Board Game thread

[apsham]

3 hours ago, Colly said:

EWB board game hive mind, I've been meaning to get Azul for ages, but they've just brought out Azul Mini which may be perfect since I'm just about to go on holiday. I did want to get the main game though, thinking I could maybe get Mini but then also get one of the various newer themed versions of the big one, any thoughts?

Honestly? It looks like a great option. It comes with the little plastic mini overlays that you normally got in the expansion - and although the expansion also offered some alternative boards to play on... eh, I really just got them for the overlays. You really probably want to start with base Azul - it's the most basic version and then if you want to go the route that I took;

• Skip Stained Glass of Sinatra. It adds complexity and fixes a few things, but not enough in my mind especially when...
• Summer Pavilion exists - it's the perfect step up and changes things up while adding enough to justify it being a second game.
• If you REALLY can't get enough, you can try Queen's Garden later which almost feels like an entirely different game and is much more complex.

The basis for this idea is that Azul enforces you to put tiles in as soon as you draft them, whereas Summer Pavilion and Queen's Garden have a mechanism that lets you plan out a bit more.

Everything else that is out is just an expansion that adds an overlay and alternate boards, or the Master Choclatier version of Azul that is just that base game with a different coloured theme.

Oh! And if you do get Azul Mini - there's a way to play it solitaire that isn't in the official rules but works really well. And with just a tiny bit of adaptation you can apply it to just about any of the Azul games, since it really just creates a way to simulate another person taking tiles without having to play a different board for them. https://www.boxofdelights.net/azul

 

[Colly]

Really helpful thanks. I think I'll get Azul Mini, see how we get on with that then look at Summer Pavilion if all goes well.

[K]

is azul mini the same game, just smaller? or is it like... i dunno, sushi go and sushi party go, where you lose some mechanics?

[Colly]

That's what I've been trying to find out but haven't found a review to properly confirm it yet.

[apsham]

I read the website and it contains all the original pieces plus the overlay and this promo video confirms it. 
 

There aren't really many mechanics you could remove from Azul in the first place either way.

[Colly]

Christ, his voice is more annoying than the Tifo guy Lineker keeps posting in the Sports Bar. Helpful though!

[RPS]

My kids are fully on the Ticket to Ride boat. The expansions aren't expansions in the typical sense, but standalone games, correct? 

[Mx. Canadian Destroyer]

1 hour ago, RPS said:

My kids are fully on the Ticket to Ride boat. The expansions aren't expansions in the typical sense, but standalone games, correct? 

Correct, the expansions are different settings of the usual game (Europe, Nordic Countries, London, etc.).

[apsham]

6 hours ago, RPS said:

My kids are fully on the Ticket to Ride boat. The expansions aren't expansions in the typical sense, but standalone games, correct? 

There's a few ways to go about it. To play anything past the base games, you need to have - well, one of the base copies. These include;

• Ticket To Ride
• Ticket To Ride: Europe
• Ticket To Ride: Nordic Countries (better for 2-3 player count, in fact it comes with less trains so it's not the suggested base version for most people)
• Ticket To Ride: Germany
• Ticket To Ride: Rails and Sails (which is a much bigger version that takes the whole world into account, using boats as well - though it also has a Grand Lakes map)

Owning at the very least Ticket to Ride original, Europe or Germany would be your start into the world of expansions.

Then you have the map collections which NEED to have the trains and train cards from the base game in order to function since they don't come with any/are in thinner boxes. They all have gimmicks that are particular and can change the game quite a bit. These days in stores you'll see;

• USA 1910 and Europa 1912 which are expansions for the OG game and Europe respectively. They add more possible location cards and include variants like Big City where there are less places to connect for a more tight game.
• Volume 1: Team Asia & Legendary Asia which include nice wooden card holders, a team play map, and a 6 player map, tunnels and mountain routes
• Volume 2: India and Switzerland which have some new mechanics in the way you score which include making mandalas on the India map
• Volume 3: The Heart of Africa, which is a full map of Africa that factors in terrain
• Volume 4: Nederland introduces a toll mechanic that means you have to pay for new lines to either the bank or another person who built a train line on the same are you are trying to
• Volume 5: United Kingdom and Pennsylvania are good 2-3 player maps once again, but they include the addition of tech in Britain to extend your railways and stocks in PA
• Volume 6 is France and the Old West - France allows you to actually create what colours the tracks will be as you play them, and the Old West is another 6 player variant
• Volume 6 and 1/2 is Poland which introduces Nation cards
• Volume 7 is Japan and Italy, Japan has the bullet train that everyone races to build together and can create shortcuts while Italy has Ferries

There are also for shorter and quicker play smaller box games called New York, London, Amsterdam, and San Francisco that play much quicker and even pretty well at 2 players. They use things like taxi cabs, double decker buses, etc. and all contain their own little gimmick.

The best thing to do would  be to look up which ones work the best at which player counts and what ones might offer the next kind of step up in complexity you might want. Here's a good overview that also covers some I missed;

https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Ticket_to_Ride_series

And then you'll get in too deep like me and end up with this.

Spoiler

 

 

[Colly]

The trains on that version look lovely, but I seem to remember it's insanely expensive? 

We've got Europe and London which works just nicely as a combo for an 11 year old and a 7 year old, the youngest will be onto Europe fairly shortly.

[apsham]

3 hours ago, Colly said:

The trains on that version look lovely, but I seem to remember it's insanely expensive? 

We've got Europe and London which works just nicely as a combo for an 11 year old and a 7 year old, the youngest will be onto Europe fairly shortly.

Yeah, it's generally $109 CAD vs $69 CAD but I caught it on Amazon for something like $79 so that worked out for the most part as I was thinking of getting nicer trains at some point anyways.

[Benji]

Is anyone else interested in BREAK!! ? Its a JRPG inspired rules lite tabletop RPG. Its due for release soon and I just placed my order for physical and PDF version so if anyone is interested in playing once I've read through the rules, then I'd like to try and find some people to GM for.

Website here for the interested.

[K]

Been playing Kingdomino this week. I won every time in 5x5 mode, but as soon as we switched to 7x7, my wife wins every time. Good fun though.

[K]

we rebought Hive Mini this week. forgot how tricky this is. Great pocket game though.

[apsham]

Hive mentally destroys me. Every time I think I've made a good move, it's quickly punctuated by my wife ending the game in the very next turn.

[Colly]

I really like it but that little bag keeps falling down the back of the cupboard and I forget about it...

Shouldn't whinge since I vastly prefer that to a big box, but it's lost out as a result.