by enoon
Good Lord! I better double-check my copy. I was sure I had the same fear when I opened the box but then checked the cards. Thanks for the heads up!Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: 2013 Edition missing "Le Grand Hameau" expansion
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Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: 2013 Edition missing "Le Grand Hameau" expansion
by Herbz
enoon wrote:
Good Lord! I better double-check my copy. I was sure I had the same fear when I opened the box but then checked the cards. Thanks for the heads up!
Edit: double-checked and they are all there. I bought my copy in the UK about 4+ months ago, though.
Edit: double-checked and they are all there. I bought my copy in the UK about 4+ months ago, though.
Thanks for checking, out of interest were they the orange looking cards? Or have they been printed to look like the standard cards?
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Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: 2013 Edition missing "Le Grand Hameau" expansion
by enoon
Very orange! I don't know if this info helps, but on the reverse of mine the barcode number is: 6 81706 71280 2Also:
ZMG 71280
Made in Germany
and vertically: 01-71280AB201303
C 2008 Lookout Games
C 2013 Z-Man Games, Inc
On the inside of the box lid (the blue part) is what might be a printer's reference for the box cover: 22028557 - WKZ - 1090_70_D
Hope that helps.
I've sent Z-man three webmail messages and 2 email messages since November re Ora & Labora without a response (except for the auto-response from the webform), so I wish you good luck!
Contacting Lookout direct might help if Z-man are being uncommunicative, but not for English versions of O&L it seems
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Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: 2013 Edition missing "Le Grand Hameau" expansion
by Herbz
Thanks Grooble, yeah same version/lot number etc. See how we go. :)↧
New Image for Le Havre
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Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: 2013 Edition missing "Le Grand Hameau" expansion
by MegaGuy
You guys had any luck contacting Z-man? I was just about to order it from CSI but now I don't know what to do :(↧
Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: 2013 Edition missing "Le Grand Hameau" expansion
by Herbz
MegaGuy wrote:
You guys had any luck contacting Z-man? I was just about to order it from CSI but now I don't know what to do :(
I called Zman on Friday, they have posted me the missing cards. Maybe you could ask CSI to open the box to check if the expansion is included before they ship it to you?
The game is great without the expansion btw, but it is nice to receive what you pay for :)
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Hobold's Grotte
by saabee
Prémium minőségű, egyedi, kézzel készült figurák, kiegészítők és szettek!:(Igaz az ár is a fentieknek megfelelő.)
A teljesség igénye nélkül néhány kép:
Agricola:
Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island:
Stone Age:
Carcassonne:
Le Havre:
http://hoboldsgrotte.blogspot.hu/
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Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: 2013 Edition missing "Le Grand Hameau" expansion
by PaulDavidson
MegaGuy wrote:
You guys had any luck contacting Z-man? I was just about to order it from CSI but now I don't know what to do :(
For what it's worth, my copy of the game (from the 2013 print run) has the expansion in it.
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Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: Time span
by Miller4h9
ayedub wrote:
gillum wrote:
That's partly because, in Le Havre, you always have only one worker!
:)
That's true, but that one worker is still a jerk that gets hungrier and HUNGRIER as the game goes on :D
By Agricola standards, he's eating enough for 10 people by the end of the two player game!
I just played my first long game with my dad. It was 3 hours. It was a very good 3 hours.
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New Image for Le Havre
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Crossing the Digital Veil
by Oliver Kiley
I had been using an older iPod touch for a few years, and manage to find a few boardgame App’s that worked on the older iOS version, but not many. With our growing family, I’ve been finding opportunities for face-to-face boardgaming becoming more sporadic as expected. There are a lot iPad only boardgame apps, and most needed a few version of iOS than the old iPod would support. So the iPad Mini would provide a way to play a much expanded library of games with friends (or other gamers) online, or even solo against the AI.
As a general note – while I do enjoy gaming (or boardgaming) on the iPad, it certainly isn’t the same as being face to face. For some games, it isn’t a huge deal breaker on my enjoyment of the game – but for others it can be. A other types of games are just never going to work as well in an online format.
Regardless, now five months later I wanted to reflect back on some of the games I’ve picked up, and some of those that I’m looking forward to. I also recently posted a Geeklist attempting to “Digitize” my boardgame collection through a combination of iOS apps, websites, and PC programs. If you are curious to see the full list and look me up to game with, drop by that list.
[hr]Hot Boardgame Apps
This first group are boardgame Apps that I’ve really enjoyed playing, and expect to continue enjoy.
