Board Games

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Danny

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

Yeah, we're up to about 30 or so in just the last several months.

[twothree]

Originally Posted by Danny

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

No kidding. Almost all my old board games are from the 80's and 90's. I only got back into board games this year and BGG contributed 25 new games to my collection with 10 more currently ordered.

Co-op games are simply amazing. Euro games are so much fun. Anything by Vlaada Chvatil is almost and instant purchase.

The only "new" games I have played and didn't like are the deck building games like Dominion and Thunderstone. It is hard to imagine that the game designer of Dominion, a game I just don't like, also designed Kingdom Builder, a great game that I have played the most this year.

However, I do like Mage Knight. The modular board and co-op scenarios along with the rest of the design make up for the use of a small amout of deck building. And Quarriors is not bad even though it uses dice building.

[dzilla77]

Someone mentioned a deck building game like Dominion in this thread (I think), but my search-fu is weak right now.

I don't think it was resident evil. Is there another one?

[Danny]

Probably Thunderstone which is fantasy based deck building game. It's not as mechanically tight as Dominion, but I enjoy it more.

There is also Ascension, Nightfall, and Rune Age as the other most popular deck builders. Also some new hybrid deck builders such as Eminant Domain and Core Worlds

[MIJB#19]

I think I've done well for myself in not buying more than I can handle. My discovery of BGG resulted in only few acquisitions. I count a grand total of six in nearly 5 years: Show Manager, Blood Bowl Team Manager (the card game), Lemming Maffia, Lost Cities, Schotten-Totten and Bohnanza.

[Danny]

I did not do so well. I own about 140 non board game expansions (got into it a little over two and half years ago. That said, I have played all but about 10 of them, and those were almost all holiday time frame buys / trades.

[Coffee Warlord]

Wife got me Fortune & Glory for xmas. Played it last night for the first time - definitely a learning curve, but everyone did enjoy it. Interested to see how the advanced mechanics and the coop modes play out now.

[moriarty]

Picked up Castle Panic for the kids off Amazon ($16 Xmas deal). Pretty straightforward co-op game with some light strategy. If you're looking for a co-op lighter than Pandemic, or one more kid friendly, it's worth a look. Particularly if it goes on sale again ($25 Amazon at the moment).

[Barkeep49]

I am excited on Thursday to start teaching a Build Your Own Boardgame Class. We have the budget that the kids could produce some potentially very professional looking games, so hopefully they come up with some really cool concepts.

[mckerney]

I got the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Board Game for Christmas and just played it for the first time the other day and really enjoyed it. It started very slowly due to it taking some time to absorb the rules and gameplay mechanics, but about an hour in we got all had a pretty good handle on them and after that there was nothing too difficult or complex for us.

It's a game for 3-6 plays and we had a 4 player game, and at least from our first play it seemed like it is ideally suited for 6 players. You win by capturing a 7th region with a castle or stronghold (or having the most after 10 rounds) and with only 4 there were too many neutral strongholds that could be captured without player to player combat (though with another play through we might have been more aggressive knowing this), and one of the players seemed to us at a disadvantage. I'm really looking forward to a chance to play it again with 6 people and most of us knowing how to play.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Coffee Warlord

Wife got me Fortune & Glory for xmas. Played it last night for the first time - definitely a learning curve, but everyone did enjoy it. Interested to see how the advanced mechanics and the coop modes play out now.

I bought Fortune & Glory after reading about it on Rock, Paper, Shotgun and am hoping to play it for first time tomorrow with a group of about 7 at a day long board game party.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by mckerney

I got the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Board Game for Christmas and just played it for the first time the other day and really enjoyed it. It started very slowly due to it taking some time to absorb the rules and gameplay mechanics, but about an hour in we got all had a pretty good handle on them and after that there was nothing too difficult or complex for us.

It's a game for 3-6 plays and we had a 4 player game, and at least from our first play it seemed like it is ideally suited for 6 players. You win by capturing a 7th region with a castle or stronghold (or having the most after 10 rounds) and with only 4 there were too many neutral strongholds that could be captured without player to player combat (though with another play through we might have been more aggressive knowing this), and one of the players seemed to us at a disadvantage. I'm really looking forward to a chance to play it again with 6 people and most of us knowing how to play.

Is this the one where you declare orders prior to each turn and have to commit characters from the story to lead battles? I read a review for it a few weeks ago, and it sounded like an amazing game.

