LNH20/ACRA: NHOP # 2

[Tom Russell]

On Friday, November 21, 2014 9:47:02 PM UTC-5, Andrew Perron wrote:
> On 11/21/2014 10:22 AM, Tom Russell wrote:
> > On Thursday, November 20, 2014 9:45:13 PM UTC-5, Andrew Perron wrote:
> >> On 11/19/2014 8:29 PM, Tom Russell wrote:
> >>> The next day, her faeces came out with huge clumps and
> >>> stringy strands of polyester plush, in addition to pieces of Tyler's
> >>> flesh and hair.
> >>
> >> Ewgh.
> >
> > Properly marked ACRA this time around!
> 
> Yes, very glad. @_@;
> 
> >>>      Hidden beneath FORBIDDEN DESERT ("we're trying to find pieces of a
> >>> magic airship scattered in ancient ruins buried beneath the sand, and
> >>> probably we're going to die of thirst!")
> >>
> >> Oh man. I've got Forbidden Island and it's tons-o-fun.
> >
> > They're similar games, from the same designer. Island has always struck me as too easy (we've never lost), and it doesn't scratch the same itch as their big brother PANDEMIC. But FORBIDDEN DESERT-- man! It is a seriously hard game to win (we've won *once*). I much prefer it to ISLAND-- if I had to own only one, it'd be DESERT-- but ISLAND is fun too.
> 
> Interesting. (We've definitely managed to lose Island when the starting 
> difficulty's turned up.) But that's definitely been on the To-Get list for a 
> while. Pandemic's on there more vaguely, since we don't often get above three 
> players available at once.

Oh, you don't need more than 3 for Pandemic; it plays 2-4 in the base set (2-5 with the expansion, IIRC). The game is actually easier (i.e., it's actually possible to win) with *less* players because there's a limit on the total number of turns that you can take. With 2 players, each player's going to have something like 12 turns, and our win rate is about 30-40% (pretty high for a co-op!); with four, each player's going to have six or seven turns, and our win rate is two games out of forty. PANDEMIC's definitely just as much fun, and as addictive, with two players, and is well-suited for 2 or 3 players.

==Tom