The Gaming thread - anything but video games

[SuperBacon]

Thought this was well worth sharing in two threads!

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/dec/08/playing-games-turns-me-into-a-person-who-makes-sense

[Thunderplex]

This was exactly how a lad in my old gaming group was.  The structure helped him communicate and build socially.  He could also memorise every single rule so that justified to himself his place in the group, as we saved literally hours having him clarify rules issues as we played.  Fucker won most of the time too.

[Thunderplex]

Next Tuesday 8:00pm ITV, Martin Lewis:How to Win at Board Games.  Seemingly everyone’s favourite financial advisor is a fellow gamer and reveals his tips and strategies to win, which is nice.

[JNLister]

Not 100% sure if it was a first play or I did it once many years ago, but I played Altiplano. If you've played Orleans, you'll find it very familiar. It's the same basic concept of "draw stuff from bag, combine stuff to create more stuff, now you have more stuff to draw from bag." Key differences are that in Altiplano the "stuff" all scores points, and that you have to be in a particular location to use a particular combination, so movement needs a little planning. It's a bit less "I must think about what other people are doing so I can race them before particular stuff runs out", but very much the same gameplay of "the more stuff I have, the more options I have, but the less certainty about what I draw." Solid game and we're going to try it again while it's fresh in our minds.

[SuperBacon]

I thought this was fun and maybe an idea for some gifts? (I'm not on a Guardian commission I promise!) 

https://www.theguardian.com/thefilter/2024/dec/11/best-family-board-games

Think I'll get That Escalated Quickly as that sounds fun for the kids.

Bought my eldest Animal Crossing Monopoly recently which was a fun play of you like the game.

Edited December 13, 2024 by SuperBacon
Boldy James

[JNLister]

I played Forest Shuffle, a nice tile laying game where you're putting out trees and then tiles around them (birds etc on top, animals either side, plants and insects underneath). It's a little bit hand management, a little bit set collection, with lots of thematic reasons for point scoring, like a dormouse being worthless on its own but a load of points if its on the same tree as the bat (which doesn't seem like a great outcome for the dormouse.)

I also spotted the greatest thematic rule in gaming history playing Villanous:

 

Edited December 16, 2024 by JNLister

[JNLister]

I played Let's Go! To Japan in which you are using cards with activities in Tokyo and Kyoto to plan a week's holiday. It's a simple-in-concept card drafting game where you're trying to pick and arrange activities that get you various bonuses. Each day has a reward if you do lots of activities of a particular type (eating, temples, etc). However, the last activity you do any each day will trigger a potential bonus based on what you've done on the trip so far. You also have to manage your travel (you need to get enough premium train tickets to cover every time you move between Tokyo and Kyoto else it's the shitty train for you). And you have to keep track of a little tug of war track that goes up if you do a relaxing or cheap activity but down if you do something stressful or expensive. If you get to either end of the track, it triggers a points bonus or penalty. I enjoyed the game, but I don't know how much of the first play was down to inherently playing well and how much was just how quickly you figured the rules and scoring out. 

It's a very pretty game with lots of relevant info and thematic touches on the cards, and there's clearly scope for different versions of different countries. It's also definitely the type of game where theme hides the fact you're basically just doing admin. There's also very little player interaction other than card drafting and passing discards onto your neighbour, though you'd have to be pretty high level playing to take advantage of that and avoid giving stuff that would help them.

[cobra_gordo]

Is Disney Lorcana any good? They've got the introductory set in Asda for 18 quid but I don't know if I can stomach a Pokemon-size investment to just play it at home with my kids. The artwork and everything looks lovely though, just not heard loads about the gameplay.

[BrodyGraham]

30 minutes ago, cobra_gordo said:

Is Disney Lorcana any good? They've got the introductory set in Asda for 18 quid but I don't know if I can stomach a Pokemon-size investment to just play it at home with my kids. The artwork and everything looks lovely though, just not heard loads about the gameplay.

There was an absolute stampede of content initially but it's since slowed right down, dunno if that means the game was underwhelming or if it launched too close to the Star Wars TCG or what? I do know that the people at my local games stores are pretty much ignoring it now though.

[Thunderplex]

Bought a couple of starters and boosters but not played it yet.  Also got the cheap starter set from Tesco so will hopefully going through that with my daughter and see if we get into it.

[JNLister]

I got Monkey Bingo for Christmas. I like monkeys more than I like Bingo.

[Thunderplex]

Got a few new games for Christmas!  

Goblin Vault is part of the Roll Player universe.  All about bidding for cards to put in your tableau and positioning them for the maximum points.  But of a brain burner but fun. 
 

Lorcana is the Disney Tcg.  Quite straight forward and the card art is great fun.

Dorf Romantik is a tile laying game with campaign elements.  Very easy to learn and after the first intro games can’t wait to progress.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

Running my.first game of Paranioa next weekend. Should be interesting 

[Thunderplex]

I DM’d this in the late 80’s.  The players brought me bribes each session to look favourably on them!  Great game and has to be played not seriously at all.

[ReturnOfTheMack]

I played it in the 90s, and the group mainly plays dnd. So this could be a confused bag

Edited January 3, 2025 by ReturnOfTheMack