Tabletop (Board/Card Games)

[Garuda]

I'll try to bring my EDH deck (EDH = Elder Dragon Highlander, just by the by. Elder Dragon because originally your commander had to be one of the elder dragons from the Legends set, and Highlander because 'there can be only one' [of each card])

I'll also try to bring my pre-con cube for pickup Pile, and possibly a little bit of draft. Not so sure about this, because some of the cards in my cube are on loan from other people, who might be bummed if an anonymous con-goer pocketed their Cruel Ultimatum on the sly.


On formats, for those who were wondering: There are four generally-accepted tournament-legal formats, two of which are 'rotating' and two of which are 'eternal'. All formats have a decent saturation of play, and unfortunately for casual collectors, the eternal formats (i.e. ones where the cards don't get cycled out as they get older) are extremely competitive, and decks range from $200 to upwards of $5,000. Fortunately, the cycling formats have a pretty long shelf-life (2-7 years).

A breakdown of the official DCI-sanctioned formats:

Standard - By far the most popular format, and the shorter of the cycling formats, standard generally includes the most recent 'core' set (a set containing reprints of many classic staples of the game. currently Magic 2010, more commonly referred to as M10), and the two most recent blocks (themed groups of 3 sets, currently Alara block [Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn] and the just-finished Zendikar block [Zendikar, Worldwake, Rise of the Eldrazi]).
Standard tournaments get tons of play, and competitive play rewards players who spend a lot of time following the rapidly-evolving tournament meta-tech (what decks are hot, what decks are not, what your deck beats and what it scoops to, and so forth)

Extended - The other cycling format is Extended, which is arguably the cheapest format to play at a competitive level, and includes all the core sets and blocks released in the last 7 years (I don't remember exactly where this line stands, somewhere in the vicinity of Mirrodin block IIRC)

Vintage - The format of the *true* magic geek, Vintage allows nearly every card ever printed in Magic (The exceptions are cards that mention ante, which was a printed rule in the very very early editions of the game, and is no longer allowed during tournament play, and a tiny handful of cards removed for political reasons--cards requiring physical skill that can be difficult for handicapped players, cards that make games drag on for hours, etc.). Vintage does maintain a 'restricted list' of cards considered too powerful for players to be allowed to use a full set of 4 in a deck. Only one of a given restricted card (including reprints of the same card) are allowed in a single deck.
The trouble with Vintage, especially for new players, is that many cards printed in the early days of Magic were significantly above the power level of cards printed since then. These cards are rare, expensive, and often difficult to use properly. A few sell for over a thousand dollars each. Aside from the financial barrier, the level of advanced mathematical and statistical analysis required to really understand what makes a good deck, and how to play one in Vintage, make this format pretty much reserved for true veterans of the game.

Legacy - 'Vintage lite', Legacy is the more accessible of the eternal formats. The primary difference is that all the cards on the Vintage restricted list are instead banned, which radically changes the meta strategy for this format. Since all the truly expensive cards from the early core sets are on the restricted list, that also makes Legacy significantly cheaper. It's still not cheap, but it's closer to the realm of reasonable, and the level of mastery required is more accommodating too.


There are some other non-official formats that still see lots of popular play, EDH is the one that jumps to mind. EDH is tons of fun, you can build a competitive deck for pennies on the dollar of a legacy deck, it doesn't cycle out, and it's generally more suited to newer players and casual group games. They've got a website where you can check out the rules, and they have their own banned list.

"I pay 3 to summon 'Wall of Text', 0/3 defender with 'When this creature enters the battlefield, tap all forum readers'"
sorry >_>

[azor12]

cool, glad to see some con goers getting ready to battle in some edh. Ill be bringing mine as well, so be ready to battle

[Mordyan]

8 investigators? I've never been able to get more than 3 people into a game--most of the time, I end up going solo. That would take forever.

Yeah it definitely takes time. Also it is a tougher game to win because it takes less portals to summon the bad guy and monsters appear two at a time because there are more that 4 players.

If you could, I'd really like to try out the Dunwitch Horror, although I've heard some good thing about Kingsport as well (I've always wanted to play the Dreamwalker, although I'm not sure he's actually any good). IIRC, King in Yellow, Curse of The Dark Pharaoh, and Black Goat of the Woods, are only extra cards and rules, right?

I can bring Dunwich, it is one of the board expansion sets, and I haven't broken that set in yet. And yes King, Curse, and Black Goat are just card and creature expansions. They also add in unique rules as well.

Wow, this is really taking off. The more the merrier!

Just let me know when. I am glad to teach new players.

[Dracil]

Is there interest in Race for the Galaxy?  I have the base game + all the expansions, including the one just released a week ago.

Also, I may bring Bang the Bullet (2nd edition).  It's the base game + all the expansions.

[TC X0 Lt 0X]

I'll try to bring my EDH deck (EDH = Elder Dragon Highlander, just by the by. Elder Dragon because originally your commander had to be one of the elder dragons from the Legends set, and Highlander because 'there can be only one' [of each card])

I'll also try to bring my pre-con cube for pickup Pile, and possibly a little bit of draft. Not so sure about this, because some of the cards in my cube are on loan from other people, who might be bummed if an anonymous con-goer pocketed their Cruel Ultimatum on the sly.


