Budgie

This is for anyone using Fantasy Flight Games’s Arkham Horror/Mountains of Madness miniatures (but it works on any soft-plastic mini). I saw this tip on @thatterigirl’s Geek & Sundry vlog, It was actually for re-posing D&D Attack Wing minis, but it works on FFG minis too.

All you do is run hot water over the mini you want to repose, let the plastic soften a bit, remove it from the water, and hold it in the position you want the mini to be in. This worked great for me after I’d left some minis in our sunroom and returned to find the smaller ones a bit “droopy” from the heat. All the ghouls, nightgaunts, and witches are now revived and ready to terrorize Arkham!

I’d heard it mentioned in the reviews. I saw it in the unboxing videos on youtube. I was psyching myself up for it the entire time Legendary Encounters was in the mail. But I was still unprepared for the baffling task that Upper Deck had prepared for me: sorting the cards! Yep, sorting.

Now this isn’t a big deal if you’ve only got a couple of decks to sort out, but I ended sorting Legendary Encounters into 39 separate decks. Fortunately they give you more than enough card dividers to keep everything straight. Unfortunately they did not include a deck list. Granted there is smallish text at the bottom of each card that assists you in sorting, but it is by no means a quick process. Cards can be identical and yet belong to different decks.

Thankfully I had printed off a fanmade deck list. It made the whole experience a lot less painful than it could have been, and I suggest you save yourself some frustration (and the potential experience spoilage) by downloading one. The one I used was made by BGG user Reitoei and formatted for single-page printing by gwarjuice. You can find the pdf here.

Over the course of a session of Heroes of Metro City there will reach a point where you want to thin out your deck to get a more consistent draw for that combination of cards you’ve spent the whole first part of the game trying to attain. Once you realize that the size of your deck is getting in the way of your perfect power combo it is time to seriously consider Heroic Sacrifices. This is when the enemy attacks and instead of discarding a card from the City Supply you discard a card of the same type from your hand or from play. This is an important endgame strategy but a poor strategy for beginning superheros who are just learning their way around a utility belt. Build your powers, get those gadgets, but know when to drop the gauntlets, let the super vehicle burn, and rely on your own inherent superness!

The gist of this strategy is three tiles at a right angle are worth more than three in a line (4pts vs. 3pts). Building a line perpendicular will always gain you at least one point more than if you built on to an existing line. This is good to remember when you are in a jam and can only play a couple of tiles and also as the game reaches its end and your options are diminishing. This is also useful when using the blocking strategies described below. Wait and build up those qwirkles in your hand, block your opponents when you can, and gain those extra points out of nowhere even though your opponents are baffled as to why you didn’t build along the lines. Don’t worry, you’re thinking outside the box…or tiles as it were. 🙂

Whether you end the game with 20 life or 1 life, as long as you’re the last one standing you win. Just like the various types of energy, life should be seen as a resource and spent when you need it. This usually comes in the form of letting multiple characters hit you without defending just so you can clear their field and hit them with an even stronger, preferably game-ending, attack. There are also certain character abilities that can be waived by taking a small amount of damage. Consider these options carefully because sometimes it’s better to fall behind in life so that you can build up for that perfect strike.

As an example, this last week I played in a tournament where myself and an opponent ended up at 19 to 10, respectively. Both of us had a good amount of characters fielded, he had a wall of annoying Beasts that would heal him if I attacked and I had Iron Man doing the same. At this point he was able to field several extremely strong characters, Dr. Stranges I believe, and he attacked with everyone for 19 damage including globals. I moved an Iron Man forward and said I’d block a pawn…that’s all. I blocked his pawn, knocked it out, gained 1 life, and took 18 damage. This took me down to 2 life, but now his entire field was free of characters! I rolled my dice, fielded a couple of cheap Hawkeyes, and tore through his last 10 life.

Now these situations don’t happen everytime, but as long as you’re aware of the advantages of spending life you’ll be able to make them happen more often than you’d think. Happy mastering!!!

