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Incline Co-Op boardgames

Gay-Lussac

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Ismaul thanks for sharing your perspective bro. There's a lot of hype surrounding this game, but then again there's a lot of hype surrounding Skyrim too, so, me being fairly new to boardgaming, I was kind of wondering if this is just an analogous case of hyped product being lauded by the masses while being a pile of shit.

And while your view is disencouraging, I'm still on the fence about, because I guess I wanna try it pretty badly. My girl likes powering up her character in anything we play (she'll literally let Cthulu devour the entire world just so she can die with an +2 in strength in Eldritch Horror) and I like tactical combat, so I feel this has the potential to be a fun romp for us. And getting together to play would be a non-issue, obviously.

Regarding the game being a table hog, I was thinking this could just be our default co-op choice when we're by ourselves with nobody else to play. Don't really own any game that fills in that particular niche, when we're feeling confrontational or have people over we'll just play something else.

The problem again boils down to how good this can be over Divinity 2 co-op, given I already have a great PC and 1 controller. The cost for Gloomhaven is a great deal higher, since I'd feel the need to fork over for a custom insert. So I'll take you opinion on it on consideration there and wait for more people to chime in.
 
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eggdogg

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Arkham Horror LCG has been ruling my world lately. Newer board games are killing it...much more enjoyable than newer video games.
 

sser

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Arkham Horror LCG has been ruling my world lately. Newer board games are killing it...much more enjoyable than newer video games.

I haven't gotten a boardgame in awhile (Wrath of Ash or whatever was the last). Almost bought this the other day. Gloomhaven was the other but I don't think I could ever organize some long-term game like that.
 

eggdogg

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I haven't gotten a boardgame in awhile (Wrath of Ash or whatever was the last). Almost bought this the other day. Gloomhaven was the other but I don't think I could ever organize some long-term game like that.
Gloomhaven is too big of a time/money sink for me currently. Arkham Card game has been really good for me though. It took me a bit to get the flow of the game but once it sets in you start having tons of fun. Lots of freedom in that game.
 

Gay-Lussac

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I can vouch for the Arkham Horror LCG as well. Played the first campaign with the missus at a game shop. Apparently we accidentaly got two of the best investigators in the game, Rex Murphy and Zoey Whatshername, so it ended up being somewhat easy. Very enjoyable though.

I own Eldritch Horror, so I'm not itching to pick it up. I can just hop by the gameshop when I feel like playing a new scenario, and the replayability of them is somewhat low anyways. But it is indeed a very good game.

Currently waiting for these two babies to arrive:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/awakenrealms/nemesis-board-game

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/806316071/batmantm-gotham-city-chronicles/description

Batman is a refined version of the Conan board game, which was very very well reviewed. The theme will help getting less gamery friends into it.

Nemesis I just loved the artwork and the playthroughs of it on youtube looked like great fun. I really dig semi-coop games.

Both have late pledges open right now, if anybody is interested. Went all in on them.

Next purchases should be Scythe and Gloomhaven.
 

Blaine

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Grab the Codex by the pussy
Oh there's a whole thread on these that I haven't participated in at all, welp.

Mansions of Madness and Eldritch Horror are clear winners in my book. Eldritch Horror can easily be played with two people controlling two investigators apiece and coordinating their efforts. Gets a little bit dull here and there, since there's no player-to-player competition, but you'll always need to be thinking ahead and laying your plans as the situation evolves, and aren't guaranteed to win.

Lot of variety too given the huge quantity of investigators, encounters, Great Old Ones, items and conditions, monsters, etc. that can come into play in a given game with several/all of the expansions. Variety's still pretty good without them, though.
 

Dickie

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Anyone here play Spirit Island and have thoughts on it?
I haven't played it, but the current printing has a lot of issues with spelling errors, nonsensical wording in rules and on cards (e.g. If Pushing multiple things, they may not go to different lands or not, as you wish), and this gem where an apostrophe was somehow added to "Shadows Flicker Like Flame."

68747470733a2f2f692e696d6775722e636f6d2f427252514a45312e6a7067


The designer said these errors will be in the next printing (5th printing), too, and he advised waiting for the sixth printing, so I think I'll do that. These are all errors that were apparently introduced in the 4th printing.
 

