The Board Game Thread

[jayseven]

I hated Ticket To Ride the first time I played it. It's a game that rewards the wrong kind of skill for me. It's not a logical game, it's a calculating game.

 

Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert are better by default because they are team-based. My friends have kind of weaned off of Pandemic these days because they've figured out how to win it in most scenarios; the game became predictable. Once you start approaching it as if you all control all of the pieces, rather than one piece per player, then you can brute force a victory (save for a horrible series of cards!).

 

King of Tokyo is also breakable -- just save up for power cubes/tokens and you'll win. King of New York adds some more dynamics which i think work well.

 

Avalon (I think?) is awesome though. Love that game. Whatever it's called.

[Cube]

My collection is slowly increasing

 

[Rummy]

My collection is slowly increasing

 

 

Couple of those I don't know/recognise but some great ones there too. I spy Roll for It there too - played it this weekend for the first time(just one game); nothing too heavy and pretty simple but it's another of those easy and light games I enjoy playing sometimes to break up the heavier ones. I keep meaning to invest in some dice myself to also try out some of the Tenzi variations - again simple yet fun. Bit of the old school sort of chaos :p

[Cube]

I think I've got a decent selection of the lighter games now. I think my next proper purchase will be a heavier game. Although I'm tempted by the King of Tokyo expansions as they seem to add a bit of uniqueness to the monsters.

 

I'll be getting one called "Cuba", but that's because someone in the group is selling a selection for really cheap.

[Rummy]

I think I've got a decent selection of the lighter games now. I think my next proper purchase will be a heavier game. Although I'm tempted by the King of Tokyo expansions as they seem to add a bit of uniqueness to the monsters.

 

I'll be getting one called "Cuba", but that's because someone in the group is selling a selection for really cheap.

 

True, I've mostly gone on the light side in the last year or two due to portability etc(don't get people together for the bigger ones as much). I've played King of Tokyo a few times and quite enjoyed it, but not enough to feel I've really gotten bored or owt so kind of get tempted by it every so often - but I'm trying not to re-buy stuff my friends have too.

I'd say you've got a few heavy ones there with Catan and Betrayal, Ticket to Ride whilst not heavy can last a while, and Forbidden Island's a nice middle-ish ground. I'd recommend Pandemic if you like the mechanic - though it's meatier and longer iirc, and after a few plays it's not really doing anything too new/mixing up to keep it fresh where as the Forbiddens have a variety element to them. I still enjoy Pandemic, and would play it again, but it's not something I'm raring for these days.

 

Moogle was talking to me on facebook today about a Skull(and Roses) query, and he raised a point I'd agree with definitely - some of the simple concept, easy to teach, but potential for complex levels of gameplay/strategy games can be quite fun. Personally that's why I absolutely love Coup(good shout btw) and Skull(and Roses) so much - I've yet to find either boring despite their simplicity and repeated playings. They're great ones for the pub etc so I've been keen to pick them up more than the big ones.

 

I know Fluxx already, but what's SushiGo and Snake Oil all about? And the Geek Out one? Not heard about Cuba either so would be interested on your impressions there if you've played it with your group already.

[Shorty]

Avalon (I think?) is awesome though. Love that game. Whatever it's called.

 

Avalon is The Resistance with a fantasy setting and Merlin. I did really like the Merlin feature though. In one game at the NE meet it ended up that identifying Merlin was the only way to win, but we got it wrong :p

 

Anyone played Power Grid? It's one of my faves but hasn't been mentioned in this thread.

[Cube]

I know Fluxx already, but what's SushiGo and Snake Oil all about? And the Geek Out one? Not heard about Cuba either so would be interested on your impressions there if you've played it with your group already.

 

Snake Oil and Geek Out are party games.

 

In Snake Oil, one person is the "buyer" who is given a role (Hunter, Gangster, Pregnant Woman, etc). Everyone else chooses two cards from a selection which has a random word (Secret, Table, Pocket, Card, Water, etc) and they have to invent a product.

 

 

Each seller has to try and spin the product to "sell" it to the buyer. The buyer picks which one they think their character would choose.

 

Geek Out is a nerdy trivia game. You get given a list of things to name, like these:

 

 

The number is the minimum amount to name, and other players can bid higher. They get a point if they can name that many, but lose two if they can't. The box is ridiculously big compared to what you get (a deck of cards, some -2 point tokens and a die to determine category). Also, the cards are the cheapest I've ever seen in a game. It made a good drinking game, but that's about it.

 

Sushi Go! is a great little game. If you've played 7 Wonders, then it had a similar main mechanic: You choose a card from your hand, then pass the rest to the next player. Different cards score in different ways, and you often need multiple to score (so you may try to stop someone from completing a set of one.

 

 

Artwork is great, too.

 

As for Cuba, form what I've heard, it successfully mixes a load of things from different Euro games.

[EEVILMURRAY]

Geek Out is a nerdy trivia game. You get given a list of things to name, like these:

I got some of those cards on Table Top Day, with random shit like - "Name two episodes Wil Wheaton won" and Geek and Sundry relevant shit like that.

 

Not sure what I've done with them actually.

 

Kelly brought two new games last week, before I purchased Munchkin Panic.

 

 

Which does not involve dice which split into portions, much to my dismay.

 

 

She does like her deck building games, ever since Dominion got ruined she's needed a game like this.