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

Is this the one where you declare orders prior to each turn and have to commit characters from the story to lead battles? I read a review for it a few weeks ago, and it sounded like an amazing game.

Yes. Your action orders are hidden when you place them on the board. You put down action tokens face down on each area you control that dictates what your units in that area can do during the turn, then every reveals their orders at once (though the player who has the messenger token can decide to switch one of his orders after they're revealed).

For combat you declare at attack, and then both the attacker and defender are able to ask for support from anyone who played a support token down in an adjacent area. Then you add up the combat score from each side attackers, defenders and support and the attack and defender each secretly chose a character card that can provide additional points to the combat score and/or other advantages and reveal them at the same time. There's also a deck of cards you can use to provide some randomness that can add or subtract from the combat score or have an impact on the casualties from the battle.

I played it not really knowing anything about the books. I haven't read the books and I've downloaded the TV show but still haven't watched it yet. So I didn't know anything about the houses or characters on the combat cards, but it was still a lot of fun.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Played Arkham Horror last night for around the 50th time or so. Still my favorite board game out there.

I own all the expansions, but have really pared things down. Board-wise we typically play with just Arkham and Dunwhich.

[Peregrine]

Played some Quarriors last night - I had played it once before and own it but it's a fun game. I like the twist on the deck building games like Dominion - Quarriors replaces the cards with dice, and of course is more combat oriented.

[Danny]

Quarriors is a very fun, but very random game. The winner pretty much comes down to whoever gets lucky and rolls the most monsters. Still, I have played it 15 times and I always have fun with ti

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Played Arkham Horror last night for around the 50th time or so. Still my favorite board game out there.

I own all the expansions, but have really pared things down. Board-wise we typically play with just Arkham and Dunwhich.

So we sat down to play this twice - the first time with only about an hour, we knew we weren't going to get a full game in just wanted to get a feel for it. Second time, we got our asses completely handed to us within 45 minutes. My group is a little daunted by it, and while I have one other person who is itching to play it again, the others are balking at it. Between the complexity, length of time and apparent difficulty, any ideas on a way to make this game a little more accessible to convince my friends that we should give it another go?

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

I am excited on Thursday to start teaching a Build Your Own Boardgame Class. We have the budget that the kids could produce some potentially very professional looking games, so hopefully they come up with some really cool concepts.

This would make a great dynasty BK

[DanGarion]

My wife and I are starting a monthly game night at our house with friends, should be fun!

[rowech]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

My wife and I are starting a monthly game night at our house with friends, should be fun!

We always start these up and they always fall through. Usually, it's because the other couples all have kids and we don't and their schedules are so much more difficult than ours. We've now gone through three different couples this way.

[Danny]

Originally Posted by rowech

We always start these up and they always fall through. Usually, it's because the other couples all have kids and we don't and their schedules are so much more difficult than ours. We've now gone through three different couples this way.

My wife and I have had some trouble making couple friends that we are able to hang out with as well. Usually they are either 1. Younger or more immature than we are 2. Have kids and therefore are extremely busy and difficult to set things up with or 3. Annoy one of us (usually me)

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by rowech

We always start these up and they always fall through. Usually, it's because the other couples all have kids and we don't and their schedules are so much more difficult than ours. We've now gone through three different couples this way.

Well it's less of a couples thing in our mind. We don't have kids so we invite some married friends that like games and single friends.

[Dreghorn2]

Originally Posted by Danny

My wife and I have had some trouble making couple friends that we are able to hang out with as well. Usually they are either 1. Younger or more immature than we are 2. Have kids and therefore are extremely busy and difficult to set things up with or 3. Annoy one of us (usually me)

Yeah Danny my wife and i are in the same boat, usually because of 1 and 2 but.. LOL.. 3 sometimes rears it's head as well.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

So we sat down to play this twice - the first time with only about an hour, we knew we weren't going to get a full game in just wanted to get a feel for it. Second time, we got our asses completely handed to us within 45 minutes. My group is a little daunted by it, and while I have one other person who is itching to play it again, the others are balking at it. Between the complexity, length of time and apparent difficulty, any ideas on a way to make this game a little more accessible to convince my friends that we should give it another go?

