The Boardgame Thread

[kaid]

Don't try Ghost Stories, that one is tough to win solo, let alone when in a group with people making sub-optimal moves.

It is an interesting game but at my yearly game outings that game has more wins on us than we have on it.

[Soln]

Summoner Wars is fine. It's not great. The art is definitely bad, but it has some things I like, mostly the variety of factions. Most factions are very distinct and at this point there's 16 of them, and I think almost all of them now have a choice of summoners and units, so there's some minimal deck construction on top of the tactical game itself.

Anyway, it's not in my top 10, or probably even my top 100, but it's a quick, light thematic tactical two player game, and I don't have a ton of those. I could get my girlfriend to play this, whereas I wouldn't even attempt to teach her Mage Wars, which is a better game with better art, but also a much larger time and mental resources investment.

That's interesting, thanks.  Anything else about Mage Wars you can recommend?

Regarding punishing games, Robinson Crusoe is up there.  I want to knock out a few more scenarios, but it is tough.

[Thrawn]

Personally I didn't dislike Mage Wars, but I also didn't see why I wouldn't just play Magic instead.

[Thrawn]

Has anyone here played Formula D much?  I know it's nothing very in depth or anything, but it seems like it might be an ok kind of mid-range game that I could play with people who prefer lighter stuff.

I just worry from looking at it that it is very luck based and possibly has a runaway leader issue.

[proudft]

It has not so much a runaway leader issue but more of a 'you pushed your luck too far and crashed on turn 2 of a 40-minute race, have fun sitting around' issue.  And this happens a lot more when you are new to the game and don't really have the hang of planning a few turns ahead.

It's also a lot more fun with more people out there on the track but that does lead to more crashes due to traffic.  It's probably a lot better if you have a secondary game/activity around for those who run themselves off the road.

[Thrawn]

It has not so much a runaway leader issue but more of a 'you pushed your luck too far and crashed on turn 2 of a 40-minute race, have fun sitting around' issue.  And this happens a lot more when you are new to the game and don't really have the hang of planning a few turns ahead.

Thanks much, that alone pretty much eliminates me from buying it because that would be an awful fit for what I was aiming for if I was able to get someone who doesn't like heavier stuff to try it and then they just get eliminated.

That's the niche I have the hardest time filling in my collection.  Games that have enough weight that I can play them a few times without getting sick of them, but are light enough I can play them with family/friends who aren't big into games normally.  Zombicide has been the biggest hit in that area for my groups, but I'm starting to get sick of that.  Pandemic, Flash Point, Catan are all decent, but all pretty played out for me.

Otherwise I'd probably just be more "Oh, you've only ever played Monopoly and Uno?  Let me show you Dominant Species."  and then never hear from that person again.

[Ragnoros]

I'll second the non-recommendation for Formula-D.

Gateway games are hard. Looking at my collection my best recommendation would probably be Suburbia. It's light enough to teach people who don't play "real" board games, yet has some depth, and is fun. SU&SD did a review in their economic tile laying fest 2013. Worth noting, the game looks kinda crap ascetically in pictures, but mostly nice in reality. Haven't picked up the expansion yet, looks alright, but other things are higher on my list. http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/hexagonal-tile-laying-game-fest-2013/

Escape is a strange beast. It packs more fun per minute than any other board game, but you only get 10 minutes at a time. It's also polarizing, some people love the frantic action, others hate it. Again, take a look on SU&SD for a review. (Or BGG, if you're less enamored with the two Brits.) Not so much a gateway game, as a fun diversion. http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/review-escape-curse-temple/

Quantum is a fairly new release the is basically an abstract 4X. The rules are simple enough to teach in 5-10 minutes (versus two hours for TI3, or 30-45 for Eclipse) and you will be in the thick of battle and planning within your first turns. I really like it, but I seem to be in a minority in this regard. again: http://www.shutupandsitdown.com/blog/post/review-quantum/

Ticket to Ride is a long time favorite gateway game, and new gamers seem to really enjoy it. However don't care for it at all. The problem is there just are not any interesting choices in the game.

