Armchair Dragoons Forums
Wargaming => Intel Dump => Topic started by: Silent Disapproval Robot on November 18, 2018, 12:33:17 PM
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Recent post by Mirth about a new Narcos game coming out got me to thinking about games (mainly board games) based on TV/movie licences. My natural reaction is to cringe slightly and avoid them but then I got to thinking and I've played more than a few recently that were actually quite decent (as well as a few that were decidedly not).
Here are a few that pleasantly surprised me by being fun to play.
1. The Expanse. 4-player card driven area control game with card mechanics similar to Twilight Struggle/Labyrinth. Very swingy game that can be rage-inducing and full of back-stabby goodness. The theme from the books/show doesn't really come through strongly however.
2. Spartacus: Bloody and Treachery. Surprisingly deep and long game to play and again, full of fun, rage inducing back-stabby goodness (I may have some issues...). I like the trading engine and the fights can be fun if a little drawn out. The influence portion could be cleaned up a little but I still like it a lot.
3. Star Trek Ascendancy. Great 4x game. Luck plays a bit too much of a factor in the early game (if you draw some bad initial planet tiles or exploration cards, it can really set you back) but you can come back from that if you make good trade deals and place your explored systems judiciously. I prefer this one over Twilight Imperium. Two more expansions are set to roll out soon (Vulcans and Andorians).
4. Aliens: Legendary Encounters. I'm generally not much for deck building games but I enjoy this one. Quite tough to win but good on theme. Not a fan of the comic book style artwork on the cards but given the history of the LE licence, it makes sense that they went with this style.
5. Star Wars: Rebellion. Great game of asymmetrical warfare. Lots to do and oozes theme. The expansion introduced a new combat system that was the chief complaint most players had about the base game. I actually don't like the new combat mechanics very much but that seems to be a minority opinion.
6. Star Wars: Armada. Pre-painted capital ship miniatures. What's not to love other than the price? Can't wait to get the new Super Star Destroyer miniature next month.
I haven't tried the Firefly or the Battlestar Galactica board games but they seem to be quite popular at Cons I go to. I have pre-ordered the new Battlestar Galactica minis game from Ares that should be out soon.
Any others?
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The BSG minis game does look tasty.
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There are two Big Trouble in Little China games that I'm aware of. The Legendary Encounters card game is supposedly disappointing. The minis based board game is supposedly very good. I haven't tried either.
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I've got the Big Trouble board game. It's really well done, but it takes approximately 7 years to set up. Battlestar Galactica is a really well done game with hidden traitor mechanics, but it's out of print and the expansions were 50/50 between "Look at this cool new stuff!" and "What's this load of complete shit?"
The Godfather : Corleone's Empire is sorta kinda loosely based on that world. It's a rare non-Kickstarter CMON game. Some worker placement, some backstabbery, and a lot of trying to stash money.
I quite like the 2nd Edition Game of Thrones LCG from FFG (though it uses art assets from the artbook accompaniment to the book series rather than the TV show). Quite a bit of strategy, lots of familiar characters. The core rules aren't too difficult, but there's a lot of edge case type cards that can make it a bit of a bear to wrap your head around.
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The Firefly edition of Legendary Encounters is pretty good too.
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Hmmmmm...Firefly :hug:
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The Firefly board game is legendary, but it's HUGE. Add on the Kalidasa and (can't recall the other) expansions and it's even bigger.
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Isn't the Star Wars: Queen's Gambit game the best thing from the prequels?
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Isn't the Star Wars: Queen's Gambit game the best thing from the prequels?
It would be, if resellers weren't trying to get $500+ out of it. :(