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Post by hardly on Apr 3, 2015 8:11:19 GMT
Hi, Just thought Id let you all know I played this board game today and it was awesome. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/72125/eclipseIt's based on Moo2 for those that remember that great strategy game. It even has customisable ships! Anyway if you like board games you might want to check it out. |
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Lord Ba'al
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I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Apr 3, 2015 10:48:18 GMT
There's not really a lot of information there. What does it look like?
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stuhacking
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Post by stuhacking on Apr 3, 2015 14:54:14 GMT
I've played a game of Eclipse and thoroughly enjoyed it! There's an iOS version too, but nothing beats playing a board game round the table Image: 1.bp.blogspot.com/-Dy4NK_B2vOE/T-J2vA2ducI/AAAAAAAABNA/supzck4PYoc/s1600/Eclipse+Game+Board.jpgIt's like an expansion/strategy game where you balance your income against exploration, military, and technology. The board itself is represented on configurable hex tiles, so each game is different. Each player chooses a race/species with different bonuses. Lovely game, good presentation, highly recommend. Took us about 3 hours to play that first game. |
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Post by hardly on Apr 3, 2015 19:44:15 GMT
There's not really a lot of information there. What does it look like? You build the board out of hexes as you play like dominant species if you've ever played that. Each hex is a system. It's very similar to moo in that there are random ancient ships guarding caches of goodies and there is even a big super ship at the centre like MOO. you colonise planets and build fleets and then you can fight each other so at that stage it becomes a bit like risk. Kind of a shit description but there you go. If you like board games then Agricola, Eclipse, Terra Mystica and Caverna are all very good but incredibly complex. |
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Post by hardly on Apr 3, 2015 19:45:25 GMT
If I play another game today I might take a photo and post it. Well play terra Mystica first probably.
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Post by Crumpy Six on Apr 5, 2015 17:44:33 GMT
I've also played this and enjoyed it. It's fun, takes a while to get your head around though. It took a really long time when I played, partly because two of the three of us were first-timers and had to figure out all the rules.
If anyone here is a regular board-gamer, I'm always looking for options for games that go higher than 5 players. I have people round to play nearly every week, but we've got a few too many of us lately - as many as 8 if everyone turns up. If we have a high turnout our options get very limited. Here are few we've tried:
- Battlestar Galactica
- Eldritch Horror
- Roborally
- Perudo
- Pandemic (goes up to 6 with expansions)
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Post by hardly on Apr 6, 2015 9:57:45 GMT
I've also played this and enjoyed it. It's fun, takes a while to get your head around though. It took a really long time when I played, partly because two of the three of us were first-timers and had to figure out all the rules. If anyone here is a regular board-gamer, I'm always looking for options for games that go higher than 5 players. I have people round to play nearly every week, but we've got a few too many of us lately - as many as 8 if everyone turns up. If we have a high turnout our options get very limited. Here are few we've tried: - Battlestar Galactica - Eldritch Horror - Roborally - Perudo - Pandemic (goes up to 6 with expansions) Caverna does 7 so that is worth a look. If you haven't played agricola (5 players) that is the best game I have ever played but it needs farmers of the moor expansion to be great. |
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Post by Crumpy Six on Apr 7, 2015 10:19:48 GMT
Didn't realise Caverna could do as many as 7! I tried it out a month or so ago with 4 players and it was pretty good, no one had played before which I quite liked because it puts you all on the same footing (otherwise you get the one person who knows the game running away with it). 7 players sounds like a lot for it though. You'd be waiting a long time between turns. With 4 players I think it took us about 3 hours to finish the game. I've never played Agricola, though I'd heard good things about it. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of worker placement games. I tend to be incredibly bad at them.
A new game I got for my birthday was Dead of Winter, a co-op zombie-themed game with an optional traitor element. I really love it, only played it a few times and only once with the traitor (3 players with a traitor turns out to be fiendishly difficult). It only goes up as many as 5 players unfortunately. I absolutely love co-op games.
