Board Games

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Anyone have recommendations for stuff along the lines of Shadows Over Camelot & Battlestar Galactica? AKA - A mostly co-op game with one or more secret traitor type people trying to unleash their hijinks.

This isn't really like that, but you made me think of Mr. Jack, which is a great two player game, if anyone hasn't tried it. There are a variety of characters looking for Jack the Ripper. The two players take turns moving them around the streets of London. Thing is one of the players knows which one is Jack the Ripper, and is trying to help him escape, while the other is trying to deduce Jack's identity before he escapes the board. Really fun.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by moriarty

edit: You might look at Betrayal at House on the Hill as well.

Oh, we've played the hell out of Betrayal.

The running joke is always the guy who takes Flash over Ox.

[Julio Riddols]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Dola

Brought out an old classic today in Risk - turns out neither my roommate nor her boyfriend had ever played it before. Had a blast teaching them, although the roommate needs a better grip on chokepoints and fortifying borders

Thought I'd ping the board though - what's your strategy when it comes to Risk? Where do you start, and what is your initial goal? I have found that mine changes greatly based upon what everyone else is doing, but I love North America. It's a little big and tough to get a hold of, but with only three entryways (Greenland, Central America and Alaska), it's really easy to hole up there once you do consolidate power.

As a kid I used to immediately try to grab Australia, but I'm now disinclined to do so because it's so hard to get the hell out of there once you build up some power. Africa is also nice, but with Europe/Middle East/Brazil as access points, it can be very difficult to hold on to once you get it.

Tonight I was able to grab all of Australia and a significant portion of South America and Africa while my roommate and her boyfriend postured for North America, Asia and Europe in the initial land grab. By about 5 or 6 turns in, I had all three continents and was amassing a nice little army. The boyfriend, however, was able to wrest control of both North America and Europe, and quickly made my dreams of a simple mop-up victory a thing of the past. I began building up Egypt and West Africa, thinking to punch through southern Europe to break up his continental control...but then he decided to try to put my roommate out of her misery, and pushed a bunch of troops out of Alaska and into Kamchatka. I seized the chance to rush him through Central America, swept all the way through to Iceland, and he conceded the game (it's late and we both work early). A lot of freaking fun though!

I like Risk, but Risk 2210 is better, IMO. Way more strategic, also somewhat shorter on play time due to the 5 turn rule.

[moriarty]

Originally Posted by Autumn

Forbidden Island is another one with the same ruleset as Pandemic, basically, with a different theme. Fun too.

Forbidden Island is now available for the iPAD for those that are so inclined.

[Julio Riddols]

I had no idea there was a place to play a Java version of Puerto Rico online. Its amazing. You can also play solo against that A.I. for those of us who haven't played the game but find it interesting. Tropic Euro - online adaptation of the Puerto Rico board game

[Autumn]

Oh yes, I play Puerto Rico online a lot with friends, though we typically play at I haven't tried Tropic Euro. We play some other games at http://www.boardgames.famdepaus.nl/PR/index.html but their version of Puerto Rico has problems.

[Julio Riddols]

As far as I can tell, Tropic Euro is really stable and works like its supposed to. The A.I. appears to be challenging as well, so solo play is pretty fun. The only difference is they have altered the names of some of the roles.

[Vince, Pt. II]

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!

[Autumn]

I love Agricola but every time I curse the game designers for not putting a few more rounds in there. How am I supposed to do all this in so short a time!

[Mustang]

Note sure if this was mentioned, for anyone that likes Memoir 44 or anyone that might want to try it, you can play it on steam.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Keeping this thread alive...

So my buddy picked up a pair of new games and we checked them out over the weekend - Resident Evil: The Deck Building Game and The Walking Dead.

Resident Evil is very similar to Dominion in style - start with ten cards, deal yourself five, play an action, buy something, discard all and then draw five new cards. The wrinkle in the game is that you have the option every turn of exploring the mansion.