Gay-Lussac

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Oh there's a whole thread on these that I haven't participated in at all, welp.

Mansions of Madness and Eldritch Horror are clear winners in my book. Eldritch Horror can easily be played with two people controlling two investigators apiece and coordinating their efforts. Gets a little bit dull here and there, since there's no player-to-player competition, but you'll always need to be thinking ahead and laying your plans as the situation evolves, and aren't guaranteed to win.

Lot of variety too given the huge quantity of investigators, encounters, Great Old Ones, items and conditions, monsters, etc. that can come into play in a given game with several/all of the expansions. Variety's still pretty good without them, though.

EH is king in variety and replayability for games that offer some sort of story. That said, this variety and replayability comes at the cost of narrative consistency; the encounters you get every turn are very random, and the whole thing can feel somewhat disjointed.

Other problems I have with EH:

  • Lack of player agency in the encounters, as they often do nothing other than describe what your character is doing (you find a strange substance in the ground and decide to taste it, make a test - why did I decide to taste it again?). I think later expansions started introducing more encounter cards with some binary choices, which aleviates this problem a bit.
  • Anticlimatic ending. For a game that's so narrative driven, it's weird that it offers no victory (or defeat) text. Game is over, pack it up.
  • The difficulty like much of the rest of the game, can be very random (although some alternate difficulty setups aleviate this). I've had games where investigators just powered up very fast and it was over before the Mythos cards could screw us. This is tied to the anticlimatic ending complaint, as you sometimes end the game feeling like a god and then it just ends abruptly. There's a prelude called unto the breach on the latest (and probably last) expansion which seems to remedy this, so I'll be looking to try that out: http://eldritchhorrorgame.wikia.com/wiki/Unto_the_Breach

All that said, I still think it's a fine game, just a somewhat flawed one.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the Cmon Death may Die Kickstarter is gonna look like in the 10th, as that might end up replacing EH for me. Eric Lang has a couple of gems under his belt (Chaos in the Old World, Rising Sun, Blood Rage) and The Others is a semi coop game of his that was moderately well received (and DmD seems to draw from it). Rob Daviau seems to do good work on the narrative side. And the miniatures are guaranteed to be high quality. So, all in all, a lot of potential, will have to wait and see.
 

Galdred

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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Snorkack : How does Gloomhaven stands up over a whole campaign? How bad is the setup/teardown time, and are there ways to optimize it without paying half as much as the game itself?
Setup/teardown was a major pain in Descent, and it seems even worse in Gloomhaven, but I really have an urge to play dungeon crawling.
Also how challenging is the "AI"?
 

Snorkack

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Snorkack : How does Gloomhaven stands up over a whole campaign? How bad is the setup/teardown time, and are there ways to optimize it without paying half as much as the game itself?
Setup/teardown was a major pain in Descent, and it seems even worse in Gloomhaven, but I really have an urge to play dungeon crawling.
Also how challenging is the "AI"?
Well, it's bad and without additional organizing inserts (which I guess is what you mean with 'without paying half as much as the game itself'), I imagine it would be a nightmare. Don't miss out on them. On the other hand, we're in the middle of a 3 people campaign and already have quite the routine in setting up a new scenario, so it takes around 5-10 min setting up just the board. Add another 15 for stuff like choosing your secret goals, resolving city and wilderness events, reading the scenario prologue and special rules,... then you're ready to go, although I'd consider this already part of the game rather than part of the setup.
AI is pretty predictable, obviously, but sometimes got a surprise or two up their sleeve. You could aggro juggle a melee enemy between two players, but pretty much every monster has its own card deck and also can do a ranged attack from time to time. Due to the way elements and magic works, different monsters can produce interesting, and by interesting I mean devastating synergies.
 

Snorkack

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Apart from that, I agree with Ismaul that GH depends a lot on its sense of progression and only really takes off if you play it regularly with the same group of people (no problem for a person to miss a session tho, or to jump in in the middle of a campaign for a one-shot).
But if you manage to do this, it really is the holy grail of dungeon crawling board games imo.
 