[hr]
Small World
I recently bit the bullet on this App over the holiday’s, and I’m glad I did. I like Small World quite a bit and was holding out purchasing this app until they released a full version that supporting the full game (more players, etc.) and online play. I still prefer Small World primarily as a 2-player game, but I don’t mind it with more. The app is really nice and polished.
Stone Age
I have been pretty turned-off on Stone Age as a boardgame after my first few plays a while ago. I just didn’t find the game terribly interesting given the timeframe it takes (however reasonable that is). The game feels very scripted to me, and not terribly dynamic. Yet – the Stone Age app really worked for me. I can knock a game out vs. the AI pretty quickly, and the app itself is very nicely done and pleasing to play.
Tigris & Euphrates
This Codito app feels a little rickety and is showing some age – but everything works just as it should, is clear, and efficient. I love Tigris, so anything that lets me play it more is a good thing.
A Brief History of the World
I haven’t played this as a physical game prior to trying out the App (another Codito app) – and after figuring out WTF I was doing after a few games, it’s really taken off for me and is one of my favorite apps. It’s not fancy or flashy, but it works well and more importantly the game is great. It’s reminiscent of Small World in that each turn you are building on top of old empires with a new one – yet I find the decisions more strategically interesting and tense compared to Small World. The timing and turn order is vitally important, and often it can be worth taking sub-optimal moves in one Epoch to keep your score low to get 1st pick of an empire for the next Epoch. Interesting balance and tipping points with enough uncertainty to keep things interesting.
Ascension
This was another game I hadn’t played prior to trying it on the iOS. The PlayDeck implementation is outstanding, and I’m really sad to hear that it may not be supported by them in future due to a rights / licensing issue. The gameplay is interesting enough (and addicting on the iOS) and good for a quick play of something – but it does feel pretty solitary even with playing against another player. There isn’t much interaction or tension in the game.
Eclipse
I’d only had a minimal bit of experience with Eclipse prior to the app. The app itself is exceptionally well produced and developed. I’ve played quite a number of games against the AI and against my friends. While the game itself is enjoyable, many rapid plays of the game only reinforces my gripe about the levels of randomness in the game forcing players into one direction or another. This is fine if you’re willing to put your competitive personality on hold and enjoy the unfolding narrative. The game’s mechanics ARE great, fun, and interesting from that standpoint, but as a deeply strategic game I find it lacking.
[hr]NON-Boardgame Apps
So there are tons of non-boardgame apps out there (obviously). I wanted to point out a few of them that might appeal to the boardgamer in all of us.
[hr]
Sorcery! Part 1 & Part 2
These are old Steve Jackson Gamebooks that have been ported to iOS. Pretty awesome apps across the board in terms of functionality, design, etc. The books and stories themselves are interesting and quite challenging, particularly Part 2. I’ve been having a lot of run working through these games.
Pathogen
This is an abstract strategy game, vaguely reminiscent of Go in terms of the wide open decision space and placement of pieces. Except you have three difference pieces you can place. And you can place pieces on top of other pieces which creates a cascade of changes, almost like Othello. Mix in variable map layouts and conditions, and it creates a very challenging and diverse game system. Definitely worth checking out if you like abstracts.
Starbase Orion
The ultimate 4X game for iOS users. Check out my monstrous review here. I still enjoy this game, and usually have a few multiplayer games underway. But I’m now longing for a change or evolution for the game. Excited to see what the developer may do with it in the future.
XCOM
This was the big AAA blockbuster ported down to the iOS. Overall, very solid and well-designed game – although after playing for a while it started to feel a bit dull. I don’t find the tactical combat part of the game terribly interesting, and the base/operations management aspect of it is ultimately fairly trite and non-interesting despite appearances. I so want to love this game, and I do enjoy it - but I'm struggling to find the motivation to make it across the finish line.
XCOM recieved a lot of praise - but for a different point of view consider this review over at the Scientific Gamer. Excellent piece of critical writing.
Empire: The Deck Building Game
I was sold on the game based on the designers blog and writings on the topic of civ games. Empire seemed poised to respond to many of my grievances about 4X/civ games. But when I sat down to play it, I didn’t find it all that engrossing. The game is far too limited to scope to be a proper civ/empire game, and while I applaud the bold design ideas, the execution just felt illogical to me. Why the 3 city limit? Why random arrangements during combat? Too many leaps of faith.
