Pictures of your recent tabletop games...

[TheCommandTent]

Today my wife and I played, "Clean up the shevles that hold our games" and try to organize and actually make them all fit.  Good news it work, Im just not sure how long it will last :)

[bayonetbrant]

OK, we need your thoughts on Kingdom Builder and Castles of Burgundy.  I've been eyeing both of those off and on for a while.  If I was still back in Columbus, I'd've checked 'em out at CABS.  But I'm not, so that limits me to begging for feedback from other places  :D

[TheCommandTent]

OK, we need your thoughts on Kingdom Builder and Castles of Burgundy.  I've been eyeing both of those off and on for a while.  If I was still back in Columbus, I'd've checked 'em out at CABS.  But I'm not, so that limits me to begging for feedback from other places  :D

Kingdom Builder is a fun little game that plays better with 4 people than 2 or 3.  Each game is a bit different as you arrange the various boards together to make the playing surface.  Then random objectives are drawn that all the players use to score their "Kingdoms" with at the end of the game.  It is very easy to learn and would be a great family game.  Simple mechanics and rules.  There is also alot of good thinking and planning ahead that could go into the game.  It doesn't really compare to any other game I've played so its hard to give a reference point.  There are no dice.  Each turn the players draw a random terrain card and then play three of their buildings in the corresponding terrain adjacent to their existing builds if possible.  If not they can place them in that type of terrain anywhere on the map (this is where the planning and thinking ahead comes into play).  It would probably not keep a Grogs attention for very long but it would be great for the family or someone just getting into boardgames.

Castles of Burgundy is alot of fun and deeper than it appears the first couple of times you play it.  However, after you figure out what you are suppose to be doing than it is alot of fun and a good challenge..  It was just as good for 2, 3 or 4 players.  It is somewhat similar to Agricola in that there are lots of options for you to do each turn but you are limited in what you can actually accomplish. (Not:  I enjoy this game way more than I do Agricola)   The mechanics are fairly easy to learn but like I said figuring out how you want to approach the game takes a game or two to understand.  The game boards are excellent and help move the game along as they all contain great rule reference charts.  Each turn the players roll their own two dice.  These dice are then used to perform actions as they correspond to spots on the game board to collect tokens, play tokens, use tokens etc.  Each player is trying to build their domain and each player can pursue a different strategy to win the most points or block other players from doing the same.  I would definitely recommend this game.   I think you could play this with the family if they are already boardgamers as they have a basis from which to work.  It would take a bit to teach it to non-gamers but could be done.  However, it is alot of fun and deep enough to satisfy a Grog without having to do with anything militarily.

[Arctic Blast]

Ah, BGG trading. Out goes Railways of the World (with 1 expansion), Rattus (with 1 expansion) and Mission Red Planet. In comes...



I'm going to go giggle now.

[bob48]

Still the best GW game EVAH!

[Arctic Blast]

Still the best GW game EVAH!

I hope to find out soon.

No way in Hell I'm busting that game out until the kiddies have left the area.  ;D

[TheCommandTent]

Still the best GW game EVAH!

I hope to find out soon.

No way in Hell I'm busting that game out until the kiddies have left the area.  ;D

We want pictures!

[Arctic Blast]

Still the best GW game EVAH!

I hope to find out soon.

No way in Hell I'm busting that game out until the kiddies have left the area.  ;D

We want pictures!

I'll set up a trial run and snap a few pics at some point over the weekend. My initial glance has told me that the components of this game are ridiculous (in a good way).

[GJK]

Having recently gotten into Blood Bowl and just now reading reviews and comments about SH on BGG and in particular the horrible customer service/relations that GW has.  Such a stranglehold on their IP; which they have every right but it's like they have a team of geeks just scouring the web for any hint of an illegally posted image or reference to one of their games.  I guess fans of SH are in the same boat as fans of BB are in; these games have zero support and zero plans for updates or reprints.  It's all about WH40K.  Anyways, just yet another GW rant on some random message board.  SH does look like it would be a kick-ass game however and I see a copy of it with PRO painted figures for the low price of $1500 on BGG.  Yikes!

[Arctic Blast]

Having recently gotten into Blood Bowl and just now reading reviews and comments about SH on BGG and in particular the horrible customer service/relations that GW has.  Such a stranglehold on their IP; which they have every right but it's like they have a team of geeks just scouring the web for any hint of an illegally posted image or reference to one of their games.  I guess fans of SH are in the same boat as fans of BB are in; these games have zero support and zero plans for updates or reprints.  It's all about WH40K.  Anyways, just yet another GW rant on some random message board.  SH does look like it would be a kick-ass game however and I see a copy of it with PRO painted figures for the low price of $1500 on BGG.  Yikes!

Space Hulk has always been a bit of a limited edition, anyway. You can get it for WAAYYYYY less than those ridiculous prices. Paint isn't worth that kind of green. Typically, around $200 will get it done. Or maybe you can find a trade of your very own!  ;D

[GJK]

Are you looking to trade away your copy of the game already AB?

[Arctic Blast]

Are you looking to trade away your copy of the game already AB?

HELLZ no. This is going on my 'never leaving my possession' shelf.  ;D

[Arctic Blast]

As promised....

Oh look, a space hulk! 5 Terminators of the Blood Angels come aboard, with the mission of torching the room in the upper right. Every mission has a different lineup of Marines entering play, and these are the crew for this one.