To be honest, for me it's all about the number of players. Arkham can get very, very long (and lots of waiting around for your turn) with more than 4 players - personally my rule is that I never play with more than 5, and ideally 3-4 plays quite well. You can make some house rules to speed up play if you like - there are lots of them on BGG, along with some that make the game slightly easier.

Also, I've had good success with giving people a sort of intro to the game by playing Elder Sign - same designer, same theme, similar mechanics, but streamlined and a good bit quicker. Then if people really like the way the game plays they will be more enthusiastic about playing AH.

[OldGiants]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

I am excited on Thursday to start teaching a Build Your Own Boardgame Class. We have the budget that the kids could produce some potentially very professional looking games, so hopefully they come up with some really cool concepts.

Here's a site to use as an example/potential reward:

Kickstarter

There is a section for board games and FrankenDie is currently showing as 'fully-funded'.

There is a D-Day dice game from that site that I read about on ConSimWorld, so I know product does flow from that funding.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

So we sat down to play this twice - the first time with only about an hour, we knew we weren't going to get a full game in just wanted to get a feel for it. Second time, we got our asses completely handed to us within 45 minutes. My group is a little daunted by it, and while I have one other person who is itching to play it again, the others are balking at it. Between the complexity, length of time and apparent difficulty, any ideas on a way to make this game a little more accessible to convince my friends that we should give it another go?

It's hard for me to say really. I think we first started playing Arkham back in 2006 when it first came out. In many ways it feels tailor made for our group. The majority of us tend to prefer co-op games and we're all big Lovecraft/Call of Chthulhu fans, so the game is right in our wheelhouse.

The length is the biggest issue for our group. The game takes a long time to play and you have to add a good 30 minutes to it for setup and take down given all the various cards and pieces. We played a ton of Akrham, but over the last year or two, we really have only played it a handful of times, because we have so many other boardgames to play and if you play Arkham that tends to the be the entire evening, whereas if you play some other games you might be able to work 2-3 different games in one night. For example, the game we played on NYE involved 5 people, one who had never played before. I think it took us about 5 hours or so to play. It was a pretty long game, because we had trouble sealing some gates and had a couple of gate bursters.

Peregrine's ideas sound solid.

You may also change some things for initial setup. For example, let people pick 2 skills instead of 1 if they get a skill and choose the one they prefer. Small things like that to make players more effective and, therefore, more active in the game.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by OldGiants

Here's a site to use as an example/potential reward:

Kickstarter

There is a section for board games and FrankenDie is currently showing as 'fully-funded'.

There is a D-Day dice game from that site that I read about on ConSimWorld, so I know product does flow from that funding.

Pretty cool to see that. We'll have to see if we get any kids producing games of that kind of quality.

[Peregrine]

Additionally, to speed up Arkham Horror Vince/HB, etc, I really try to speed up setup and takedown by how I store the pieces for the game. For example, I sort the neighborhood color-coded adventure cards into stacks of three neighborhoods at a time (that are nearby) instead of separating them all out. People keep putting cards on the bottom until they find the right color. I put all the non-card bits into a small fishing tackle box with lots of little slots - keeps them all stored, and I don't have to worry about debagging tons of them - just flip open the box, put it next to the board, and everyone just grabs what they need. I usually put the clue tokens out on the board since those are used a lot, but the rest I just keep in the box.

[kurtism]

Mightygodking.com » Post Topic » MGK’s Top Boardgames of 2011

[Lonnie]

Originally Posted by mckerney

I got the second edition of A Game of Thrones: The Board Game for Christmas and just played it for the first time the other day and really enjoyed it. It started very slowly due to it taking some time to absorb the rules and gameplay mechanics, but about an hour in we got all had a pretty good handle on them and after that there was nothing too difficult or complex for us.

It's a game for 3-6 plays and we had a 4 player game, and at least from our first play it seemed like it is ideally suited for 6 players. You win by capturing a 7th region with a castle or stronghold (or having the most after 10 rounds) and with only 4 there were too many neutral strongholds that could be captured without player to player combat (though with another play through we might have been more aggressive knowing this), and one of the players seemed to us at a disadvantage. I'm really looking forward to a chance to play it again with 6 people and most of us knowing how to play.

I know I have 1st or 2nd edition and have never really brought it out because of the abstract rules. However, once you read the books the rules start to make sense. So we should try building a thread off a GoT game and document it so others can see what we see.