Amber Route
An interesting little card-based game where you are moving across a landscape in competition with another player to deliver something to furthest location. Cool concept, beautiful presentation. The gameplay is interesting but not exceptional though – but still worth checking out.
Skulls of the Shogun
Snagged this only played it a bit so far. A somewhat amusing and cartoonish tactical combat game of samurai, archers, and cavalry causing a commotion in the underworld. Woot!
Autumn Dynasty
So this one is more of a real-time strategy game, using various gesture commands to issue orders. It's visually quite engaging and fun to play, although I haven't found it terribly challenging. The narrative is interesting and I'm almost through the campaign. Interested in finishing it out for sure.
Decromancer
This an interesting game that combines world exploration / questing aspect of the play with a card-based tactical lane combat system. I'm not terribly far into the game, and despite there being IAP's I'm not seeing much of a need for those at the moment. Cool looking game that I want to play more.
Ancient Battles: Rome
More of a tactical level wargame with ancient units. Still working through the training missions and faring decently thus far. It's not a super easy game by any stretch, but it's been fun so far.
Hunters (1/2)
These games are from the same developer that went on to make Warhammer Quest. I thought these games were great fun, as you built up a team of mercenaries and took on various missions to earn cash for more gear. Hunters 2 included a small campaign as well that dovetailed with the sandbox environment too. I'd love to see the developer revisit and expand on the series more, building a more robust meta-world around the tactical level gameplay. Definitely worth checking out if you like tactical games.
[hr]
Non-Boardgame Pending Play or Purchase
These are apps that I've picked up but haven't got to yet.
[hr]
Battle of the Buldge
I keep hearing great things about this one - so I picked it up recently but haven't given it a play yet. Really looking forward to it.
Frozen Synapse
I remember being excited about this game when it came out a while ago on the PC, but I never pulled the trigger. I picked this one up recently as well, but haven't fired it up.
Roads of Kings
A game that was just released that seems to be a world exploration RPG game, but at a more strategic level? Look cool - haven't purchased it yet.
[hr]
Less-Enthused Boardgame Apps
These are apps that I’ve played and I’m pretty cool on, either due to the implementation or the game itself, or some combination of both. I’m not enthusiastic or interested in playing these much anymore, although I might if the mood suddenly strikes.
[hr]
Warhammer Quest
I played through all the content in the basic game, and had a good time. But, maybe this is just my abundance of experience with tactical miniature games (emphasis on other Games’ Workshop games), but I just didn’t find it very challenging or engaging. After a while, the quests became very monotonous feeling – and while IAP’s provide expanded content, I don’t see that fundamentally changing the gameplay in a way that would provide more longevity for me. So for now, I’m done with it.
Ra
After hearing various GeekBuddies slobber on about Ra, I tried it on the iOS to see what the mechanics were all about. I suspect this a game that works much better in person given the nature of the game. Yet the iOS implementation was nicely done, so I can’t fault that at all.
Tikal
I only played this one a few times on the iOS. It’s interesting and well regarded game. I haven’t played it in person, but I hear grumblings that it can be an AP-inducing nightmare, given the 10 action points you have to spend all at once on your turn. As a consequence, I’d probably enjoy the game more in the iOS when played asynchronously – but I just haven’t found myself too drawn to playing it more.
Caylus
Played it a few times in person and bought iOS app on a whim. I struggle with the interface on this one, as much as I want to like it. I find it challenging to figure out exactly what’s going on at a glance and find it draining to try and play. I WANT to like and play this one more, I just struggle each time I pull it up for some reason.
Le Havre
My bias against resource conversion games is perhaps starting to show. I’ve gone through the tutorial multiple times and find the whole experience infuriating. The app seems well produced and executed, but I just can’t get myself excited about playing this game at all. I find the whole thing needlessly finicky, convoluted, and incremental in its gameplay to very interesting.
San Juan
A decent app in the iPad (unusable on an iphone BTW, due to image scaling making text unreadable) – but the gameplay itself doesn’t excite me much. I’d rather play Race for the Galaxy or many other games, as San Juan is pretty dry across the board.
Neuroshima Hex
I’ve heard awesome things about this app, but I just can’t penetrate it for some reason. I haven’t played the physical version before, and I suspect that might be my issue with it.
Samurai
I really enjoy this Knizia game, and the app is nice. But I prefer to play the game in person.
[hr]The Watch List – High Priority
Apps I’m keeping an eye on and will probably pick up when I’m looking to make another purchase.
[hr]
Kingdom Builder– Want to try the game, but have heard spotty views on the quality of the app itself.
