation is that its develop power is fully relevant on 1-cost and 2-cost developments when you call Develop. This is why Interstellar Bank, Galactic Power Brokers, Galactic Developers, Galactic Bankers, and to a slightly lesser extent Public Works are generally better than Investment Credits, Pan-Galactic Research, Galactic Scavengers, and Retrofit & Salvage. PGA also doesn't blank R&D Crash Program for all but 6-devs like GalFed does, nor is it sad when R&D Crash Program, Colony Ship, etc. disappears later.

Prestige/Search phase: If you Search, this phase selection is worth about 0.5-4 cards in hand, -1 for not getting the standard phase bonus, +X since usually you Search early and early cards are worth more. You can miss completely, making it worse than taking a random card, up to hitting the perfect card, which worth quite a bit more than 1 card in hand. I'd say usually it's worth 3-4 cards when used at the right time. But that's at the cost of never getting to use the Prestige bonus, which is what? Look at that, it's about 1.5-6 cards. Even Cx3 at its best is maybe 7-1=6 points. Two big parts of using this phase selection for its Prestige bonus are that you need to find a spare Prestige Point (or find one at all) which is occasionally more trouble than it's worth, and it's fairly easy to find a good way to get the Prestige bonus whereas it's sometimes difficult to find a good way to get the Search bonus.

Pan-Galactic Affluence: An interesting effect of strong cards in general is that I tend to keep them in my hand rather than discard them for cash, which means if I randomly draw the corresponding cards that combo with them, I'll still have the original piece of the combo. So when I draw Galactic Power Brokers it's more likely that I have Pan-Galactic Affluence in hand than having Pan-Galactic League in hand when I draw Contact Specialist, which means the combos I think are more powerful I see more often simply because I think they're more powerful (which makes them appear more powerful, etc. but don't worry, it converges). This means, of course, that I often saw Galactic Federation or Consumer Markets win in the base game and Terraforming Guild win in The Gathering Storm, and now see Pan-Galactic Affluence win in The Brink of War.

Deterrent: Early Prestige is more powerful than late Prestige not just because it gives more points for having the Prestige Lead for longer, but because it requires less commitment to maintain the Prestige Lead. If you manage to build Pan-Galactic Meditator and a military world with Rebel Cantina on turn 1, I will mentally drop out of the Prestige race almost every time, and it will probably be correct to do so. In general having a Prestige engine (even if unused!) or a lead of at least two is a far stronger position than having a lead of just one Prestige Point, because it requires a lot more of an opportunity cost for some random would-be usurper to make you respond.

Pan-Galactic Affluence: Due to the halo effect (affect heuristic, etc), the existence of a very strong linear combo makes other cards which share features of the combo feel stronger even if they aren't - so we probably think Development Spam and Prestige cards are better than they are. I know for a fact that I play Pan-Galactic Affluence too often when I'm ahead, because I think Development Spam and Prestige are both very powerful, and still end up winning, thus reinforcing my impression that PGA is strong. This is a trap and very hard to get away from unless you find people to play who are both better than you and have different beliefs than you do. If you are the best player in your group and think Prestige is stronger than it is, you will keep sacrificing a tiny amount of your edge to get more Prestige, reinforcing your own belief that Prestige is overpowered while hugely reinforcing the beliefs of your fellow players that Prestige is overpowered.

Pan-Galactic Security Council: Pretty much any 1-cost or 2-cost card that gets you a Prestige is at least situationally playable on turn 1. PGSC's consume power is quite nice too, because nearly all repeatable Prestige is worth considering, and this is one of the more efficient ones. PGSC's Settle power is very strong in 6p games, because opening up the small-military or Contact Specialist strategy without being vulnerable to takeovers is quite nice. So far my respect for PGSC has gone up and up - though I think it started much lower than makes sense. There are a lot of little things that make this a great play if you don't have a more focused direction, including the ability to gracefully drop out of the Prestige race and the fact that you don't really need to call the phase that gets you Prestige yourself like you do with PGA, Ravaged Uplift World, and Uplift Gene Breeders.

Pan-Galactic Affluence Remember in the secret history The Secret History of RFTG: The Brink of War when we learned that Pan-Galactic Affluence originally scored 2 VPs for each Prestige? It also had a Deficit Spending power. I've noticed that I very, very rarely use PGA's Consume power or Produce power, so in effect it would have lost about a point per Prestige in the nerf. I do wonder if this massive drop obscured the possibility the card was still extremely strong.

2pa Length: I've found that two-player advanced games rarely last past turn 7-8. This gives only 6-7 possible turns of Prestige Lead, making its VP and card generation significantly less relevant than in multiway. Furthermore there are fewer overall phases called in the game, so going out of your way to gain Prestige is a larger opportunity cost.

Pan-Galactic Affluence: Okay, I'll stop it.

Galactic Power Brokers: This last weekend I wrote down anything I thought of regarding Prestige while playing games online against humans. I didn't notice anything terribly surprising except that Galactic Power Brokers came down at a key point in the Prestige race far more often than I expected. My theory is that it has three aspects that make it a good play during a close Prestige race: 1) it comes with a Prestige, 2) it's a efficiently priced card for its points and development power, and 3) if you find out you're losing the race you can actually get good value from the Prestige Points you probably stretched yourself to get.

Goals: The 3+ Prestige goal in large games doesn't actually change my play much. I will hold onto engines and cheap Prestige cards a little longer to see if accidentally no one seems to have a natural Prestige engine, but forcing it feels like a recipe for losing. On the other hand, the 2 Prestige 3 VPs goal definitely changes my play, as a bonus EV 4ish VPs is enough of an incentive for me to power out 2 Prestige early. I don't know if these heuristics are correct, but I've noticed they're what I do right now.

Rebel Freedom Fighters: In 4+ player games, with the obvious caveats, Search turn 1 and Trade turn 2 is a good if not optimal play. Don't discard (try for the 2nd) a playable Development if that's what you searched for - the difference between the playable developments isn't enough to offset the chance of losing horribly after finding Imperium Troops, IMO. And note, any strategy around early play by RFF is almost necessarily related to Prestige, and any RFF line that doesn't stand a good chance of grabbing some Prestige is a bit questionable.

That's enough. Feedback please. Anything strike you as "waitwhat why would he possibly think that?!"? Anything that should obviously be present but isn't? (my brain is fried from writing this ATM ) Any ideas on a good smallish area of the Prestige strategy-space to write an article about? Any headings you'd like to see more exposition on? etc.

Thread: Campaign Commander Vol I.: Roads to Stalingrad:: Rules:: Supply points area Control

Lugbar — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:31:57 +0000

by Lugbar
Can the Axis take control of the Supply Points printed on the Map like cities ?