In the beginning, each player chooses a character from the Resident Evil games to play as. Each character has a set number of health and two special abilities that become available as the game progresses. Your deck consists of your typical currency and action cards, but there are also item cards. Items are typically weapons, but there are some 'Green Herbs' and 'First Aid Sprays' to be had (healing items, for those unfamiliar with the Resident Evil franchise). Currency doubles as ammunition in this game, and weapons are only useful if you meet their ammunition requirement. For example, the base currency is +10 Ammo/Gold - it counts as both 10 ammo and 10 gold when played (the two upgrades are +20 and +30 of each). A pump-action shotgun (a pretty powerful weapon) costs 40 ammunition and does 25 damage. For it to be useful, you have to have at least 40 ammunition showing that turn. Before you explore, you play all your actions and your weapons (no limit to weapon usage, as long as you have the ammo for them), then you explore by flipping a card in a special separate mansion deck. The deck consists of enemy creatures and bonus items - there are 5 bonus items in the deck and about 30 or so creatures. Creatures have three values on them - health (how much damage you need to deal to kill them), damage (how much damage they do to you if you fail to kill them) and commendations (how much they're worth when you kill them). Typical creatures have 10-25 health, a select few have 40, one has 60 and the "boss" has 90.

The other change from Dominion is that from the get go there are 15 non-currency cards to purchase from, as opposed to Dominion's 13 - and none of them are "victory points" cards. In Resident Evil, the game ends when the boss monster from the Mansion Deck is defeated, rather than when the supply runs out. Also, the only value that matters is the worth of the total enemies you have killed throughout the course of the game (tougher enemies are worth more).

All in all, an interesting twist on the game style of Dominion. I prefer Dominion (a lot, to be honest), but the immersion factor of the style is nice, and strategy changes not only based upon what cards are in play, but also what character you're playing as.

---

The Walking Dead is a game from Z-Man, the same guys who did Agricola and Pandemic. The game is modeled after the AMC TV series of the same name. The game is a typical board game with pieces representing your characters that are moved around the board. Throughout the game, various dice roll checks to pass encounters make up the guts of the game. The object of the game is for each player to "investigate" three separate locations on the board (out of about 13 or so). When the game starts, there are three "active" locations that are free to be investigated by anyone, and each player has a private location that only they may investigate. Once a public location is investigated, it is removed from the board and a new one is added. The trick with the game is that every time you move, the hexagonal tile you leave is immediately occupied by a horde of zombies (of an undisclosed number). As the game goes on, the board is progressively filled with Zombies and it becomes much more difficult to move around. If you have the misfortune of wandering into a zombie occupied space, you flip over the token, find out how many Zombies there are, and then you fight them.

Players randomly select a character from the game as their main character and then draw one follower from a separate deck to begin the game. Each character has one or two special abilities (sometimes dependent upon having specific followers in your party) and a "dice pool" of three dice that they use for resolving encounters. Followers typically have one to two dice which they add to the player's dice pool, and occasionally have a special ability as well. Acquiring more followers happens randomly through encounters, and they are quite powerful - more dice equals more chances to succeed at encounters and get more resources. The game includes three resources - food, ammunition and gas - that each player keeps a running track of throughout the course of the game. Food is used to replenish party members who have been "fatigued" (wounded), ammunition is spent to help clear out zombies if you fail to do so during an encounter (but is dangerous because it may attract more zombies), and gas helps you speed by groups of zombies without encountering them, or allows you to move further on your turn. Scattered throughout the board are resource icons - when you move onto a space with resources, you draw an encounter card, resolve it, then collect the displayed resource (even if you failed the encounter - unless the failure condition says not to). What I found to be the most entertaining part of the game was the variety of the encounters in the game. Encounters vary widely - while some are as mundane as simply killing 2 zombies, or surviving an attack by 6 zombies, the most fun encounters are the ones that prompt interaction between the players.

For example, an encounter we played through last night had the drawing player choose two players playing. Each player selected has to secretly choose to Fight or Flee. The drawing player succeeds at the encounter if both players choose the same answer - in this case, the drawing player gains a resource. If both players choose to Fight, they each receive a resource of their choice. If both players choose to Flee, they each take a fatigue counter. However, if the two players choose differently, the drawing player fails the encounter and loses a resource. The player who chose to Fight takes 1 fatigue, and the player who chose to Flee gains one resource.

So basically, the players selected have to think about several things -
A) Do I care if the drawing player succeeds or not?
B) What can I get out of this?
C) What is the other person going to pick?
D) Can I afford to choose wrong?