Lords of Waterdeep falls into the same category as Ticket for me. Well received gateway game, but with no legs at all. It's basically Ticket, without the map.

Also, Dominion is great. After like a year and a half of playing it I'm rather played out. But prior to that, great fun. I would consider starting with intrigue, as it has more variety, however you will probably get a bunch of sets eventually. I have found it just doesn't click for a few people though.

Machi Koro looks AMAZING. It won't be out until Aug (in US, might me sooner/later in EU as it is from Japan), but I have already preorded a copy (a first for a board game).  
Besides internet reviews, if you have a local game shop nearby they often have demo games you can try. I had a good weekend afternoon taking the GF and a couple friends and trying out like five demos at my local store. Easy way to find out if a game is for you or not.

Edit: If you want more than a sentence of info about any of these let me know and I can do a better write-up. SU&SD usually mirror my opinion however.

[schild]

Ticket to Ride is basically the ideal gateway game. Followed by that, Ascension. I find if they can grasp those two games, they can get into anything short of Full Neckbeard Status.

I have no interest in Machi Koro. In fact, I kind of have no interest in filler games anymore. When I'm playing games with friends, we tend to decide what to play before we even begin so we don't have to deal with filler bullshit.

[jgsugden]

I have a soft spot for Formula D.  I put it in the same class as Robo Rally - if you have the right crowd, who approach the game in the right way, it is a lot of fun.  With the wrong players, it is a train wreck.  I've had a blast playing both of those games, but I've also had miserable experiences with both games.  Both work better in a digitial format.

For me, this is my slow seduction process into board gaming:

1.) Lost Cities.  2.) Ticket to Ride.  3.) Settlers of Catan 4.) Stone Age.  5.) Primordial Soup. 6.) Lords of Waterdeep. 7.) Dominion 8.) Power Grid 9.) Agricola 10.) Twilight Struggle

I start with simple, then reduce simplicity in favor of quality. 

[schild]

In other news:

http://www.amazon.com/Ticket-Ride-10th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/B00IG4BBBO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1403113595&sr=8-5&keywords=Ticket+to+Ride

That's really, really nice.

[Hawkbit]

Yeah, that's a must-buy.  Large format cards, the expansion built into the game, tins, larger map, detailed trains.... the list goes on. 

[lamaros]

Panic on Wall Street! Is a great game for a not super gamer group.

I don't recommend Suburbia, Quantum or Dominion.

[Hawkbit]

Did anyone else really, really dislike Smallworld?  It's one of the only games that we just didn't like playing.  Add PACG and Castle Ravenloft to that mix, I guess, too.  Rules had too many 'what ifs'. 

We picked up King of Tokyo over the weekend and had a lot of fun with it.  Yes, I know how random it is.  It fills a nice gap in our collection, though.  Like an amped up version of Zombie Dice.

[lamaros]

Yeah I don't like Smallworld either.

[Thrawn]

Yeah, that's why it's so hard to get advice on what games to get, everyone's tastes vary so much.  For example I've already played and know I don't really like Dominion, Agricola, or Lords of Waterdeep and while I don't dislike it, I'm not a huge fan of Ascension either.  I don't really think any of them are bad games, like say Boss Monster for example, just aren't games that hooked me.

But, I've never tried Stone Age, Primodial Soup, Escape, Quantum, Panic on Wall Street! or Suburbia.

King of Tokyo is something I'll probably grab on sale some day to have around.

My board game collection is becoming a reflection of my Steam library where I have a massive amount of games and I've never even played a good chunk of them. 

[Soln]

In other news:

http://www.amazon.com/Ticket-Ride-10th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/B00IG4BBBO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1403113595&sr=8-5&keywords=Ticket+to+Ride

That's really, really nice.

My pre-order from CSI should be jetting soon.  Luverly.

[schild]

Yea, CSI wanted to charge me shipping. Amazon Prime wanted me to wait an extra 2 days. I'll wait the extra 2 days.