I would have imagined that as these areas on the border of the map are not cities, if not presently occupied by an Axis Unit, the Axis would not leave a garrison there.
It sounds logical to me that it would revert in Soviet hands if left empty. Am I wrong ?

Thread: Vinhos:: General:: What are the differences between this Grand Cru and Toscana?

madhujith — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:25:30 +0000

by madhujith
Anyone who has played/tested the 3 games, can you please tell me the differences between these games. I'm unable to find out more about these games apart from the photos.

Which one according to you appealed more any why?

Thanks,
Madhu

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Rules:: Kill a Wraith, Wraith kills your w/ shriek, do you draw treasure still?

dystopialand — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:05:31 +0000

by dystopialand
Here's a question.

In my game, the player playing Arjhan killed a Wraith. The Wraith has the special ability to deal 1 damage on its death -- Arjhan only had 1 HP, so he died at the same time. Does the player still draw a Treasure Card?

Session: Space Hulk:: Cleanse and Burn: Chaos Style!

bolter — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:44:40 +0000

by bolter
Cleanse and Burn: Chaos Style
As part of my earthquake induced “state of emergency” series of games I ran through one of my favourite Space Hulk missions, Cleanse and Burn (mission four from the original campaign). After trouncing the stealers twice with a custom chaos squad it was time to upgrade the opposition. The chaos squad I had taken had a chaos marine captain, a sergeant, 2 marines with stormbolters, 1 flamed armed terminator, and 1 assault cannon armed marine. Both previous games hand ended in chaos victories as the marines had been able to romp home using the captain and flamer to rush the objective rooms while the marine with the assault cannon covered their advance by controlling the centre of the board. The two extra command points the captain provided made it hard for the stealers to move fast enough to stop them flaming one objective room while the captain held the stealers at bay and cleared LOS to the second objective room.

To counter the mobility and firepower of the chaos squad, the expanded blip deck from genestealer was used for the third game. This introduced the six larger blips (2 fours, 2 fives, 2 sixes) and some ranged firepower in the form of ten non-psychic hybrids (non-psychic hybrids table from p.8 of Space Hulk Campaigns).

The game began with the captain deploying in the far entrance area in front of a regular terminator and a flamer. In the closer deployment area the sergeant took the lead followed by the assault cannon and the second regular terminator. The flamer was deployed in the wrong spot which meant that a little bit of shuffling around was in order in turn 2. All of the chaos marines advanced and the two officers spent a bunch of command points (CP) beginning their dash down the central corridors.

The stealers responded by placing two blips at entrance areas close to the middle of the board.

The captain and sergeant’s race to the second intersection continued in turn 2.

This picture was taken part way through the chaos turn players second turn. One storm bolter armed marine is about to move to within 6 squares of an entrance area while his partner turns and covers the opposite entrance area using overwatch.

Turn 2 began with some blip conversion for the stealer player. A hybrid armed with an autocannon appeared by the room on the left of the chaos advance while two stealers took up defensive positions on the chaos marines right flank. They were spread across to board sections to save them from being knocked out by plasma grenades fired by the chaos captain. The stealers role would be to delay the captain’s advance by forcing him to turn and eliminate it. Continuing to advance without doing so would leave him vulnerable to being clawed to death from behind. The hybrid was converted to try and tempt the sergeant or assault cannon to take a detour that would take them away from the central corridor and therefore limit their ability to support the flamer’s advance.

The chaos player ignored both these attempts to force his hand. The captain dashed up to the junction that joined the two objective rooms while the sergeant turned his back on the hybrid with the autocannon (only because he lacked the AP needed to move into position and fire in next turn). The flamer then advanced and blocked the stealers on the chaos force’s right flank with a burst of fire. The turn ended with all chaos terminators knowing that they would at least live to turn 4

This is how the board looked part way through the stealer player’s third or fourth turn. Two heavy weapon armed hybrids are waiting for a swarm of six stealers to support their attack (note: one stealer from the six blip was lost due to deployment restrictions). The stealer player needed to be in position for the big push in the next turn or two or it would be too late.

The chaos forces responded by placing the assault cannon on overwatch ready to eliminate the hybrid as soon as he stepped around the corner to fire (the autocannon is a heavy weapon and cannot move and fire as one action, it would therefore be exposed to one round of overwatch fire before it could shoot if it chose to attack). The captain rushed the first objective room and engaged its occupants with a plasma grenade, killing both.

He then turned and shot out the door to the second objective room.

The stealer player’s turn started badly when the stealers forgot about the captain’s plasma grenades and got themselves and the rocket launcher armed hybrid killed. The picture shows the first grenade strike. This disaster was forgotten seconds later when a stealer survived two turns of overwatch fire from the assault cannon to engage it in hand to hand combat. The game continued to hang in the balance for a few more seconds until the hybrid stepped around the corner and eliminated the assault cannon armed terminator with two bursts of fire from the low-tech autocannon.

Despite loosing hand-to-hand combat, the stealer had ruined the chaos players defensive structure as fighting in hand to hand causes marines to loose overwatch. This had made it possible for the hybrid to advance without being mowed down by the assault cannon. The death of the assault cannon armed terminator left a clear line of sight to the sergeant, whom the hybrid promptly smoked with a third burst of fire. The chaos defensive formation had crumbled…

Without considering all of the options available to them (which included winning the game by flaming the second objective room), the chaos player hastily flamed the first objective room and the adjacent board section to keep the genestealer forces at bay. They also left the captain in position inviting the hybrid sharpshooter to attack.

The hybrid accepted this invitation…

…and claimed his third victim. A bunch of stealers arrived and rushed the flamer. Victims of lack of sleep and frazzled nerves, the chaos force tasted their first defeat.

Thread: Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game:: Rules:: Hero turns clarification

drkbluexg — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:26:18 +0000

by drkbluexg
So after the zombie turn, if hero #1 moves into a space with more than one zombie, hero #1 must fight them. ok, so let's say they are fended off. Then another hero (#2), moves into the same square (maybe to exchange items). Since you have to equally divide the zombies to fight, does hero #1 have to fight the zombies again along with hero #2? Or are they still considered "fended off"? The main reason why I ask this is because i've wondered if each hero must do all of the steps in order or all heroes do their move/search action, then all heroes then get to do their exchange items step then all heroes use their ranged weapon, etc. I've seen videos where both ways are done. Thanks in advance.

Thread: Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery:: Rules:: Split Captains

Alfre204 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:26:10 +0000

by Alfre204
Supose I have 3 captains in Discovery Box (it is a 6 colonist "discovery force"). May I send a 5 members expedition by "spliting" one captain into two normal colonists?