If you’ve read much about the Finn vs. Jake collector’s pack, you’ve probably read that the cornfields seem overpowered when compared to the blue plains. I found this to be true, especially when I first started playing. After a couple of games I wondered how the blue plains could ever pull off a victory against the corn hoard. I’ve been playing for about a week now: two 2-player games and well over a dozen solo. (I just had to figure out how to play the blue plains!) Right now, for wins, I’m about 60% cornfield, which is MUCH better than it was at the beginning.

The cornfields throws strong self-sufficient creatures at you (think mono white deck in Magic) while the blue plains is built on creatures that work together and are buffed by movement (green deck-ish). The best way I have found for blue plains to level the cornfield is through the Ancient Scholar and Schoolhouse. The extra action that you can gain through Ancient Scholar is invaluable against cornfields. If you don’t get it on the draw then take the mulligan. Do whatever it takes to get the scholar in your hand, on the table, and supported by a building. Once you do then you can floop for a random rainbow card and get a free action to fill holes that the cornfield creatures are probably punching in your defences. Don’t forget to play Schoolhouse though, because even if you lose a scholar you can floop Schoolhouse and a corresponding creature to get a random floopable creature’s (hopefully the Ancient Scholar‘s) effect!

There are a LOT of dice in Marvel Dice Masters: Avengers vs. X-Men and a lot of things that go on with them: prepping, using, fielding, attacking, blocking, getting knocked out, etc. But, even with as much dicey action as there is, I found that using a playmat helped me to understand and learn the phases after only a couple of plays.

Now there is a “playmat” (really little more than a diagram) included in the instruction booklet that is divided into different regions connected by arrows that tell you where dice go depending on phases and actions. It’s a great depiction of game flow but it was just too small and difficult for both sides to see and follow. I found a great printable playmat here on the BGG that has the same regions and arrows. (If this link ever stops working I’m sure a quick image search will bring something up.) I was able to print two of these at FedEx on 11″x 17″ gloss cover paper for $6. Worth it!

This is a variant from the upcoming Sidekicks & Storylines expansion that works with the base game. It gives each players’ hero a Power or Energy that is unique, as opposed to the mix-and-match from the City Supply. It’s nice to set yourself apart from the rest of the ferociously roaring supersonic martial artists!

“Heroes of Metro City attempts to create game balance by allowing all players equal access to all of the super-powered cards in the game. On the other hand, sometimes it’s nice to have a unique power or two that are all your own. If you and your fellow players each want your own stockpile of Power or Energy cards, use this alternate setup rule.

After the normal game setup (using the randomizer cards) is complete, deal the first player 4 Power or Energy Source Randomizer cards (their choice of those two options) face-up. Allow them to choose one of the four Randomizer cards and then award them the full stack of those cards as a private stockpile from which they (and no one else) can Develop cards during Phase 4 (or at the start of the game, when choosing your starting powers).

Repeat this step with each player, in order.

Keep the stack nearby your Player Board. Only you can Develop cards from your private stack. The stack cannot be Destroyed by Enemy Destruction powers and they are not considered part of the City Supply. This means they can’t prevent you from losing the game and can’t be affected by abilities that refer to cards “in the City Supply.””

Out of the box Elder Sign isn’t the most difficult game. Random, yes. Difficult, no. After the first couple of plays I started looking into tweaking the difficulty and it’s amazing how many variants people have come up with to increase the difficulty of Elder Sign, ranging from the obvious adding of a mandatory doom token every midnight to the more complicated face-down variants.

The easiest way to officially adjust the difficulty is with the expansion, Unseen Forces, which is a great expansion and I will always include it. But it didn’t change what bothered me the most: being devoured.

According to the official rules, when you are devoured, you just draw another character. Yep. Cheap. If I were and Elder God, I would put an end to life on Earth too…cheating investigators. Another way you can play is with player elimination. Elimination forces you to be more careful about your choices but it’s never fun being the last player in a cooperative game, or at least this one.

So. How do I deal with being devoured. Well, I followed in the footsteps of Elder Sign‘s granddaddy Arkham Horror and decided to add the “delayed” mechanic. This is how it works.

1. You are reduced to zero stamina or zero sanity.
2. Lose all items and trophies.
3. If zero stamina, go to the First Aid Station. If zero sanity, go to the Chapel.
4. Regain all stamina OR sanity, whichever was reduced to zero. You do not regain items.
5. You lose your next turn, but the clock still moves.

