tabletop

[Shanndee]

2 player is fun. Starting with 4 agents (increasing to 5) gives both players lots of opportunity to gain resources and quests. It does tend to be a high scoring game though!

I do like that you can't really predict the winner until all of the hidden points are revealed. It certainly makes for an interesting finale!

 

[Unicron]

Anyone else played Battleship Live? I came across it today at my local bargain place and it looks interesting (can never have too much Battleship, right? ). It has some similarities to Electronic Battleship, but the tower works a bit differently. It tracks player moves and you have some new options, such as a spy plane to track stuff and each ship having a unique, one-shot special power. You can also move ships during play and deal with elements like rogue waves and fog.

I've heard a variety of reviews; apparently people either really like it or really hate it, and in part that seems to be because sometimes the tower doesn't track correctly. But without practicing, I can't judge.

 

[Capt. Vulcan]

Tried one game of the Cthulu expansion for Smash Up. I played as Miscotonic U/Steam punk. The new factions seem interesting but they also seem a little too dependent on the other new cards. MU seems to rely a lot on madness cards, but if you're the only player with Cthulu cards there aren't going to be that many madness cards drawn for you to use. Also the other factions didn't have much in the way of getting rid of madness cards so it sucked for them dealing with mechanics that didn't exist when their factions were created.

Luckily for me one of the other players had another Cthulu faction that forced lots of madness so I had a lot of ammo to work with. Can't wait to try the other factions.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

I've been wondering what it plays like. I saw it for £11 the other day, but that's gone back up to £15/16 now. I haven't been playing Smash Up that often recently and I'm not a massive Cthulu fan so I though I might just wait.

At top of my wishlist at the moment are:

Marvel Legendary
Star Trek Fleet Captains

(these two are so expensive!)

Castaways (I had a shock today when I saw that it was available on Amazon for £26.99, reduced from £39.99, but it shipped from America so it would have cost me £40 for postage!)

I wouldn't mind some more card games as well, the Star Wars card game or the Star Trek ones, maybe Thunderstone.

 

[Davros]

Anyone else played Battleship Live? I came across it today at my local bargain place and it looks interesting (can never have too much Battleship, right? ). It has some similarities to Electronic Battleship, but the tower works a bit differently. It tracks player moves and you have some new options, such as a spy plane to track stuff and each ship having a unique, one-shot special power. You can also move ships during play and deal with elements like rogue waves and fog.

I've heard a variety of reviews; apparently people either really like it or really hate it, and in part that seems to be because sometimes the tower doesn't track correctly. But without practicing, I can't judge.

Maybe you might like this Avalon Hill classic Flat Top
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2529/flat-top

Flat Top is a board game of high complexity that covers the battles of the Solomon Seas between the United States and Japan in 1942. It is very well researched and covers all aspects of naval and air combat as it existed in 1942. The system depicts weather, air searches, air combat, surface combat, carrier operations, submarines, air bases, supplies, and much more. The game requires intense planning and searching since movement is covert and the map is pretty huge.

The units are individual ships and submarines with each air point representing three aircraft. Hexes are twenty miles, and each turn represents one-hour.

The game includes thirteen hundred counters, 4 maps to create a 44" x 28" map of the South Pacific, four Allied/Japanese operations cards, three player aid cards, and two log sheets.

 

[B.J.]

^ Holy crap that's complicated! Personally, I prefer my games to be easy enough for my kids to understand, and fast-paced enough that it won't lose their attention (or mine!).

 

[Davros]

^ Holy crap that's complicated! Personally, I prefer my games to be easy enough for my kids to understand, and fast-paced enough that it won't lose their attention (or mine!).

It's not as bad as Campaign For North Africa where they deal with Italian units requiring more water because of them cooking pasta.

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4815/the-campaign-for-north-africa

This is a war game like no other. Although the map is big (10 feet / 3.048 m) the game is smaller than other games (Europa for one). There are not as many rules as in ASL. And yet this is the biggest monster game out there for a number of reasons.

The game is detailed to a degree no other game has come close to. If using the full rules you keep track of every individual plane and pilot in the three year campaign. Each counter on the board representing a ground unit is composed of many units which are kept track of on logs. Supplies are kept track of and dispersed in a very detailed manner.

From the rulebook we read how to run a game. "CNA is a logistically-oriented game, and its play requires not only a lot of attention to logistics, but, if you will, a logistically sound methodology." It is suggested that you have 5 persons per side with the following duties.

Commander-in-Chief: responsible for strategic decisions and to settle intra-team disputes.

Logistics Commander: In charge of all supplies. Accepts supply requisitions from the others and keeps all informed of supply shortages. Is in charge of supply dumps, Third line trucks and some second line trucks and is in charge of Naval convoys.

Rear Area Commander: Gets the supplies to the front. In charge of security, reserves, prisoners and construction.