Thread: Arkham Horror:: Rules:: Skill Cards and Icons on Locations

Galender — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 04:05:52 +0000

by Galender
Hello there, stranger.

New I might be to the streets of Arkham and few might be the tales of our efforts to stop the unnameable horror that lurks in the dark corners of the city... and yet a few mysteries remain unsolved.

Maybe you, the experienced and hardened men can illuminate the way for ones such as myself...

1 - Skill Cards grant bonuses at all times or just when using Clues to add dice. Seems like it would be all time, but the way it's written on the card it could look like it's "+1 Sneak When using Clues etc...".

2 - Locations have icons printed on them, such as icons for Common Itens, Unique Items, etc. What are these for? Just to indicate what type of cards are related to the location?

My many thanks, stranger...

Thread: Dominant Species:: Rules:: Question about Domination and who chooses a Dominance Card

JoshBot — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:34:51 +0000

by JoshBot
I just want to be sure here. Scoring via Domination is determined only by number of cubes (and the Food Chain tiebreaker), but who selects the Dominance Card is determined by having a cone on the tile (and has nothing to do with who selected the Domination action). Am I correct?

Thread: Warhammer Quest:: General:: x4 Player character models... anyone have some extras?

mbourgeois — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:31:52 +0000

by mbourgeois

I'm looking for the four basic characters for the core game...the dwarf, barbarian, wizard and elf. If anyone has them and would like to perhaps sell their spare copies off then I'd really appreciate it. I'm playing with proxies right now and while it isn't a big deal it still kinda grates at me because they feel a bit strange.

Give me an email please and I'll get bck to you soonest.

thanks.

Thread: Defenders of the Realm:: Rules:: Reshuffling after completing a scouting quest?

Callistan — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:26:39 +0000

by Callistan
When someone completes a scouting quest are all of the hero cards (deck, searched and discard pile) shuffled together or is the reshuffle limited to the searched cards and the deck?

Thread: Bohnanza:: Rules:: Can Bohnanza trades be resolved out of turn?

jamesonvinyl — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:06:30 +0000

by jamesonvinyl
I locked horns with my friend while playing Bohnanza last week and would like some feedback from other Bohanza players on how to rule here.

The situation:

1. A third player, during his trading phase, proposes a trade in which he receives a donation from my friend to be planted at the end of his trading phase. In return, he promises to donate one of his three end-of-turn draws to my friend.

2. Said player ends his turn and draws three cards. He is sitting to my right, so it is now my turn. As I plant my first card, he decides to pass one of the cards he just drew to my friend, who is sitting to my left.

3. I declare that move to be illegal, since any trade or donation must involve the active player. I claim that no cards can be traded or donated out of turn, so the two players will have to wait until one of their trading phases begins in order to complete their exchange.

4. I argue that, according to the rules, their trade is a series of two donations, and that in making a "future" deal they should not be allowed to suspend the basic rules of the game, which limit when and how cards can be exchanged. My friend argues that since the rules do not explicitly prohibit this type of exchange, my claim has no official support.

5. I claim that the wording -- The active player may now trade cards with his fellow players. He may also offer to donate cards to them and receive offers for donated cards from them -- essentially implies that if the player "may now trade," then he may not trade before or beyond that point of his turn (or anyone's turn). Also, the fundamental strictness of when and how beans can be planted suggests that accepting and planting a donation out of turn is a violation of the intent of the rules.

6. My friend yields the point but completely disagrees with it, so I decide that I have to consult the Geek on this :P

Who is in the right here? While I can see how accepting this type of trade would be fine as a house rule, my friend believes that it is not at all a suspension or violation of normal rules of play. Am I simply being too hard of a rules lawyer? I'd appreciate any feedback and explanation for your conclusion with that in mind.

Thanks!

Thread: Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer:: General:: General question about the box/sleeves soon to be released.

soiledshortz — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:48:33 +0000

by soiledshortz
Anyone who picked it up at Gencon: It's big enough for the board, rules and gems, right?

Thread: Puzzle Strike:: General:: Introducing THE BT CUP - The most important Puzzle Strike tournament EVER.

Zeede — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:28:43 +0000

by Zeede
I started playing Puzzle Strike online, and found out that they will be hosting a tournament next month! I got permission from the tournament's organizer to post the details, as copied from sirlin.net's forums.

Cameron

Are you the best Puzzle Strike player in the world?

Can't answer that question? NO! Of course you can't... there hasn't been a tournament on a large enough scale to test your muscle yet.

...until now.

Introducing the first ever BT CUP! The most important tournament in Puzzle Strike HISTORY

When: October SECOND! (2nd)
@ SEVEN:00 PM (7:00 PM Pacific time)

Format:
1v1
Double Elimination
First to 2
Winner's Final, Loser's Final and Grand Final First to 3

Rules:
Characters are chosen BEFORE the bank is selected
The Initial bank is random
The losing player may switch his character and swap one puzzle chip in the bank for a puzzle chip of his choosing.
You may not switch out a puzzle chip that was switched in earlier in the match.

THERE ARE NO BANNED CHIPS

I hope to see you all there... and may the best Puzzle Striker win.

PS: We will be using the Unity client. Go to http://www.fantasystrike.com/dev if you haven't already to learn how to use it. Feel free to ask questions.

Thread: Bang!:: Rules:: Roles in the game...

thalescnm — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:27:40 +0000

by thalescnm
Hi,

I was trying to explain to my friends, how the game works, and while I was explainning the roles, my friend asked?
Ok, them the renegade never wins...
Because, if the sheriff dies, the outlaws win, if the outlaws die, the sheriff wins...
So, he must be the one to kill the sheriff??
And if he does, after that, what the outlaws have to do in the game?

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: Making a good game great: gameplay suggestions for next version

mst3k — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:24:35 +0000

by mst3k
So far, people seem to be enjoying Ravenloft, although there is some consensus that the game is a bit light and the strategic decisions could be more interesting. I’m having fun with it so far, but I would like to see WotC use future “expansions” as more than just opportunities to add quests, items, monsters – welcome as these are. They have the makings of an exciting and streamlined dungeon crawler here, but some gameplay tweaks could upgrade a good game into a great one.

