Board games

[Grimgravy]

Played Roll for the Galaxay for the second time Saturday. I dig it.

 

[Grimgravy]

Ex Libris was the standout title for me this board game night. A cool little worker placement game. You get new locations every round, while one location from the previous round become permanently available.

 

[pocketroid]

The last game I played was Terraforming Mars. I really liked it. I've been

Since this released, I've been wanting to try this out. Seems like a fun effect-juggling machine.

Since we discovered it in my group, we have been playing Space Empires 4X non stop for 60 games (ie around 300h play time).

Man, I wish I could play games 60 times. The only game I play a ton since 2018 is KeyForge. Otherwise, other boardgames are relegated to a half dozen or a dozen plays then fizzles away. A few years ago, I was able to play each game loads. Now I own too many games, so play time is divided.

Ex Libris was the standout title for me this board game night. A cool little worker placement game. You get new locations every round, while one location from the previous round become permanently available.

I remember this release, I want to try it some day. It's so cool how each book has a unique title.

 

[Lagi]

The last game I played was Terraforming Mars. I really liked it. I've been

Since this released, I've been wanting to try this out. Seems like a fun effect-juggling machine.

I recommend. I'm sure someone should have it in every game board club by now. I mostly like T.Mars for the excellent fluffy, sensible (im scare to said "realistic") technology cards. I want to have plants, build power generators, crash comets, feed my predators etc.

 

[Galdred]

Since we discovered it in my group, we have been playing Space Empires 4X non stop for 60 games (ie around 300h play time).

Man, I wish I could play games 60 times. The only game I play a ton since 2018 is KeyForge. Otherwise, other boardgames are relegated to a half dozen or a dozen plays then fizzles away. A few years ago, I was able to play each game loads. Now I own too many games, so play time is divided.

Last time I counted, I had more than 100 games in my boardgame library.
But the thing is, after getting into Space Empires, there never was any other game we would want to play instead. It requires an adequate mindset, though (it is quite taxing, and there is a lot of book keeping), but not knowing what your opponent is doing at all really elevates the game higher than any of its competitor.
Actually, I have sold like 30 games or so since I got this one.
Granted, now that I live in another country, my play count is down to less than 10 times a year, but it plays well on Vassal too!

 

[Gay-Lussac]

We should make this thread a place for session reports and general board game discussion!

I got a play of Nemesis in a couple weeks back. I was itching to try out the new aliens on my recently arrived expansions, but since we had 2 new players I settled on just using a couple of the new characters from Aftermath.

The play session kind of turned into a slog fest.

One of the new players was my older brother, who's a veteran boardgamer. He liked the game fine, but felt it was a bit too simple mechanically and too long. Yeah it's too long you fuck you spend half the time asking inane questions and trying to argue about the rules of a game you barely know

The other new player was a girl who was staying at my father's place for the holidays (niece of my stepmother). Her only previous experience with boardgames was Monopoly, Risk and so on. She was having fun fine at first, but by the end of a 5 hour play session she was begging for sweet mercy

My worst experience with this game by far, and I'll never play with 5 players again. But it was still pretty fun, all in all.

 

[Lagi]

Nemesis is awesome game. None other game I play, tell such amazing stories purely as the outcome of the rules and player actions. Hidden players goals - sweet jesus that's the coolest idea ever. Its also the best role-playing* game I play ( *i mean a game where you can act as someone else, not game when you increase stats after grind). "Are we going to earth?", "Save yourself captain", "I'm out, good luck suckers!", "This ship have to be destroyed!", the sacrifice, the betrayals, the uncertain of other players actions, the choices (when you drop your weapon (its valid move!!!), to be able to carry heavy items) - its tense. And the rules are dead simple.

[...] who's a veteran boardgamer. He liked the game fine, but felt it was a bit too simple mechanically and too long. Yeah it's too long you fuck you spend half the time asking inane questions and trying to argue about the rules of a game you barely know

Honestly there have to be some attraction factor into board games for all the "veteran/experts/ other time wasting dickheads". Their occurrence is way above average in board environment. Maybe they think they are still in their basement, playing Civilization on PC, and its perfectly ok to take half hour for each of their turn? On the last board game event I take a part, other player literally fall asleep waiting for his turn.

She was having fun fine at first, but by the end of a 5 hour play session she was begging for sweet mercy

5 h ?! Massive. People you need to take some break. Playing game is not a punishment, however the unwritten social convention/expectation make people believe this is how you should behave.