Lords of Waterdeep– Lots of praise, want to see what the fuss is all about
Scotland Yard– looks good, and I’ve heard good things about it
Suburbia– looks good, but waiting for the kinks to get worked out
Pandemic– app looks awesome, but not in a huge rush to play
[hr]The Watch List – Low Priority
Other apps I’m watching but am no rush to try. I’m either not very interesting in the game design itself, or there is a big issue with the app itself that needs to be resolved first.
[hr]
Agricola– Not the biggest fan of the game, AND I can’t stand the graphic direction of the app. Sorry!
Alien Frontiers– incomplete features
Cyclades– incomplete features (2-player pass and play only? WTF?)
Dominant Species– incomplete features
Elder Sign– low game interest
Ingenious– low game interest, app isn’t too pleasing visually
Qin– why would play this over Tigris?
[hr]
That's a wrap on my 4-5 months of more serious forays into the world of iOS boardgames and strategy oriented games. It's been a good ride so far and I've played a lot of terrific games. Looking forward to the rest of 2014! How about you?
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New Image for Le Havre
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New Image for Le Havre
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Dimebag Challenge - January '14 plays
Since January 15, when I started this challenge, I've logged 28 total plays, broken down as follows:
Board Game Title / Current Plays / Plays Needed
Archipelago: 3 plays
Previous stats:0 / 10
Current stats:3 / 7
A newcomer to the challenge, it was a birthday present from my wife (she knew I had been wanting it but had been intimidated by the price point...apparently she got a good deal for it). I got the Solo Expansion (below) at the same time. I played 2 quick games with H on my birthday, the first one taking several hours (including rules explanation and reference) and the second taking much closer to the advertised 30 minutes. The next day, after one play of the solo expansion, I tried a base game solo variant I am cooking up. I'm pleased by the game and looking forward to diving into the longer game modes once we've gotten more comfortable with the mechanics. My main concern was always whether H would like the game, since she's my main gaming partner...I think it's a bit confrontational for her tastes, especially when I act selfishly during a crisis, but hopefully she likes it enough to want to play more. If not, there is always the solo play.
Archipelago: Solo Expansion: 1 play
Previous stats:0 / 10
Current stats:1 / 9
I am considering this a separate item from the Archipelago base game, since the experience is so different for solo play. I'm working on a solo/fully cooperative variant for Archipelago using the base game objectives, and will use that to supplement my 2-player plays. As far as the solo expansion, I've barely gotten my feet wet. My original plan was to go through the scenarios in order, but I think I will switch to a random draw. I'm not too concerned about earning the gold medal, and would rather just maximize my score, with the silver medal representing a good game and bronze representing "at least I didn't lose." My opinion after one play of the solo expansion is that it's a bit tighter than I would like (hence my desire for the more open-ended variant described above), but still fun. I think doing the random card draw will bring in enough of a mix of game lengths to ease up that feeling.
Battlestar Galactica: 1 play
Previous stats:3 / 7
Current stats:4 / 6
An attempt at a solo variant (slightly different solo variant). Here's my dilemma with this game: I absolutely love it as a 3+ player game, but we almost never have 3+ players willing to dive into something so complex and time-consuming. I want to get Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak Expansion, but given the odds of this game getting played at all this year, it just wouldn't be a solid investment. Granted, I have not yet tried the official solo variant, but neither version of my solo variant or the official 2-player variant have done anything for me. I would say this means I have to sell the game...except that it officially belongs to H, a birthday present to her before I found out she doesn't like board games (she's a big fan of the show). So I'm not really sure what to do about it.
Bruges: 1 play
Previous stats:2 / 8
Current stats:3 / 7
First play of a solo variant I am designing. It still needs some ironing out around the edges, but could be a lot worse. Basically, I have an AI player (might increase to 2 or 3 AI) that uses a combination of a d6 and the color of the card to determine what action he takes with it. The AI player does not use his characters' powers, but does not need to pay guilders or take disaster tokens, so I think it evens out. There are tweaks to the dice rolls based on the cost of the action, whether the player has majority, and the amount of houses the AI has in play that I think are cleverly done, causing him to "waste" some turns building houses that might otherwise be spent getting money or workers. It'll need more testing before I type it up, and hopefully I'll have plenty of 2-player games as well (H tends to enjoy Feld games more than other designers).