Make the exploration vs rest decision interesting:
When to reveal a tile is (or should be) one of the key decisions in the game. This is a bit flat since it boils down to whether to draw a monster or an encounter card. Right now, either card could turn out pretty easy or pretty hard, so your choice doesn’t feel like it matters much. If anything, many of the encounter cards feel very punishing to me, so I find myself tending to choose to explore, even when my guys are pretty beat up. Almost the only time I choose not to explore is when I have enough XP in the bank that I feel like I can nullify a bad draw from the encounter deck. To make the choice more interesting, there should be more tradeoffs. Not exploring could be made more attractive/interesting by making it feel like a real chance to rest, regroup and clean up remaining monsters. Maybe make half or more of the encounter cards be “no event”? Maybe make just a few punishing ones so that not exploring is a sort of push your luck mechanic? Maybe make encounter cards embody a tradeoff of a short term rest but a long-term threat (e.g. by spawning two monsters far away instead of one nearby)?

Make the split up/stay together decision interesting:
This could also be an interesting decision, but the game seems to favor keeping everyone pretty close – maybe not on the exact same tile, but moving generally in the same direction. See below for some ideas on making the dungeon layout matter more.

Make fewer, more persistent threats:
So many of the threats, encounters and monsters, come and go in an instant. For lack of a better term, nothing in the game is very “persistent”. Most monsters die quickly. Most encounters resolve instantly. I understand the need to streamline gameplay, but I think they went a step too far. Some of the most interesting parts of the game are the persistent traps, the environment encounter cards, and the treasure items you find (the ones you keep, at least). Fewer, longer-lasting threats would be more interesting, giving the party a chance to craft responses. They would also help each game feel more unique as you deal with only a few of the things that the game can throw at you. Make fewer monsters but more with 2-3 hp? Spawn monsters, especially big threats, further away from the party? This would let the party think a bit about how to engage them. There are two undead over there – should the cleric go over to deal with them? Send one or two PCs?

Get rid of encounter card attrition:
The 4E D&D designers like to say that old-school traps are not fun. They trigger for essentially no reason, reduce your hp, and then they’re over. Well, encounter cards in the game feel the same way. They are just a lottery of hp attrition for the most part. They don’t set up any interesting, lasting challenges for the party with the all-important exceptions of persistent traps (is it worth it to disable?) and the environment cards. Most of the instant-resolve stuff is pretty uninteresting from the gameplay perspective.

Make the dungeon layout matter:
The dungeon tiles are fun and interesting – at least they could be. Why do they make almost no difference to the gameplay? Since monsters move by tile (a nice, streamlining decision), the exact layout of each tile doesn’t matter much. Branching dungeon corridors also don’t matter much – as long as the party continues down whichever one they pick, they will get to their goal. What could be done to make the layout of the dungeon important? What if there were dead ends? There would have to be a rule saying “discard a dead end if it would result in no more unexplored edges”, but this seems easy. A dead end could be a big stroke of bad luck (maybe too much) if it forces the party to backtrack a long way. Would this force a hard decision about splitting the party up to avoid everyone getting stuck on the wrong branch? What if monsters spawned at unexplored edges? Would that encourage you to make sure it is safe or to keep a rearguard? Or maybe there is an adventure/dungeon with two halves? Maybe there is a pile of 6 tiles for everything to the left of the start tile and 6 tiles for everything to the right. A total of five tiles have skulls, and the “correct” branch (the one with the treasure) is the one with 3 out of the 5 skull tiles. If the party goes the wrong way, there is painful backtracking. If they split up, that’s a challenge. Turning over the skull tiles are like finding clues in the dungeon: if the first two tiles on the left branch are skulls, you think that must be the right way. Maybe there is a way for the party to earn the right to peek at some of the tiles to gather clues?

Focus more on the PCs:
So far, it feels to me like I spend more time resolving encounter cards and monster actions than on the PC turns. This is backwards. Again, fewer but more persistent threats would help this. Things that take significant time on a turn are: PCs, encounters, villain, monsters. Three out of 4 of those are the dungeon, not the PCs. The PC part of the turn is over too soon: move and attack, done. I want to manage the PCs, not the dungeon.

Keep it simple:
The short play time is a huge strength of the game, and the designers have made a lot of clever decisions to keep things simple. Making things more interesting does not require making things longer, but it takes some more clever design. At least, cutting out some of the boring instant-resolve encounters and maybe some of the 1 hp monsters would create time in the game for more interesting, persistent elements.
The game is pretty fun right now, but you really have to be a fan of the fantasy/dungeon genre to want to play it. The gameplay mechanics don’t feel great the same way that top-rated games here do.
Post your comments or other suggestions on what a refined D&D boardgame might look like.

Thread: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: General:: Question about Kat the Rogue

kenchan13 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:18:38 +0000

by kenchan13
I've begun painting the minis and upon studying the various hero cards i am baffled. Kat, Male or Female?

Thread: Nightmare:: General:: List of components please

Scratches — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:09:01 +0000

by Scratches
I've got:
Instructions
Board
Tombstone player markers (6?)
3 types of cards (how many of each?)
1 die (?)
a bunch of keys
VCR tape
Nightmare Cards (that you write on)
Velvet bag

I know I'm missing some stuff...

Thread: Battles of Westeros:: General:: The Kennelmasters just don't do it for me..

Shpongle — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:03:56 +0000

by Shpongle
Does anybody else think that the kennelmaster unit is ridicilous? Yeah, I'm sure trained attackdogs (or wolves???) would be really scary and devastating against peasants, but not against armed, trained soldiers, let alone mounted knights on warhorses (which would just plough through them). You can't block their special attack, they can neatly go through your own forces right in the midst of a melee and return like a boomerang, wow!!!

If I remember correctly there was no extensive use of such forces in the books, Sure the Stark family had some pretty fierce wolves, but nothing like whole units in armies. In the spirit of making the base battlelore rules more realistic I just don't get these stupid kennelmasters..

Review: Batavia:: Batavia: A brief review

Paul Shabatowski — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:03:16 +0000

by Paul Shabatowski
In keeping with my building theme of brief game reviews I thought to share my experience with the game Batavia which has remained an unplayed member of my collection for many months.

My employer has been making changes and there has been a shift in upper management. I am not part of their plans moving forward, despite strong performance and compassion for the people that I manage and care for both as productive workers but also as human beings with thoughts and feelings, care and worrries of their own.

The work day ended with a letter that sank my spirits to a depth I have never felt.I tossed the thought of not attending my Friday night game group due to my low self esteem and mind numbing fear of job loss and the impact on my wife and I.

I rose above the melancholy and made the decision to spend time with my friends. Although I don't know anyone on BGG personally I feel part of a community. My friends quickly knew of my worries but, perhaps out of pity, asked for my suggestion for a game. Batavia was my choice.

Batavia is laid out on an ornate and well illustrated board with hexes that act as the path through the Indian Ocean. The hexes are only revealed in blocks of five to add some tension.The object of the game is to establish the most shares in each commodity such as ginger, silk, tea, pepper, ceramics and such. Victory points are awarded mostly at the end of the game unless a player chooses to sell a particular commodity.This typically happens when a player determines that they will not gain primary or secondary majority in a particular country's commodities. Better to have that lost cargo count for a single VP then lost for nothing.