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Post by hardly on Apr 8, 2015 2:21:51 GMT
Didn't realise Caverna could do as many as 7! I tried it out a month or so ago with 4 players and it was pretty good, no one had played before which I quite liked because it puts you all on the same footing (otherwise you get the one person who knows the game running away with it). 7 players sounds like a lot for it though. You'd be waiting a long time between turns. With 4 players I think it took us about 3 hours to finish the game. I've never played Agricola, though I'd heard good things about it. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of worker placement games. I tend to be incredibly bad at them. A new game I got for my birthday was Dead of Winter, a co-op zombie-themed game with an optional traitor element. I really love it, only played it a few times and only once with the traitor (3 players with a traitor turns out to be fiendishly difficult). It only goes up as many as 5 players unfortunately. I absolutely love co-op games. Agricola is very similar to Caverna and even has a lot of the same rules but it is better. It's all the balancing and agricola feels more balanced. I really love worker placement games. I haven't played caverna with 7 or even 6 but most games have a sweet spot where they play better, for caverna I believe it's around 4-5. |
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Post by hardly on Apr 8, 2015 2:51:06 GMT
Didn't realise Caverna could do as many as 7! I tried it out a month or so ago with 4 players and it was pretty good, no one had played before which I quite liked because it puts you all on the same footing (otherwise you get the one person who knows the game running away with it). 7 players sounds like a lot for it though. You'd be waiting a long time between turns. With 4 players I think it took us about 3 hours to finish the game. I've never played Agricola, though I'd heard good things about it. Honestly, I'm not a huge fan of worker placement games. I tend to be incredibly bad at them. A new game I got for my birthday was Dead of Winter, a co-op zombie-themed game with an optional traitor element. I really love it, only played it a few times and only once with the traitor (3 players with a traitor turns out to be fiendishly difficult). It only goes up as many as 5 players unfortunately. I absolutely love co-op games. Agricola is very similar to Caverna and even has a lot of the same rules but it is better. It's all the balancing and agricola feels more balanced. I really love worker placement games. I haven't played caverna with 7 or even 6 but most games have a sweet spot where they play better, for caverna I believe it's around 4-5. Just to clarify when I say balanced I mean agricola puts more pressure on you to feed your family and the value of each move is more apparent. The game feels more in your control while being completely out of control at the same time. Just keep in mind you really want the farmers of the moor expansion which adds an extra layer of complexity and of course the occupations and minor improvements. |
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Post by Crumpy Six on Apr 8, 2015 9:41:49 GMT
Have you played Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island? This is one of the few worker placement games I particularly enjoy, as it's co-op. It is incredibly difficult, though. I've played it a few times with some very experienced gamers and we have only ever been able to beat the starter scenario, and that was with the introduction of a cheeky house rule.
I also quite like the Manhattan Project, as a strongly themed worker placement.
Belfort was strongly recommended to me by my local game shop - the owner said it's one of his favourite games of all time - but I didn't really go a bundle on it. I think the main issue I had was that it just took so long to play.
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
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I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Apr 8, 2015 9:52:12 GMT
What's a worker placement game?
On the subject of board games, I don't have much experience but I did enjoy playing Axis & Allies though it's for 4 people max. But you could form teams and decide on strategy together.
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Post by Crumpy Six on Apr 8, 2015 13:43:19 GMT
In each round of a worker placement game, each player has a number of pawns and you take turns to allocate them to specific tasks/locations on the board which gain you different resources/advantages. Usually there is a limit to one pawn per location, so you have to be very strategic about resource management and monitoring what everyone else is doing so you don't lose out due to someone taking the spot you need (or you have to block a spot that would give your opponents a good advantage). My problem with them is that I tend to play board games with some very analytically-minded people who are thinking several turns ahead, and I just can't be bothered with all that.
