Magic the Gathering and other CCG's and boardgames discussion

[Der_Lex]

On the otehr hand, don't get me started on Carcassonne: I gave up on the original two years ago and traded everything away. With all expansions that game had become a monster that was never meant to be. I now have both Hunters&Gatherers and TheCity and they fill all my Carcassonne needs.

Yeah, that's why I consider Carcassonne a game with tow necessary expansions and a lot of useless ones that should be avoided at all cost. I never played Hunters & Gatherers or The City because they seemed a bit 'more of the same' to me.

[Der_Lex]

On the otehr hand, don't get me started on Carcassonne: I gave up on the original two years ago and traded everything away. With all expansions that game had become a monster that was never meant to be. I now have both Hunters&Gatherers and TheCity and they fill all my Carcassonne needs.

Yeah, that's why I consider Carcassonne a game with tow necessary expansions and a lot of useless ones that should be avoided at all cost. I never played Hunters & Gatherers or The City because they seemed a bit 'more of the same' to me.

[Sayburr]

I'm surprised you're rating Dominion only a 7, since it's one of my favorite games, especially when you start adding one or two expansions (Intrigue and Prosperity are my personal favorites). What didn't you like about it?

I liked it, a seven is a "good game, willing to play"... but there are some things I don't care about it. 1) it takes almost as long to set up and tear down as it does to play 2) It is more of a puzzle game, you look at what is on the table and you choose a strategy and you go with it... no real tension 3) sometimes with four players you sit there and wait a long time, or at least it feels like it, before your next turn.

- If you're a big Settlers of Catan fan, you should check out Elasund

I will check it out, thanks. I like having to cope with a changing dynamic. I might look at the board and think, “Ok, if I do this I will win” only to either not get the rolls or get blocked, so I have to reevaluate the situation and adjust. Dominion doesn’t give me that.

- Also, if you like Shadows over Camelot, you really need to give Battlestar Galactica a try.

I really didn't like it. I didn't like the fact that you could all of a sudden become a cylon in the middle of the game. To me, it was a game about paranoia. For what it is, it is a very long game... but to be fair, we were only playing with three people... I understand it is better with twice that many. But, I am not sure I am willing to invest three hours just to see...

[Sayburr]

I can also throw in a recommendation for Mousquetaires du Roy, based on The Three Musketeers where you play as the Musketeers against the plots of Milady. Not a hidden traitor, but All against One.

yeah, this game has me intrigued, I have read several reviews on boardgamegeek.com about it and it seems very interesting... plus, I have always loved those books.

[Sayburr]

(I'm a lot less fond of the other expansions, which all seem to gimmicky instead of improving on basic gameplay).

What? The catapult was the best expansion of all time! [/sarcasm] Yeah, a lot of crap expansions for that one. I found that Hunters and Gatherers was a fine “reinvention” of the same game. Where farmers can only be minimized by blocking them with roads, hunters can be minimized by tile play which reduces the amount of game available to hunt. Still, it is the same game and I wish I didn’t purchase it.

As far as Dominion, I only have the base set, and have not added any of the other variables to the game. If I can find someone to play the game with who goes ecstatic over it, I will look to see which might enhance my enjoyment of it.

Catan is still my favorite game and I love to play it, but with so many "games of the new cult" out there, I find it getting less and less to the table. Still, I will play it in a heartbeat.

Houserule I sometimes use: If you get no resources from the roll, you collect a coin (instead of farming you were at the creak looking for gold). Coins are used for trading, four coins get you one resource. (3:1 port can be used). It minimizes luck somewhat.

[Der_Lex]

I really didn't like it. I didn't like the fact that you could all of a sudden become a cylon in the middle of the game. To me, it was a game about paranoia. For what it is, it is a very long game... but to be fair, we were only playing with three people... I understand it is better with twice that many. But, I am not sure I am willing to invest three hours just to see...

I love the halfway point loyalty phase myself. That way the first half of the game becomes very interesting if you're human... you want to do well enough to win if you stay human, but not too well so you don't set yourself up for an impossible win if you should turn Cylon. That way early game sabotaging doesn't always mean that the saboteur is a Cylon (yet), which causes even more suspicion (so yeah, if that isn't your game, it's not worth picking up again). The sleeper agents also really suits the theme.

I personally have to say that it was a mistake for FFG to list 3 as a possible number of players. It's simply not enough, since it's very much a group interaction game. 4 is the bare minimum, 5 is the sweet spot.

[Ledgo2]

There's a tabletop version of Arch Enemy.

Also, this was my first Magic game. It was ambitious, but the interface and especially the AI left a lot to be desired. It did have a couple of rather neat (well, if you're into randomness as much as I am) game-only cards called the Astral set that could only ever work in a video game. I love the fact that the Goblin Polka Band even had its own little theme song when you played it.

Have you given the Challenges a go on Duels yet? Some of the latter ones are HARD. I had to look up spoilers for two or three of them. I do love those kind of Magic puzzles, though.

Oh geeze. I remember that Micropose game, and only barely. I recall playing it and getting my ass whupped hard by a random dude, and I just never played it again.

I haven't done the challenges or anything yet. I tried the campaign and I figured out the one thing I hated that doesn't happen in Archenemy is the whole battle interface on every individual creature. Otherwise I'm slowing warming up to Duels.

I actually looked that up after I made my post and I am buying a set of schemes. I'm also writing up a tabletop campaign for Magic because of it. I am working out some bare mechanics at the moment, but so far I think I have a few cool things to do, as well as a final archenemy battle written out, involving an Archenemy and a minion (Standard deck) as the last boss to the whole thing.

[Der_Lex]

One thing that bug me about Archenemy in Duels is that your computer allies can sometimes be as dumb as bricks. I've had Kiora Atua charging blindly at the enemy with an Elvish Piper while she had several huge critters in her hand that she didn't have enough mana for to cast regularly, and regularly the computer refuses to block critters they can block easily, even when the Archenemy is all tapped out and has no tricks up his sleeve. It can make play very frustrating at times (that and Archenemy games take a bit too long for my tastes).

I'm looking forward to the expansion in September, though, because actually being able to play as the Archenemy yourself sounds very fun. That and I hope the black Liliana Vess deck will be a discard-based deck like in the 2011 version, I love playing those deck types (although the vamp deck is pretty fun too).

[Ledgo2]

I think the Liliana deck is a megrim-discard clone, just with reprint cards. The only difference between a Liliana's Carress and a Megrim is a Megrim costs 1 more mana.

I agree on the Archenemy AI partners. At times it makes me want to slam my head into a table with the stunts they pull. One of the best for me would be the Archenemy being a 4 life with a good block out and Koth(Whichever Red guy) with a Lava Axe doing nothing.

[Der_Lex]

On the subject of Archenemy, Nicol Bolas is a cheap, cheap bastard... that deck of his needs the Schemes to work, but work it does. Took me about 5-6 tries to finally beat him. getting absolutely nothing as a reward made me kinda sad (thought there were Archenemy deck unlocks as well, guess not).