What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

metalface13 wrote:

charlest wrote: wall of awesomeness

I love Tecmo Bowl! This sounds very interesting.

There's all kinds of awesomeness. For one - the players number on their uniform is their main (and only) stat. It's the number of spaces you can move and is compared to your opponent/target to determine the skill check needed.

So, like Battleball, big guys are slower but hit harder. Using their jersey number is clever as hell because I can look at the field and instantly know how my opponent stacks up. I know the range his QB can throw, how fast he can run, etc.

The dice system is similar to Apocalypse World (2d6, needing 7+ for success 10+ for complete success). Modifiers can go up to 3 either direction. So If I have a Center #33 and you lined up #42 on him, I have a +1 because my guy is 1 digit tougher (remember lower number is meatier/bigger). You also get benefits if you have team-members threatening your target or penalties if you have opponents threatening you. This is sweet because it offers huge positioning incentives (flooding the receiver with double coverage, pushing a blocker up with your runningback, etc.). You also have to pay more movement to move through threatened areas. It's all very thematic and makes you play in a football-sort of way but it's fast as hell and more NFL Blitz 64 and Tecmo Bowl than Madden.

No punts, first downs, or even field goals in standard rules (one of the optional modes has field goals). You get four downs to score or the ball is turned over.

It has players in motion, a reaction system to help better play zone defense, and all kinds of neat twists.

The activation system is Queen's Gambit/Star Wars Risk style where you're programming cards in a small stack from top to bottom. You and opponent simultaneously reveal and the higher number activates first.

What's crazy is that dice system. If you get a complete success on your action (10+) you get to activate a second player on your team. If you get a regular success (7-9) your opponent gets a half move action with one player. If you fail outright (6 and below) your opponent gets a full activation with a single player.

What this does is have you commit to throwing blocks and little maneuvers with the odds in your favor trying to get 10+ to give your QB an extra activation. Otherwise you're limited to two activations per play as you have a bench of cards that use to do that programming (with 2 cards per player). All kinds of cool stuff here like you can spend a card of a player off your bench to give that player an additional +1 on their check.

So to get a +3 with your QB's throw you need to activate him by getting a 10+ on maybe a block with another player, then make sure the receiver is within half range of your QB (the QB's first digit number, typically 7) to get a +1 and then spend both of your QB's cards off the bench for +2 more.

Did I mention there's no assigned positions and only a couple requirements when creating your formation? You basically just need three O-Linemen and a QB, your other 4 players (7 players per side in standard mode) can be lined up pretty much anywhere.

This is all just the standard game. PRO MODE throws in star players on each team with some special abilities. ALL PRO has star players and 8 players per side which changes up the game supposedly, making it a little slower and less arcade like. INFERNO lets you earn fire tokens that you can spend to make players on fire and give them bonuses (NBA Jam style). Crazy game. I haven't played a game like this. I don't even like Football much and couldn't tell you where a Fullback or Cornerback or wherever even lines up.

Initially, I was all 'pshaw, another football imposter'.

Then the single number for a player stat had me going 'hmmm, intriguing'.

Finally, the simultaneous action reveal and the chance of a reaction on a failed roll made me say, 'woah, I need to play this.'

Also, Blood Bowl should take a key from the "read-react" game play. that could be a great recipe.

Calling it now:

Stretch goal for Techno Bowl is an OP Bo Jackson player that can run circles around everyone on the field.

Hey, so Champions of Midgard is really awesome.

I get the Waterdeep comparisons, but I think this feels like a very different game. It's accessible, sure, but there's something about it that makes feel more like a medium-weight game than a light-weight one. Maybe it's how tight it is. The scoring is tighter, the resources, the worker placement...It's not at all ulcer-inducing like Agricola can be, but things feel a bit more contested over than they are in Waterdeep.

And the HUGE differentiator...It delivers on its theme. There's a couple of scoring things that seem out of place thematically, but it feels like you're doing Viking stuff (in the romanticized, fantasy sense). Where Waterdeep requires you to use your imagination to get that D&D flavor, Midgard has a legitimate sense of adventuring and monster slaying.

One play in and I already think I love it. Not ready to throw Waterdeep out yet, but I'm not sure how often I'll be playing it from this point forward.

Josh Look wrote: Hey, so Champions of Midgard is really awesome.

I get the Waterdeep comparisons, but I think this feels like a very different game. It's accessible, sure, but there's something about it that makes feel more like a medium-weight game than a light-weight one. Maybe it's how tight it is. The scoring is tighter, the resources, the worker placement...It's not at all ulcer-inducing like Agricola can be, but things feel a bit more contested over than they are in Waterdeep.

And the HUGE differentiator...It delivers on its theme. There's a couple of scoring things that seem out of place thematically, but it feels like you're doing Viking stuff (in the romanticized, fantasy sense). Where Waterdeep requires you to use your imagination to get that D&D flavor, Midgard has a legitimate sense of adventuring and monster slaying.

One play in and I already think I love it. Not ready to throw Waterdeep out yet, but I'm not sure how often I'll be playing it from this point forward.

What I find really crazy about this game is that Ole Steiness had a hell of a time getting it published. When Grey Fox looked at it he had already been given a hard no by several major publishers and multiple minor ones. He was ready to scrap the entire thing and move on.



I played another half of Techno Bowl last night against a live opponent. I started with the ball and hit a 40 yard run off the bat but was boxed in and fumbled on the tackle. Opponent returned the ball down to my 30ish yard line.

