Weekender XLBS: The Joys Of Board Game Cafes & What’s After The Gateway Game?
July 23, 2017 by dignity
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Happy Sunay!
Full relaxation level 2 achieved!
Although a bit pricey on its retail pre-release, CMoN’s new game The Godfather is an excellent game as a next step. Strong Eric Lang rules and multiple scoring mechanisms. Looking forward to a fuller release and the discounts that will follow.
Going shopping with the other half years ago, my walking into GW (usually with my son) often felt like the boys were being dropped off at the Creche for a couple of hours so she could wander off to shop at her leisure.
I get what @Dignity (Justin) means about difficulty with ‘abstraction’ when he refers to board and card games, and hooks into something Az mentioned. Any game is a combination of various factors, primarilyly RULE MECHANICS and THEME. Many long living games are all about the ruleset with very little theme behind them; it’s the mind gymnastics and games that make them winners. On the other hand, many of us could name licensed games cynically targetted at the theme’s fans with completely inadequate rules. If the ruleset doesn’t engage then sod the theme. The ideal combination is when the theme is… Read more »
Top recommendation for a good themed set of games with a solid theme is the North Sea Saga trilogy by Garphill games. Why? Three different games around the Viking theme: – Shipbuilders… a worker placement game – Raiders… Worker placement building raiding parties to then go raiding – Explorers… Tile laying discovery and exploit game And if that isn’t enough, you can use the RuneSaga expansion to campaign across the three. There’s also expansions for each of the games that add new dynamics that keeps the games fresh. Great graphics throughout by the Miko, and fun meeples ( I’ll even… Read more »
Since getting more into board games I’ve started following Designers like companies to ensure I’m up-to-date with their latest games. Seeing Eric Lang’s name on the Godfather title definitely got me excited as I love his work. I think sometimes there is pressure for board games to be something you can pick up in 5-10 minutes yet still have a simple and engaging these which is why Ticket to Ride and Catan do so well. Hopefully we’ve given some idea of the variety of themes and game types that are out there should you take the extra time to dive… Read more »
Did anypne mention there are expansions for Blood Rage? You can get an additional clan/ 5th player expansion, additional clan members and more monsters to add to the mix.
Happy Sunday
Been another buzy week on the site
well done on the mayacast competition win and good luck in the states @rasmus mate.
Happy Sunday!
Happy Sunday all
For completeness sake Belfast is the 17th largest city in the UK. Gaming here must be on the rise as even Laverys Bar having a tabletop night!
Yea there’s also Cuckoo, Vandal and Brewbot which have all embraced games behind the bar and games nights of sorts. It’s definitely hit Northern Ireland now even if a little behind the rest of the UK. Az
My Warhammer Store supplies me with coffee, free, I’m not kidding, bloody great manager. He’s ahead of the game
Same, but I don’t drink it but plenty of others do 😀
Ahh Az, the host experience. That’s me too …. and I am picking up empty stubbies* and cleaning up afterwards…… *selfish pricks … *sobs
* stubbie = 600 mL beer bottle ….. don’t know how universal that term is
It plays here in Australia
Awww @beardragon1, don’t be sad, we should start a host support group. I was “this” close at one point to giving people named / self styled mugs to avoid dozens used in an evening 😛
Az
Ahhh mate .. They use multiple mugs!?! The filthy swine, we need that support group….. the only advantage I can think of hosting the games is 1) I don’t have to move a tonne of gear ….. and that about it. …….. I am sure we are appreciated though (*mutters to self …. they’ll miss me when I’m gone …. or maybe they won’t realise until they are being crushed by an avalanche of empty stubbies)
One group I used to play with, when ordering Pizza, beer or anything, everyone else covered the host
And it did matter more in those days – being a student with a limited beer budget
Could you not use the Gundum(sp?) As a 40k Dreadnought thingy?
Happy Sunday guys looking forward to going through it 😀
Ben is this what you’re talking about?
http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Order_of_the_Bloody_Rose
In terms of colours I think if that is the way you’re going to go that would be awesome!
Whilst we’ll allow Ben his one week off of the year, we demand he films about 1 minute of himself looking at the webcam which can then be played on a loop on next week’s show.
If you played Blood Bowl the electronic game it will be easy to get into the board game.
The other thing I like is that you can get a whole team with all the tokens in one box and they are not that expensive.
Funny story: back in the mists of time (so about ’92) when I first got into 40k I wanted a dreadnought for my Blood Angels – que digging up a kit that I’d been brought back when we lived in Hong Kong, what I now know was a 1/144 scale Zaku. Looking at the Primaris Dreadnought they should be about comparable (or, you know, start using them as Knight-standins, especially the 1/100 & 1/60 scaled kits 😉 )
I have that MOM Minituras big stone erection, it’s blimmin lovely.
Now now @somegeezer, no need to go shouting about your erection… though some pics to tease @lloyd with would be great… Az
Once it’s out of the box, I’ve got it up and painted, I’ll definitely send some pics around 🙂
You are going to paint it …………the mind boggles 😀
It’ll need a goo scrub first. It doesn’t feel like there’s any mould release left on there but you can’t be too careful with these things.
the important thing is the basing to make sure it doesn’t look set on the table. I suggest thick bushes around the base, since you’re frostgraving at the moment maybe in browns and oranges for that autumnal feel
ouch
“What are you looking at on the internet, dear?”