[Fidatelo]

My friend picked up Pandemic this week and 4 of us played a couple games tonight. Super fun! Super hard!

We lost both games, the first one was a total shit-storm as 3 epidemics somehow came up in the the first 15 or so turns, plus our inexperience just had us doomed.

Game 2 we got things together and managed to cure 3 of the diseases, and we weren't more than another round or two away from the fourth when we ran out of cards.

I can't wait to play again sometime. I don't think it has the replay of something like Dominion, but it is a nice co-op game and a good change of pace, plus the challenge is nice and steep so it feels like we wouldn't have it mastered after a few plays.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Fidatelo

My friend picked up Pandemic this week and 4 of us played a couple games tonight. Super fun! Super hard!

We lost both games, the first one was a total shit-storm as 3 epidemics somehow came up in the the first 15 or so turns, plus our inexperience just had us doomed.

Game 2 we got things together and managed to cure 3 of the diseases, and we weren't more than another round or two away from the fourth when we ran out of cards.

I can't wait to play again sometime. I don't think it has the replay of something like Dominion, but it is a nice co-op game and a good change of pace, plus the challenge is nice and steep so it feels like we wouldn't have it mastered after a few plays.

My only criticism of Pandemic is that the replayability seems pretty weak. We absolutely LOVED the first few games we played, but after beating the game pretty soundly a few times in a row we haven't gone back to it much. Jim's comment earlier that it feels a little like clock solitaire rings pretty true with me - unless the deck is stacked seriously against us from the get-go, we're probably going to win (and we might even win anyway).

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Additionally, to speed up Arkham Horror Vince/HB, etc, I really try to speed up setup and takedown by how I store the pieces for the game. For example, I sort the neighborhood color-coded adventure cards into stacks of three neighborhoods at a time (that are nearby) instead of separating them all out. People keep putting cards on the bottom until they find the right color. I put all the non-card bits into a small fishing tackle box with lots of little slots - keeps them all stored, and I don't have to worry about debagging tons of them - just flip open the box, put it next to the board, and everyone just grabs what they need. I usually put the clue tokens out on the board since those are used a lot, but the rest I just keep in the box.

Another thing you can do is buy and download the Arkham Horror aps for your iPhone. They essentially have all location decks for the main game, all expansions and the outer worlds. It cuts down the number of cards you need to shuffle and put out pretty significantly.

[Barkeep49]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

I am excited on Thursday to start teaching a Build Your Own Boardgame Class. We have the budget that the kids could produce some potentially very professional looking games, so hopefully they come up with some really cool concepts.

Had our first class yesterday. It was the "What is a Game" class. Talked about what constitutes a game, basic game mechanics, and then had them design, in 15 minutes, a basic roll and move game. A couple students actually came up with cool concepts.

On Monday and Tuesday we'll be spending lunch and recess teaching them a couple of games and then next Thursday we'll be putting them into groups and they'll be starting to create their games.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

Had our first class yesterday. It was the "What is a Game" class. Talked about what constitutes a game, basic game mechanics, and then had them design, in 15 minutes, a basic roll and move game. A couple students actually came up with cool concepts.

On Monday and Tuesday we'll be spending lunch and recess teaching them a couple of games and then next Thursday we'll be putting them into groups and they'll be starting to create their games.

This sounds like the coolest class of all time.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by kurtism

Mightygodking.com » Post Topic » MGK’s Top Boardgames of 2011

I can vouch for Blood Bowl Team Manager being a fun game.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

I can vouch for Blood Bowl Team Manager being a fun game.

+1

I've played a friend's copy a few times. My daughter loves it. She really likes those "Take That!" games, and BBTM falls pretty squarely in that category. I guess not too far from Bloodbowl itself.

[Glengoyne]

The new game that I can't wait to get on the table is Eclipse. It is a 4X space empire game that is supposed to play in under three hours with a number of interesting mechanics. This forum would probably be most interested in its apparently MOOesque technology tree.

More on this once I've got it on the table.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

The new game that I can't wait to get on the table is Eclipse. It is a 4X space empire game that is supposed to play in under three hours with a number of interesting mechanics. This forum would probably be most interested in its apparently MOOesque technology tree.

More on this once I've got it on the table.

Me too. I've seen this game come up on a number of "best of 2011" lists and I'm very interested in it.

