Role Playing Games

[Nefaro]

to be fair, I have a metric monkey-load of stray minis from all manner of D&D minis, MageKnight collectibles, old WH box sets, etc.  Most of them were picked up at game conventions where folks are unloading warehouse stock dirt cheap.  Bayonet Jr and I hit a few booths at Origins in 2010 and spent about $15 each, and we had probably 80-90 minis each out of those boxes, including a few MK dungeons box starters that included maps, treasure chests, admin markers, etc.  That pile, plus the D&D minis I have, could let me re-create most of Braveheart's battle scenes at a 1-to-1 scale.  So I'm not exactly raiding other games for minis, when I've got 4 boxes of them on the shelves in the man-cave :)

Wow, nice. 

If I found some cheap lots of minis, I'd load up too.

[bayonetbrant]

Come to Origins - there's PLENTY

and, y'know... some wargaming with the Grogs, too :)

[Nefaro]

Come to Origins - there's PLENTY

and, y'know... some wargaming with the Grogs, too :)

I'd love to join up for some games but my back injuries preclude much travel these days.  Spending an hour upright in a vehicle makes it more akin to a medieval torture device than a mechanical conveyance.  Hopefully won't be laid up forever & get finished being further turned into a titanium cyborg and just run there on foot.   *cue Terminator music*   :P

[Arctic Blast]

The Pathfinder card game is decent, but...it got old for me fairly quickly. If it looks like something that all of you could get into, awesome. I would definitely suggest checking out some review/gameplay videos first, though. I found that it got quite repetitive, and I've since traded it off.

That got kinda old for me, too, in short order.  I don't think it's a problem with card variety but the mechanics for hunting down the bad guy in each scenario.  Grinding away at a few stacks of cards to shut them down before you discover the big guy kinda makes the exploration side of things rather dull.  And for a game where you can keep your characters and the items/skills you find in each adventure, I rarely found anything very good or interesting in the first few scenarios so I kept starting with pretty much the same set of items.

I think, as far as card games go, I'm finding more action-packed ones where your deck mix is different every game.  That makes a big difference, especially if even the same character deck has a good variety so that your strategy can even vary using the same character deck.  Reportedly Sentinels of the Multiverse is like that ( a Superhero card game where each player plays as a specific hero in the set).  I have it on order, looks like lots of thematic fun.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102652/sentinels-of-the-multiverse


ArizonaTank - I would suggest narrowing down whether you want a more narrative style with some minor character hit point/spell point/etc tracking with counters & such or just something with character themes and lots of action.  There is a lot of fantasy stuff out there and a little superhero stuff (mostly card games I think).

Yeah, I had Sentinels as well. Had...

When that game is working, it's a lot of fun. But sometimes you get a bad matchup, and the whole thing just falls apart at the seams. I also started becoming more and more annoyed with the fact that the 'simple' rules often boil down into an increasingly opaque math equation happening on the table. Sure, the basic rules ARE easy... but the cards often interact in bizarre and confusing ways. I enjoyed it for quite some time, but it eventually grew tiresome. I don't regret having owned it, but I also don't regret trading it off.

And of course, I had earlier raved about that and Pathfinder on here. I need to start shutting up until a little time has passed.  ;D

[Nefaro]

And of course, I had earlier raved about that and Pathfinder on here. I need to start shutting up until a little time has passed.  ;D

LOL!   Yeah I generally go by first and second impressions because that's how many times I've played most of these games.

As for Sentinels.., I've not even played it yet but after seeing some of the cards & such in action, I know that I'd enjoy the mechanics and general play of the system.  However, the ever escalating load of modifiers does look like it could put you in "DRM Hell" which I generally try to avoid. 

To be fair, I think many games end up becoming a big mathematics exercise after they've progressed a ways.   Pretty much all the card-based games and wargames are piles of numbers.  Maybe that's a reason I enjoyed Marvel Legendary - because it was very light on numbers and text but the hero card sets each still retained some of their own play style.  Light fare.

Another drawback to many games is the setup time and table space required.  Some of these things are monsters.  I pulled out an extra folding banquet table to put next to the game table in one room.  The table sprawl can be pretty serious, not to mention the possible accidents with all the cards, counters, dice, etc sitting around the board.  But without all this little fiddly stuff, we have Chutes & Ladders, so it's unavoidable to some extent.

[bayonetbrant]

They both like fantasy / super-heroes

might want to check this one out

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/actionphasegames/heroes-wanted-a-tactical-board-game-for-1-5-heroes

[Nefaro]

They both like fantasy / super-heroes

might want to check this one out

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/actionphasegames/heroes-wanted-a-tactical-board-game-for-1-5-heroes

Looks kinda like a Marvel/DC Heroclix kinda strategy game.

I have some old Marvel Heroclix stuff but the little data sheets glued inside have come loose on some of them by now.   >:(  Those old dials could be brutally tight too.

[Arctic Blast]

And of course, I had earlier raved about that and Pathfinder on here. I need to start shutting up until a little time has passed.  ;D

LOL!   Yeah I generally go by first and second impressions because that's how many times I've played most of these games.

As for Sentinels.., I've not even played it yet but after seeing some of the cards & such in action, I know that I'd enjoy the mechanics and general play of the system.  However, the ever escalating load of modifiers does look like it could put you in "DRM Hell" which I generally try to avoid. 