On formats, for those who were wondering: There are four generally-accepted tournament-legal formats, two of which are 'rotating' and two of which are 'eternal'. All formats have a decent saturation of play, and unfortunately for casual collectors, the eternal formats (i.e. ones where the cards don't get cycled out as they get older) are extremely competitive, and decks range from $200 to upwards of $5,000. Fortunately, the cycling formats have a pretty long shelf-life (2-7 years).

A breakdown of the official DCI-sanctioned formats:

Standard - By far the most popular format, and the shorter of the cycling formats, standard generally includes the most recent 'core' set (a set containing reprints of many classic staples of the game. currently Magic 2010, more commonly referred to as M10), and the two most recent blocks (themed groups of 3 sets, currently Alara block [Shards of Alara, Conflux, Alara Reborn] and the just-finished Zendikar block [Zendikar, Worldwake, Rise of the Eldrazi]).
Standard tournaments get tons of play, and competitive play rewards players who spend a lot of time following the rapidly-evolving tournament meta-tech (what decks are hot, what decks are not, what your deck beats and what it scoops to, and so forth)

Extended - The other cycling format is Extended, which is arguably the cheapest format to play at a competitive level, and includes all the core sets and blocks released in the last 7 years (I don't remember exactly where this line stands, somewhere in the vicinity of Mirrodin block IIRC)

Vintage - The format of the *true* magic geek, Vintage allows nearly every card ever printed in Magic (The exceptions are cards that mention ante, which was a printed rule in the very very early editions of the game, and is no longer allowed during tournament play, and a tiny handful of cards removed for political reasons--cards requiring physical skill that can be difficult for handicapped players, cards that make games drag on for hours, etc.). Vintage does maintain a 'restricted list' of cards considered too powerful for players to be allowed to use a full set of 4 in a deck. Only one of a given restricted card (including reprints of the same card) are allowed in a single deck.
The trouble with Vintage, especially for new players, is that many cards printed in the early days of Magic were significantly above the power level of cards printed since then. These cards are rare, expensive, and often difficult to use properly. A few sell for over a thousand dollars each. Aside from the financial barrier, the level of advanced mathematical and statistical analysis required to really understand what makes a good deck, and how to play one in Vintage, make this format pretty much reserved for true veterans of the game.

Legacy - 'Vintage lite', Legacy is the more accessible of the eternal formats. The primary difference is that all the cards on the Vintage restricted list are instead banned, which radically changes the meta strategy for this format. Since all the truly expensive cards from the early core sets are on the restricted list, that also makes Legacy significantly cheaper. It's still not cheap, but it's closer to the realm of reasonable, and the level of mastery required is more accommodating too.


There are some other non-official formats that still see lots of popular play, EDH is the one that jumps to mind. EDH is tons of fun, you can build a competitive deck for pennies on the dollar of a legacy deck, it doesn't cycle out, and it's generally more suited to newer players and casual group games. They've got a website where you can check out the rules, and they have their own banned list.

"I pay 3 to summon 'Wall of Text', 0/3 defender with 'When this creature enters the battlefield, tap all forum readers'"
sorry >_>

See and us YuGiOh players complain that most competitive decks run $300 or so. Though the only reason are game does not get so high is are banlists kill decks commonly and we usually get a decent amount of reprints of some expensive and old cards. The most expensive cards in are game are tournament prize cards, though most of those past old Crush Card (now reprinted and banned) and Cyber Stein (now reprinted and banned) ever effected the Metagame much. Dark End Dragon is a nice option to have though...

[Dracil]

That's why I got out of ccgs.  Too expensive.  Tried some online only ccgs for a while too and you could get some good deals by gaming the system but eventually they'd also become too expensive.  Which is why I buy board games now.  For $300 I could get 5-15 games instead. The LCG format (non-random packs) ccgs by fantasy flight games is probably the closest I'll get back into it, but even that can get expensive.

[TC X0 Lt 0X]

Well it's not so different then buying an Xbox and a video game to go with it.

~$360 for the combo. Same thing with card games. By all the cards for a deck for $360

The same thing applys when you get a new deck. $60 dollars for a new game. You carry over your staple cards from your old deck to your new one cutting the price down significantly.

[Dracil]

It's not really a new game though.  It's like buying the next iteration of Madden, set after set.

The average new list price of the board games (by which I include non-CCG card games) in my collection is $25 (and I usually get them for 20% or more off either at my local gaming stores or online).  For an Xbox + 1 game, I could get 14 different board games instead at the list price, or 17 games at the discount prices.

The other problem that video games and CCGs both share is that the cost scales with the number of different players.  $360 for you.  $360 for me.  $360 for whoever else wants to play.  With board games, a one-time cost will let you play with up to X players, and those players can be different each time.

Don't get me wrong, I loved CCGs back in the day.  But after high school, I lost my primary opponent and couldn't really justify spending the money anymore.  So I get my deckbuilding/drafting fixes through other means now.