Meanwhile, the drawing player has to pick two people that he thinks will choose the same answer - so he has to go over their motivations as well. There are more basic versions of this as well - "Choose one player. That player decides whether or not to lose two fuel. You succeed in this challenge if they decide NOT to lose the fuel, gain one resource. You fail if they decide to lose the fuel, lose one resource." So the player chosen can sacrifice some resources to make sure that the drawing player doesn't gain any themselves.

In any case, they make for very interesting mechanics and strategy decisions. I really enjoyed the game, and am looking forward to trying it again.

[Passacaglia]

I played a game called Blokus over Thanksgiving weekend, that was pretty fun.

[Glengoyne]

Blokus was one of the first games in my collection. The iPad version is a nice implementation if you're inti that.

My favorite new game is King of Tokyo. You play a monster attacking the city so do all of the other players. You roll dice to heal, earn victory points, damage your enemies, and build energy. the energy is used to buy upgrades for your monster. The upgrades are very thematic, fitting the sixties and seventies B monster move genre. You can become super stretchy, grow wings, burrow, fire breath. The powers are great, and the game is a ton of fun. Designed by Richard Garfield, who is famous for magic the gathering.

If anyone is in the market for a fun for all audiences game, King of Tokyo should be on your list.

[Warhammer]

A great gamers game that has recently been reprinted is 1830. Take Age of Steam, make it more geared towards stock and lining your pockets, make it a little more dirty and underhanded and that's the game. The rules are relatively easy, the ramifications of decisions are insanely deep.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Anyone have recommendations for stuff along the lines of Shadows Over Camelot & Battlestar Galactica? AKA - A mostly co-op game with one or more secret traitor type people trying to unleash their hijinks.

A bit late to the table here with a response, but Panic Station is an interesting twist that plays quickly. It is akin to the movie The Thing thematically, at least that is how it was explained to me. It doesn't play that way specifically, but there is a hint of it. A bunch of you and your androids are stranded in a station somewhere. There is some sort of parasite infestation, and you need to search the station to find the "hive" and burn it to the ground. The traitor aspect is that one of you is infected, and seeking to kill the others.

Players have to search rooms to find items(cards). Player must also exchange cards in order to get a proper distribution of items e.g. I've got a gun, who has ammo? The catch is that the infiltrator can infect you during one of these exchanges. It is a pretty fun game, and can definitely scratch the itch for a traitor mechanic game. There are some logical inconsistencies such as passing a gasoline container to someone trying to infect you prevents the infection and exposes the would be infector for what they are.
What it has going for it that Battlestar Galactica doesn't, is that it plays quickly while BSG seems to often go on forever.

[Vince, Pt. II]

So for Christmas we as a group ended up getting Seafarers of Cataan, Dominion: Intrigue, Balloon Cup and both Resident Evil Deck Building Game expansions, Outbreak and Alliance.

So far we've tried Seafarers and Balloon Cup.

After only one game of Seafarers I'm mildly impressed and interested to play a few more games to see how it holds up with different scenarios. I like the flexibility of being able to build ships as well as roads, and the gold tiles/alternate victory points vary things a little as well. In our one (three player) game, I was really the only one who expanded via the ocean however (my entire strategy revolved around it, from the get go), and one of the other players was completely bottled up in relatively short order, rendering her experience to be rather frustrating. More playing time will be necessary, but I'm not sure that the game offers enough differences that we'll play it rather than just firing up the original version of Settlers.

Balloon Cup, picked up solely because of Jim's recommendation, is fantastic. It's only a two player game, but the concept is very simple and there is a LOT of strategy involved. The gist of the game is as such...

You have a hand of 8 cards, and there are 20 different places to play your cards, separated into 4 different locations. Each location has room for an increasing number of cards on each side - the first is one card on either side, the second two, the third three and the fourth four. Each location has two sides: one for you and one for your opponent. Each turn you play one (and only one) card, but you can play it on either side - and it is often a good strategy to play harmful cards into your opponent's area. When a location is completed, the value of the cards are totaled up, and the player with the most (or least, depending upon the location) value claims the cubes on the location. Cubes are separated into 5 different colors, and are used to purchase one of the 5 different trophies - the first player to pick up 3 trophies wins the game. Once a location is claimed, it is flipped over and given new cubes. Play continues until someone has three of the trophies.