Movement is gained through the successful development of fleets represented by cards which are gained through an auction process. Each player begins with the same number of promissory notes which never increase but simply change hands according to the player that wins the auction. The winning player disperses the cost of the won auction to every other player clockwise. The cards are well illustrated ships depicting their country of origin: Sweden and Holland are interesting choices. Upon winning control of a country, the player receives a majority share marker which tends to be one and lost very consistently throughout the game.

The interesting mechanic of the cards is that one must obtain a majority of a single company or suit but also allows for the play of additional companies so long as the total does not equal the majority. Upon playing the majority of a particular company the winning player may move their trader to the hex representing the country whose suit matches and places a cargo container on the commodity listed. Each country has the same commodity offerings with the place allocated for a total of five cargo containers.

Another interesting mechanic is that a cannon on a track increases according to the total number of each countries cards. As you may tell from the description above, it is fairly common for only one country to get into the lead as others catch up and surpass. Clever strategy is required as pirates activate according to the total number of cards in play once the threshold is met or exceeded. Once activated the pirates decimate the fleet by destroying the player stack with the largest number of ships in that particular fleet. Share control then shifts to the next majority fleet owner unless there is a tie in which case the control goes back to common stock to be contested again.

When the first player reaches the final hex the game ends and scoring is calculated. Points are awarded for first and second majority in each commodity according to the values on the board, majority control markers for each fleet and being the first player to obtain the final hex tile.

Our group......likes the game and I word it like that because we spent a lot of time dithering on our choices of control. These are very experienced gamers compared to me so they weigh their choices very cautiously in an effort to gain the most VP's. I was distracted and came in last unfortunately but I didn't play to win. I played for the socialization and friendship.

I suggest that Batavia is recommended for the trading game fans. There is considerable interaction involved and considerable strategy. I would play this again. It plays in about one hour although we took two hours to bash the rules about.

Thank you for reading this review. I am still fairly new to posts and appreciate all feedback positive and negative. Once again I would like to thank BGG for being around and promoting a hobby that really helps me live through very tough times.

Session: Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game:: Im 45 and I find this game too hard, did I lose my geek mojo!!?

dude163 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:03:01 +0000

by dude163
Ok dudes, I'm back after trying to outrun vampires in Castle ravenloft

My opinion:

the components are gorgeous , and it took my almost 25 minutes to punch out and sort everything, I think I had a nerdgasm at 11 sheets of tiles and markers

The game itself isnt super deep, but I didnt get to explore it too much for strategy as I played it twice , first time as a dragonborn fighter, then as a ranger and both times I got WASTED by creatures,
Holy crap the game is brutal , I read some reviews where its simplistic and blah blah "Im super geek mcgee who has never kissed a chick and this game insults my intelligence" well I am either the worst dice roller in the world, or just too old to figure out WTF to do in 4th edition D&D because in the first game a spider kept grabbing me in its web and slowing me down, enough that a wolf caught up to me and killed me

The other game was using a ranger, so I decided to be fleet of foot and just run away from everything ( because apparently I read RANGER and thought ROGUE), which in retrospect was a terrible idea because for monsters I pulled a wraith out of the pile, and those dudes are badass tough , they do how much? whoa 3 damage! ( I can only take 8), even more so when the next 3 encounters are TWO more wraiths and a sliding wall that kept throwing me back into the room with the 3 stooges for an education in life draining , and the funny part is, you roll randomly where the sliding walls throw you, both times it was into the room o doom!

SO I have played the game twice, and it took me perhaps 30 minutes for both games, I can see it has a lot of potential, and the coop aspect sounds like it will be really cool, having a cleric around to heal would be a huge benefit, in fact I think next try at adventure 1 ( ONE!!) Ill play the cleric and see how it goes.

all in all, a well spent 39 dollars already and now that I know how the game mechanics work ,I'll go though all of the different characters using the suggested beginning powers, and then try picking their skills , I already have my eye on one for the ranger where she runs past enemies and everyone she was adjacent to she damages

Looking forward to tomorrow morning when my wife takes the young un to playgroup, Ill be fighting wraiths and running away from burning skeletons , and hopefully I last more than 5 or 6 tiles

dude

Session: Europe Engulfed:: "Historical" Session Report Part VI *Final*

remosu37 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:02:51 +0000

by remosu37
Part VI

For Part I see: http://boardgamegeek.com/article/5132284#5132284
For Part V see: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/5434442

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July, 1943
The German situation in Russia and in the West is becoming increasingly desperate. Discontentment among German Officers—particularly from Prussia—began to boil over. Though there were adherents, many Prussian military officers remained deeply distrustful of Hitler’s policies and plans. Although few protested the massacre of the Jews, Wehrmact officers began turnings against Hitler as the tide of the war turned against Germany. Older, more senior officers were reluctant to act, but some younger officers began to actively plot against Hitler’s life. The young Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg begins the latest plot in Hitler’s life. Backed by a naïve group of officers who believe once Hitler is dead, things would more or less sort themselves out with negotiations with the Allies, Stauffenberg brings 2 suitcases equipped with explosives into a staff meeting with Hitler in the Wolfsschanze. He has gained favor with Hitler due to his bravery on the Eastern Front, where he lost his left eye, his right hand, and 2 fingers on his left hand. On July 12, 1943,* Stauffenberg makes his attempt. He was planning to place 2 explosive briefcases in the meeting room where Hitler would receive his latest briefing. However, due to an unexpected moving of the meeting to Albert Speer’s home, as well as the slowness caused by his disability, he was only able to arm one of the bombs. Miraculously, despite the bomb detonating within feet of Hitler, Hitler is shielded by the heavy oak map table, and survives with only light injures—the attempted coup is crushed, and the leaders executed.

By early July, Soviet forces had stormed into Eastern Poland. German resistance around Brest-Litovsk held by only the barest of margins. Finally acknowledging the danger of the position, Hitler moves his headquarters to Berlin. He moves into the Fuhrerbunker under the Reich Chancellery buildings, where he will spend the rest of the war.

Despite Hitler’s orders not to retreat a step, Von Bock sees the massive danger posed by Zhukov’s major thrust deep into the German left flank, and the danger of collapse in the center is obvious as well. Against orders, Von Bock order a massive pull out from the Caspian Sea region, hurrying his forces westward—Von Paulus’s 6th Army would be the rearguard, which Von Bock grimly knew had no chance of survival.