Air Commander: In charge of all planes and pilots. Is responsible for planning air missions and deployment of air bases.

Front-line Commander: Executes all attacks and troop movements in the front line. Helps with coordinating defensive efforts.

Playing time with 10 players is listed at 1200 hours.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

Played with the expansions to Lords of Waterdeep on Friday - wow they're so good. I won my first game as well

 

[trekkiebaggio]

Finally, there's a new episode of Tabletop this week. Shadows of Camelot looks like a lot of fun. As an aside, does anyone actually bother with the extended episodes? I think they're TOO long I mean maybe if they were an hour I'd watch but 2 hours +?

Also I ordered Marvel Legendary today. Can't wait to play it!

 

[Shanndee]

No, I haven't watched any of the extended episodes, and at 2 or more hours I don't think I'll be doing it anytime soon!

Is there more than one expansion to Lords of Waterdeep Trekkiebaggio? Every time we go to the game shops they tell us that they are sold out. If there is more than one expansion that is really impressive!

 

[trekkiebaggio]

Yeah, especially when you already know who wins.

Technically it's two expansions but they come in one box, and I think there's another expansion on the way as well.

 

[Shanndee]

Good to know. Thank you!

I guess we'll have to order ours online since the shops can't seem to keep them in stock. And another one is coming, I guess we have to get a move on so we don't fall hopelessly behind! (these games companies really know how to play us don't they )

 

[Unicron]

Expansions are the divide and conquer strategy.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

I think Lords of Waterdeep is still really enjoyable without the expansion. I have to order stuff online since there isn't a dedicated board game shop anywhere near me.

 

[FPAlpha]

I'm currently very hot about the X-Wing miniatures game from Fantasy Flight.

Comparatively easy rules with few details (but after a few games you should have them down), awesome movement rules and well affordable.

The miniatures themselves are some of the best prepainted.. they look awesome straight out of the box, are not that expensive (about 10 bucks per fighter, a little bit more for the big ships like the Millenium Falcon).

It's also got an underlying complexity when you start playing with self designed squadrons (a 100 point standard game has usually 3-4 ships per side, more if you go low cost/low quality fighters) and upgrade cards which can totally change the game and tactics required.

I can really recommend that game.. startup cost is 30 bucks for the start set (1 XWing and 2 Tie Fighters) and you can play it on any decent sized kitchen table.

And who doesn't like to make Tie Fighter shooting sounds when he's chasing an X Wing through an asteroid field?

 

[Unicron]

You know, I'm sort of tempted to buy some of those ships just for the models. I saw the Lambda class shuttle recently and it looks like it has fully articulated wings - do you know if that's the case?

 

[trekkiebaggio]

I'm more tempted by the Star Trek miniatures, I've watched a few reviews and they seem to have a better variety of ships. I really want Star Trek Fleet Captains though, which was described by Tom Vasel as 'the essence of Star Trek' in a box.

Marvel Legendary arrived yesterday so I'm looking forward to giving that a go!

For the other Lords of Waterdeep players - how are you finding the win ratio? So far my little group has played 7 games (3 with the expansions) and one of my friends has one 6 out of the 7.

 

[FPAlpha]

You know, I'm sort of tempted to buy some of those ships just for the models. I saw the Lambda class shuttle recently and it looks like it has fully articulated wings - do you know if that's the case?

Yes, that's the case. Fully "downfoldable" wings up to a certain point. If you hear a crack and have a separate wing in your hand now you've gone too far.

A buddy of mine bought a Millenium Falcon a few months ago just because of the model.. last week we played our first game together after he bought a starter set and some additional ships with a broad grin.

I'm more tempted by the Star Trek miniatures, I've watched a few reviews and they seem to have a better variety of ships. I really want Star Trek Fleet Captains though, which was described by Tom Vasel as 'the essence of Star Trek' in a box.

I checked in on that game and i'll pass.. the models are not nearly as good as X-Wing, i.e. the paint job is very bland and basic. Might have to do with the miniatures themselves which are not very detailed, certainly not as much as the one's from X-Wing.

They also licensed the basic rules from X-Wing and while that system is very good i'd rather not play two games with nearly identical rules.

Other than that it seems like a good game with some neat stuff and possibilities.

 

[trekkiebaggio]

Yeah I probably wouldn't get both (I doubt I'll get either anyway) but it woul be cool if you could combine the sets and get a god Trek vs Wars thing going on.

 

[Shanndee]

For the other Lords of Waterdeep players - how are you finding the win ratio? So far my little group has played 7 games (3 with the expansions) and one of my friends has one 6 out of the 7.

Ours have been fairly even. I won our first game (by one point!) Hubby our second. Our friend D won third. T won 2 games in a row, then we had a run of new players win on their first games.

I think that is one of the things that I really enjoy about the game, all of those hidden points can blow a player's huge lead out of the water!