I've only played a few games, but I'm really excited to get back into it and develop a good strategy.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Balloon Cup, picked up solely because of Jim's recommendation, is fantastic. It's only a two player game, but the concept is very simple and there is a LOT of strategy involved. The gist of the game is as such...

You have a hand of 8 cards, and there are 20 different places to play your cards, separated into 4 different locations. Each location has room for an increasing number of cards on each side - the first is one card on either side, the second two, the third three and the fourth four. Each location has two sides: one for you and one for your opponent. Each turn you play one (and only one) card, but you can play it on either side - and it is often a good strategy to play harmful cards into your opponent's area.

I've only played a few games, but I'm really excited to get back into it and develop a good strategy.

I'm a big fan too. Have played maybe 10 games, so not sure how deep the strategy goes, but I love the setup.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Yeah, I'm hoping it holds up to multiple plays. I don't see why it wouldn't. I'm also intrigued to get into a game where order of operations matters when it comes to purchasing the trophies. Unspent cubes becoming currency when their trophy is off the board makes for some interesting end-game decisions.

Do you read the rules the same way I do? They specifically say that you do not HAVE to turn in the dead cubes if you don't want to, but don't mention anything like that for live cubes. The wording almost seems as though once you have the cubes to purchase a live trophy, you have to do it. Playing my dad earlier today, he ended up picking up the red trophy, but it allowed me to end the game by spending my red cubes to pick up two other trophies. If you don't have to, you could essentially hold those cubes hostage (number of cubes in the game < double the purchase price, so once someone has enough the other person absolutely can not get enough)...but at the same time being forced to take the trophy could lose you the game.

I think we'll probably play as if you do not have to purchase the trophy, if only to leave more strategic options.

[Solecismic]

You do not have to claim the trophy cards.

Cards may only be claimed when a tile has been won. At that point, the player who won the tile may claim as many trophy cards as he can (this can include using 3-for-1 trades). Afterward, the player who lost the tile may claim as many trophy cards as he can (again, using 3-for-1 trades if available).

The danger in not making a claim is mostly in not knowing when you'll have another opportunity to make a claim. If you know your opponent can't make a claim right away, you might delay gratification if you know you will win the next tile and can string a couple of trophy cards together at that point.

By the way, there is an error in the game - a defensive player can lock the game board up if there are enough active cubes of a color. Some people play that you can't have more than 2 gray cubes active on the board (or 3 blue, 4 green, 5 yellow and 6 red) at one time. If a cube is selected that exceeds the limit, it's put back in the bag.

I still enjoy the game, and it's become an instant favorite with at least half of the people I've introduced it to.

[gi]

Had a lot of fun playing Conquest of Nerath

Axis and Allies meets fantasy and Risk. Playing it again this New Years Day.

hxxp://wizards.com/DnD/Product.aspx?x=dnd/products/dndacc/338060000

Battlestar Galactica is on the on deck circle...

[corbes]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

My favorite new game is King of Tokyo. You play a monster attacking the city so do all of the other players. You roll dice to heal, earn victory points, damage your enemies, and build energy. the energy is used to buy upgrades for your monster. The upgrades are very thematic, fitting the sixties and seventies B monster move genre. You can become super stretchy, grow wings, burrow, fire breath. The powers are great, and the game is a ton of fun. Designed by Richard Garfield, who is famous for magic the gathering.

If anyone is in the market for a fun for all audiences game, King of Tokyo should be on your list.

+1. Deep enough and fast-paced enough that you've got to be flexible with strategy as the game progresses. Also relatively easy to teach to non-gamers. We've enjoyed this one.

[Dreghorn2]

Man i used to love board games.

Anyone have some suggestions for some deep, and maybe not so deep, 2 player board games that my wife and i could play against one another?

Would really appreciate some suggestions, i haven't played board games in a long long time.

[Danny]

What kind of games do you enjoy?

Abstract type games with simple rules but strategic and or tactical depth (like Chess, Go, etc...)?