Battle of Grozny
Despite having much of his forces stripped for the retreat westward, Paulus launches a massive assault with all of his forces in an attempt to drive the Russian out of Grozny, to allow his retreat—or at least to deal as much damage as possible prior to running out of supplies. The 8 German divisions remaining under his command charge up the well defended mountain passes, but the Russian forces there numbered over 430,000. Against this massive numerical disadvantage and horrid terrain, the 6th Army suffers a crippling 145,000 casualties, leaving only 60,000 combat-effective men. Russian casualties are minimal.

Meanwhile, Rommel’s tank corps move swiftly westward, linking with lead elements of Von Bock’s forces in Kharkov. The 300 Russian tanks succeed in slowing the German retreat, but are easily swept aside.

OKW (German high command) was aghast—the continuing bombardment of Allied bombers continued to cripple production and restrict movement of reinforcements. Some semblance of a defensive line had to be scrapped together to block a move by Zhukov to both Bessarabia (to cut off Army Group South), through Western Poland into Silesia and onto Berlin, or to Rumania to capture the critical oilfields in Western Rumania. To make matters worse, Hitler continued to reshuffle his commands, blaming his generals for the defeats—Von Bock was sacked for pulling his forces back against orders, and replaced with Field Marshal Erich von Mansteein. Ernst Busch was held responsible for the crushing defeat in the Centre, and replaced with General Georg-Hans Reinhardt. The “defeatist” and disgruntled Rommel was moved to command Army Group B in Metz (Eastern France). Chaos reigned as the German forces tried to scrap together a defense line to stop the advance of the Red Army.

August, 1943
Meanwhile, the mood among the Allies was jubilant. Both the Western Allies and the Soviets believed that the German army was on its last legs. With one more crushing blow, German would fall. Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill flew to Tehran, Iran for the first (and only) face to face meeting of the leaders of the war,** to discuss the terms of the post-war order in Europe with full expectation of victory.

Operation Bagration
Meanwhile, Stavka (Soviet High Command) was less jubilant as of yet. Zhukov knew that the Germans still had around 10 full strength armored divisions, and almost a million soldiers in Army Group South. If that force was able to be maneuvered into a defensive position in Eastern Germany, as well as the mountains of Hungary and Rumania, the Soviet advance may yet be reduced to a crawl. Worse, if his 1st and 2nd Balkan fronts continued to advance westward, their extended supply lines may become vulnerable to a counterstroke.

Zhukov considered 3 options. First, he considered to prioritize securing the mountains in Western Hungary and Slovakia. Such a move had the advantage of continuing to threaten Army Group South’s supply lines in an ever deepening penetration. The disadvantage of the move was that it was no decisive move, threatening neither a move into Berlin, nor severing AGS’ lifeline. Second, he considered a concentrated thrust towards Warsaw, with the aim of penetrating the German defenseline, and pushing into Eastern Germany. Such a move would only be possible by a widespread holding attack on AGS at tremendous cost in casualties, but could be accomplished if AGS could be delayed long enough for German to fall. Lastly, he considered a thrust southward, towards Bessarabia to sever Army Group South’s lifeline once and for all.

Zhukov chose a push to Berlin. Most of the available infantry reinforcements were sent southward, with only 7 new infantry divisions dispatched to Brest-Litovsk. Meanwhile, the 1st Belorussian Fronts (under Marshal Rokossovsky) was expanded to 14 divisions (348,000 troops with 1650 tanks), with the objective of attacking Dnepropetrovsk, while 21 divisions (516,000 troops, 650 tanks) forming the 1st and 2nd Ukranian Fronts (under General Malinovsky and Marshal Konev) would attack the main force of Army Group South.

]]>

5th Battle of Kharkov
Zhukov’s holding attacks began with the massive advance of the 1st and 2nd Ukranian Fronts against Modell’s defensive positions around Kharkov. Modell was forced to halt his westward moving columns to face a large scale attack by Soviet forces. Composed largely of infantry, the Russian forces nonetheless attacked ferociously. Almost half a million Russians poured into the position. The Russian forces took particularly heavy losses in their tank Corps, losing 450 tanks, losing altogether 84,000 casualties. German losses were light, losing 36,000 casualties and 150 tanks.

3rd Battle of Dnepropetrovsk
Meanwhile, the well equipped 1st Belorussian Front began crossing the Dnepr River to attack the key German-held city of Dnepropetrovsk. By attacking the city, Zhukov hoped to prevent any organized retreat out of Kharkov westward. The 1st Belorussian Front faced the German 5th and 8th Armies, which were supported by the depleted and barely half strength 3rd SS Panzer, and the Lehr Panzer Divisions (having only 300 tanks).

The river crossing was fiercely contested, but the sheer numbers of Soviet Tanks began to take their toll on the 3rd SS Panzer division. Gradually, the German position was forced back away from the River, and towards the outskirts of the city. The commitment of the Lehr Panzer division failed to stem the tide of battle. After 4 weeks of intense fighting, the Soviets had lost 132,000 casualties and 150 tanks. German casualties were comparably lighter, at 48,000 casualties and 300 tanks, however, the 3rd SS Panzer and Lehr Panzer divisions were destroyed as effective fighting forces.

Soviet forces (120,000 infantry) supporting the far right flank of the Soviet southern advance also pushed into Kiev, which was held by only 2 Divisions of Hungarian conscripts. The Hungarians managed to keep hold of the key sectors of the city, each side taking 24,000 casualties.

Zhukov’s main thrust began by mopping up the remaining German Forces in Brest-Litovsk, which was easily accomplished with minimal losses. Using the fuel and ammunition reserves transported to the front, the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts thundered into Warsaw.

2nd Battle of Warsaw
8 German divisions of the German 21st Army (192,000) held the city, but were opposed by the 1st and 2nd Belorrusian Fronts—336,000 troops and 2100 tanks. The Soviet forces used their tanks to their fullest advantage. Surrounded, the 21st Army surrendered, but only after inflicting 48,000 casualties in a matter of weeks.

No further German reserves were behind the 21st Army, thus Zhukov pushed his armored columns forwards at will. Rolling unopposed through Lodz, Soviet tank forces secured the mountain passes through Slovakia without a fight. Soviet forces had reached German soil.

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Operation Market Garden
Meanwhile in the West, Eisenhower planned his crushing blow to destroy the German forces opposing him in France. Montgomery pushed for an attack by his 21st Army Group into the Netherlands, to outflank the main German concentration in Metz, and surround them from behind. However, newly forming in southern France was the American 3rd Army, now under the command of the ‘rehabilitated’ George Patton. Heavily armored, and now including veterans of the Italian campaign, Bradley’s 12th Army Group included 360,000 troops and over 2100 tanks. Under Patton and Bradley’s urging, Eisenhower looked to deal a decisive blow to the German forces.