Gay-Lussac

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Gloomhaven is coming to PC this year. For now, just roguelike dungeons, but after early access it'll have the full campaign with multiplayer. That dissuaded me from picking it up in cardboard. My brother has the game and said it's really fiddly and depends heavily on someone knowing the rules by heart, so it's probably better as a videogame anyways.

Currently playing Arkham Horror 3e. Like it better than Eldritch Horror, maybe better than the LCG too. Looking to pick up Spirit Island, the newly announced LotR: Journeys in Middle Earth from FFG and Sleeping Gods. Also might hop onto the kickstarter for Trudvang Legends from CMON - love the art style, and the concept seems unique.

Oh, and I backed Tainted Grail from Awaken Realms. Nemesis from them is on the way to my house right now.
 

Gay-Lussac

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Had my first play of Nemesis over the weekend. The game is an absolute riot, I can't remember when I last had that much fun with a boardgame. If any of you guys like the original Alien movie, you owe it yourselves to get this when it hits retail. It's pretty much "Alien in a box".
 

Snorkack

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Did you play fully co-op or with hidden agendas? So far, we're too dumb to win even in easy mode, although we had pretty bad luck, too, with a mother appearing and stalking us already in turn two in two consecutive games...
Anyways, they did nail the Alien/Nostromo feeling pretty good.
 

Gay-Lussac

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You got it too? That's awesome.

We played with hidden agendas, I can't imagine wanting to play a vanilla co-op game any time soon (will probably try the campaign just me and my GF somewhere down the line).

IMO the agendas made the game, but then again that may just be because my play group just loves messing with each other. 2 players won (me and my GF) but we definitely missed a couple of rules which made for an easier time.

My younger brother (18) likes quite a few games, but this is the first time I've seen him giddy with excitement to play, it's really quite something if you like the mindset of hidden objectives, secret roles and betrayal. The player killing objectives, for one, are awesome due to not being able to directly harm them. You really have to get creative.

I'll say one thing, some objectives are ridiculously easy to complete and some are very hard. For example, there's one that's simply research an egg, and that's it (can even be completed by another player for you). Then another objective is getting the ship back in one piece to earth, which depends on so many variables (self destruct, fire, malfunctions, engines working, destination). The difference is really night and day for some of them. But this is one of those experience games where I'd rather take a riskier fun objective than take an easy one just to score a win, because IMO that's not really what the game is about. And that's why, even if other players gang up on you for some reason, you can still have a fun time.

Curious to see where the expansions will take it, as I splurged for the whole sundrop package.
 

Snorkack

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You got it too? That's awesome.

We played with hidden agendas, I can't imagine wanting to play a vanilla co-op game any time soon (will probably try the campaign just me and my GF somewhere down the line).

IMO the agendas made the game, but then again that may just be because my play group just loves messing with each other. 2 players won (me and my GF) but we definitely missed a couple of rules which made for an easier time.

My younger brother (18) likes quite a few games, but this is the first time I've seen him giddy with excitement to play, it's really quite something if you like the mindset of hidden objectives, secret roles and betrayal. The player killing objectives, for one, are awesome due to not being able to directly harm them. You really have to get creative.

I'll say one thing, some objectives are ridiculously easy to complete and some are very hard. For example, there's one that's simply research an egg, and that's it (can even be completed by another player for you). Then another objective is getting the ship back in one piece to earth, which depends on so many variables (self destruct, fire, malfunctions, engines working, destination). The difference is really night and day for some of them. But this is one of those experience games where I'd rather take a riskier fun objective than take an easy one just to score a win, because IMO that's not really what the game is about. And that's why, even if other players gang up on you for some reason, you can still have a fun time.

Curious to see where the expansions will take it, as I splurged for the whole sundrop package.
Friend of mine backed it and recently got his copy with some really nice sundrop shading on the minis (looks and fits so much better than on the Lords of Hellas minis). I've only played two times and both in easy mode so far. But really looking forward to the next session when we will start being dicks to each other, too, and much more so after your enthusiastic report.
 