My opponent sets up an O-formation that was relatively tight in an umbrella shape with one receiver out wide. I cover the receiver but setup the rest of my D to blitz heavy. I get the sack due to a clever string of activations and utilizing my once per down Adjustment.

Second down the dude totally schools me, getting a huge block in the middle to create an opening. I had setup my zone D protecting the outside where he had a couple of fast receivers and he ended up throwing a short pass up the gut to a tight end-like player. Oof.

Opponent doesn't know shit about football but he's a big Battleball fan. He loved it and thought it felt spiritually like a much more strategic and deep Battleball (mostly because of how slower players hit harder and faster players are weaker). We wanted to play the second half of the game but it was too late and had to call it.

charlest wrote: We wanted to play the second half of the game but it was too late and had to call it.

I'm really intrigued by Techno Bowl, but this sentence gives me pause. Is it a long game, or did you just start late?

We started at 10. Had played Mercs: Recon and Forbidden Stars (only lasted 3 rounds!) prior. We were going to just play Greed but I had TB setup for solo on a different table and my buddy wanted to try it after I talked it up. My intention going in was just to play a few downs to show him the game and get a feel for playing against a live opponent.

With teaching, we played the full half and called it at 10:40ish.

The game has you use a 1 minute timer to build your play (programmed set of cards) and gives you 1 minute to build your formation. Otherwise delay of game. It suggests not using the timer for your first game or two and we didn't. My buddy definitely took a long time on the first couple of plays but was flying along near the end. If you ignored the timer and were playing with an AP prone player, it could take a very long time. Your formation is free form, your activation deck for your play is built from your entire team (7 players), and you have options for motions, and reading-and-reacting. Plus you can perform one Adjustment (basically a quick free move) per down and when you use this is very important.

So you can sit and analyze for a long time if you're slow. Don't think that's a problem with 9 out of 10 people as you can make your decisions relatively quickly and start to form your own mental playbook and style giving you default assumptions to rest on.

After a full game, I imagine two people could bang out a game in about 40-70 minutes. There's variance because our first play where I ran down field and then fumbled took probably half our playtime. But the play where I sacked him and his touchdown throw were very quick.

In terms of pacing it feels right so far.

That is extremely tempting, building plays sounds awesome and the simple resolution is very consistent with real football, where most play outcomes are decided by the play calls before the play is run. It would be a VERY easy sell to get a good american football game played. And the preprogrammed "plays" is exactly what the this genre needs to innovate.

Gary Sax wrote: That is extremely tempting, building plays sounds awesome and the simple resolution is very consistent with real football, where most play outcomes are decided by the play calls before the play is run. It would be a VERY easy sell to get a good american football game played. And the preprogrammed "plays" is exactly what the this genre needs to innovate.

Pre-programmed plays are really just an activation order. So you have an idea in your head of what's going to happen. Shit can hit the fan and holes and opportunities open up quite often. Having to adapt is a big part of it.

I played Power Grid for the first time in probably about 6 months. It's a wonderful no-bullshit design. It's essentially a spreadsheet so it sounds like it's no fun, but I like how the energy market develops over time as players shift towards different power plants. It also has a spatial element on a shared board, which is something I much prefer to all of these "build your own farm/castle/whatever" games on separate player boards. It also has a race main objective rather than a death by a thousand victory points. I picked it up back in 2007 or '08 since it was #5 on BGG at the time, and it was a game that I've never regretted purchasing. If people aren't afraid of the math, this is pretty accessible for people who previously thought that board games meant Monopoly and Poker. I can see myself breaking it out occasionally for decades.

In other news, I'm also almost done with Breaking Bad.

I wrote an article on my blog about Pandemic: Legacy:

Pandemic: Legacy: A Boardgame With Spoilers (No Spoilers Here)

Tried out Lords of Waterdeep last night and I really liked it. It seemed more fun and exciting than the other worked placement games I have played which surprised me because I thought Stone Age was dull and lifeless and Le Havre bored me to tears. I didn't even mind the lack of interaction much, which is normally a sticking point for me.

We played it two times in a row and I wanted to go for a third, but we played an awful "vampire" game instead. I should have lobbied for Chicago Express.

Just finished what I claim to have been the greatest game of Hannibal RvC in history.

Halfway through Turn 6. After a string of incredibly lucky military victories, Carthage (me) is ahead 14 provinces to 4 and Rome has about 3 PCs left on the board. A sue-for-peace is coming. We're already embarrassingly over-excited 'cos we haven't seen a sudden death victory before.

But then Scipio marches into Carthage and wins an unbelievable against the odds victory against Hanno's army (10 battle cards v 18). The Carthiginian dupe has to retreat inside the city and he doesn't have any 3CP cards left to fight back.

Rome pulls out force march and treachery in city so he gets 4 rolls with his last two cards. First two come out as a double 6. Now we're practically wetting ourselves. Two chances to roll 4-6 for an unbelievable victory from behind. The second pair of bones came out as a 2 and a 3.

Don't think I've ever had such a bitter sweet victory.

dontbecruel wrote: Don't think I've ever had such a bitter sweet victory.

One of my faves! Great write up!

Dr. Mabuse wrote:

dontbecruel wrote: Don't think I've ever had such a bitter sweet victory.

One of my faves! Great write up!

Nice write up. I lost is similar bitter-sweet game of Hannibal to JGriff a couple of years ago. That's one of the reason why Hannibal on my top 10 favorite games list.