Innovation: 5 plays
Previous stats:2 / 8
Current stats:7 / 3
This game got a big boost thanks to the rather excellent SoloPlay_Innovation_v1.pdf. I've known about this variant for a while, and heard lots of praise for the designer, but I've always put it off because, frankly, his rules layouts look like a math textbook and make my brain hurt. I'm glad I tried it, though, because after I wrapped my head around the rules, it turned out to be a very simple and high-quality solo game. This is especially impressive given that Innovation is a text-heavy, highly interactive card game, which are almost impossible to turn into decent solitaire games usually. I also had a couple of 2-player games with H, including my first play with the expansion, Innovation: Echoes of the Past, which I think brings a lot to the game in terms of theme and variety (even using the updated setup rules, it makes it a lot less likely that an age will be completely emptied, which means more different combinations of cards in play). All of these plays were necessitated by the fact that I was working on a review/critical article about Innovation for an external website, which will hopefully be published in early February.
Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy: 1 play
Previous stats:2 / 8
Current stats:3 / 7
My first play of the Testament solo variant. While I think it was a clever concept, and I'm glad that solo play was included in the base game (I wouldn't have bought it otherwise, and it's great to play with my wife), I wasn't enthralled by my first play of The Testament. First, I think there are just too few hint cards with too similar effects. It could really use its own dedicated expansion of at least 10 more hint cards per generation (there are many more possibilities than those) and maybe more friend or child cards with special effects intended for the solo game. Second, I am not a big fan of the slightly arbitrary end-of-game scoring involving French vs. non-French relatives and nobility vs. commoner professions. I see the thematic explanation, but their effects are so minimal that they just seem fiddly, and they also would appear to make solo games play out similarly. A set of patron cards specific to the solo variant would be a welcome replacement for this mechanism.
Mage Knight Board Game: 2 plays
Previous stats:6 / 4
Current stats:8 / 2
So glad I made the time to play more of this, considering I haven't done a single play of the physical copy since I got Mage Knight Board Game: The Lost Legion about a year ago (the plays I've logged since that time were on VASSAL). I did one Blitz Solo Conquest game and one play of a special "Second Reconnaissance" scenario I cooked up to familiarize myself with the new gameplay features from the expansion. Judging by how long those games took, I am confident I can start doing full Solo Conquest games in a reasonable timeframe now...under 3 hours, at least. I've also figured out a more efficient way to set up the game and utilize my table space. I've got two homebrewed scenarios I need to test in the future, so this will probably go beyond the 10-play mark this year.
Mansions of Madness: 2 plays
Previous stats:15 / 8
Current stats:17 / 6
Another game I'm thrilled to finally be playing. Mansions is among my favorite thematic game designs (love the horror genre, focus on story and puzzles and clever combat implementation), and I'm always excited when a new expansion comes out. However, H doesn't really like it (the games tend to run long for her tastes), and previous attempts at playing it solo have been lukewarm at best. Since I've been working on my No-Keeper Threat Deck Variant, my plays and enjoyment of the game have skyrocketed. I love how the Threat Deck gives me the control to tinker with the provided keeper actions so that they are more suited for solo play (and sometimes address issues with the original scenario design), and I also love being able to cherrypick the best objectives. There is still a small element of suspense missing, since you don't get to try to figure out the exact interpretation of the clues as you are playing, but overall this is working out great so far. I still need to do more playtests of Green-Eyed Boy, then start working on the other base game and expansion scenarios...hopefully I'll make a dent this weekend or the next.
Onirim: 4 plays
Previous stats:14 / 7
Current stats:18 / 3
A quick-playing game that's not as deep as I would like. Now that I have other games of similar length (like SOS Titanic, below), I think I'll be playing this game less. Once note is that I finally removed the cards from the sleeves that had been bugging me since I put them on...I think a few of the sleeves were about a millimeter smaller than the others, and I always worried about this messing up probabilities when I cut and shuffled. It also means that the game fits in its own box again!
Shadowrift: 3 plays
Previous stats:1 / 9
Current stats:4 / 6
I tried to log some plays of this in anticipation of the Shadowrift: Archfiends expansion, which I'm backing on Kickstarter. This is another game I love, but not necessarily as a solo game...which sucks, given that it is fully cooperative. I'm planning on more plays in the near future to assess whether Archfiends is really something I need. Usually, when I play solo, I do 2 or 3 decks simultaneously, which can get to be quite a drag with all the shuffling involved. Last time, I played a single-deck variant based on the designer's suggested solo rules (3 base power per turn, but you get 2 hero turns in a row) and it went a lot more smoothly, so there is hope yet. However, I got totally smashed by the Storm Lords, so I'll have to try it with some other monster decks before I am decided whether it will work long term. Solo games with uber high difficulty, such as Ghost Stories, tend to make me lose interest if it looks like I'm on a losing trajectory, which is a big reason I had logged only 1 complete play of this game previously.