 

[Snorkack]

Okay then, session reports it is. I just came home from our monthly Gloomhaven weekend and we just started out the Forgotten Circles expansion.
We are already done with about 90-95% of the main game content and I gotta say, some gloomhaven tiredness set on with me. We are playing on the hardest possible difficulty, any time we have leeway in some monster ai decisions, we go for the worst possible outcome and still we are breezing through the dungeons with little to no challenge. I already feared that another 20 more scenarios of the same would make me hate the game and my life, but Forgotten Circles did really bring some desperately needed fresh air to the table.

The biggest change is how the scenarios are played out: Instead of knowing the entire scenario with all it's enemy placement and special rules from the get-go, the book is kinda laid out in CYOA fashion. "When you open this door, go to page 53, section 23 to reveal the room behind". "If you push lever a, refer to page 36, section 89 to see what happens". "This chest needs a 3-digit-combination to unlock. Solve this riddle and go to the appropriate section. If you guessed the correct section, it will tell you what you found. If you guessed wrong, you are poisoned and take massive damage"... and so on.
This drastically changes how the scenarios are played out and adds a lot of suspension. The difficulty overall has risen, too, and winning a scenario on first try isn't guaranteed any more.

The new class, which is mandatory to be played for the expansion scenarios, is very interesting, too and unlike any class of the base game. It can't do jack shit on its own - last scenario, I started without one single attack card. But it's such an incredible enabler! If you play along classes that heavily rely on their attack modifier deck, such as angry face or lightning bolt, you can grant them a 0% miss chance and an optimal attack sequence by looking at the top cards and put them back on top or below in any order. Together with the ability to look at the next enemy action cards, you reduce the chance of being screwed over by low enemy initiative or an unexpected heal. With classes that barely use their modifier deck, such as Eclipse or Triforce, the new girl is borderline useless, tho. Don't start the expansion content if your group consists of only those classes.

New monsters, abilities, status effects and items are okay but nothing really game-changing. The one big downside of the expansion is the fact that you frequently have to interrupt a scenario to set up a new area, which is kinda jarring and kills the pacing a bit. This is made worse by the fact that the scenarios are much more crammed with stuff (water puddles, logs, heaps of rubble). Admittedly, the locations now feel more like what they are actually meant to represent (a bar, an old mansion, a swamp), but it further increases setup time.

Anyways, I think this is a must-have for any Gloomhaven owner who already finished the main campaign. Has been a while since I've been that invested in our Gloomhaven sessions.

Oh, and anyone who doesn't own Gloomhaven: FUCKING CHANGE THAT ASAP!

 

[Galdred]

Oh, and anyone who doesn't own Gloomhaven: FUCKING CHANGE THAT ASAP!

What would you say is the ideal group size for Gloomhaven?

 

[Snorkack]

Oh, and anyone who doesn't own Gloomhaven: FUCKING CHANGE THAT ASAP!

What would you say is the ideal group size for Gloomhaven?

Three people, with every player playing one character. Four is fine, although messy at times. Two can be fun if the classes synergize well, but it's a soul-crushing experience if they don't, and due to how class retirement works, you may be stuck with an awful combo for 10 or more scenarios. This is mitigated by having more players.
Managing more than one character is really annoying, and if you plan to play solo, you might as well play the steam version.

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Gay-Lussac]

Nemesis is awesome game. None other game I play, tell such amazing stories purely as the outcome of the rules and player actions. Hidden players goals - sweet jesus that's the coolest idea ever. Its also the best role-playing* game I play ( *i mean a game where you can act as someone else, not game when you increase stats after grind). "Are we going to earth?", "Save yourself captain", "I'm out, good luck suckers!", "This ship have to be destroyed!", the sacrifice, the betrayals, the uncertain of other players actions, the choices (when you drop your weapon (its valid move!!!), to be able to carry heavy items) - its tense. And the rules are dead simple.

[...] who's a veteran boardgamer. He liked the game fine, but felt it was a bit too simple mechanically and too long. Yeah it's too long you fuck you spend half the time asking inane questions and trying to argue about the rules of a game you barely know

Honestly there have to be some attraction factor into board games for all the "veteran/experts/ other time wasting dickheads". Their occurrence is way above average in board environment. Maybe they think they are still in their basement, playing Civilization on PC, and its perfectly ok to take half hour for each of their turn? On the last board game event I take a part, other player literally fall asleep waiting for his turn.