[chris-barstow]

Besides Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh, Pokemon, and Naruto, which collectible card and miniatures games are people bringing?

I was thinking of maybe bringing my D&D stuff, but Idk yet depends on how much people want....

[CaptainYossarian]

So, now we have a schedule, anyone have any ideas for an Arkham Horror time, right now, I'm busy Saturday night from about 6-9, and Sunday night for a while too, but mostly free. I was thinking tentative maybe early Saturday afternoon? Any thoughts on this?

[Mordyan]

I am more free for Arkham Horror in the late evenings (after 9 pm) mostly, as I plan on the concerts on Friday and Sunday. Saturday I am free earlier. Though unfortunately now that I have seen the schedule, Saturday afternoon will not be available for me. Early Sunday afternoon is looking free.

So my vote is for late night horror.

[CaptainYossarian]

I am more free for Arkham Horror in the late evenings (after 9 pm) mostly, as I plan on the concerts on Friday and Sunday. Saturday I am free earlier. Though unfortunately now that I have seen the schedule, Saturday afternoon will not be available for me. Early Sunday afternoon is looking free.

So my vote is for late night horror.

That sounds like a plan to me. Looking at the schedule, I don't have anything I'm even remotely interested in Saturday or Sunday night, so late night gaming sounds like a plan.  My vote is for Saturday night, with maybe a second session if it goes really well, although probably not.

[Dracil]

I'll probably be busy in the early afternoons for a bit each day, so nights work for me.  Better thematically too.  I'd prefer Sunday night as I'd like to take photos for the Masquerade but I could always just leave early since by that time it'll probably be voting/awards anyway.

Location-wise, I'm assuming we'll just be meeting in the game room around the board game area?

[CaptainYossarian]

I'll probably be busy in the early afternoons for a bit each day, so nights work for me.  Better thematically too.  I'd prefer Sunday night as I'd like to take photos for the Masquerade but I could always just leave early since by that time it'll probably be voting/awards anyway.

Location-wise, I'm assuming we'll just be meeting in the game room around the board game area?

Yeah, we'll meet in the game room for sure. Thinking about it, I'm much more partial to Saturday night, but if thats a hassle for you Sunday should be fine.

[Mordyan]

Either late night would be fine with me. I also lean toward Saturday night but if that doesn't work out for Dracil then Sunday night is fine.

So far I count three of us, anyone else interested?

[Dracil]

Saturday should be fine.  It's not a certainty I'll even go to the masquerade anyway, and as I said, I can leave early.

[Dracil]

Alright!  I have now packed:

Bang!+all expansions - 3-8 player shooting bluffing card game


Ca$h 'n Gun$: Live - 8-20 player shooting bluffing party live-action card game


Hive+expansion - 2 player abstract strategy game


Perudo/Liar's Dice - 2-6 bluffing dice game


Roll Through the Ages - 2-4 player civ-building dice game


Fairy Tale - 2-5 player drafting card game


Race for the Galaxy + The Gathering Storm expansion - 1-5 players space empire-building card game


I will be counting on the rest of you to bring Dominion + Arkham Horror. :)

If I have nothing else to do, you can probably find me playing the Solo version of RFTG+TGS at the gaming room while waiting for more players

[Dracil]

Unfortunately, we didn't see you CaptainYossarian.  We waited until 9:30 and then joined another group for our game on Saturday.

It was nice meeting you Patrick, and it was good to see you at Momoi's concert as well. :)

[CaptainYossarian]

Unfortunately, we didn't see you CaptainYossarian.  We waited until 9:30 and then joined another group for our game on Saturday.

It was nice meeting you Patrick, and it was good to see you at Momoi's concert as well. :)

Oh my, what a comedy of errors, that other group was me! I guess I didn't connect that at the time, because one of the guys in my group seemed to imply he was one of you, so I was waiting for the other of you guys--so we did play after all! Sorry about the confusion, I didn't mean to "stand you up", as it were. Hopefully we can play again next year (and by the I'll probably have some expansions)--it was a lot of fun, and we actually won too. Next time we'll have to work up from Yig.

[Mordyan]

Unfortunately, we didn't see you CaptainYossarian.  We waited until 9:30 and then joined another group for our game on Saturday.

It was nice meeting you Patrick, and it was good to see you at Momoi's concert as well. :)

Oh my, what a comedy of errors, that other group was me! I guess I didn't connect that at the time, because one of the guys in my group seemed to imply he was one of you, so I was waiting for the other of you guys--so we did play after all! Sorry about the confusion, I didn't mean to "stand you up", as it were. Hopefully we can play again next year (and by the I'll probably have some expansions)--it was a lot of fun, and we actually won too. Next time we'll have to work up from Yig.

Ahhh... I had thought that might have been you actually. Well I am glad we got our game in and had the extra 2 players. Next year we will take down a tougher boss.

It was cool meeting you both.

Dracil - I had a blast following (stalking?) Momoi all around the con at her mini quests. One of my friends won the dessert with Momoi... on his birthday no less.