Which TOADS are you SHELVING?

RobertB wrote: I bought the tricked-out Kickstart version of Scythe (yeah, yeah, Scythe is a piece of crap, whatever), with everything short of the coffee table art book. Metal coins, giant board, etc. I've played it twice.

Given the games popularity I'd think it would be easy to unload via Ebay . Or better yet Facebook as between the PP fees and Ebay's commission you're taking a 25% haircut and I read something recently where the fuckers hold funds til feedback is entered.

Dr. Mabuse wrote:
I was caught up in the affinity you and Gary Sax have for it. I played the first edition years ago at a convention and floundered about terribly. It reminded me of when I first got into the hobby and one of the first games I ever played was Tigris and Euphrates. I experienced what I later heard referred to as brain burn. I had no clue what I was doing, so I bought a second-hand copy shortly thereafter to teach myself it and to see if I would like it. I effing LOVED it and still do.

I figured the same would apply to JC 2nd ed, unfortunately after I backed it and looked into playthrough videos, etc, I realised that Wehrle's games (aside from Pax Pamir 2nd ed) are too complex and would require far too many gameplays to wrap my head around the fundamentals and nuances (same goes for Oath). The longer I'm in the hobby the less enthusiasm I have to learn heavy, complex games.

JC2 (and also first edition) aren't procedurally all that complex, even in the "Events in India" phase. The 1st edition suffered from production limits that moved a lot of useful info to the rules, but 2nd edition has made that much easier on the players.

However, to play it well you have to figure out how to value things in the game, and that's exceedingly hard. Some aspects of the design make it hard on purpose, even. The 2nd edition learned some lessons about "fun" from the first, and the game doesn't devolve it into weird zombie states or sudden surprise failures quite as much. So from a dabbling side, playing poorly isn't such a bad thing. The game won't suddenly fly out from under you like a skateboard, and that makes it much less toady than 1e.

But the real lesson here is never listen to that Sax guy. He's responsible for way too many toads in my collection, probably more than anyone else I know.

Shellhead wrote:

RobertB wrote: I bought the tricked-out Kickstart version of Scythe (yeah, yeah, Scythe is a piece of crap, whatever), with everything short of the coffee table art book. Metal coins, giant board, etc. I've played it twice.

The coffee table art book sounds ridiculous for a board game, but I think that the art is the only great thing about Scythe and might consider buying the art book. I'm also the guy who thinks that the theme song is the only great thing about Cowboy Bebop.

There were five of us at work who were into boardgaming, and four of us bought Scythe through Kickstarter. We all talked each other into ordering it, over the course of about a day. I know that the artwork was a huge selling point for me, and maybe for the rest of us as well.

Not Sure wrote: But the real lesson here is never listen to that Sax guy.

Can confirm. The good news is these days I play a lot of them digitally, so they don't feel like toads to me. The bad news is that they *are* toads since I don't play the copy on my shelf.

RobertB wrote: There were five of us at work who were into boardgaming, and four of us bought Scythe through Kickstarter. We all talked each other into ordering it, over the course of about a day. I know that the artwork was a huge selling point for me, and maybe for the rest of us as well.

On a slight tangent the incredible art on all the cards of Awaken Realms' Tainted Grail and Etherfields caused me to order sleeves for everything - I don't know if it is a thing but they are boardgames you play but you also like the art of ... I suppose that is similar to the evolution of graphic novels.

Visuals are part of the experience. I wouldn't begrudge anyone buying something because they liked the way it looked. That's what sells art, clothes, cars, food- you name it. There are a lot of people that scoff at others buying board games with tons of plastic miniatures who won't acknowledge that that is, indeed, a selling point because it is part of the experience of playing that game. Eric Lang said that one of his initial approaches for his mythical trilogy was to have something that looked cool on the table. 40 years of Games Workshop provides foundation for that approach, among many other examples. Card and board artwork is the same way.

That is absolutely true and a good point.

If only the games everyone says are amazing looking, were actually amazing looking though Cos I certainly don't think so.

Even setting the plagiarim aside, I've never been a fan of how Scythe looks. Attaching legs to a tractor engine looks silly, the board and pieces have different styles and terms such as Rusviet Union are cringy.

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Regarding toads, I don't think I own any, per se. But there are so many games I feel I haven't played enough. I could play 40 games of each 18XX game I own but I haven't, for example. Probably my biggest toad is Roads & Boats, it's a pain to carry it on the metro so it sees the table very little.

Erik Twice wrote: ...
Regarding toads, I don't think I own any, per se. But there are so many games I feel I haven't played enough. I could play 40 games of each 18XX game I own but I haven't, for example. Probably my biggest toad is Roads & Boats, it's a pain to carry it on the metro so it sees the table very little.

Same here, I have games that get little play but I do intend to get them to the table soon-ish (like TI3, Game of Thrones) - those 2-player games that I put in my list though are unfortunately toads at this point in time.