“Some geezer’s big erection…”
😀 (biggest laugh I’ve had tonight and I’ve had a few.. thanks) .
I have some good news for you, Ben. I’ve decided to write a plog for my erection.
Lloyd’s close encounter with a Bog Troll.
@somegeezer … there is a nice follow up I could do with the washing, mould release and removing it from the box .. but I am concerned if I do, after my comments on Space Marine agressor thread earlier in the day I may get a bad reputation *. So I shall refrain , and say well played sir, you and your mighty erection stand unopposed 😉
I recently received the Dark Souls board game and have been playing it alone as well as with a number of friends, some board gamers, some war gamers and some with little experience beyond standard fare like Monopoly, Risk etc. It turns out to be quite easy to pick up and being an enjoyable experience for anyone, despite the challenge being quite harsh. I also noticed it’s easy to tweak the rules to make the game easier or harder. So despite being in some kind of a gamer niche thematically the simplicity of the rules allow for any kind of… Read more »
Thanks for another fun show guys and have to say the Blood Rage game is excellent and just waiting for CMON Japanese themed version coming out next year. Also Blood Rage has many expansions too make the game even more involved and exciting.
@bucketknight and @craddock169 – I’m curious if you guys would take time to paint minis for games like Blood Rage and Dark Souls? What is your opinion on how the mini’s quality compared to your main miniature games? Az
My painting skills are below par, shaky hand and all but there is a guy on You Tube called Sorastro’s Painting. He has some excellent skills and his tutorials are well put together and he has painted around three of the minis from the set and they look really good.
I love Sorastro’s content I must admit, find him very soothing too….
I definitely plan to paint the minis once the mood strikes me. The detail on them is great and in no way of lesser quality than ‘proper’ miniature game figures I own.
The only negative point I must mention is that the soft plastic causes some weapons to be bent. You can straighten them out a bit when playing, but that doesn’t prevent them from getting bent again when stuffed back in the box.
My friend @spectresenence has painted up the minis for Blood Rage and even all the minis he got from the Zombicide kickstarters. They came out really nice. Maybe he’ll comment on how he felt they were to paint.
Brilliant show fellas, @Llyod, when did you nick @dignity‘s goatee, and why?
@Dignity, well done, your penance has been paid, however, the missus commented that “you’re a ‘weak bugger’, cos you could keep a small bit of vegemite down.” Lance & john now have the moral high, and can be classed as “honourary Aussies”. I wish @warzan could have seen that……..his comments would have been priceless!!
Vegemite is awful. Luckily for the missus you can get it in Tescos. Sadly the same isn’t true for Twisties so she she has to rely on care packages from home. Now if we could get Dim Sims we woukd both be truly happy
Played blood rage. Agree, it’s a good bridge for war gamers to cross. Too much abstraction makes games boring for me. I like games which bring you into the setting.
I’d also say a good inroad into board games for people from war games or rpg backgrounds are dungeon crawlers. I play Descent with my D&D group occasionally as a break from the campaign.
I played bloodrage this year and I did enjoy it, it didn’t knock my socks off though. I have a friend who is interested in playing bloodrage so i’ll get my brother round with his copy, but honestly I’m a bit neutral over playing it again. turns out he has a copy of the new bloodbowl, but again i’m a bit so so about it despite being a massive fan back in the day. the league play is where the game really shines but the meta is so well known it can be a bit predictable depending on which teams… Read more »
Regarding X-Wing, FFG has tweaked the rules to make past waves competitive. There is nothing in Wave XI that is a must have and some rules changes have made older lists like x7 still viable.
X-Wing is a collectable miniatures game. However, there are plenty of scenarios so you can play without having to keep up with the latest Meta. You can also play Epic without caring about the meta and simply play the Epic scenarios. There are a lot of scenario based play going on now and not just competitive play.
A super interesting point around the replay-ability of Blood Rage as I think this is where board games can struggle compared to miniature / army building / continually updated hobbies. As a long time Netrunner player I am very for the Living Card Game (LCG) format over Collectible Card Games (CCG) simply due to the level playing field and clear investment levels. That being said it makes LCGs more closely related to buying regular updates for your army, so finding the funds to keep up with it and another hobby certainly isn’t easy, especially if you need to purchase the… Read more »
Did I mention the Bloodrage expansions? There were lots on the KS and I can see a couple on Amazon…
@Llyod — The X-Wing Miniatures game was Released September 14, 2012. This September it will be 5yrs. There have been only about 2 Wave released per year and if you do not care about Epic play it has been less. While I agree that the game has a lot of Meta it is not all that much. It also only matters if you play competitively. If you are playing at club you can put together a good list to play fairly easily without keeping up with the latest wave of releases. If you play casual you can simply download and… Read more »
Happy sunday guys!
happy sunday I agree board inserts are annoying I would rather have baggies small boxes much easier to fit back in the box .
with games like dommion and lord of the ring s card game .with expansion I use big plastic storage boxes with dividers ,