Theme heavy games that may be a lot of fun, but also somewhat fiddly as well?

Streamlined euro style games with some strategic depth?

Really deep euro style games that may be a bit of a brain burner?

Cooperative games?

Confrontational games?

Card games?

War games?

Miniature games?

What kind of play time would you want for your games?

If interested in games with theme, what are some of your favorite type of themes?

[mckerney]

Battle Line
Cold War: CIA vs. KGB
Lost Cities
Dragonheart

And if you want something deeper
1960: The Making of the President

[CrimsonFox]

Here are some answers in bold.


What kind of games do you enjoy?
Games with a theme, games with auctions and bidding as a mechanic. Games with different choices and types of play but each choice is a win

Abstract type games with simple rules but strategic and or tactical depth (like Chess, Go, etc...)?

Theme heavy games that may be a lot of fun, but also somewhat fiddly as well?
Beowulf, Shadows Over Camelot

Streamlined euro style games with some strategic depth? Beowulf, Adel Verflechtet, Stone Age

Really deep euro style games that may be a bit of a brain burner?
I don't really know what you mean between this question and the last one.

Cooperative games? Shadows Over Camelot (and it's hard enough to win without a traitor playing so it's kinda more fun with no traitor), Fortress America

Confrontational games?
Diplomacy of course! Cosmic Encounter

Card games?
Apples to Apples

War games?

Miniature games?
Space Hulk

What kind of play time would you want for your games?
1-2 hours. Occasionally a 3-4 hr game is fun but I'd better like the people I play with. 1/2 hour games are fun too.

If interested in games with theme, what are some of your favorite type of themes?
Fantasy, Horror, having a country or era as a theme

New categories:
Storytelling/RPG type game: Tales of the Arabian Nights

Abstract/Art: Dixit

[Danny]

Originally Posted by CrimsonFox

Really deep euro style games that may be a bit of a brain burner?
I don't really know what you mean between this question and the last one.

Games like Brass, Through the Ages, Antiquity, 18xx, etc... I really like games from the first group, but I don't like games that are too brain burney myself.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Danny

Games like Brass, Through the Ages, Antiquity, 18xx, etc... I really like games from the first group, but I don't like games that are too brain burney myself.

so you're saying you don't like games that are poorly designed. Fair enough.

[DanGarion]

My brother in law got us the add on expansion for Pandemic, can't wait to check that out!

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Dreghorn2

Man i used to love board games.

Anyone have some suggestions for some deep, and maybe not so deep, 2 player board games that my wife and i could play against one another?

Would really appreciate some suggestions, i haven't played board games in a long long time.

Ticket to Ride!

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Ticket to Ride!

If you're buying Ticket to Ride mostly to play with your wife go with the Nordic Countries version that is for 2-3 players.

[mckerney]

Forbidden Island is a good cheap co-op game for 2-4 players.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by mckerney

If you're buying Ticket to Ride mostly to play with your wife go with the Nordic Countries version that is for 2-3 players.

My wife and I have enjoyed many a game of the USA version as two player.

[corbes]

Originally Posted by Dreghorn2

Man i used to love board games.

Anyone have some suggestions for some deep, and maybe not so deep, 2 player board games that my wife and i could play against one another?

Would really appreciate some suggestions, i haven't played board games in a long long time.

My wife and I really like Lost Cities. It is designed for 2 players only so no adaptations required, and I think it fits your "deep but not too complicated" concept.

[RomaGoth]

Originally Posted by Dreghorn2

Man i used to love board games.

Anyone have some suggestions for some deep, and maybe not so deep, 2 player board games that my wife and i could play against one another?

Would really appreciate some suggestions, i haven't played board games in a long long time.

We enjoy Blockus. My wife hates that she can never beat me at it though. So I guess what I really mean is that I enjoy Blockus.

[Dreghorn2]

Damn, thanks guys for the replies.

Essentially i don't know what we would like to play because i am so far removed as to what is available.

Personally i like deep strategic games (from back in the day) but i have to be realistic about what my wife might be into.

I'd be willing to bet that board games have reached a level where i would be genuinely surprised by the amount of options available in the adult gaming market.

I need to do some research and i'll start by checking a lot of the suggestions mentioned here.