SOS Titanic: 4 plays
Previous stats:7 / 3
Current stats:11 / -1
I predict this one to go waaaaaay beyond 10 plays. While it's not my favorite solitaire game, its probably my favorite in its weight class (relative to setup, complexity and playtime). At first, it seems like it's just Solitaire...but the more you play, the more you begin to figure out strategies to improve your score. I still haven't gotten a full passenger rescue, but I've got my final score hovering in the 40-45 mark consistently, which is good progress. For solo, I only play with a "neutral" character I've devised (no special rules, 1-5 card draw, starts with 3 action cards) because I think the crewmembers' special abilities are far more interesting in combination with each other, and games in which you can't draw extra action cards are sort of boring and much more reliant on luck. Great time-filler game or as a cool-down or warm-up to a bigger game.
The Swarm: 1 plays
Previous stats:0 / 10
Current stats:1 / 9
This is a game we've had for a while, but H insisted on reading the book before we could play it (I think it was just an excuse not to learn a new game), and then we waited for a while longer due to the arrival of some preorders in September followed by new Christmas games. I convinced her to try it as part of my pre-birthday festivities. Turned out to be a fun, but not amazing, euro game, pretty much as I expected. There's a lot more interaction in the tile placement than I had anticipated, which means that my eventual solitaire variant will be more work than originally expected, but I think H would be willing to play again. The overall game length was short, under an hour even for the first game, which is always a plus for her.
January represents a solid foundation for the challenge right out of the gate, especially seeing as these are only my plays for the second half of the month. To be fair, some of these games are on the shorter side (Onirim and SOS Titanic take roughly 15-30 minutes per play), so I'll probably rack up a lot more plays for them before I complete some of the longer games on my list. Next month, I expect to be playing more of Mage Knight, Mansions of Madness, Archipelago, and whatever other games I might receive in that time frame (still have some birthday gifts and Kickstarter shipments incoming). I also want to return to Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords - Base Set, which I was playing almost daily before starting this challenge, and would like to try the SoloPlay variant and my own solo variant of Le Havre (a Christmas gift...I've played it a lot on iOS, but haven't logged any plays for the physical version yet).
Games that have met the challenge:
SOS Titanic (January)
Board Game Title / Current Plays / Plays Needed
Archipelago: 3 plays
Previous stats:0 / 10
Current stats:3 / 7
A newcomer to the challenge, it was a birthday present from my wife (she knew I had been wanting it but had been intimidated by the price point...apparently she got a good deal for it). I got the Solo Expansion (below) at the same time. I played 2 quick games with H on my birthday, the first one taking several hours (including rules explanation and reference) and the second taking much closer to the advertised 30 minutes. The next day, after one play of the solo expansion, I tried a base game solo variant I am cooking up. I'm pleased by the game and looking forward to diving into the longer game modes once we've gotten more comfortable with the mechanics. My main concern was always whether H would like the game, since she's my main gaming partner...I think it's a bit confrontational for her tastes, especially when I act selfishly during a crisis, but hopefully she likes it enough to want to play more. If not, there is always the solo play.
Archipelago: Solo Expansion: 1 play
Previous stats:0 / 10
Current stats:1 / 9
I am considering this a separate item from the Archipelago base game, since the experience is so different for solo play. I'm working on a solo/fully cooperative variant for Archipelago using the base game objectives, and will use that to supplement my 2-player plays. As far as the solo expansion, I've barely gotten my feet wet. My original plan was to go through the scenarios in order, but I think I will switch to a random draw. I'm not too concerned about earning the gold medal, and would rather just maximize my score, with the silver medal representing a good game and bronze representing "at least I didn't lose." My opinion after one play of the solo expansion is that it's a bit tighter than I would like (hence my desire for the more open-ended variant described above), but still fun. I think doing the random card draw will bring in enough of a mix of game lengths to ease up that feeling.