Those purple arrows are Genestealer entry locations. The round discs are Blip markers. Basically, the Genestealer player moves those markers around before revealing how many Stealers (1-3) they represent (or having them revealed by Space Marine movement). They cannot intentionally enter Marine line of sight as blips. Our valiant marines are entering to the left, led by Sergeant Lorenzo and his power sword/storm bolter combo. The dude in the middle is Brother Zael with the flamer. He's key to mission success. The other three are armed with Power Fists and Storm Bolters. Turns go as follows :

1. Command Phase. This is quick. The Marine player blindly draws one of 6 Command Point tokens. Each Marine gets 4 Action Points per round, and the Command Points drawn can be added to that total in any way the player sees fit. Every time the SM player uses a CP, the Genestealer player moves the token down the track. At the end of the round, it's revealed. If the Marine player screwed up and used more than he was allowed, game over. At the end of this phase, the Genestealer player flips the sand timer. To reflect the speed with which Tyranids move, the Space Marine Action Phase is timed.

2. This is where the magic happens. Each Marine is used in turn, moving, setting up in Overwatch, firing and so on. The turn has a total of 60 seconds (I believe) to cover the entirety of the Marines turn. If it runs out before you're done, too damn bad...you're done.

3. Genestealer Reinforcement Phase. Each mission allows the Tyranid player to draw a different number of Blip tokens per phase at this time, then choose which Entry points they'll use. They don't have to enter that turn...they're allowed to lurk. If a Marine is within 6 spaces of the entry point on the turn a Blip is put there, it HAS to lurk for that round.

4. Genestealer Action Phase. This is where the badness happens. Each Stealer and Blip token gets 6 action points. Genestealers are also a Hell of a lot more mobile (Space Marines can't move laterally or turn 180 degrees like Stealers can). On the other hand, Genestealers have no ranged attack capability. This works the same as the Space Marine Action Phase, only it isn't timed and there are no Tyranid Command Points. One note : Blip markers CANNOT be moved into line of sight of a Marine. Only revealed Genestealers can do that. Blips can be revealed at any time, so long as they haven't already moved in that round. If a Space Marine's movement reveals a Blip, they Tyranids are immediately placed. Placement is done by the Stealer player if reveal was voluntary and the Marine player if it wasn't.

5. Mission Status Phase. Check if either side has won or lost based on mission victory conditions, ensure the Marine player did not overspend on Command Points, remove all Flame and Guard Action/Overwatch Action/Jam tokens. Go back to 1.

First contact!



Lorenzo is in Overwatch (that's what the green token next to him means), so he fires every single time a Genestealer performs an action within his line of sight. Each fire means rolling two dice, with a 6 on one of them resulting in a kill. He rolls...doubles. That's bad. That's a jammed weapon. No command points left, so I can't clear the jam. They draw closer, but can't quite reach him before they're finished moving (jams automatically clear at the end of rounds). Meanwhile, several more have come flying down the main hallway and killed one of the other Marines, meaning Zael is now out front. Oh hey, let's use that flamer...





The good...flames ignite an entire board section for the entirety of a round, including the Genestealer half of the round. Every target in that section is rolled for, and anything higher than a 1 on a D6 is instant death. The bad...it only has 6 bursts. Now it has 5.

A few rounds go by, and the Marines are kicking ass.



Brother Valencio is on overwatch. This is the definition of a target rich environment.



Unfortunately, the weapon jams on the first kill and I'm horrible for remembering to save a Command Point or two for these situations. That leads to this.



Meanwhile, another Marine has died in melee.



Genestealers roll THREE dice in melee, standard Marines one. Highest number wins. This was a slaughter. Luckily, the Tyranid doesn't have any actions remaining which would let him rip Zael apart from the back (he's heading towards the upper passage which Valencio is in), as that would end the game immediately.

Valencio buys it. Lorenzo moves up to guard the main intersection. Zael is down to one last blast after torching two more Genestealers. Space Hulk is a fickle bitch.



And now it's Zael alone. He's surrounded. Firing to save himself would end the mission. His life is forfeit, so he decides to take a last ditch shot at melee'ing his way through and heading towards the goal.



He does actually kill two hand to hand! But it doesn't end well.



For those wondering, there are 12 Space Marines, every single one of them with a completely unique sculpt down to battle decorations, halos, ribbons and trophies. 6 are variants on the standard Power Fist/Storm Bolter Terminator. There's one Sarge with a Power Sword (Lorenzo) and a second with a Thunder Hammer/Storm Shield combo. Brother Claudio has two hands worth of Lightning Claws. Zael has a flamer. Brother Leon's packing an Assault Cannon. Finally, there is a Librarian with a Force Axe and Psi points to spend on powers.

There are 24 Genestealers in 12 unique molds, two per look. There is also a Brood Lord.

20 doors with stands, 22 different blip counters, a pile of indicators for entry points and the like, a dozen Ladder markers and 67 board pieces. This is by far the smallest map. The board pieces not only have fantastic art on them, but some of them are actually textured. It's ridiculous. It's absurd. It's awesome.

[Barthheart]

Looks like fun!

But you haven't painted yer mini's yet!?!  :o

[bayonetbrant]

that's a good read - you really ought to set that up as its own AAR thread :)