When i was a kid, there was nothing, and i mean nothing, that made me happier than getting a new board game (well maybe hockey equipment, but that was it).

I'll monitor this thread going forward.

This is such a cool forum.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by Dreghorn2

I'd be willing to bet that board games have reached a level where i would be genuinely surprised by the amount of options available in the adult gaming market.

You have no idea lol. First, I will second the suggestions of Battle Line and Lost Cities, both fantastic 2 player card games. But I'd recommend getting a couple pure board games instead of all card games if you're like me and like cool boards and pieces.

Here are a few suggestions based on my preference of games and my wife who plays with me as well. This is assuming you plan to play strictly two player for now as playing with more opens up thousands of more options.

Dominion: A game in which you buy cards that go into your deck (now the hottest current mechanic in board gaming called deckbuilding). Very easy game to learn, that pretty much everyone likes or loves. I personally prefer thunderstone, but Dominion is better for wives and to start out with. I would definitely recommend this game, though again, it is a pure card game.

Summoner Wars- One of my favorite games. It is a tactical battle of fantasy armies that uses cards. It has simple rules and fairly deep play. Some randomness, but the better player will win almost all the time. It is highly confrontational and has the fantasy theme, so if that scares your wife off, look elsewhere. If you do like the way it sounds, I recommend getting the master set which comes with a deluxe board and nice box. I personally have all 14 armies, but that is certainly not needed to start with.

Agricola: This is a euro style game. It is decently complex, but not too bad and it flows well. Works great with two players. Additionally, the family/farming theme does typically appeal to wives. Not too confrontational other than taking your opponents desired spots.

Claustrophobia- A two player dungeon crawl style game, but with streamlined rules and really awesome miniatures and pieces. It comes with a dozen or so scenarios, but many more can be found online, both official and unofficial. Again, though, this game is highly confrontational and has a fantasy theme.

Stone Age - This uses the mechanic called worker placement (agricola does also) in which players take turns placing their meeples (guys) on different spots on the board. Then they take turns executing the actions of their meeples. This one is a great introductory worker placement and one of my wife's favorite games. works well with two, though I prefer it with more.

Pandemic, Forbidden Island, Defenders of the Realm: All three games use the same base mechanic and are fully cooperative. I own Pandemic and Defenders of the realm and would rank them Defenders, Pandemic and Forbidden, but Pandemic is the best combination of simple rules, depth and wife friendliness.

Samurai- A fun area control / tile placement style game. Works great for two.

[Danny]

If I were picking five for you, I would suggest:

Battle Line (i think it has more depth and is better than lost cities)
Dominion
Summoner Wars or Claustrophobia (both confrontational fantasy style games with streamlined rules and good tactical depth. Whichever sounds better to you and your wife)
Agricola or Stone Age(stone age is a better intro, but agricola has more depth and works better with 2p imo)
Pandemic

I think from there you would get a really good idea of the type of games you and your wife enjoy and can go from there.

One encouraging thing as well, board games hold their value very well. Games from the list I gave and most good games in general can easily be traded for other games in the case you do not like them. They can usually be sold for 60-70% of what you paid for them (assuming you buy them online and get free shipping) and sometimes more if you have it for a while and sell it between print runs or when it is out of print.

[CrimsonFox]

I do like a good co-op game BUT they are awfully dangerous. It all depends on who you play it with. Just one loud-mouth knowitall will spoil the whole game.
aka the kind of person that tells everyone else how to play their turn. Just kills the whole game.

[Danny]

Yeah, like how I play werewolf

[Danny]

But it would be good for them to know if coops are a good match for them. They could always trade it or sell it away if it isn't and then steer clear of them in the future. But there are a lot of really great ones out now, so if it is something they would enjoy, would be a shame to miss out on them

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Solecismic

You do not have to claim the trophy cards.

Cards may only be claimed when a tile has been won. At that point, the player who won the tile may claim as many trophy cards as he can (this can include using 3-for-1 trades). Afterward, the player who lost the tile may claim as many trophy cards as he can (again, using 3-for-1 trades if available).

The danger in not making a claim is mostly in not knowing when you'll have another opportunity to make a claim. If you know your opponent can't make a claim right away, you might delay gratification if you know you will win the next tile and can string a couple of trophy cards together at that point.