We’ve played this way several times and it definitely adds tension to the game without making it crushingly difficult. In addition, do not let the Chapel or First Aid Station get closed. If they close, you cannot regain stamina or sanity and you are truly devoured. There’s nothing I can do to save you. Sorry.

Out of the box Elder Sign isn’t the most difficult game. Random, yes. Difficult, no. After the first couple of plays I started looking into tweaking the difficulty and it’s amazing how many variants people have come up with to increase the difficulty of Elder Sign, ranging from the obvious adding of a mandatory doom token every midnight to the more complicated face-down variants.

The easiest way to officially adjust the difficulty is with the expansion, Unseen Forces, which is a great expansion and I will always include it. But it didn’t change what bothered me the most: being devoured.

According to the official rules, when you are devoured, you just draw another character. Yep. Cheap. If I were and Elder God, I would put an end to life on Earth too…cheating investigators. Another way you can play is with player elimination. Elimination forces you to be more careful about your choices but it’s never fun being the last player in a cooperative game, or at least this one.

So. How do I deal with being devoured. Well, I followed in the footsteps of Elder Sign‘s granddaddy Arkham Horror and decided to add the “delayed” mechanic. You can use this house rule with either vanilla Elder Sign or with Unseen Forces. This is how it works.

1. You are reduced to zero stamina or zero sanity.
2. Lose all items and trophies.
3. If zero stamina, go to Entrance, or First Aid Station if using US expansion. If zero sanity, go to Entrance, or Chapel if using US expansion.
4. Regain all stamina OR sanity, whichever was reduced to zero. You do not regain items.
5. You lose your next turn, but the clock still moves.

We’ve played this way several times and it definitely adds tension to the game without making it crushingly difficult. In addition, if you are using Unseen Forces, do not let the Chapel or First Aid Station get closed. If they close, you cannot regain stamina or sanity and you are truly devoured. There’s nothing I can do to save you. Sorry.

If you have played oddball Aeronauts, you are familiar with the part of gameplay that requires players to reveal how many cards each player will play by simultaneously revealing 1, 2, or 3 fingers.

Now, so far, I have not had any issues with this method of revealing but I have heard of others who dislike it for one reason or another. So here are some alternate ways of revealing, all straight from the creator’s mouth.

– Add 3 ‘chips’ or coins to your game box per player and use these
– Literally reveal the number of cards you’re going to play simultaneously
– Announce out loud how many cards you will play simultaneously

Enjoy!

This tip/recommendation is for anyone playing the prototype PnP, not the production PnP which will come out sometime in May 2014.

I found the prototype specific “Box of Delights” video in the video section to be very helpful. It is prototype specific and points out a few issues that are unique to the prototype version. It also clarifies the prototype rules, which, while not bad by any means, require some clarification. The video does not mention any of the deck-building components or any of the cards added on over the course of the campaign.

@gamerbling already mentioned this, but after playing Smash Up with every amount of supported players I found that I agree enough to mention it again: try less bases.

My gaming group prefers three and I really believe this is the best number of bases, whether you’re playing 2-, 3-, or 4-player Smash Up. One of the usual criticisms of the game is lower player action than the players anticipated. If your group doesn’t have this problem, awesome! Unfortunately mine did.

With 2-player there really isn’t a problem. Bases = number of player + 2. Just like the rules say.

But with 3- and 4-player games we started to see a huge increase in turn duration. We played 4-player with five bases (like the rules say to) and the game lasted almost an hour and a half. Honestly we were exhausted and it was a few months before I could pick it up again.

Using three bases speeds up gameplay, there is less downtime while someone ponders all the bases and all their cards, and you get to see more of the bases.

Now, it obviously depends on the factions in play and how people play their cards, but I have noticed that decreasing the number of bases helps my gaming group without skewing the game itself. And that is a credit to the game itself!

P.S. I would still recommend three bases even if you have Awesome Level 9000. Just in case you were wondering. : )

If you backed oA then you probably got a link to a PnP version of the prototype, and if you’re like me you printed it off the moment you were an airship cannon’s shot from a printer. Now, I don’t know how other people play PnPs but I’m going to tell you what I do and hope it makes your life easier..or encourages you to share your technique and make my life easier.