She was having fun fine at first, but by the end of a 5 hour play session she was begging for sweet mercy

5 h ?! Massive. People you need to take some break. Playing game is not a punishment, however the unwritten social convention/expectation make people believe this is how you should behave.

Yeah, we should've definitely taken a food break at some point. I think the game was exceptionally long not only because it was 5 players, but also because my girlfirend was playing the new Medic character and saved my younger brother from the brink of death twice. One character dying usually really speeds up the game end, in my experience. And absolutely agree that Nemesis is the best "natural" story generator out there.

Oh, and anyone who doesn't own Gloomhaven: FUCKING CHANGE THAT ASAP!

What would you say is the ideal group size for Gloomhaven?

Three people, with every player playing one character. Four is fine, although messy at times. Two can be fun if the classes synergize well, but it's a soul-crushing experience if they don't, and due to how class retirement works, you may be stuck with an awful combo for 10 or more scenarios. This is mitigated by having more players.
Managing more than one character is really annoying, and if you plan to play solo, you might as well play the steam version.

It's actually getting a portuguese release this year. Thing is, the digital version seems like it's a really good implementation of the system and one of my brother's gripes with the game was precisely that it felt like a video game in cardboard (he liked it, just felt it was too much to admin). Fairly certain Isaac Childres himself wanted to make it a video game, so much so that the digital version is being curated by him personally.

Another thing is that I have Tainted Grail with 100 hours of content coming my way and am also considering late pledging Etherfields. So yeah, I think I'll just wait for Gloomhaven digital.

Hey maybe we can even get a Codex group together when it finally launches! There's also an adaptation of the Game of Thrones board game coming out that I'm psyched about, it used to be my favorite game some years back.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

On another note two really cool kickstarters just launched:

1) https://www.kickstarter.com/project...ref=nav_search&result=project&term=dark tower

Designed by Isaac Childres (Gloomhaven) and Rob Daviau (most anything with legacy slapped on it). The art on this game looks incredible to me. It has this old school charm to it, and the character designs look great. Unsure about the big toy in the middle, but I'll just wait for this thing to retail release and if the reviews are good it pick it up then.

2) https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2074786394/oath-chronicles-of-empire-and-exile/description

Area control political board game from the designer of Root, which I like. This guy seems to know his shit, his design diaries are incredibly detailed.

The main hook here is that the game's landscapes on the board will change according to whatever happened on the last playthrough. If one played won by usurping power and installing a dictatorship, the kingdom might become a wasteland or somesuch. This also changes win conditions from game to game and players get to choose if they want to uphold the new regime or twarth it. Also will wait for retail as it doesn't even ship to my neck of the woods.

 

[Lithium Flower]

This is likely to be unreadable as its written at the tail end of an 8 hour gaming session and my back is killing me because what are tables anyway? but here we go.

A little over a month ago I ordered someone's all-in gameplay pledge of Tainted Grail on ebay and it finally arrived earlier this week. Twelve hours and two chapters in I can say that this mother is definitely a fucker. Granted, I kind of went full autism and having researched the game's mechanics and collating a bunch of feedback from the forums I prepared an A4 sheet's worth of house rules before even setting eyes on a physical copy of the game, so your mileage may vary (if anything because my changes make the game harder across the board).

The concept is that you control 1-4 villagers (each with their own backstories and narrative arcs) on a quest to unfuck the island of Avalon (of Arthurian legends' fame) from the primordial fog warping it and the plague and war ravaging it. The game's plot was written by a polish novelist and appears to be way more inspired by the per-medieval versions of the legend mixed with some modern dark fantasy inspirations rather than the later romantizations - Arthur is said to have been a ruthless conqueror, his knights are little more than warlords with titles, and petty politicking threatens the land as much if not more than the supernatural. The main characters likewise are fundamentally flawed (out of the core 4 we've got a traumatized young woman, a haunted ex-mercenary, a thuggish smith's apprentice with a violent temper, and a druidic reject nursing a drug addiction) and the dark fantasy elements are very well done, with the fae-like foredwellers being truly alien (we are talking impossible geometry, fuckery with space & time, an atmosphere of terrifying greatness and a kind of faded beauty; they remind me a lot of Bakker's Nonmen) as opposed to some generic bloodthirsty horde race, while the horror is quite understated and sounds like something out of the history books (inspecting the possessions of traveling mercenaries returning from a siege revealed such things as bloodied golden teeth and jeweled women's braids; elsewhere, a purge of druids produced a wicker man like cage full of dozens of bound bodies.) A lot of information is implied rather than said, not in a Dark Souls fashion were you have to invent half of the pieces in the hypothetical puzzle that is the game's plot but something more similar to Gene Wolfe where hints are there if you look for them.

