Boardgames, anyone?

Last time I spent a grand on one thing it was a car.

I’m really not going to value board games based on their weight. The real question for me is whether it’s as good as any other 15 board games.

The update pack for Tainted Grail is about to ship, massively simplifies the grind and brings in a bunch of errata, as well as some more expansions. I think the updated rulebook should be online shortly.

Yeah, I can see how the grind could be lessened and the rules cleared up a bit. Will have a look for those updated rules.

Tbh, I’ve been creating my own tweaks to the rules (mainly the resource requirements for some stuff, particularly the menhirs) as I’ve gone along. This sort of game isn’t really about the mechanisms, more the journey. Although saying that, the combat and diplomacy card play is brilliant.

The world building and writing has been the star so far though. Leagues ahead of most board games you’ll play.

So I've recently discovered that solo boardgames are a thing that has took off since I last dipped my toes into the hobby. Bought a shelf unit for the living room that is starting to look like my Steam library. My chronic FOMO strikes again.

I'm still waiting for ISS Vanguard! This second wave, or whatever it is, has been pushed back a few times. We must be due an update soon. Fingers crossed it will ship later this month or next.

(The funny thing is, I could have bought the base game in my local shop here months ago but the pledge - just checked, it was the Dreadnaught pledge on Gamefound - was such insanely good value I opted to go all in)

I loved Gloomhaven, though it was in the end just too much game for us and we never finished it. We'd played dozens of hours though and had a great time.

ISS looks right up my street with the exploration and XCOM-esque upgrades. I've been a bit stupid, buying far more than I need but that's to be honest because I am stupid. Just checking the Dreadnaught pledge and, apart from the base game, it includes all stretch goals, the Personal Files, Deadly Frontier and Close Encounters miniatures expansions, as well as miniatures stretch goals.

Christ knows where I'm going to put it all. 

A friend of mine has it and we're dying to play it but we can only manage to get 8 people together - really feels like it needs 10+ at least to come into its' own.

He got it in USA and paid around $150 for it.

ISS Vanguard is fantastic but I’m waiting for the 2nd wave expansions before resuming my current playthrough. When you get about halfway through the campaign everything becomes very samey, and I’m hoping the expansions add some much needed late game variety.

There’s a planet about a third of the way through where some random alien tech changes all the pathways based on dice rolls, and it’s a terrible slog. Once you know the right path and location combo you have to sit and wait for the stars to align so you can get through it. It could also really do without the lander sequences after a while, they were fun to start with but by the tenth time it’s close to house ruling a skip….but a handful of them have narrative consequences so you can’t.

Anyone recommend a good 7 player game that's fairly recent?

We can't get the 8 we want for Blood on the Clocktower which is unfortunate and need an alternative.

Price not an issue - we're all willing to chip £30 in each for a new game if it's worth it.

Edit - We have the following and don't really fancy playing them as they're too unwieldy for 7 or we've rinsed them;

Secret Hitler
Captain Sonar
Caverna
Eldritch Horror 
Codenames
SKULL
Coup
Scythe (+ Expansion)

Any suggestions welcome, thanks!

Wavelength, Stationfall, most roll and writes (albeit not necessarily interactive), The Thing with the Norwegian expansion supports up to 8, Game of Thrones with the Mother of Dragons expansion likewise.

There’s also Twilight Imperium if you like your games to take several days and end up hating each other at the end.

Could also lean into some more straightforward TTRPGs if that’s your thing. Something with a good starter kit like Aliens or Blade Runner.

Not really boardgame related, but we don't have a TTRPG thread, so posting it here. Picked up a PDF version of Star Trek Adventures: Captain's Log, which is a slimmed down version of the full fat Star Trek Adventures TTRPG, aimed at solo play (as well as allowing group play with or without a GM). Never actually played a TTRPG before, other than a brief attempt at A Thousand Year Vampire, which I didn't get too much into and ended getting a little bogged down in thinking too much about geographical and historical details. The fantasy worlds of Star Trek should hopefully avoid that.

Not dived into a story yet and still need to read through the mechanics section of the book (have recently been spending too much time watching a group on YouTube play STA and familiar with some of the rules, so should be able to pick up on it all pretty quickly), but have gone through character creation, which was surprisingly fun in itself. Mostly rolled on the random tables provided. I have made a human called Owen Amano, who grew up onboard a trading vessel and is early in their Starfleet career. Their past gives them a bit of the gift of the gab, but also ready to throw out a punch. Also plenty of opportunities to grow his piloting skills and mix with a few unsavoury sorts.

Currently a Lieutenant Junior grade onboard a Niagara class starship, which ended up having some interesting weapon systems (one of its talents allows it to split into three to attack from multiple angles), but also features diplomatic suites. So, I'm thinking it will be a vessel that goes deep into areas where relations are fragile, with primarily a diplomatic intent, but ready to throw a punch if things go downhill. Also has some stealth capability, with a low profile that makes it hard to pick up on sensors and is a speedy ship, so can see it being used for rescue missions and the like. Plenty of things for a security officer to get mixed up in.

Going to use this as a bit of an excuse for writing/fan fic exercise too, so planning my next step is to be one sheet write up backstory for Owen.

For some reason Eldritch Horror appears to have been a NY sale focal point across loads of places this year. I have gone from having two expansions to now owning absolutely everything for it for a paltry sum.

It is officially The Forever Game.