[Chimpy]

So tempting, but I don't really want to spend 80 bucks on it since everyone I play games with already has it.

[Ragnoros]

Yeah, that's why it's so hard to get advice on what games to get, everyone's tastes vary so much.

This. While most people can generally agree there are well made games (Ticket/Pandemic) and poorly made games (Boss Monster/Munchkin), whether someone will like a game or not is much harder to predict.

[schild]

Legit don't know why people play Munchkin. What dull, brainless shit.

[MrHat]

Did anyone else really, really dislike Smallworld?  It's one of the only games that we just didn't like playing.  Add PACG and Castle Ravenloft to that mix, I guess, too.  Rules had too many 'what ifs'. 

We picked up King of Tokyo over the weekend and had a lot of fun with it.  Yes, I know how random it is.  It fills a nice gap in our collection, though.  Like an amped up version of Zombie Dice.

I liked Smallworld the half dozen times I've played it.  But everytime it's Smallworld vs. something else, I tend to go something else.

Re: King of Tokyo, pick up the expansion pack.  The Evolution gameplay adds a lot more...tactics? to the game.

[jgsugden]

The best you can do is figure out what you do / don't like about games and ask people to suggest games that hit your sweet spots.

For the groups that I play with most often, the sweet spots are:

* Run 30 to 120 minutes.
* Can be explained to new players in 10 minutes.
* Rely upon skill, but newbies feel like they had a chance to win
* Don't take up too much space when playing
* Don't involve small print on the game board (wife has vision issues - which explains being with my ugly ass)
* People generally feel like they're in it until the end.
* Intuitive mechanics.

Power Grid, Lords of Waterdeep, Tigris & Euphrates, Pandemic, Ra, Ticket to Ride, King of Tokyo, Catan, Survive...

[Thrawn]

In other news:

http://www.amazon.com/Ticket-Ride-10th-Anniversary-Edition/dp/B00IG4BBBO/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1403113595&sr=8-5&keywords=Ticket+to+Ride

That's really, really nice.

Been debating ordering this (I don't own Ticket at all), but if the board is 50% bigger and you have trains to match, doesn't that mean those trains will be too big to use on any expansions??

Meh, the more I think about it the more I think I'll just try to get a cheap used copy when people pick this one up and start selling old ones.  Game still plays the same either way.

[eldaec]

Plays really well on tablet, so you can always buy that to try it.

[Ragnoros]

The Ticket board in the base game is already big, bigger than most other games I own. One 50% bigger would probably not fit on most tables.

[tazelbain]

In search of good 2-player co-op game preferably no more complicated than Bonanza.

[schild]

New TTR should arrive today or tomorrow. So stoked.

[Sky]

So I played a board game!

Heavily modded version of Catan, 6 players. They have all the expansions and have house-ruled the living hell out of it, new decks of event cards and tokens, huge map. It was pretty wicked. Only downside is that it's almost two hours away (I overnighted to stay for paint day on Saturday).

Next month might be Firefly or Zombicide. Tomorrow night I'm probably going to give the library's game night another shot as they're featuring Ravenloft and I've wanted to check that out. And hopefully there will be some sane, cool people there I can steal away for a game night at my place. Hopes not very high.

[Soln]

Apparently some of the Catan expansions are pretty good.

[grebo]

Terra Mystica expansion almost here.  Rules have been released.  Shakes it up quite a bit.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/files/thing/161317

[Sky]

Has anyone mentioned there is going to be an X-Com board game from FF?

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4972

[Thrawn]

Has anyone mentioned there is going to be an X-Com board game from FF?

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4972

Even as someone who plays tons of PC and board games the requirement of a "digital companion app" to play a board game worries me.

[lamaros]

I played five hours of Werewolf at the pub last night. It was good.

[Mosesandstick]

In a similar vein I played The Resistance: Avalon for the first time on Saturday. It was brilliant.

[schild]

I played five hours of Werewolf at the pub last night. It was good.

That's a lot of larping.