Then we moved on to the main event, along with Tom and Andy. We played Shogun....a LONG game of Shogun. Too long for my tastes, but it was still very enjoyable. First half of the game saw JD running away with it by quite a bit, due to some very nice construction work (temples, castles, etc). I lost an important scoring region that I originally stole from Andy, due to bad timing. Oh well. For the second year, I focused on less fighting, and more recovering from the previous year. JD and Andy were at each other's throats (they were 1st and 2nd place). Andy eventually took the lead, and won. JD and I tied for 2nd, but JD in theory won 2nd (tie breaker is money). Fun game, great theme, cool cube tower, but prone to AP the first time you play.
Then Tom and Andy left. JD and I played a quick game of Dungeon Twister. It's a combination of an abstract puzzle game, with "abstract mechanics", and a fantasy theme (wizards, spells, warriors, etc). Very interesting. Has more depth AND more theme than I expected.
Ok, back to work now.
15 comments:
BTW JD, this is where I've played TO Court the King online. It's not very user friendly, but with some patience, you can figure it out. It's great for when you need a quick fix. My favs there are Ra, Notre Dame, To COurt the king and Thurn and Taxis.
Vassal is great for wargaming (including BattleLore), and just as "unuser-friendly".
Having never played anything on-line, how does it work? Is it all in real-time, or do you take your turn, then leave it for a couple hours or however long it takes everyone else to login and make their move?
Brettspielwelt is all about LIVE online euroboardgaming. There's no way to save games (that I know off). Now, do know that it is dry, to the point, super fast online gaming....generally speaking. You'll find a lot of 'elite' gamers that are there for the kill: they barely chat with you, they takes milliseconds to take their turns, and some are even annoyed if you play wrong. Still, for a free service, if you are at peace with the issues above, it works GREAT.
Vassal is completely different. It's a free software you download, which can then have game modules downloaded to it. The are A BUNCH of possible boardgame modules for it, and they are all free. There's a module for every single wargame I have. So you run the software, click on the game you want to play, and try to find an opponent online. You play the game live, but you CAN save it at any time (and continue the game whenever), AND you could even do Play by Email (....lame in my opinion...it defeats what to me, boardgaming is about).
To make it feel even more like a boardgame, I also run Skype or MSN Messenger and do voice chat with my San Antonio friends while playing on Vassal. It feels surprisingly close to the real deal. I haven't done it in months, but I've been able to play a bunch of cool stuff on it.
Andy, there are also lots of games that are available in a more relaxed time frame. Games that are turn based where you can login and take your turn whenever you want. I play at a number of these sites from time to time. The best sites that I like are:
http://www.yucata.de/ is available in English and German.
some of the games:
Balloon Cup
Hacienda
Carcassonne Hunters & Gatherers
http://www.spielbyweb.com/index.php is available in English.
Amun-Re
Hacienda
Hoity Toity
Reef Encounters
Wallenstein
http://www.boiteajeux.net/ is available in French. Once you figure out how to sign up, however, there is not really any French that you need to know. I love playing
Alhambra and Torres here.
There are also quite a few other sites out there that have this sort of setup. I'm sure there is a geeklist somewhere for it, but having trouble tracking it down now.
If anyone wants to join me for a "play by web" turn based game, that would be cool. Just email me or post here and we can set something up.
Rules Clarification:
In Dungeon Twister apparently the 4 characters you place in the 8 rooms at the beginning of the game, become active once the room is flipped. So you end up using all eight of your characters with four being your starters. The rules aren't really clear on this but I read it on the website.
When a room is flipped the player who flipped the tile places all the characters from both players and the objects from his/her opponent's color. The other player places his /her opponent's objects.
Several quick topics:
Thanks to you guys for informing me of the online games. I toy with the idea of writing some myself and it's good to know what competition is out there.
The more I thought about Shogun the more I really liked it. It was fun.
I guess I'm different than a lot of gamers. I don't mind savoring the experience and reflecting on the game afterward. To me it's all about getting together. One long game is as good as three or four games that really move.
Of course you really can't overestimate the ramp up time for new players to a game. Everything is so foreign the first time. I could play and enjoy Shogun so much more next time.
Marty -- generally what kind of turn around between turns is expected? I'd be up for Amun-Re or maybe Reef Encounters.
Sign me up for Amun-Re.
Andy: We set the pace. Basically, check your email. If you have a notice telling you that you are next, take your turn. That's it.
If you can at least check your email once a day, that would be cool. BUT the more the merrier. Spielbyweb works REALLY well, specially if you are able to do 2-3 turns/actions a day.
Andy, there's no requirement to play some amount of turns per day or anything like that. Some games get 1+ turn in a day and some don't. If you think you are likely to only get in a couple of turns a week, it might be wise to put the game description. Most of the sites let you do that. People will put in requests like "fast game" or "1-2 turns per week" sometimes.
I'd be up for Amun-Re. Been a while since I played that.
I would be up for something, just let me know where and what. I work from home so I can make a couple of moves during the day.
Looks like we're up to four. Anyone else for Amun-Re?
Ok, I just created a game of Amun Re on Spielbyweb. Simply create an account, login, then sign up for Amune Re:
Game Name: League City
Password: spieling
I've joined the game, but I don't know how much access I'll have the next week while I'm on vacation. Just a warning...
That's fine Marty. I'm going to go ahead and start the game. It's us 4.
I think JD's up first.
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