[Breeze]

My son got Dominion for Christmas...we haven't played it yet (haven't wanted to wade through the instructions), any thoughts on this game?

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

I can vouch for Blood Bowl Team Manager being a fun game.

This is one that has really interested me. I live right by Fantasy Flight, I really should go there more often to try out thier games.

[gi]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Me too. I've seen this game come up on a number of "best of 2011" lists and I'm very interested in it.

One of my group has this on order. I'll PM you if we need a player.

[Autumn]

Originally Posted by Vince, Pt. II

My only criticism of Pandemic is that the replayability seems pretty weak. We absolutely LOVED the first few games we played, but after beating the game pretty soundly a few times in a row we haven't gone back to it much. Jim's comment earlier that it feels a little like clock solitaire rings pretty true with me - unless the deck is stacked seriously against us from the get-go, we're probably going to win (and we might even win anyway).

Have you upped the difficulty level all the way? I find it replays well just because sometimes you get a shit deal and everything goes haywire. then you just want to play again.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Originally Posted by Breeze

My son got Dominion for Christmas...we haven't played it yet (haven't wanted to wade through the instructions), any thoughts on this game?

Probably my favorite game out there right now. Very elegant in its simplicity, with lots of room for variation and strategy. Also, does a pretty good job of removing the random element - you an you alone are responsible for what goes in your deck, so you can't get screwed by the dice, so to speak.

---

As for Pandemic, we've played it at all the difficulty levels.

Edit: I should clarify that it feels like clock solitaire in that if we lose, it seems like there was absolutely nothing we could do and we were going to lose anyway.

[Glengoyne]

Originally Posted by Breeze

My son got Dominion for Christmas...we haven't played it yet (haven't wanted to wade through the instructions), any thoughts on this game?

It plays pretty well. Heck, Even I was able to get up and running with just the instructions in a short amount of time.

It is relatively quick to setup. It plays in under thirty minutes. There is a ton of material on the net to help you if you run into any trouble or questions.

My seven year old, who isn't all that quick to grasp games, can play. Even more importantly, he occasionally wants to.

Do the suggested starting card lineup, and then once you are comfortable, just randomly select the ten "kingdom" cards using the provided randomizer cards. There is one card of each kind with a different colored back. Shuffle those, and pick ten for your game.


There are some combinations that cause new players trouble, but they are mostly explained right there in the instructions.


Learn to love Library, Smithy, and Laboratory.

Don't be a Village Idiot. This is a term for players who manage to play through a bunch of villages during their turn, but haven't gotten enough else going on in their deck to actually accomplish anything.

You win the game by buying cards...so remember to focus on getting coin into your deck.

Now I've got to play tonight.

[DanGarion]

I'm going to post this in the Android apps thread as well. There is a pretty solid reproduction of Dominion for Android phones.

TestAndrominion - Apps on Android Market.

I don't have Dominion and haven't played the real game yet, but playing this app makes me what it that much more...

[Danny]

Originally Posted by Glengoyne

The new game that I can't wait to get on the table is Eclipse. It is a 4X space empire game that is supposed to play in under three hours with a number of interesting mechanics. This forum would probably be most interested in its apparently MOOesque technology tree.

More on this once I've got it on the table.

I have played twice in the last few days. I love the game. It will not play in under three hours however for your first play. It will take 4-5 easy if using 4+ players, though that includes rules explanation and setup.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

I probably play Risk the most - and that's probably only twice a year or so. I love Risk but man do the games drag on... I used to play it with my ex and her two brothers, and all three of them are ultra-competitive and the game ALWAYS got waaaaaay too serious by hour #5, once the alliances start to break down...

are you guys going to try risk:legacy?

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Peregrine

Played some Quarriors last night - I had played it once before and own it but it's a fun game. I like the twist on the deck building games like Dominion - Quarriors replaces the cards with dice, and of course is more combat oriented.

try the new expansion. now you can "afflict" you opponents, and it helps to keep the game leader within striking distance. of course, this extends the playtime, but nothing wrong with that, right?

[sachmo71]

triple dola, but i forgive myself since i haven't been around much:

got 7 Wonders for christmas. i absolutely love this game. it's quick but very fun. not very hard to learn, either. i've also played with leaders, and it is an excellent expansion.

picked up quarriors expansion, but have not played it yet. very excited to get a game going next weekend.

still loving smallworld, and will try to get this going next weekend as well.