So I ended up picking up Arkham Horror, Battlestar Galactica and Agricola (had to get to $100 for free shipping, right?) from
www.coolstuffinc.com last week. Shipping was slow, but it was free, and it got there in about a week in perfect condition. So far we've played a couple of games of Agricola and about 10 turns of BSG (just to get the feel for it). Our impressions so far...
I absolutely love Agricola. Very open game with many strategic options, and quite a bit more complex than the simple resource system of Settlers. Sadly, my roommates are not as intrigued by the game...hopefully a few more play-throughs will get them more comfortable with the large variety of options and the scoring system. Going to bring it around the family for Thanksgiving to see if I can hook any of them with it, hopefully I can get a few more games under my belt.
Battlestar Galactica seems like an awesome game, but I think we're going to have trouble with balancing a 3 player game. We only had time to get 3 or 4 turns (total, with everyone at the table taking a turn) in, but it gave us some time to get comfortable with the basic mechanics of the game. We ended up playing Adama, Roslin and Starbuck and none of us was a Cylon until we stopped playing - our last turn jumped us 4 and Roslin was activated as a sleeper. I love the skill check mechanic, and the hidden traitor aspect of the game will be very fun to explore. I think 3 will be a bit difficult, however - the limited number of available skill cards to be played makes it seem at first blush that a Cylon will very easily be able to tip the balance on skill checks.
Haven't yet gotten to Arkham Horror - we've all been a little busy. But I'm looking forward to giving each of these some more time!