To be fair, I think many games end up becoming a big mathematics exercise after they've progressed a ways.   Pretty much all the card-based games and wargames are piles of numbers.  Maybe that's a reason I enjoyed Marvel Legendary - because it was very light on numbers and text but the hero card sets each still retained some of their own play style.  Light fare.

Another drawback to many games is the setup time and table space required.  Some of these things are monsters.  I pulled out an extra folding banquet table to put next to the game table in one room.  The table sprawl can be pretty serious, not to mention the possible accidents with all the cards, counters, dice, etc sitting around the board.  But without all this little fiddly stuff, we have Chutes & Ladders, so it's unavoidable to some extent.

Sentinels is a game that I'm pretty sure I'd love as an app or something like that. I like the way it works, I just got tired of the modifiers. Now, not every game ends up that bad. But sometimes you will end up with a Hellish mix of a villain deck that keeps spitting out rules tweaks and an environment deck that keeps putting cards out that affect everything on the table in different ways and...yikes.

And yes, I hear you on the table space part of things. Especially for something that seems like it shouldn't be that big. Firefly is a great example of that. The box is considerably smaller than the standard board game box that Fantasy Flight or Days of Wonder or anyone else use. But once you get all of those decks out, and everyone needs room for their player board and their crew cards and everything else, the entire table is awash in stuff.

[ArizonaTank]

Well, based on everyone's advice I kind of went "all-in"

Bought Sentinels of Multiverse, and played our first game last night.  It was a big hit.  Very tense game, where we barely beat Baron Blade in Atlantis.  Two expansions are inbound.  Great game, reasonably priced.

Took a deep breath and took the Runebound plunge....some big money for a game.  But after reading your opinions and info on BGG, it sounds like the game will hit the spot.  ASL taught me long ago about shelling out big money...so I'll get over it.

Also went all in with the D&D games:  Castle Ravenloft, Legend of Drizzt, and Wrath of Ashardalon.  Good deals on these at Amazon with prime membership.

Still have my eyes on the Sinbad game as well.

Thanks all for the advice will let you know how the gaming goes.

[Nefaro]

Well, based on everyone's advice I kind of went "all-in"

Bought Sentinels of Multiverse, and played our first game last night.  It was a big hit.  Very tense game, where we barely beat Baron Blade in Atlantis.  Two expansions are inbound.  Great game, reasonably priced.

Agreed.  I just enjoyed my first solo play.  The double-expansion box is well worth it, too.  Some interesting heroes & villains in those two (Rook City and Infernal Relics).  Make sure you get the double-box as I think that matches the newer "Expanded Edition" base set.  Just in case the card cuts are a bit different size.  To their credit, the card cuts on the ones I got are quite even - something I don't often see even in the expensive tabletop games these days.

Took a deep breath and took the Runebound plunge....some big money for a game.  But after reading your opinions and info on BGG, it sounds like the game will hit the spot.  ASL taught me long ago about shelling out big money...so I'll get over it.

Also went all in with the D&D games:  Castle Ravenloft, Legend of Drizzt, and Wrath of Ashardalon.  Good deals on these at Amazon with prime membership.

Still have my eyes on the Sinbad game as well.

Thanks all for the advice will let you know how the gaming goes.

:D

Those should keep you busy for awhile.

[Arctic Blast]

Well, based on everyone's advice I kind of went "all-in"

Bought Sentinels of Multiverse, and played our first game last night.  It was a big hit.  Very tense game, where we barely beat Baron Blade in Atlantis.  Two expansions are inbound.  Great game, reasonably priced.

Took a deep breath and took the Runebound plunge....some big money for a game.  But after reading your opinions and info on BGG, it sounds like the game will hit the spot.  ASL taught me long ago about shelling out big money...so I'll get over it.

Also went all in with the D&D games:  Castle Ravenloft, Legend of Drizzt, and Wrath of Ashardalon.  Good deals on these at Amazon with prime membership.

Still have my eyes on the Sinbad game as well.

Thanks all for the advice will let you know how the gaming goes.

You know, you are allowed to leave something on the shelf. Really.  ;D

[Nefaro]

I had wrestled with the idea of picking up Wrath of Ashardalon but I've still only barely scratched the surface of Castle Ravenloft.

It's a fun system, but after having owned Warhammer Quest years ago, the D&D board games still seem to be missing something.  The continuity for one, I suppose.  Certainly not the price.  :P  Even when WQ was new, it was damn pricey.  But it also seemed to have more variety regarding monsters, etc and didn't have the weird 2-part movement system.  Of course it was from Games Workshop, so they included all the extra monster stats and such to entice you to buy more of their minis for it.  ;)  Too bad this game and a few others went missing last time I moved.  I do think the D&D boardgames can rival it's content if you mix multiple titles.   That would just leave the question of character continuity but I don't necessarily miss getting bogged down tracking all the extra stuff and eventually having to come up with home brewed scenario setups. 

[BanzaiCat]

There's a version of WQ on the iPad that I bought around Christmastime. It's fairly enjoyable for a time but it had tons of in-app purchases available, which angers me on principle. It didn't cost that much though so I thought I'd give it a shot. Had to delete it to make room for other things but I'd like to go back to it sometime.

[Arctic Blast]

I know that there is a ton of custom fan-made stuff for the D&D Adventure games on BGG. Some people have really built up campaign modes, but some of them need extra card decks you have to print off and what not. I haven't taken too deep a look into what's available, but there might be something like what you're looking for.