Battlestar Galactica: 1 play
Previous stats:3 / 7
Current stats:4 / 6
An attempt at a solo variant (slightly different solo variant). Here's my dilemma with this game: I absolutely love it as a 3+ player game, but we almost never have 3+ players willing to dive into something so complex and time-consuming. I want to get Battlestar Galactica: Daybreak Expansion, but given the odds of this game getting played at all this year, it just wouldn't be a solid investment. Granted, I have not yet tried the official solo variant, but neither version of my solo variant or the official 2-player variant have done anything for me. I would say this means I have to sell the game...except that it officially belongs to H, a birthday present to her before I found out she doesn't like board games (she's a big fan of the show). So I'm not really sure what to do about it.
Bruges: 1 play
Previous stats:2 / 8
Current stats:3 / 7
First play of a solo variant I am designing. It still needs some ironing out around the edges, but could be a lot worse. Basically, I have an AI player (might increase to 2 or 3 AI) that uses a combination of a d6 and the color of the card to determine what action he takes with it. The AI player does not use his characters' powers, but does not need to pay guilders or take disaster tokens, so I think it evens out. There are tweaks to the dice rolls based on the cost of the action, whether the player has majority, and the amount of houses the AI has in play that I think are cleverly done, causing him to "waste" some turns building houses that might otherwise be spent getting money or workers. It'll need more testing before I type it up, and hopefully I'll have plenty of 2-player games as well (H tends to enjoy Feld games more than other designers).
Innovation: 5 plays
Previous stats:2 / 8
Current stats:7 / 3
This game got a big boost thanks to the rather excellent SoloPlay_Innovation_v1.pdf. I've known about this variant for a while, and heard lots of praise for the designer, but I've always put it off because, frankly, his rules layouts look like a math textbook and make my brain hurt. I'm glad I tried it, though, because after I wrapped my head around the rules, it turned out to be a very simple and high-quality solo game. This is especially impressive given that Innovation is a text-heavy, highly interactive card game, which are almost impossible to turn into decent solitaire games usually. I also had a couple of 2-player games with H, including my first play with the expansion, Innovation: Echoes of the Past, which I think brings a lot to the game in terms of theme and variety (even using the updated setup rules, it makes it a lot less likely that an age will be completely emptied, which means more different combinations of cards in play). All of these plays were necessitated by the fact that I was working on a review/critical article about Innovation for an external website, which will hopefully be published in early February.
Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy: 1 play
Previous stats:2 / 8
Current stats:3 / 7
My first play of the Testament solo variant. While I think it was a clever concept, and I'm glad that solo play was included in the base game (I wouldn't have bought it otherwise, and it's great to play with my wife), I wasn't enthralled by my first play of The Testament. First, I think there are just too few hint cards with too similar effects. It could really use its own dedicated expansion of at least 10 more hint cards per generation (there are many more possibilities than those) and maybe more friend or child cards with special effects intended for the solo game. Second, I am not a big fan of the slightly arbitrary end-of-game scoring involving French vs. non-French relatives and nobility vs. commoner professions. I see the thematic explanation, but their effects are so minimal that they just seem fiddly, and they also would appear to make solo games play out similarly. A set of patron cards specific to the solo variant would be a welcome replacement for this mechanism.
Mage Knight Board Game: 2 plays
Previous stats:6 / 4
Current stats:8 / 2
So glad I made the time to play more of this, considering I haven't done a single play of the physical copy since I got Mage Knight Board Game: The Lost Legion about a year ago (the plays I've logged since that time were on VASSAL). I did one Blitz Solo Conquest game and one play of a special "Second Reconnaissance" scenario I cooked up to familiarize myself with the new gameplay features from the expansion. Judging by how long those games took, I am confident I can start doing full Solo Conquest games in a reasonable timeframe now...under 3 hours, at least. I've also figured out a more efficient way to set up the game and utilize my table space. I've got two homebrewed scenarios I need to test in the future, so this will probably go beyond the 10-play mark this year.
Mansions of Madness: 2 plays
Previous stats:15 / 8
Current stats:17 / 6
Another game I'm thrilled to finally be playing. Mansions is among my favorite thematic game designs (love the horror genre, focus on story and puzzles and clever combat implementation), and I'm always excited when a new expansion comes out. However, H doesn't really like it (the games tend to run long for her tastes), and previous attempts at playing it solo have been lukewarm at best. Since I've been working on my No-Keeper Threat Deck Variant, my plays and enjoyment of the game have skyrocketed. I love how the Threat Deck gives me the control to tinker with the provided keeper actions so that they are more suited for solo play (and sometimes address issues with the original scenario design), and I also love being able to cherrypick the best objectives. There is still a small element of suspense missing, since you don't get to try to figure out the exact interpretation of the clues as you are playing, but overall this is working out great so far. I still need to do more playtests of Green-Eyed Boy, then start working on the other base game and expansion scenarios...hopefully I'll make a dent this weekend or the next.