In terms of gameplay, this feels a lot like a CRPG except you touch them fiddly bits. The game comes with an exploration journal, which is essentially an entire choose your own adventure book that is referenced during exploration, and contains such things as skill checks, mutually exclusive options, and all that C&C. Outside of exploration and combat the game takes place on a map assembled from tarot-sized cards that get gradually introduced as the characters move about. What's genius is that you've got this modular map, but you also get an abstract version of the game world represented in a sketched paper map, similarly how in a CRPG you might have the initially Fog-of-War-obscured game map and an inaccurate reference map. That means that if you are told to go to, say, Kamelot, you know the general direction in which you need to travel while still having to work out its precise location. Adding to that, there is very little in terms of landholding, and beside a few hints dropped in the first chapter of the game you are very quickly thrust into a open world and multiple threads of narrative to follow. Choice is enforced through the relatively strict element of attrition and time constraint, as the entire map is allowed to exist by the presence of one or several menhirs, each with a timer that requires sacrifice of resources to reset (allowed to exist quite literally, as a single menhir allows travel to its location card and 8 adjacent ones, and those are removed from the game map once the menhir's timer runs out); restoring a few points of health may require food and days of valuable in-game time. With the gradually expanding/constricting game map by the way of menhirs and a demanding resource economy, you are forced to plan ahead and think of the optimal way of spending your time outside of whatever story threads you want to pursue, bearing in mind that both your options and requirements are constantly changing with the map. Making a killing hunting in a glade and selling the food in the adjacent town? Too bad because the menhir there went out and now the lands you left behind won't be available for an indeterminate amount of time. This means that a lot of branching in this game is both mechanically and narrative enforced, as often you simply don't have enough resources to open every path available to you - in the first Chapter you will very likely only light one of two possible Menhirs, therefore exploring a completely different part of the map than the alternative would have allowed you to.

The combat is a little bit like a very engaging game of Solitaire, with you playing cards from your hand (which you spend xp to augment throughout the game, meaning there is deck building) to create an optimal sequence. Dealing damage is not the only consideration, as the enemies' response to you often varies depending on its health, so in some cases it might be prudent to avoid stacking up too much damage to avoid taking extra harm or otherwise control the opponent's response in some way; it is also important to consider the capabilities of the other PCs, if there are any in play, and leave the right openers for them. I'm shit at explaining things so I recommend checking out a video on this game's combat to see if it floats your boat, but I found it to be very engaging and nicely challenging so far (I was definitely punished for taking encounters that I should not have avoided and have ran from about a third of the fights so far). There is also a resolution for diplomatic events that uses the same sequence-building mechanic with a tug-of-war instead of damage-dealing which I found to be slightly more on the easier side even with my houserules, but there have definitely been one or two times I won by the skin of my teeth.

oh and besides having a second brain to process clues and combat/diplomacy strategies as well as a buddy to talk about the story with there is not much point in having a second player. I've been playing solo using 2 characters and have been having a blast so far (the game has an interesting way of scaling difficulty with the number of players; closer to solo and it will be less dependent on resource management and more demanding of combat and exploration , closer to a party of 4 and the opposite becomes true.)

One thing I feel I should add about the game's locations and sense of exploration is that it is a bit like Sunless Sea in that each location is replete with its own hidden secrets, conditional paths, and interesting stories - this isn't monopoly where each location just exists for a single mechanical purpose. Unlike Sunless Sea, these stories do not feel disjointed, and are written in a way that does not require multiple re-reads and references to the thesaurus to understand. Doing your own note taking is recommended.

So far I have sought out the secrets in the charred remains of the dead; reluctantly participated in atrocities for grisly and sacred rewards; was forced to choose a side in the conflict ravaging the land out of sheer desperation.

or something like that idk lol

Gay-Lussac did you get your shit yet? How it be?

 

[pakoito]

If you want the Gloomhaven combat system without the cardboard forest and hundred pounds box; download and print Guildhaven City for free.

 

[Snorkack]

I just cannot get into Nemesis. Played it again last weekend and it simply doesn't click. The miniatures are gorgeous and the feeling of helplessness is able to capture the first Alien movie mood, but that's about it. Charakter skills are boring, combat is boring, loot is boring. I can't help but think that this, as well as Lords of Hellas, only rank so high on the usual lists because of the gorgeous minis.