The primary blow would be dealt by the US 7th and 3rd Armies. Through a large scale logistical effort, the American forces would assemble both armies in Led by a massive armored column, they would sprint to secure the key city of Metz, and secure the roads and railways eastward towards Germany in just 2 weeks. The British forces under Montgomery would advance to anchor the allied left flank at Pas de Calais, but wait until the American breakthrough. Once this was accomplished, British tank forces would blitz forward into the Rhineland, and sweep all the way north to the Atlantic and the Ruhr District, and sweep westward into Berlin.

The initial advance by the British 21st Army Group went easily, sweeping aside the 2 German divisions scattered across the countryside with minimal casualties. In the south at Lyon, the American forces gathered together rapidly.

]]>

Battle of Metz
The battle begun with a vicious frontal assault by Patton’s 3rd Army. Sweeping around Rommel’s left flank and threatening his rear, more than a thousand Sherman tanks led the way, blasting whatever forces Rommel could bring to bear. Rommel’s Army Group B had at its disposal 432,000 troops and 600 tanks—a far stronger force than Eisenhower had anticipated. Once Rommel thinned out his line to deal with this threat, the 7th army began its all out assault on the German positions, aiming to capture the city. As the Germans fell back towards the city, the 7th Army began to be ground to a halt. Patton called for additional fuel and ammunition to continue his drive—which Eisenhower promptly sent. ignoring the massive casualties suffered by his infantry divisions, Patton hurled his forces into repeated attacks on Rommel’s redoubts. The Americans suffered 204,000 casualties, and lost 150 tanks in the instense fighting. Casualties in the II, III and VI corps were so heavy, that all 3 Corps were deactivated to be entirely reconstituted. However, on schedule, Rommel’s forces were surrounded and subjected to a intensive bombardment—unable to escape, Army Group B surrendered. The road through Metz was open.

Redball Express
Monty’s well rested armored corps now rumbled forwards unopposed. The massive number of trucks and lorries carrying fuel to keep his advance going was nicknamed the “Redball express”. Just as they had planned, the British armored columns secured the Rhineland, Ruhr Industrial district, and even Berlin. The Netherlands and Belgium were cut off from Germany, and over half of German’s industrial capacity had fallen into Allied hands.

September, 1943

Having fled Berlin to avoid capture by British Troops, Hitler now fled to Bohemia. There, he began lecturing to his generals about a massive counterattack, led by the 5th and 6th Panzer armies, the 21st Army, and a newly formed Army Group Vistula (composed of the reformed 9th Army, 2nd Army, and 11th SS Panzer Army). His generals tried to explain to him that the 5th and 6th Panzer armies remained trapped in Kharkov, while the 21st Army had already been destroyed—nor did they in the least have the resources to form 2 new armies AND a new panzer army. Hitler would have none of it, and order that all forces in Bohemia promptly recapture Berlin, then drive the allies into the Ocean. Like Frederick II, under his leadership, even in the darkest days German would find itself rising like a Phoenix out of the ashes to reclaim its rightful place. Hitler’s tenuous grasp of reality had been broken.

Scrapping together what materials they could after the Allied bombing raids, 9 fresh infantry divisions (along with, on paper, 20 more infantry and panzer divisions) were organized into Army Group Vistula. Initially, Heinrich Himmler (the head of the SS) was appointed commander, but since he lacked even rudimentary military knowledge, he was replaced with General Gothard Heinrici. The 1st Army, cut off and scattered across Belgium and Netherlands, would attempt to fight its way through the British encirclement, and capture the Ruhr and Rhineland areas. What forces were available in Eastern Poland would be committed to attacking Warsaw, in hopes of cutting of the Russian lead elements’ supply. Meanwhile, Army Group South would attempt to fight its way out of its encirclement, then breakthough towards Eastern Germany.

5th Battle of Kharkov
Manstein knew to pull his forces back into Eastern Europe in time to sever the Russian supplylines, speed was of the essence. the 5th and 6th Panzer armies desperately launched attacks on the Soviet defensive positions in an effort to clear the roads westward. At a cost of 156,000 troops, they managed to punch a hole through the center of the Soviet defensive position, and surround the remaining forces. The Soviets suffered 408,000 casualties, and lost 300 tanks, but they had crippling delayed Manstein’s withdrawal.

3rd Battle of Kiev
Meanwhile, the Russian advance towards Kiev was force back, as 7 German divisions, including the Steppe Korps, counterattacked with 168,000 troops and 900 tanks. The massive Tiger tanks tore holes through the Soviet infantry lines, and after the Soviets suffered 96,000 casualties, the Soviet positions south of the Dnepr were reduced. German losses were minimal.

3rd Battle of Dnepropetrovsk
Meanwhile, Manstein’s center forces struggled to clear the routes through Dnepropetrovsk. Out of tanks until he could transfer the forces in Kharkov westward, Manstein nonetheless had 408,000 infantry in Dnepropetrovsk. They attacked the soviet positions with fury, but the Soviets used their superior mobility of their mechanized infantry to outmaneuver them. Furthermore, the Germans had few counters to the 1050 tanks available to Rokossovsky. The Germans nonetheless managed to inflict 120,000 casualties on the Russian infantry, while they lost only 72,000 casualties.

Battle of Warsaw
The last remnants of the 22nd German Army, 4 German infantry divisions, counterattack Warsaw out of Lithuania. Defending the city are the Russian rearguard: 120,000 infantry supported by 400 Soviet tactical aircraft. Lacking sufficient numbers of overwhelm the position, the German forces suffer 24,000 casualties before their attack is ground to a halt.

Battle of the Pripet Marshes
Desperate for a breakthrough somewhere, the 5 German divisions in the Pripet marshes begin a massive frontal assault on the Soviet positions. Although led by the elite 15th, 16th, 17th Waffen SS Panzergrenadiers, the Germans are nonetheless outnumbered 144,000 to 120,000 in the horrid terrain. The attack is disastrous, as the German attack suffers 96,000 casualties, while inflicting minimal losses on the Russians.

Battle of Dortmund (Ruhr)
The northern elements of the 1st German army attempted its breakout from encirclement with a push towards Dortmund in the Ruhr district. 72,000 German infantry pushed forward. The area was defended by only 36,000 British troops, but they had the advantage of being entirely mechanized, and supported by 450 tanks. Although the German forces managed to restore communications and supply, they suffred 24,000 casualties. British losses were minimal.