Onirim: 4 plays
Previous stats:14 / 7
Current stats:18 / 3
A quick-playing game that's not as deep as I would like. Now that I have other games of similar length (like SOS Titanic, below), I think I'll be playing this game less. Once note is that I finally removed the cards from the sleeves that had been bugging me since I put them on...I think a few of the sleeves were about a millimeter smaller than the others, and I always worried about this messing up probabilities when I cut and shuffled. It also means that the game fits in its own box again!
Shadowrift: 3 plays
Previous stats:1 / 9
Current stats:4 / 6
I tried to log some plays of this in anticipation of the Shadowrift: Archfiends expansion, which I'm backing on Kickstarter. This is another game I love, but not necessarily as a solo game...which sucks, given that it is fully cooperative. I'm planning on more plays in the near future to assess whether Archfiends is really something I need. Usually, when I play solo, I do 2 or 3 decks simultaneously, which can get to be quite a drag with all the shuffling involved. Last time, I played a single-deck variant based on the designer's suggested solo rules (3 base power per turn, but you get 2 hero turns in a row) and it went a lot more smoothly, so there is hope yet. However, I got totally smashed by the Storm Lords, so I'll have to try it with some other monster decks before I am decided whether it will work long term. Solo games with uber high difficulty, such as Ghost Stories, tend to make me lose interest if it looks like I'm on a losing trajectory, which is a big reason I had logged only 1 complete play of this game previously.
SOS Titanic: 4 plays
Previous stats:7 / 3
Current stats:11 / -1
I predict this one to go waaaaaay beyond 10 plays. While it's not my favorite solitaire game, its probably my favorite in its weight class (relative to setup, complexity and playtime). At first, it seems like it's just Solitaire...but the more you play, the more you begin to figure out strategies to improve your score. I still haven't gotten a full passenger rescue, but I've got my final score hovering in the 40-45 mark consistently, which is good progress. For solo, I only play with a "neutral" character I've devised (no special rules, 1-5 card draw, starts with 3 action cards) because I think the crewmembers' special abilities are far more interesting in combination with each other, and games in which you can't draw extra action cards are sort of boring and much more reliant on luck. Great time-filler game or as a cool-down or warm-up to a bigger game.
The Swarm: 1 plays
Previous stats:0 / 10
Current stats:1 / 9
This is a game we've had for a while, but H insisted on reading the book before we could play it (I think it was just an excuse not to learn a new game), and then we waited for a while longer due to the arrival of some preorders in September followed by new Christmas games. I convinced her to try it as part of my pre-birthday festivities. Turned out to be a fun, but not amazing, euro game, pretty much as I expected. There's a lot more interaction in the tile placement than I had anticipated, which means that my eventual solitaire variant will be more work than originally expected, but I think H would be willing to play again. The overall game length was short, under an hour even for the first game, which is always a plus for her.
January represents a solid foundation for the challenge right out of the gate, especially seeing as these are only my plays for the second half of the month. To be fair, some of these games are on the shorter side (Onirim and SOS Titanic take roughly 15-30 minutes per play), so I'll probably rack up a lot more plays for them before I complete some of the longer games on my list. Next month, I expect to be playing more of Mage Knight, Mansions of Madness, Archipelago, and whatever other games I might receive in that time frame (still have some birthday gifts and Kickstarter shipments incoming). I also want to return to Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords - Base Set, which I was playing almost daily before starting this challenge, and would like to try the SoloPlay variant and my own solo variant of Le Havre (a Christmas gift...I've played it a lot on iOS, but haven't logged any plays for the physical version yet).
Games that have met the challenge:
SOS Titanic (January)
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Thread: Le Havre:: Rules:: Official Rules Clarifications?
I am running the Le Havre event at this year's WBC convention and was wondering if there is an official set of rules clarifications. I know there's been many posts regarding this; I'm just wondering if there's a neat and concise summary somewhere. Thank you!
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Reply: Le Havre:: Rules:: Re: Official Rules Clarifications?
by louper
Here's a link to the clarifications for all the buildings:http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/45371/extensive-le-hav...
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New Image for Le Havre
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New Image for Le Havre
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Reply: Le Havre:: Rules:: Re: Official Rules Clarifications?
Thanks! This looks very helpful! Actually has a lot of good strategy hints too...
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