Listening to today's Dice Tower podcast (I think it's about 30 mins in), GSF got a strong, but mixed mention. Tom Vasel described it as thematic, a bit fiddly to keep track of, very hard (even against the easiest boss) but it was one he enjoyed. I suspect a video review will be following up shortly
That sounds about what I expected to hear from Tom. I don't know that it's his kind of game, but I'm glad he's enjoying it!
Quite a few people mention GSF's difficulty level. Maybe we'll need to come up with an anti-Advanced rules houserule to make it fun for the casuals.
Just listened to the segment on my lunch break. Sounds like Tom is planning to keep the game in his collection which is rare these days. He did say he plans to have a video review up this week if he can. I'll be interested to watch.
The game has a bunch of easy to turn nobs to adjust the difficulty. You can:
Start the game with more/less ships deployed
Add/Remove shields or weaponry to taste
Start the game with +1W/+1D on your ship panel
In the PAX East demo (which, if anything, was critiqued for being almost too easy), we stacked the mission deck and did a combination of #1 and #2
I think it might be wise to have a pre-selected set of knobs to turn for newcomers.
His reviews are pretty solid, but I think his Pixel Lincoln review was way too colored by him being a promo card in the game. “Charming, simple game” was too much credit for PL. That being said, I tend to enjoy what he has to say about BattleCon and Sentinels! I’ll have to listen to his GSF opinion after I get off work.
That's what I was getting at. I agree.
What I like about his reviews is he usually presents a good overview for me to know if I'll like a game or not - even if he doesn't like it. It was his review of Sentinels that got me into the game originally.
Joel Eddy at DriveThruReview put up a pretty good review, as well. I recommend it, even if he gets a little ramble-y.
Start with -2D for every every Opp ship played. Pre-selected easy mode. Or did you guys mean something official?
We will likely be putting out "Official Guides to Demoing" for both SotM and GSF in the next couple of months. However, I can guarantee you that the GSF guide will be heavily based on Foote's experience running the GSF demoing sector of our booth at PAX East. :)
For me, that is the mark of a good review, where you don't have to rely on their opinion, but can get a sense on how you'll feel about the game(/film/book) based on how they talk about it.
PS - Reckless, he sold me on BattleCON too! Kind of wish I had the Legacy Promo…
I actually heard about BattleCON through the Legacy promo on a >G Kickstarter. I later saw Dice Tower's review and thought it was quite accurate. I ended up backing Devastation (and got 1st Ed. War, Pixel Tactics 1 & 2, Strikers, all the promo characters, and a playmat) due to a combined love of SotM and finding their Devastation and War Print-and-plays to be outstanding. The Legacy promo is a lot of fun, but I haven't had much of a chance to play as of late. If you would like information on what he does and any card details please feel free to drop me a PM!
Just listened to Tom talking about GSF. I was really surprised how much he liked it despite the book keeping and difficulty. I mean, he really liked it it sounded like. Comparison to making Ghost Stories look like a cakewalk was hillarious and appropriate. Joel Eddy didn't win many games much squeeked out a win which is awesome. Joel's review really hit on a key point that I found profound. The tense nature of the game and that constant feeling of danger is really gonna scratch an itch for folks. I think thats what Joel liked most about it, and even though he didn't mention it specifically, I get the sense thats what is making Tom keep the game himself as well.
If I wanted to do something that would make me tense, I wouldn't be playing a game. I'll absolutely be looking for ways to make it a fun family game-night game, or else it won't ever come out of the box at my house.
I don't mean tense as in white knuckles. Tense as in your backs against the wall and you can feel the pressure the Opp is placing on you. Maybe that's a poor choice of words
I think INTENSE is the word you want there. It's not STRESSFUL, so much as there are things at stake and you come close to losing, but can still barely hold on. Like some Sentinels games.
Also, just wanted to throw this out there, BattleCon is my favorite game(s) ever. I got it because of Legacy, but I'm pretty sure I like it better than GSF, Sentinels, AND Sentinel Tactics. I'm really glad it's getting some attention, but I think it deserves more. You should all get it. Please?
So all the recent publicity has me interested in this game. I only got back into boardgaming recently and well after this kickstarter closed...any idea when the game will be hitting stores for us non-KS-backers?
I believe the KS rewards should be shipping this month, so I would guess end of May/Early June for retailers
Tom's review is up on Youtube now. Off to watch it now.
Just saw Toms video review. I wanna show him how to win so badly right now haha
Shoot him an email, seriously. He's usually pretty responsive.
Wrath + Claw = Win
That would be the entire body of the email haha
After playing another 2 player game last night with Tharendim and Folly against the Syndicate where we lost the round after we scrapped the flagship, a revenge game had to be played. Wrath +Claw. Cleared the board, then forced the flagship out just to scrap that as well. This was all elite mode. Wrath is too good for her own good I swear. Shes Team Leader Tachyon in the base set haha.
They talked about it for a bit on the youtube Tom & Jason live around the 54 minute mark. Brought on by a question about Sentinel Tactics. I expect that to be a game that Tom likes a lot. Will be interesting to see.
Watching this and the drive thru review I'm curious when this actually goes on sale for the rest of us. This sounds like a lot of fun.