Battle of the Rhineland
Meanwhile, the southern elements (72,000 strong) of the German 1st Army attacked the Rhineland area. Montgomery had his strongest force stationed there—168,000 mechanized troops, 800 tactical aircraft, and 850 tanks. The German forces suffered heavy casualties, then surrendered.

Battle of Berlin
General Gothard Heinrici leads the desperate counterattack on Berlin, leading 216,000 troops. Defending Berlin are the lead elements of the British Army, only 2 armored divisions—48,000 troops and 600 tanks. Heinrici uses the shattered remains of Berlin to his advantage, engaging the tanks at close range, and attacking their positions at close range with Panzerfausts. Miraculously, at a cost of only 24,000 troops, Heinrici manages to recapture Berlin. Hitler returns to his Fuhrerbunker.

October, 1943
Unopposed the Soviet forces sweep into Eastern Germany, capturing Bohemia and Baden. British forces concentrate in Ruhr to eliminate the last vestiges of the 1st German Army. Meanwhile, the Americans concentrate in Baden for the final push on Berlin.

Ruhr forces are easily dispatched by the 21st Army. Having pulled reinforcements together, Bradley and Eisenhower map out their final advance on Berlin.

Battle of Berlin
The American forces number 15 divisions, including 7 armored, and 400 tactical air support (360,000 troops, 2100 tanks). The German Army Group Vistula has 192,000 effective remaining, which General Heinrici places at key points. The Patton leads a massive armored drive aimed at encircling the city, which easily brushes aside any resistance. Hitler orders the IX corps to stand its ground, extend, then swing several divisions around Patton’s advance to encircle and destroy it—an utterly fantastic piece of planning which incorporated divisions existing only on paper, and vastly overestimating the ability of positions to resist. Heirici refused to comply, and was replaced by General Kurt Student. Falling into a tearful rage as he realized his plan had not been executed, Hitler declares that the war is lost, and blames the generals for the defeat. He states he shall stay in Berlin to the end, and commit suicide. Piece by piece, the American troops begin fighting past the German blockades and defensive strongpoints. After ferocious hand to hand fighting, the Gestapo HQ is taken by American troops. The 3rd Army’s tanks rumble across the Moltoke Bridge in the German Centre, and secure the key sectors around the Reichstag. In his bunker, Hitler was married to Eva Braun… and the next day both committed suicide. The Reichstag building finally fell when the remaining German forces attempted a breakout of the position, which failed. A picture of American troops raising the stars and stripes over the Reichstag buildings would be the iconic picture of the Battle of Berlin.*** George Patton accepted the surrender of the German forces left in the City.

With it, organized German resistance ceased, and Germany formally surrendered to the Allied Powers.

]]>

Author’s Note

For those who have been reading since Part I… Thank you! Me and Geoffrey’s 1st play started waaaaaaaay back in early June. Between the length of the game, and our inability to have time to sit and play for longer than 2-3 hours a week, (and a month hiatus due to work/vacation conflicts), its taken THREE MONTHS for us to finish this game. I have to say I immensely enjoyed it, and I hope those of you who have been following the game have enjoyed my reports as well.

It struck Geoffrey and I that the game definitely lends itself to multiple plays to develop strategy. I personally thought Geoffrey was severely hampered by the fact that he had no idea that the Soviets had 1-pip units in most areas for much of the game. I was able to anticipate where he would go, and he mostly saw only stronger units—thus Moscow with 15 or so units looked a lot more intimidating than it actually was. Additionally, he probably picked the WORST possible time to begin his attack on Grozny in earnest—thus he was critically wrong-footed, and consequently destroyed. Earlier on, it took both of us a long time to understand how to make a sustainable advance through enemy territory (as well as Geoffrey’s disatsterous early defeat in Africa).

I look forward to doing another round with Geoffrey in EE… at some point in the fairly distant future due to time concerns (lol). Thank you for those of you who read this to completion, and I hope it was enjoyable.

*The attack actually occurred in 1944 of the same date, not '43

**Historically, Tehran Conference took place in Nov~Dec. of ’43, and it was only the first of 3 conferences (Yalta and Potsdam being the others) to determine the terms of the post-war order.

***Historically, it was the Soviet forces which captured Berlin—so Red Army soldiers raising the hammer and sickle over the Reichstag. Also, it was Vasily Chuikov, the indominable defender of Stalingrad and commander of the Soviet 8th Guards Army, not George Patton, who accepted the surrender of the German defenders. The closest iconic general to Chuikov for the US would have to be Patton, who was also an army commander (albeit one far larger than its soviet counterpart).

Thread: Heroscape Expansion Set D1: Champions of the Forgotten Realms:: General:: D1 expansions available for trade.

janus19390 — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 02:01:55 +0000

by janus19390
I have the following D1 expansions for trade:

Heroes of Faerun: 1 set
Warriors of the Ghostlight Fen: 2 sets
Glaun Bog Raiders: 2 set

If you are interested please let me know.

I am primarily interested in trading for the following, but open to all offers on my wantlist or sale.

Wave 1: Grut Orcs, The IX Roman Legion
Wave 4: Greeks & Vipers, Soulborgs & Elves
Wave 6: Zombie Horde, Archers & Kyrie, Shades & Orcs
Wave 7: Knights Templar
Wave 8: Marro Cavalry
Wave 9: Dwarves and Repulsors (2 sets), Dividers and Defenders
Wave 10: Warriors of Feldspar

Thanks!

Janus

Thread: World War II: European Theater of Operations:: Rules:: ERRATUM from "grognard.com" site

GROGnads — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:33:46 +0000

by GROGnads
Here's their LINK: Communique I am hopeful this assists many .

Thread: New England Rails:: News:: Essen release? GenCon news?

skwm — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:19:58 +0000

by skwm
Has there been any confirmation that this will be released at Essen? I believe this was exhibited at GenCon - was anyone able to find out any news or details about the game?

Thread: Wellington's Victory: Battle of Waterloo:: Rules:: 1 Map Scenarios people

heath p avery — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:19:26 +0000

by heath p avery
Gday...I love Ney vs Wellington at Quatre Bras ....I just bought SPI version of this masterpiece....
Question fellow wargamers..
And I hope its a yes looking at my games table
Is there any scenarios apart from the full battle...as in 1 mapper scenarios....thanks

Thread: Tichu:: Strategy:: What cards do you track?

Octavian — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:15:38 +0000

by Octavian
[poll=58632]

Interested in seeing what others think of tracking cards played. Tracking what cards have been played and what remains out there is an important aspect of good play, and there are some cards that are more important to remember than others. There is added value with each extra thing you track, but at some point the returns on the effort become negligible. I'm curious to see what that point is for different players, as well as what differing opinions there might be on what is more useful to track.