Lithium Flower thanks for the report, sounds intriguing. What's the setup/teardown time for a solo?

 

[Lithium Flower]

What's the setup/teardown time for a solo?

In my case, about 30 minutes for each (so 1 hour for both.)

 

[Snorkack]

wow that's a lot more than what I expected by judging from pictures

 

[Lithium Flower]

wow that's a lot more than what I expected by judging from pictures

I should reiterate that I don't have a fucking table, though, and I like to take my time with it, so it probably takes me longer. The game has compartments that allow you to "save" the state of your game, and so saving/loading from those as opposed to starting the campaign from scratch should allow you to set up much faster since you've already shuffled and set aside the decks you are using. (oh yeah, my shuffling game is also terrible, the lifepath of casino dealer is forever closed to me).

Other than that, yeah, its basically a glorified card game (which might mislead those allured by the high-quality miniatures produced by the game, but those are only really there to give the PCs/menhirs/roaming rapemonster encounters a bit more presence in the game) so you just need to keep tracks of the various decks you are using, but other than that there are a lot of little fiddly components like various dials, cubes that keep track of your stats/resources, and what have you that will probably constitute the majority of your prep time.

 

[Casual Hero]

I want to try getting a Command and Colors game, but I'm not sure which one I should get. Any thoughts? Napoleonic is my favorite era, but I heard that Ancients has really good tight rules. Then there is the new one, Medieval.

 

[Stormcrowfleet]

Just got my Dune reprint by mail. Too bad I can only play it with my wife. I heard it's best played at max players. Anybody tried the new version with just 2 players ?

 

[pocketroid]

What I've been playing:

KeyForge
What is this game? TL;DW Same vein as TCG/LCG, except you don't have to bother with building a deck, - every deck is pre-built, and 100% unique! Nobody will ever have your one unique deck Plus, the win condition is not killing opponent's dudes or reducing their life, but rather: forging 3 "keys" - one key costs 6 aember, aember is gained from playing cards or Reaping with a creature. If you know anybody who you can play a 2-player game which regularly, get a KeyForge starter set - or you could each buy a deck for 10$.

Been playing KeyForge several times per week since before release in 2018. Recently, I've been playing the same few decks for a few months - just now realizing it's time to switch it up. My girlfriend printed out the new Mass Mutation pre-release "sorry we had to delay it" PnP decks and we've been playing those occasionally, too. As with each new set, there is load of new stuff to parse. In general, these Mass Mutation decks feel less random with more meaningful synergy between cards. The only drawback I could see is that the level of uniqueness could drop as a result.

Aeon's End
What is this game? Cooperative deckbuilding vs a boss. You play a "breach mage" with a special ability. You acquire gem cards which buy you more stuff, relics and spells to do damage and cool effects. Spells are prepared one turn, and cast on a future turn. You start off with limited spell slots, but you may increase those are the game progresses.
There are a few different bosses, and expansions add more breach mages and bosses. There's even a Legacy version of Aeon's End. It's important to note that all the bosses are very unique - they don't just copy and paste the same mechanisms for each boss; but rather, each boss has a mostly new setup and way of operating them, so it is iteresting, engaging, and keeps the game fresh by playing against different bosses. This deckbuilding game is unique in that, when you take your discard pile to create a new deck, you simply flip your discard upside down and place it as your deck - no shuffling! So you can plan ahead, discard strategically in a specific order, and keep track of the order of your cards. Playing off of this, one boss even forces you to shuffle sometimes, which is a game-changer.

I'd say our games take 1 or 2 hours, and we're invested the whole time. We randomize the game every time we play, and we have never lost. So we've begun to use the highest difficulty options, which we still win, but are nearly dead by the time we beat the boss. I've read reports from other players on other forums saying they have a hard time and lose a lot, though. All breach mages seem overpowered, and my favourite boss is probably the last one which corrupts you, or the one which eats the card supply piles.

Star/Hero Realms
Best competitive deckbuilding game, I'll play this any day, with strong preference for Star Realms. We own everything released for these games. Evergreen game for us!

Mephisto
A dueling card game in a playing card -sized box, with a fantasy dungeon theme. This one really benefits from frequent play and familiarity, as there are many opportunities for combos and synergies, but in isolated plays this only yields analysis paralysis. Probably plays in an hour or less.

