What boardgames did you just play?

[Arakhor]

I played Alhambra and Sylla today with my flatmate and next-door neighbour, but getting them to play 7 Wonders is really difficult.

 

[CivCube]

Played Power Grid for the first time today. Oh heavens, there's an economy happening here! It was fun to try to balance my priorities with my actions' impact on other players, while considering vice versa. You really have to either be aggressive if you're not surrounded or start close to a better player, otherwise you'll be left in the dust. Also played Quantum twice; I found out that I'm missing a quantum cube. Oh well...they're tiny things. I'll just message Fun Forge for a replacement set.

 

[Quintillus]

Power Grid looks interesting, but I haven't played it.

I did play Dominion: Seaside on New Years' Eve (with only the necessary base cards). The Embargo mechanic was interesting, though stymied by embargoes being embargoed, but on the whole my first impression is Intrigue and Prosperity are more fun. My strategy of embargoing gold and silver somewhat backfired. Interestingly, one co-winner was someone who did not particularly embrace the benefit-this-turn-and-next theme of Seaside.

I played Alhambra fairly recently, too, and it was the most fun I've had with it yet. Previously I'd found it good, but definitely not a favorite. This time, a sharper focus on leading in particular colors combined with some good luck worked in my favor, and it was more enjoyable as well.

Looking forward to playing Masters of Commerce again; that was one of the most fun new games I played in Q4 2014.

 

[Arakhor]

We also had a game of Lords of Waterdeep, but my flatmate won right at the end with a late-game building spree (he was the Builder).

 

[Antilogic]

Shoot, lost a post for the first time in awhile.

The short version is that Power Grid is one of my favorite games. You can mess with the turn order for advantages, there is just enough of a catch-up mechanic to make every turn feel like it matters and the stress stays on the leader, the power plant auction is exciting, and there's a positioning game you gotta play on the map. There's just enough variety in the mechanics to make a great and deep game, and they all work together perfectly.

 

[Flameflash]

Does it count that I'll be running a D&D 5th ed game after work tonight?

 

[Arakhor]

That's cool (and good luck to you), but for this thread, not really.

 

[CivCube]

My group has yet to lose at Pandemic. Last night they inadvertently made it harder for themselves by adding more infections than was necessary and still won. Time for an expansion. I'm definitely not on the same brain-level.

 

[Antilogic]

My group has yet to lose at Pandemic. Last night they inadvertently made it harder for themselves by adding more infections than was necessary and still won. Time for an expansion. I'm definitely not on the same brain-level.

We thought you had to eliminate all the infection sites after finding the cures, and we were always losing due to the deck running out of cards except for one time.

I always put in the maximum number of outbreak cards or whatever they were called. Usually when they weren't looking.

 

[CivCube]

Well, despite their best processing speed, the group lost twice at Legendary Encounters. Either we didn't shuffle the equipment deck enough or there are just not enough flanking damage cards to get through the creatures. Unless...oh. The "play when this symbol happens" refers to other players' cards...oh.

 

[Arakhor]

So, I played a six-man 7 Wonders, then Anno 1503 and Trans America to finish.

Other than a few new cards with six as opposed to three players, 7 Wonders played out almost identically, except for the lack of interacting with half the table. It's basically the usual version, plus extra socialising.

 

[Antilogic]

I like 7 Wonders with more people than fewer because of that lack of interaction. So what if those jackals are invading each other across the table, I'll build my sciences in peace!

 

[Arakhor]

Ours featured the statistically improbable three temples being passed around in the same hand.

Anno 1503 is like a better Settlers of Catan, with more to do and so on, but you can still get horribly hosed by the dice. Dice don't like me in those sorts of games.

 

[The_J]

Other than a few new cards with six as opposed to three players, 7 Wonders played out almost identically, except for the lack of interacting with half the table. It's basically the usual version, plus extra socialising.

Not really, at least in my opinion.
With more players you have somehow a higher chance to get some of the resources, because not everyone in the game is relying on the 2 others to build them. I think more players allows a higher degree of specialization.
But that might just be me.

 

[Antilogic]

In the 3-player game, you can do some devious things like burying one of the resource cards that would allow your opponent to build his wonder since there is only one of each type of card. And military is even more important because it becomes a zero-sum game against your opponents.

 

[CivCube]

We've now beaten Legendary Encounters' first scenario twice. The Coordinate cards and using cards in response to played cards' symbols are indeed the key to winning. This is a game that rewards communication in a way that feels satisfying. As the Xenomorphs make their down the pipeline, it actually does feel like an Alien movie. Sometimes you're desperately trying to kill off a nasty brute before the Perfect Organism glides in to eat your head. I'd love to play this with the hidden roles variant. I wasn't so big on Thunderstone: Advance but this was a lot of fun.

AquaSphere - Oh look, another Stefan Feld point salad, except the salad is served in tiny bowls that you have to pay money to even look at. As you move your engineer around the giant bathysphere, you have two basic actions: program a robot or execute a robot's actions. Various point-granting and endgame-necessary resources are sprinkled around the board, requiring you to spend movement tokens to move and enact some actions. Throw in some over-the-top randomization and Feld's usual scoring methods and you have a nice, if generic little brainburner. The way the board is set up, it would have been cool if the theme were alternate Earths where you have to pick up resources in slightly different combinations. Lightly recommended if you've already played Bora Bora and Castles of Burgundy. Play Castles of Burgundy if you're new to Stefan Feld.

Another game of Istanbul! Rather delightful Euro.

 

[The_J]

Another game of Istanbul! Rather delightful Euro.

Played that one recently at a game convention.
Seems to be a nice game with high replay value, due to the different strategies you can use and the different setup of the board every time.

 

[Arakhor]

I played Ticket to Ride (US edition) and Love Letter last night. I think LL is really pretty fun, as was TtR, though I was expecting the latter to last longer than just 75 mins or so.

 

[PhilBowles]

Anno 1503 is like a better Settlers of Catan, with more to do and so on, but you can still get horribly hosed by the dice. Dice don't like me in those sorts of games.

Haven't played Anno 1503, but the Catan expansions are enough to prove that having "more to do" and more features not only make that game worse but also increase rather than reduce the role of dice-induced randomness. Games often benefit from simplicity.

 

[Arakhor]

True, but there is (some) stuff you can do in Anno, even if the dice hate you. I don't recall that in Catan.