Snorkack

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So, me and my Gloomhaven buddies are getting closer to finishing the campaign and are already thinking about the 'what next'. "Regular" dungeon crawlers will probably feel like a downgrade in every way. Kingdom Death Monster sounds really intriguing but its pricing model is obscene.
I recently stumbled across Rangers of Shadow Deep, which seems to be a Tabletop/PnP/Dungeon Crawler hybrid. It's basically just a rulebook and you have to play it with your own collection of miniatures and terrain. Seems to be quite well-received within its niche.
Anyone got experience with that thing? Similar games worth looking at?
 

Gay-Lussac

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So, me and my Gloomhaven buddies are getting closer to finishing the campaign and are already thinking about the 'what next'. "Regular" dungeon crawlers will probably feel like a downgrade in every way. Kingdom Death Monster sounds really intriguing but its pricing model is obscene.
I recently stumbled across Rangers of Shadow Deep, which seems to be a Tabletop/PnP/Dungeon Crawler hybrid. It's basically just a rulebook and you have to play it with your own collection of miniatures and terrain. Seems to be quite well-received within its niche.
Anyone got experience with that thing? Similar games worth looking at?

How'd you like Gloomhaven? I opted out of getting it because of the upcoming digital version, but it'll be a while until they implement the full campaign and multiplayer is not yet confirmed.

KDM looks like a trap. It seems pretty grindy as it requires learning through trial and error. I don't know Rangers of Shadow Deep.

For dungeon crawlers, there's a pretty cool list over at BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1848358/dungeon-crawler-collector-2019.

The ones that have caught my eye that could take the place of Gloomhaven (in so far as they're campaign games with tactical combat) are Sword and Sorcery and Imperial Assault. There's also a Lord of the Rings game coming from FFG in April that looks really promising, Journeys in Middle Earth. Definitely check that out if you like LotR at all.

Other than that, I guess there's always upcoming shit from Kickstarter, but you seem like you want something right now, so... (on that note, my Batman GCC all in pledge is coming, can't wait!)
 

Snorkack

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How'd you like Gloomhaven? I opted out of getting it because of the upcoming digital version, but it'll be a while until they implement the full campaign and multiplayer is not yet confirmed.
As I said elsewhere, I think it deserves its #1 BGG spot very well. Currently I'm in my 5th character class. And a big source of enjoyment is 'figuring out' your class and pulling of crazy combos. Every class plays very uniquely, we haven't encountered a single one that seemed bad or useless and while many archetypes can pull of stunts that make you think 'well thats broken beyond belief' (being able to use a one-use-only item every other turn, removing a full-health elite monster from the board, being invincible for 3 straight turns...), the game never feels unbalanced or trivial.
By the time you think you have figured out your character, you will probably meet his retirement condition (not optional) and have to start a new one, shifting the dynamics of the game strongly. So even if mission variety (most of the time some sort of "kill everything / kill the boss") is limited, the way your group synergizes and interacts with each other is changing constantly throughout the course of a campaign. Add to that very strong and playtested mechanics and you got my favourite boardgame since ever.
Setup is okay, too. With organizer inserts and a bit of routine, we have a scenario ready to play in well under 10 minutes. If I have to criticise something, it would probably be the grindiness. Due to the way retirement conditions work, you eventually have to repeat missions to fulfill them. However, that's an issue if you want to 100% everything. For solving the main quest, no repetition is needed.
So bottom line, if you have a consistent group that you could get to your table for a GH session frequently, I strongly recommend you to do so. Could shill for ages about this game.
For dungeon crawlers, there's a pretty cool list over at BGG: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1848358/dungeon-crawler-collector-2019.

The ones that have caught my eye that could take the place of Gloomhaven (in so far as they're campaign games with tactical combat) are Sword and Sorcery and Imperial Assault. There's also a Lord of the Rings game coming from FFG in April that looks really promising, Journeys in Middle Earth. Definitely check that out if you like LotR at all.
List is looking good! He trashes a lot of stuff we were considering tho. IA and S&S are also contenders for my group.
 

Gay-Lussac

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New LotR game from FFG (Journeys in Middle Earth) is out and looks pretty damn underwhelming.

