Okay, so, lately I seem to have developed a new special interest, which is quite an experience... not something I go through very often!
Board/card games, specifically, which often also fall into the "tabletop" category for some people (though usually that word is about things like D&D). As a kid, I'd always loved the idea of these, and indeed had some... but never got to use them, as I didnt know anyone that was at all interested. Family members just watched TV and movies as their only hobbies, and what few friends I had thought the games were boring. And indeed, thinking back on those very specific sorts of games, alot of them were quite braindead... the sort of games that were popular in the States back in the 80s and 90s, usually involving zero strategy at all.
Fast forward to today, and I find a game called Sentinels of the Multiverse. Specifically, the digital adaptation of it. It's a co-operative card game. Each player chooses a hero character, each with their own specific deck and powers, and you all go up against a powerful villain character, who isnt controlled by any players but instead acts automatically. I loved this idea, and looking into it revealed a whole world of these interesting games. What's more, games like Sentinels can be played solo, with one player controlling any number of characters on their own (and indeed, some people into board/card games will almost exclusively focus on solo-playable games). I soon discovered some other interesting games, which I immediately bought. A couple were digital, and bought on Steam. And others were physical, and bought through Amazon (bleh).
These games are so very different though from those braindead ones that I had as a kid. The direct opposite, really. Just as an example, here's a couple of photos of the one I just finished playing:
This games is called Eldritch Horror. It takes characters and themes from Lovecraft's works, and puts them into a board game form. Like Sentinels, it is a co-operative game. The player group of investigators, trying to save the world from one of the Old Ones, and trying not to go bat#^$# insane in the process. There's a bunch of different characters and Old Ones to pick from.
The game is every bit as hideously complicated as it looks. Every single card has a bunch of text on it, explaining what it does (and often, giving some story/lore as well). There are often many cards to deal with at once. Players have item cards they can use, the boss (big card in the second screenshot) has it's own cards that it uses to make everyone crazy and/or on fire. There are SO MANY CARDS. They're all seperated into lots of different decks, too. There are a whopping 11 decks in use in the first photo, all of them important, all serving a unique purpose. On top of that, SO MANY TOKENS. They all do different things. The larger ones have even more text on the back, and the little green ones have small pictures on the back denoting where they go on the board when drawn. Even the board itself is complicated. And that's JUST the base game. The expansions... of which there are 8... add even more stuff. Hell, 4 of them can add entire new side boards with even more places for characters and monsters to roam. As if the thing doesnt take up enough space as it is.
These games are often VERY difficult too. Co-op games arent really very exciting if the players are winning all the time... they're at their best when even skilled players have to really work at it to defeat the dimensional horror of the week. As it is, in the photos above, I was near the end of the game, with things getting very dire. The boss was near victory, and I still had plenty to do to have the chance to finish it off. That accursed card in the second photo with all of the tentacle tokens on it nearly ruined my team by itself. It essentially translates to "Every turn, when X thing shows up, blow up the universe 3 times and everyone is covered in flaming bees and a horse kicks you for good measure". I mean, okay, that's not the actual effect, but.... it's close enough to how nasty it was. These games are good at producing very stressful "how can we possibly stop THAT?" situations. I did actually manage to win that game.... barely. It took like 4 hours. But I was totally mentally engaged with it the whole time... exactly what I want out of a hobby.
On the opposite side of things, we have stuff like this:
This game is called Cottage Garden. I got it by mistake, when I ordered something entirely different from Amazon. It looked interesting though, so I decided to keep it and try it out. And it's great! It's the opposite of the previous game. It's a nice, relaxing game about creating flower gardens out of those Tetris-style pieces. While there is alot of strategy involved, it's a game that anyone can learn very easily. And it has a great presentation and alot of charm to it. There's even this wheelbarrow thing that you assemble, which rolls along a track made of Tetris blocks as more get picked up, and little sleeping cat tokens that can be used in the garden boards. You can play it VS other players or solo, but even VS other players, it's a very non-aggressive game. I liked it alot, and soon went up and picked up the next game, as it's part of a trilogy of nature-themed games.
And of course, there's all sorts of other things. The many, MANY variants of Solitaire, for instance. Play them on a table or on a computer screen... they're the same game, really.
So yeah, that's that. Anyone else into board/card/whatever games at all? Whether simple or complex as hell, doesnt matter. If you are, tell me about them!