[Rummy]

So hilarious/baity title aside, a guy behind CAH and some other peeps have a Kickstarter up for a game called Secret Hitler. Looks to be along the werewolfy/mafia line of hidden factions but with some variation; looks like it could be fun/interesting. They've actually put up a print and play PDF version for people to try it out/playtest before final days - gonna attempt a sneaky print at work today and hopefully see if I can get at least 5 people together before the Kickstarter ends(13 days) - not sure how likely that is with the festive season but who knows!

Anyhow - check it out here if you're interested;

$25 ain't a bad back, and with EU/UK distro I imagine additionals won't be too much neither.

[Cube]

I just noticed the photo of my collection form three and a half months ago.

 

Here it is now

 

[Rummy]

I just noticed the photo of my collection form three and a half months ago.

 

Here it is now

 

 

Growing a lot! I've super slowed down on my purchases, can't justify spending quite so much on stuff I wasn't playing so often(hence I tend to favour smaller/shorter games) though I did last week finally get my own copy of Dobble, and also Dixit which I see you've acquired! Played a few games of it so far, it's gone down generally well. Tried it as a 3 players(with the two cards each rule) on Tuesday - didn't feel quite the same but not sure if that was the game or the state of the people(i was pretty tired).

I've got a kickstarter backed game waiting at the ports atm apparently, and I may well get Secret Hitler, may be my next two fro a while now.

[Cube]

I've not played Dixit yet.

 

Although I play boardgames every Monday and Wednesday, so I definitely play enough to warrant the purchases.

[bob]

Dixit is quite fun when drunk.

[Rummy]

Yeah I was drunker the previous times I played it than Tuesday - I think it gets better with more of you though, just feels there's a bit more variety. Also interesting playing it after the first time round, and seeing the same cards, but differently. Definitely suggest you try busting it out sometime soon Cube - it actually does only take about the half hour on the box it suggests, would make a good family game for the festive times.

[EEVILMURRAY]

If you can get a hold of it, try for the AEG 2015 Black Box, five nice games in that.

[Cube]

I played a new game today. This was the result:

 

 

This isn't out of anger, it's just part of the game: you have to destroy cards. The game is Pandemic Legacy. It's like the popular co-op game Pandemic (obviously) but has a story spread across 12 months. You start with a character each and give them a name. The character has a record so you know when you used them in each month (and which player used them if you change).

 

Rules change across the course of the 12 months, indicated by stickers on the board and rule book. Cards you don't need anymore get ripped up (sure, you can just put them elsewhere, but the feeling adds to the game). Oh and another thing. The characters you name, upgrade and who can form relationships with other characters: They can die. When this happens you rip up the character card. I dread this happening to my character(s).

 

It's a brilliant experience so far.

[Cube]

So, these are the games currently at my house.

 

 

 

 

Although they're not all mine, I'm looking after some for a friend.

 

A big board game expo is happening in Birmingham at the end of this month. @Rummy, I think I recall you saying you went last year - will you be there this year?

[Rummy]

So, these are the games currently at my house.

 

 

 

 

Although they're not all mine, I'm looking after some for a friend.

 

A big board game expo is happening in Birmingham at the end of this month. @Rummy, I think I recall you saying you went last year - will you be there this year?

 

I didn't go last year but a couple of my friends did - I'm not sure if I will or not as it's also my birthday weekend and I think people down here are expecting me to do a celebration for that too. Might look into tickets and prices today and go crazy though...

 

Btw in other tabletop news - started a game of Seafall: Legacy earlier in the year; which I believe was a kickstarter. My first legacy game, and whilst I'm pretty consistently bottom two across the campaign total I'm rather enjoying it - though Marcamillian was exceptionally salty yesterday :p

[EEVILMURRAY]

I can't believe you're putting these game boxes on their sides. I would shudder at the mess you'd get wheb you return them horizontal.

 

I'll try and get a picture of my collection up either today or tomorrow.

 

I'm still waiting on my Kickstarters for Super Dungeon Explore Legends, Rail Raiders and Massive Darkness - all three are gonna mean a fuckload of time painting.

 

That and One Night Ultimate Alien.

[Kav]

I've played Ticket to Ride and Munchkin once, both were awesome, Munchkin especially - I had such a blast playing that!

 

I love Scrabble, Monopoly, Cluedo and Frustration... standard... and we've recently bought 13 Dead End Drive which I'm looking forward to giving a go.

[Cube]

I can't believe you're putting these game boxes on their sides. I would shudder at the mess you'd get wheb you return them horizontal.

 

Everything goes into bags, inserts go into the bin.

[EEVILMURRAY]

 

Although with that being said, I did mutilate the insert of Elder Sign to fit an expansion in. Now I've bought another and I don't think I can fit it in, even with throwing away the insert, it has a nice box though.

[Happenstance]

Never really been able to get into board games myself but I'm kind of tempted to back this Deadly Premonition board game kickstarter

 

[EEVILMURRAY]

My collection:

 

 

 

I have Ninja All Stars, Gorechosen*, Age of Sigmar and Oz/Star Fluxx up here in the office. The latter two are helping me create Archer Fluxx.

 

 

*Which I really recommend. It's such good value for money compared to buying said models separately it's unreal.

[Kav]

Had a game of Munchkin again tonight with the Mrs and her brother (he has the game), it's such a laugh, I love the game!