This review brings two negative points that killed the game for me: combat is bland as fuck and all enemies are just different sizes of damage sponges (which I suspected from the start) and the exploration part of the game is pretty underwhelming, with most encounters rewarding nothing more than inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrMDB9Tfg-Q&t=340s

On another note, completing my pledge manager for Tainted Grail this week. Trying to decide if I want to shell out for the miniatures pack, but I think I just don't like the minis that come with it.

Also: Bloodborne the board game coming up from CMON. Concept seems interesting: deckbuilder with a fixed set of 12 cards that you use to modify your attacks. You improve your deck in between scenarios (6 per campaign) and can come up with all sorts of builds based on your the trick weapon your character wields. Seems interesting, but I actually never played bloodborne (no PS4) so I don't have as much of a connection to it as I do to Dark Souls. Who knows, I'll keep an eye out, but so far I'm leaning towards skipping this in favor of Trudvang Legends, which is supposed to be CMON's next KS after Bloodborne. Art from Paul Bonner looks amazing:


2018-July-Trudvang-SocialImage.jpg
 

mastroego

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New LotR game from FFG (Journeys in Middle Earth) is out and looks pretty damn underwhelming.

This review brings two negative points that killed the game for me: combat is bland as fuck and all enemies are just different sizes of damage sponges (which I suspected from the start) and the exploration part of the game is pretty underwhelming, with most encounters rewarding nothing more than inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrMDB9Tfg-Q&t=340s

On another note, completing my pledge manager for Tainted Grail this week. Trying to decide if I want to shell out for the miniatures pack, but I think I just don't like the minis that come with it.

Also: Bloodborne the board game coming up from CMON. Concept seems interesting: deckbuilder with a fixed set of 12 cards that you use to modify your attacks. You improve your deck in between scenarios (6 per campaign) and can come up with all sorts of builds based on your the trick weapon your character wields. Seems interesting, but I actually never played bloodborne (no PS4) so I don't have as much of a connection to it as I do to Dark Souls. Who knows, I'll keep an eye out, but so far I'm leaning towards skipping this in favor of Trudvang Legends, which is supposed to be CMON's next KS after Bloodborne. Art from Paul Bonner looks amazing:


2018-July-Trudvang-SocialImage.jpg
Any hope of digital versions?
 

Gay-Lussac

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New LotR game from FFG (Journeys in Middle Earth) is out and looks pretty damn underwhelming.

This review brings two negative points that killed the game for me: combat is bland as fuck and all enemies are just different sizes of damage sponges (which I suspected from the start) and the exploration part of the game is pretty underwhelming, with most encounters rewarding nothing more than inspiration.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrMDB9Tfg-Q&t=340s

On another note, completing my pledge manager for Tainted Grail this week. Trying to decide if I want to shell out for the miniatures pack, but I think I just don't like the minis that come with it.

Also: Bloodborne the board game coming up from CMON. Concept seems interesting: deckbuilder with a fixed set of 12 cards that you use to modify your attacks. You improve your deck in between scenarios (6 per campaign) and can come up with all sorts of builds based on your the trick weapon your character wields. Seems interesting, but I actually never played bloodborne (no PS4) so I don't have as much of a connection to it as I do to Dark Souls. Who knows, I'll keep an eye out, but so far I'm leaning towards skipping this in favor of Trudvang Legends, which is supposed to be CMON's next KS after Bloodborne. Art from Paul Bonner looks amazing:


2018-July-Trudvang-SocialImage.jpg
Any hope of digital versions?



For what exactly?

Bloodborne, probably no chance, as it's licensed by Sony.
Trudvang Legends is probably getting released by fall next year, digital release would be at least one or two years off, if it comes at all. Only CMON game that went digital so far has been Blood Rage, and it was years after release. But maybe they have plans to expand on digital products.
Tainted Grail, tho, is getting a digital version (already announced), but I'm not sure about the release date. It's probably the most interesting game out of the three, anyway.
 

eggdogg

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Yesterday, out of the blue, 3 of my co-workers gifted me a brand new copy of Gloomhaven. I was speechless and very excited.
 

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