First: Print pdf on normal paper in grayscale, single-sided. (Did I mention I’m cheap?)

Second: Buy some card sleeves from your game store. (…but not that cheap.)

Third: Scrounge up an old deck of playing cards.

Fourth: Cut up the print-outs, sandwich a playing card between the front and back of a PnP card, and slip it into a sleeve.

It may not be pretty but it’s definitely playable, only takes an hour to assemble, and you won’t feel bad throwing them away in August when you get to sleeve the real deal. I hope this helps you enjoy the prototype of an awesome game and amp you up for the final product!

Sounds crazy, I know, but let me explain.

In a typical scenario when a player comes up against a monster they can’t kill, they ask the table for help in exchange for a treasure. Someone agrees to help out, the monster dies, the helper gets a treasure (or two), and the player gets a level (and maybe some treasure.)

But sometimes it’s better for you if the person looking to help another player out gets nothing, especially if that person is an elf or if they are sufficiently ahead in levels and the player struggling with the monster is lower in levels. Charity isn’t always bad; you help someone out who might help you in the future and you keep a stronger player from getting some awesome loot.

Oh, and the look on people’s faces is awesome when you make an offer to help for no treasures. Haha!

If you don’t have the fancy deluxe edition of Munchkin that comes with the pawns and level track, you can use some d10s to keep track of your level. I started doing this after using d20s in Smash Up to keep track of victory points…which is also a good idea. : )

Seriously. Take them as literally as you can, and be a stickler with semantics.

This game gets some flack, and rightly so, for it’s consistently ambiguous rule book. Thankfully there is an amazing FAQ on Paizo’s website and great forum support (this game has one of the friendliest fan bases I’ve seen). In that FAQ, the best advice I found was in two short phrases:

“The cards do what they say” and “The cards don’t do what they don’t say.”

It sounds stupid at first, but it changed how I played the game. Almost immediately I was able to put the rule book aside and focus on the cards. You can play a card at ANY time, as long as it’s allowed by the card text. This means you also have to pay close attention to the cards’ use of indefinite articles and personal pronouns, “a check” vs “your check” and the like.

There are certainly still some vague points, misprints, and omissions in the rules, but following those two phrases solved almost every question that has come up since I started playing. And if you’re still stumped, check the Paizo FAQ or hit their friendly forums!

I know it isn’t a tip regarding gameplay but I think it’s an important one, especially for this game. I have never thought about sleeving cards before playing Love Letter. When playing games that require a lot of cards (i.e. Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, any of Fantasy Flight’s Living Card Games) there usually aren’t a large enough quantity of cards in consistent play for me to notice any wear. But since Love Letter consists of a bare 16 cards (honestly not of the highest quality, but maybe it depends on the edition) and those same 16 cards are in constant play and continuously shuffed they definitely benefit from being sleeved. think of them as an invesment in all future love letters. : )

One of the main reasons I bought this game was for the solo play, but as much fun as it was it’s rarely satisfying to be trounced every time you play. And then I started playing two-handed (two decks).

Since then I’ve found that scenarios are less impossible (you can take advantage of characters who are ranged or sentinals), the difficulty is more balanced (treachery and shadow cards often discriminate between the first and second player), and you get to see how cards from different decks interact with each other (I’m looking at you Lore). It’s much more fun for me and, to boot, I learn how to play a better 2-player game.

The only downside is that it can be a lot to keep track of in a game that already demands a lot of attention, but if you can keep track of two hands, it will be a breeze the next time you play a 2-player game and have only your own hand to worry about. : )

Remove all the 4HP heroes and the fool. Epic heroes come out faster and make you to plan out your moves more than usual. It also tends to make the game less chaotic since players are more focused on not getting obliterated by epic heroes instead of throwing spells around to thwart everyone else.

Playing this way definitely improves 2-player games by making them more strategic and less Fluxx-y. As for more players, it depends on how you like your Boss Monster, so try it out and see how you like it.

P.S. I would also highly recommend the expansion, Tools of Hero-Kind, as it bumps the difficulty up enough that you don’t need to remove low-level heroes.