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Apr 8, 2015 14:38:52 GMT
In each round of a worker placement game, each player has a number of pawns and you take turns to allocate them to specific tasks/locations on the board which gain you different resources/advantages. Usually there is a limit to one pawn per location, so you have to be very strategic about resource management and monitoring what everyone else is doing so you don't lose out due to someone taking the spot you need (or you have to block a spot that would give your opponents a good advantage). My problem with them is that I tend to play board games with some very analytically-minded people who are thinking several turns ahead, and I just can't be bothered with all that. Not thinking ahead is not necessarily a flaw in such games. As long as you can pretend you are.  Sometimes doing something unexpected can completely throw off your opponent and lead to surprising results. |
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Post by hardly on Apr 8, 2015 19:33:14 GMT
What's a worker placement game? On the subject of board games, I don't have much experience but I did enjoy playing Axis & Allies though it's for 4 people max. But you could form teams and decide on strategy together. If you haven't played such games you are missing out, although they are relatively expensive ($100+). I actually have axis and allies but have only played it once. I was actually just saying to the boys this weekend that we should give it a whirl but we are a bit nervous about how long a game will take. The whole idea of a co-op game is new to me. Will have to check some of those out at some stage. |
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Post by hardly on Apr 8, 2015 19:39:08 GMT
In each round of a worker placement game, each player has a number of pawns and you take turns to allocate them to specific tasks/locations on the board which gain you different resources/advantages. Usually there is a limit to one pawn per location, so you have to be very strategic about resource management and monitoring what everyone else is doing so you don't lose out due to someone taking the spot you need (or you have to block a spot that would give your opponents a good advantage). My problem with them is that I tend to play board games with some very analytically-minded people who are thinking several turns ahead, and I just can't be bothered with all that. Not thinking ahead is not necessarily a flaw in such games. As long as you can pretend you are. Sometimes doing something unexpected can completely throw off your opponent and lead to surprising results. We often talk about the ratio of skill to luck in games. If you look at say monopoly the luck component is incredibly high meaning the winner is often the person who is luckiest. Agricola has very little luck as there are no dice. As a result the "best" player will win most of the time. We had a guy who wasn't thick but didn't really think much and just enjoyed the social aspects, he never won in about 20-30 games. We found with agricola that having a spreadsheet recording scores really added to the game because you were competing against personal bests and group records as well as trying to win the game. It gave you a real sense of how you were improving. Also agricola drunk is a real challenge, you don't realise how impaired your mind is with alcohol until you've played a complex board game while drunk. |
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Post by Crumpy Six on Apr 8, 2015 20:27:42 GMT
What's a worker placement game? On the subject of board games, I don't have much experience but I did enjoy playing Axis & Allies though it's for 4 people max. But you could form teams and decide on strategy together. If you haven't played such games you are missing out, although they are relatively expensive ($100+). I actually have axis and allies but have only played it once. I was actually just saying to the boys this weekend that we should give it a whirl but we are a bit nervous about how long a game will take. The whole idea of a co-op game is new to me. Will have to check some of those out at some stage. Battlestar Galactica, Pandemic (with the expansions On the Brink and In the Lab) and Eldritch Horror are all absolutely phenomenal co-op games. Battlestar Galactica has an added traitor element which really mixes things up (don't be put off by the fact that it's based on a sci-fi TV series, it's a really brilliant game). I got to know my boyfriend over games of Battlestar Galactica, and we're getting married in October - the BSG boardgame was such a big part of bringing us together, it's going to be a theme on our wedding cake. Which reminds me, we need to play it again so we can take some photos to send to the cake lady. |
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stuhacking
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Post by stuhacking on Apr 14, 2015 14:46:46 GMT
My problem with them is that I tend to play board games with some very analytically-minded people who are thinking several turns ahead, and I just can't be bothered with all that. Me neither! In fact, rather than thinking about strategy I like to think about the story that the game is telling, and then I might make a play that feels interesting or thematic, even it it's not the optimal strategy.  ...That's what I tell myself. |
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Post by Crumpy Six on Apr 16, 2015 10:52:19 GMT
I think that's what I love about games where you can't necessarily do it, due to elements of chance (dice roles, random events) or sabotage (traitors). Traitors are also a brilliant mechanic to protect cooperative games from having the strategy entirely dictated by one experienced player.
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Lord Ba'al
Supreme Deity
Posts: 6,260
Pledge level: Half a Partner
I like: Cats; single malt Scotch; Stargate; Amiga; fried potatoes; retro gaming; cheese; snickers; sticky tape.
I don't like: Dimples in the bottom of scotch bottles; Facebook games masquerading as godgames.
Steam: stonelesscutter
GOG: stonelesscutter
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Post by Lord Ba'al on Apr 16, 2015 12:23:34 GMT
In Axis&Allies the game outcome is determined both by strategy and chance. The trick is to adjust your strategy taking the element of chance into account.
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Sometimes doing something unexpected can completely throw off your opponent and lead to surprising results.
