this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2025
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#WhatDidYouPlayMondays John Company (objectstore.surf.nl)
submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by foxy@social.edu.nl to c/boardgames@sopuli.xyz
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#WhatDidYouPlayMondays John Company

@boardgames @geekygoodies
All other semi-cooperative #boardgames I know focus on a clearcut distinction between (semi-)good players and traitors, given by secret personal role/objective card(s). This game is innovative in that *everybody* is driven by personal gain, and the only reason players don't screw each other over all the time is that people still need the company to stay afloat.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/332686/john-company-second-edition
Photo by @bladerunner007 on BGG.

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[–] mysticpickle@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Radlands with Cult of Chrome expansion - Spectacular mad max theme 1v1 card dueler. Every game of this always feels fresh owing to the three different starting camps you draft at the start of the game that give you unique abilities. The cult of chrome expansion adds a lot of new camps that explore different gameplay styles that really keep the game feeling fresh!

Vale of Eternity w/expansion - Really fun drafting engine builder. There's a lot of different viable ways to build so you're always looking for unexpected synergies with each card. The expansion adds more cards and a set of artifacts that people draft at the start of each round giving the game another strategic layer. The game ramps up very quickly and can be over before you know it!

[–] timokytta@mstdn.social 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

@foxy @boardgames @geekygoodies

John Company sounds interesting but maybe it's not for my mainly 2p games...

My last week:
Innovation
Tiny Epic Pirates
Tiny Epic Pirates
Palm island
Palm island
Fresko
The Voyages of Marco Polo

#WhatDidYouPlayMondays #WhatDidYouPlayMonday #BoardGames

[–] mysticpickle@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I love how absurdly broken the different plyer abilities are in Marco Polo!

[–] timokytta@mstdn.social 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

@mysticpickle But they are still quite well balanced, so even though when you can choose the numbers of you dice every time, it's not too powerful.

A bit similar thing than card powers in Innovation. There are some really strong ones, but when there are several of those, it makes them even and just fun.

[–] mysticpickle@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Oh yeah generally they're all pretty good in their own right. I meant to say they're so different and give you such a massive advantage in their field that they feel like they're broken. Except the one where you start in Beijing at the start. That one always felt a bit weak compared to the others.

[–] timokytta@mstdn.social 1 points 1 week ago

@mysticpickle Actually I used that in our latest game and I won 82-43. 😎 But that was more due to my luck in filling the orders, not much in moving in the map.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 3 points 1 week ago

Last week(end), I played Cartographers, Colorfox, Blokus Trigon, Decrypto, Brazil Imperial

[–] ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Kraftwagen, car-themed with a great rondel action mechanic

The Magnificent, circus-themed dice drafting

Century: A New World, cube trading like the original but now somewhat heavier and with more strategic depth

Terra Mystica: Age of Innovation, still the same core game, now with technologies and more ways to score points

[–] RamenDame@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

Currently we run an Arcs Campaign. 2/3 games. Initially I thought I just have to concentrate on a C fate, because the first game I made barely any points. But game 2 I won. But I can’t count and therefore I will play a C fate after all.

We are in game 10/13 of Charterstone. It is a very lightweight legacy worker placement and okish.

My partner bought Deep regrets after having it played once and loved it. It is nice. Need to play it with higher player count.

[–] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Is a traitor mechanic semi-coop? I thought that was just unknown teams. I thought semi-coop where games like Republic of Rome where the game makes everyone lose but if you actually win then there's a first winner. Or Fog of Love where both players, one player, or no players might win.

Anyway, I played Istanbul which is a classic for a reason.

Silver Eye was also excellent and a very worthy addition to the series.

[–] foxy@social.edu.nl 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

@boardgames @ryedaft BGG's top games in the "Semi-coops" and "Traitor"
categories do have some titles in common (from the Nemesis and Battlestar
Galactica series) whose only mechanic that could possibly be seen as
semi-cooperation is indeed (a certain version) of the traitor mechanic.

The page on semi-coops indeed claims that there are several ways to implement
them, and that the Grand Winner format (e.g., Republic of Rome, John Company) is
but one of them. (1/2)

[–] foxy@social.edu.nl 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

@ryedaft @boardgames BGG classifies Battlestar Galactica as semi-coop. Maybe they see switching invisible teams only later in the game as a sufficient condition. This is indeed enough to have the same player cooperate at times (and not just to disguise their true intentions) and compete at others. Although I am not sure this matches their own definition:
"[...] cooperating and competing with each other throughout the game, while
trying to complete a common objective."

[–] jerk@brettspiel.space 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

@foxy @boardgames @geekygoodies In Nemesis you can play it quiete the same, I suppose; never played John Company. Only that in Nemesis you can also choose to play full coop.

[–] foxy@social.edu.nl 1 points 1 week ago

@jerk
@boardgames @geekygoodies I only own Lockdown. Are you talking about how players need each other to keep the lights on in each section and check the face down (contingency/escape pod) tiles?