Over the past 4 years, I’ve gone from a board game fan to a true believer. Â Perhaps even a Hobbyist, gods forbid. Â Indulge me in a bit of history, before the real meat of the post….
Category Archives: Tabletop Games
Space Alert: the most fun I’ve had getting screwed (by a game).
Mr. Carlos suggested that I turn this in to an actual post, rather than simply a comment, so here it is:
I played a new game this recent game night (and since the comment, I’ve actually purchased it for myself). I’m not sure, but it may be the most entertaining game I’ve ever played. It may not be the *best* game, as I first thought, but I can’t remember a time I’ve had more flat out fun in a long time.
It’s called Space Alert. It is chaos and awesome rolled up in to one.
Last minute Geek Christmas Gifts already?
Cripes, it’s Christmas already. What’s going on? Well, here’s gift suggestions- maybe for your geek friends, maybe for you.
Of course, I expect lots of folks around these parts are playing Skyrim or Star Wars: The Old Republic. I’m certainly doing the latter at the moment. The only problem looking at those as gifts is that it is incredibly likely your fans of the material already have them. ^^ But it wouldn’t hurt to check. Also, the Humble Indie Bundle 4 looks great, and half the profits go to charity.
Hey, look- The Guild Season Five is now out, just in time for Christmas.
Right Stuf Anime is having a bunch of sales. Of particular note is the remastered Utena DVD box sets. The series had been hard to find for awhile. It’s one of my wife’s favorites. I may have picked up the Soul Eater holiday package…
For the budding RPGer, or someone who might want a bit simpler rule set, Pathfinder’s Beginner Box has been popular. And the Bestiary 3 was just released! Another interesting up and coming d20 game seems to be Legend. It’s a little over the top at times, but it’s an interesting approach to mixing classes, races, and specialties via mix-and-match tracks. That is, you can take a bit of ranger, combine it with a bit of steampunk robot-making, and be a dragon. Or you can be an elven ranger with all of its ranger-y goodness. (I suspect the former option might be more popular, but ya never know.) ^_^ Plus, right now all proceeds go to the Child’s Play charity. Nice. And lest I forget, although I haven’t had the opportunity to play it, the 3rd edition of Mutants and Masterminds sounds fun.
For the eBook fantasy readers out there, check out B. Justin Shier’s Zero Sight and its sequel, Zero Sum. Check out Zachary Rawlin’s The Academy. Both are marketed YA, but fun reads. Of course, if you haven’t picked up Sanderson’s Way of Kings, that’s fun. And Rothfuss’s Name of the Wind and its sequel, The Wise Man’s Fear. If you’d like RPG tie-ins, Paizo’s James Sutter’s Death’s Heretic is really very good.
Come to think of it, I can recommend books forever. =P
Oh, and I did pick up Betrayal at House on the Hill, for board gaming goodness…
And who can go wrong with a squishable Narhwal? (Picked one up for Q, it’s great. ^_^)
Other suggestions?
Game Night
Attended a game night this past weekend, and played some fun stuff. Five people playing, which limited our options a tiny bit, but still had plenty of games to try out.
First game was Ricochet Robots, in which you slide robots around the board to get them to a certain point. They only stop when they hit a wall or another robot; the point of the game is to get the robots to their goal in the fewest number of rules. It was a neat game, but not really my cup of tea. Part of the problem was that I was really tired when we started playing, and there were at least a couple of rounds where I didn’t try very hard. ^^;
The next game was Last Call: The Bartender Game. Players are randomly assigned drinks which take a certain number of bottles of specific colors to make. Each bartender starts with several bottles of one color, and you trade bottles around between bartenders, gathering different colors to specific places so you can make the drinks on your cards. If you trade a bottle in one round, you can’t trade it in the next round and you go to the bottom of the initiative track, to borrow a D&D term (basically, you go at the end, but then someone else goes at the end the next round, bumping you up, etc.). The goal is to accumulate the fewest number of ice cubes which you get when making drinks that are “watered down” (which happens when you make a drink but there are some extra bottles at the place you’re making them). Pretty quick game.
The next game was 7 Wonders, which I really liked. Mostly a resource management game that at least thematically reminded us of Sid Meier’s Civilization. Had fun with this one.
The final game of the evening was Betrayal at House on the Hill, which I absolutely loved and will probably purchase soon. In it, your group explores a mysterious old house that you’re trapped in. You play certain characters that have speed, might, knowledge, and sanity stats, which you use during your encounters. The map is randomly generated through the placing of tiles as you explore, and you draw event, item, or omen cards as you encounter them. Omen cards also give you the dreaded haunt roll, which you will fail eventually- and that’s when the titular Betrayal happens. At that point, you figure out which betrayal occurs based on the omen card, characters there, and some other factors, and one person leaves the group and has his or her own evil goals to fulfill, which the group has to stop/escape/survive/defeat. There are apparently many many different betrayals that can happen. This particular game, I apparently was feeding people to the house in exchange for a sort of immortality. ^_^ Lots of fun.
Board Game Updates
My wife and I were married on Halloween 8 years ago, and yes, we had a costume wedding. Every year since then we’ve had a themed low-key Halloween party where we often play games and provide chicfila and other food and drinkstuffs. She’s really great at both costumes and decorating, while I’m mostly along for the ride in those areas. Last year she made a giant glow in the dark monster octopus which hung from the ceiling of our entryway, tentacles spreading through all over, gaping maw towards the front door. It looked pretty awesome under the blacklights. ^^ Halloween is our favorite holiday.
I and some friends have picked up a few board games that were recommended by several people, among them our resident boardgame expert (who owns hundreds of games, including many antiques). One of them was a game that Derek mentioned awhile back, Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer. Interestingly, it also has an iPad app, which has been really useful in learning how to play the game. (Slight aside: recently acquired an iPad, and I’ve been using it constantly. Used it as my sole computer at a conference in New Orleans, and it worked out beautifully. Looking for more apps, so feel free to offer suggestions.)
Some friends of ours picked up Ghost Stories. Cooperative games are relatively rare, so they were pretty excited to get this one. The couple that bought it have been trying it out on their own, and they say it’s been fun. I like the premise- your group needs to stop an evil undead creature from resurrecting in this Asian-themed game, and you cooperate to fight off waves of invading spirits. Looking forward to it. The other coop game they’ll bring is Pandemic, which we’ve had fun with in the past, fighting off virulent disease outbreaks around the world (hmm… we could show Contagion in the background when that comes out…)
I also picked up Elder Sign (go cthulhu!) and Nightfall (horror competitive card game), but I haven’t had a chance to play them yet. ^_^ We’ll probably break ’em out at the party itself.
One the video game front, I’ve been playing League of Legends… eagerly awaiting the Old Republic, though!