Magic the Gathering and other CCG's and boardgames discussion

[Der_Lex]

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. And if I don't know the answer, I'll PM Sayburr.

On an Arkham Horror note, the missus and I brought the game on our short vacation, ended up playing against fricking Cthulhu himself (we always choose our GOO and investigators randomly) and actually won. Huzzah.

Also, on a Magic-related note, anyone picking up the new Duels of the Planeswalkers game out at the end of this month?

[instantdeath999]

I think we're going to take on Yig first, since the rule book specifically notes him as being the "quickest" game. I can't help but notice that they say "quick" instead of "easy" though.

I actually just got into Magic, as well. Have fought a few of the newer decks, as well as two of the older ones, the "Heavy Hitters" deck and the "Onslaught" deck. Might try one of the duel decks, "Knights vs Dragons" is sounding appealing, but I also wouldn't mind one a bit more complex. Guess I'll have to get into deck building beyond the starter decks... perhaps the "Deck builder sets" are right up my alley.

Right now, my only question about Arkham is whether you consider any of the expansions "must buys", at least so soon after buying the original game. As I'm someone who mostly hears "expansion pack" and thinks "video game", I usually just assume you buy all the expansions and pile them onto each other, but I hear it's different for board games, that what expansions you use is part of the fun, and that it's not recommended to ever use more than two or three expansions.

Same goes for Small World, though I believe that one is much more recent, though I'm sure it has some expansions.

[AzureAngel17]

If I'm back on my Xbox by then I might get Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013. I only just got 2012 on Steam, mostly so I could get a little more experience in between games with my friends. I wish there were more options regarding which cards you could use, but I guess then multiplayer would be nothing but tournament decks...

[Der_Lex]

I think we're going to take on Yig first, since the rule book specifically notes him as being the "quickest" game. I can't help but notice that they say "quick" instead of "easy" though.

I actually don't recommend playing your first game against Yig for the same reason I wouldn't recommend playing your first game against Azathoth: because the victory conditions against both are much more limited (you can't score a 'fight' win against Azathoth, yet scoring anything but a fight win against Yig is extremely hard because he arrives so quickly) that it gives you a slanted view of the game and of the strategies you can use to win. Personally I'd recommend Nyarlathotep for a first play instead.
Also, if you're playing the game with only two players, I strongly recommend both players running teams of two characters each and using the four-player rules. The game becomes a LOT harder when you have less than four players, up to the point that playing teams like this makes for a more enjoyable and balanced game.

Right now, my only question about Arkham is whether you consider any of the expansions "must buys", at least so soon after buying the original game. As I'm someone who mostly hears "expansion pack" and thinks "video game", I usually just assume you buy all the expansions and pile them onto each other, but I hear it's different for board games, that what expansions you use is part of the fun, and that it's not recommended to ever use more than two or three expansions.

Yeah, for Arkham I think using only one expansion at a time is best, there's already a lot of rules in place. I think the only expansion that's close to being considered a 'must have' is Dunwich Horror (which is the only one I own), because it introduces the option to take on an Injury or Insanity instead of losing half your stuff whenever you lose all your vitality or sanity. Injuries or Insanities are negative effects that stay with your investigator for as long as he or she lives, and having multiple can be absolutely crippling, but sometimes taking one on can be a very good alternative to the regular KO rules. Generally speaking, though, all of the 'big box' expansions are very good, and of the smaller expansions The King in Yellow comes highly recommended to me as well.

Same goes for Small World, though I believe that one is much more recent, though I'm sure it has some expansions.

No real must haves. Just check out the descriptions and see what seems fun to you. I've played all expansions, and they're generally all good and fun to use whenever you're in the mood for a particular addition. That and some of the new races and abilities are really neat (the Priestesses from the Grand Dames expansion are absolutely terrifying if used right).

Also note that Small World Underground is actually more of a stand-alone game and not an expansion, unless you also have the tunnel microexpansion, in which case you can combine both game boards into a not so small world.

[Bulzeeb]

I'm getting more into my Puppet/Sand deck since my friend is smart and orders cards off of Troll and Toad. I'm looking to get a Sasori (Puppet Mode) with the Puppet Paragon ability, which basically summons all my puppets in my discard to the field and treats them as Non-Unique (meaning I can have clones of the same one.) The artwork for the card is great too.

http://www.trollandtoad.com/p323573.html