Board/card games, specifically, which often also fall into the "tabletop" category for some people (though usually that word is about things like D&D). As a kid, I'd always loved the idea of these, and indeed had some... but never got to use them, as I didnt know anyone that was at all interested. Family members just watched TV and movies as their only hobbies, and what few friends I had thought the games were boring. And indeed, thinking back on those very specific sorts of games, alot of them were quite braindead... the sort of games that were popular in the States back in the 80s and 90s, usually involving zero strategy at all.
Fast forward to today, and I find a game called Sentinels of the Multiverse. Specifically, the digital adaptation of it. It's a co-operative card game. Each player chooses a hero character, each with their own specific deck and powers, and you all go up against a powerful villain character, who isnt controlled by any players but instead acts automatically. I loved this idea, and looking into it revealed a whole world of these interesting games. What's more, games like Sentinels can be played solo, with one player controlling any number of characters on their own (and indeed, some people into board/card games will almost exclusively focus on solo-playable games). I soon discovered some other interesting games, which I immediately bought. A couple were digital, and bought on Steam. And others were physical, and bought through Amazon (bleh).
These games are so very different though from those braindead ones that I had as a kid. The direct opposite, really. Just as an example, here's a couple of photos of the one I just finished playing:
This games is called Eldritch Horror. It takes characters and themes from Lovecraft's works, and puts them into a board game form. Like Sentinels, it is a co-operative game. The player group of investigators, trying to save the world from one of the Old Ones, and trying not to go bat#^$# insane in the process. There's a bunch of different characters and Old Ones to pick from.
The game is every bit as hideously complicated as it looks. Every single card has a bunch of text on it, explaining what it does (and often, giving some story/lore as well). There are often many cards to deal with at once. Players have item cards they can use, the boss (big card in the second screenshot) has it's own cards that it uses to make everyone crazy and/or on fire. There are SO MANY CARDS. They're all seperated into lots of different decks, too. There are a whopping 11 decks in use in the first photo, all of them important, all serving a unique purpose. On top of that, SO MANY TOKENS. They all do different things. The larger ones have even more text on the back, and the little green ones have small pictures on the back denoting where they go on the board when drawn. Even the board itself is complicated. And that's JUST the base game. The expansions... of which there are 8... add even more stuff. Hell, 4 of them can add entire new side boards with even more places for characters and monsters to roam. As if the thing doesnt take up enough space as it is.
These games are often VERY difficult too. Co-op games arent really very exciting if the players are winning all the time... they're at their best when even skilled players have to really work at it to defeat the dimensional horror of the week. As it is, in the photos above, I was near the end of the game, with things getting very dire. The boss was near victory, and I still had plenty to do to have the chance to finish it off. That accursed card in the second photo with all of the tentacle tokens on it nearly ruined my team by itself. It essentially translates to "Every turn, when X thing shows up, blow up the universe 3 times and everyone is covered in flaming bees and a horse kicks you for good measure". I mean, okay, that's not the actual effect, but.... it's close enough to how nasty it was. These games are good at producing very stressful "how can we possibly stop THAT?" situations. I did actually manage to win that game.... barely. It took like 4 hours. But I was totally mentally engaged with it the whole time... exactly what I want out of a hobby.
On the opposite side of things, we have stuff like this:
This game is called Cottage Garden. I got it by mistake, when I ordered something entirely different from Amazon. It looked interesting though, so I decided to keep it and try it out. And it's great! It's the opposite of the previous game. It's a nice, relaxing game about creating flower gardens out of those Tetris-style pieces. While there is alot of strategy involved, it's a game that anyone can learn very easily. And it has a great presentation and alot of charm to it. There's even this wheelbarrow thing that you assemble, which rolls along a track made of Tetris blocks as more get picked up, and little sleeping cat tokens that can be used in the garden boards. You can play it VS other players or solo, but even VS other players, it's a very non-aggressive game. I liked it alot, and soon went up and picked up the next game, as it's part of a trilogy of nature-themed games.
And of course, there's all sorts of other things. The many, MANY variants of Solitaire, for instance. Play them on a table or on a computer screen... they're the same game, really.
So yeah, that's that. Anyone else into board/card/whatever games at all? Whether simple or complex as hell, doesnt matter. If you are, tell me about them!