By the way, there is an error in the game - a defensive player can lock the game board up if there are enough active cubes of a color. Some people play that you can't have more than 2 gray cubes active on the board (or 3 blue, 4 green, 5 yellow and 6 red) at one time. If a cube is selected that exceeds the limit, it's put back in the bag.

I still enjoy the game, and it's become an instant favorite with at least half of the people I've introduced it to.

Ironically, we (unintentionally) locked up the board the very first night - we ende up with all 5 gray cubes out at once and didn't yet realize how limited the gray cards are.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Have a few games of Dominion: Intrigue under our belts now and I absolutely love the set. Flexibility is the name of the game, and some of the card combinations are awesome (Bridge in particular has a very nice synergy with a ton of different cards). Looking forward to exploring the set more.

Have tried one game each of the Resident Evil expansions, and they are complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Outbreak is extremely difficult to be successful at, while Alliance is almost laughably easy. In the game, you are trying to out score your opponents by going into the mansion and fighting infected creatures. In the vanilla game, you have the option of whether or not to explore, so you can spend several early turns building your deck up before you venture in. Outbreak adds in a penalty for not exploring, represented by an increasing infection level on your character. With very little time to build up your deck, you are constantly risking death when you explore early. Alliance, on the other hand, lets you play with two characters, and very quickly makes exploring the mansion a very easy thing to do.

In both cases every player playing has to deal with the handicaps and bonuses, so there is only a change in play style. I really enjoyed Outbreak, but Alliance was a little too easy for my tastes.

[Dreghorn2]

This thread has been bookmarked and you people are officially awesome.

I'm really looking forward to my wife and i trying some of these out (I'm kind of feeling like a kid again -- LOL).

[cschex]

This thread is awesome. I've been wanting to find a good game my wife and I can play and after reading this I think we're going to try out Dominion (found a used copy on Craigslist). I want to get Pandemic too but I wonder if it feels limited with only 2 players?

[Danny]

Originally Posted by cschex

I want to get Pandemic too but I wonder if it feels limited with only 2 players?

Not at all, it works perfect with two. In fact it introduces a side game of seeing if I can subtly tell my wife what to do with her turn without her realizing.

In all seriousness, my wife and I play it with two almost exclusively. It obviously doesn't have as much of a teamwork factor as when you play with four, but I think all of the fun is there.

[Autumn]

Pandemic is a great pick up because you can very easily introduce others when you have friends/family over. I've seen a lot of people who never touch board games, or never touch these kinds of strategy games, get right into it. It seems to have a broad appeal, the games are fast, yet addictive, and the fact that you can help each other makes it non-threatening.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Dreghorn2

Man i used to love board games.

Anyone have some suggestions for some deep, and maybe not so deep, 2 player board games that my wife and i could play against one another?

Would really appreciate some suggestions, i haven't played board games in a long long time.

i'll second Pandemic and dominion plus expansions as boardgames for two. I'll add Puerto Rico to the list. There is an official two player variant that makes the game great for a couple. PR was the top ranked boardgame for a VERY long time. It is very accessible, and is about as deep in strategy as you can imagine. The only CON I have with PR is in playing with widely diverging skill sets. A weak player won't win, but will likely be the king maker setting up the win for someone else. If both players are new to Boardgames in general, then this won't be an issue.

It was mentioned above that Defenders of the Realm and Forbidden Island also scratch the cooperative itch along with Pandemic, but have very different themes. So don't just stick with Pandemic, just because of the popularity.

Also, don't just bookmark this thread. Go to boardgamegeek.com. That is the promised land.

[dzilla77]

If you like PR, San Juan is also good as a two player game.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Also, don't just bookmark this thread. Go to boardgamegeek.com. That is the promised land.

I'll second this recommendation, Board Game Geek is a pretty awesome site.

Also, I've found Forbidden Island to be sort of a "Pandemic Light". I didn't really enjoy it all that much, but we've only played it a couple of times. I'll give it a couple more playthroughs before I really get down on it.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

Also, don't just bookmark this thread. Go to boardgamegeek.com. That is the promised land.

Only use this site if you are alright with having close to 200 games in less than 3 years time.