Stone Age
I only really played this because my girlfriend was obsessed with playing Can't Stop on BGA
and I desperately needed something more involved. I wouldn't buy Stone Age, but it's fun to play online sometimes. My go-to worker placement game I own is Dinosaur Island. We'll put on the Jurassic Park score when we play, and it's a rad experience.

 

[azimovhaas8 (Moth)]

Before whole COVID hysteria begin in my Siberian city and most other players started to switch for other hobbies and real life business started to take precedence (and personally i also got work to do with bigger amount of free time being at my disposal just recently) we had extremly nice game of Forbidden Stars. Basically it is a 4-th players part wargame, part tabletop game set in Warhammer 40K universe; plays in similar vein to StarCraft Board Game.
So most players begin sitting on chairs, discussing some non-game relevant stuff and prepairing for session:
1] Sergei (leader of our group, usually the one who opens and closes place) got Chaos faction - in our "meta" this faction considered to be strongest in hands of experienced players.
2] Alexei (big, muscular guy who loves wargames in general) got Eldars faction - strong, but unfavorable faction in our playgroup. Alexei is shrewd diplomat, so most players watch out while negotiating with him in-game.
3] Konstantin (shy, but very nice family man usually playing waiting game of economy) got Space Marine / Emperial faction; favorable faction in our group - probably my favorite one, hehe.
4] I got an Orc faction - strong, reliable and slightly straitforward side to play; favorite faction in our group, due to usual "fun" factor.

Setup is very important part of game, and i got planets that i have no real love for as Orc (reinforcement / tech ones with lower amount of materials) and i placed my starting system in center of map. Best setup happened for Sergei - he also placed his starting system close to Eldars. Alexei played safe, Konstantin placed his world as distant as possible.
This session been chaotis as hell - i been trying to tech up as orcs (and almost got successful), Eldar faction been alying with me to crash Chaos - when we got epic battle of tier 1 units (aspect warriors vs. ork boyz) and i got defeated at first, when entered planet with battle wagon. Chaos player got upper hand by using special ability of Chaos faction (cultist unit can "jump" from one planet to another unoccupied planet in adjacent system) and he got 2 objectives at the end of turn 2. Space Marine player been preparing big army and been constructing bastions (defensive structure that is extrenly important for SM faction).
I captured capital world of Eldars in the end (Alexei been too busy actually winning in other part of map) with couple of Battle Wagons and Stompa (Titan level unit for Orcs) and got second place with 3 objectives. Alexei is winner by virtue of being good negotiator and player (+ flawlesly defended planet with objective against attacks of Space Marines spearheading attack with Titan). Not overly active, but lucky Konstantin (one battle he got all he needed on combat dices and got best tactical cards - while Sergei got nothing' going for him and lost with bigger army) got third place. And at last, Sergei - who actually played very nicely for most part of the game, but attracted too many attention by being too agressive in his expansion for victory - been reduced to single planet and mostly been telling funny (and not funny) jokes, when it become clear for everybody that he got no chances to win whatsoever : >

This is last big and interesting session i had in this half of year with people i know and appreciate...

 

[Lithium Flower]

Awakened Realms have started a kickstarter for a reprint of Nemesis, including an intriguing new standalone expansion where instead of a space ship the action takes place in a multi-level base on Mars :https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/awakenrealms/nemesis-lockdown/description

Available for late pledges whenever they launch their pledge manager sometime this month. As someone who has enjoyed Tainted Grail (I got 4/15 chapters and 25+ hours into the game, but decided to wait until the expansions arrive at the end of the year and replay with all the content) but missed Nemesis, I will definitely be backing it.

I've only played two games of Nemesis, both via the incomplete and somewhat clunky mod on Tabletop Sim, and have enjoyed both runs considerably. The rules are very dynamic and both games unfolded in a completely different fashion. Clearly a great story generator, as the first game was a very cinematic solo scramble to fix a ship that was on fire for most of the game and the other was a 2-player coop action horror experience as we ended up activating like 2 adults + a Queen very early on in the game, requiring us to close doors behind us wherever we went and carefully spend ammo and combat cards to fight our way through the intruder-infested rooms.

Apparently this version will feature a revamped solo/coop mode, as well as an optional map that will make it possible to play the regular semi-cooperative gamemode solo (presumably with the app playing NPCs with randomly assigned objectives, which sounds fucking amazing as long as they nail the implementation.)

 

[Sranchammer]

Imperial Struggle is legit.