The Thread Where We Are Board Game Geeks

On that topic what's the last game you've purchased impulsively? Is it a new favorite or gathering dust next to the Twilight version of Scene-It?

I just bought ILLUMINATI! for the Viceroy. Anyone played it?

Frequently, 25 or so years ago. Requires at least 4 to be fun. Preferably 6+.

Played this last night and it's pure laughs and dumb luck.
http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/files/arabian_nights/AN_cover.jpg

http://www.zmangames.com/boardgames/tales_arabian_nights.htm

Hey, I want a new game. These are the one's I've had my eye on, which should I get? Plus for good with 2 players, since 99% of the time that is what I play with.

*Dominion
*Fresco
*Pandemic
*Small World
*Stone Age
*Zombie State: Diplomecy of the Dead

I love Pandemic, but it's not amazing with only 2 players (tho it is doable).

I'm leaning towards Fresco, it just looks cool from what I've read. But I've always wanted to play Dominion though.

Small World is fun but really overrated; not great for replayability.

Dominion's great but I've never played with 2. Pandemic for 2 is good. Don't know the rest.

I like Stone Age, but I'm not sure how good it is with two players. I think maybe Dominion would be your best bet out of that bunch if you're planning on playing a lot of two player games, but I haven't played Fresco or Zombie State.

You can play Dominion online at http://dominion.isotropic.org/ if you really want to try it out.

I don't know with board games thread we're supposed to post on these days.

I was thinking about why I'd soured so hard on Arkham, and realised that the expansions had driven a wedge between what was fun to do (complete your personal missions, pick a random investigator, role play, join Silver Twilight or the Black Goat, explore new locations, introduce new players) and what gave you any hope of victory - the last few games we played just felt like such a chore, like work.

I was reading recently about a co-op called something like SPACE ATTACK in which there was a strict timer for each individual player to get their move in or pass, so as to cut down on the solitaire-by-committee aspect...

― Gravel Puzzleworth, Thursday, July 29, 2010 4:42 PM (10 months ago) Bookmark

Also this is called SPACE ALERT and it is utterly fantastic: frantic and hilarious, both very sociable and very strategic - if you live in London COME AND PLAY THIS WITH ME

I need to play more boardgames. For the last while I have been obsessing about Bobby Lee, Columbia Games' two player wooden block American Civil War game. Sadly I don't really have anyone with the time to play it (and don't really have the time for it myself either).

may I suggest

http://cgi.ebay.com/LITTLE-BURRO-GAME-Go-Teepee-warren-built-rite-/380174399578#ht_500wt_732

has anyone got any ore? i will give you two hay for ore.

i posted on the rolling thread earlier this week and was bummed that no one responded. recently got Tsuro and Game of Thrones LCG.

ok, three hay for ore.

I need to play more boardgames. For the last while I have been obsessing about Bobby Lee, Columbia Games' two player wooden block American Civil War game. Sadly I don't really have anyone with the time to play it (and don't really have the time for it myself either).

I actually bought this very game in highschool and played with all my nerd friends! It was so much fun, I wish I knew where it was today (probably thrown out sometime over the years).

i'll give you ore for a brick + wood fuiud

i have no brick so fu2

what is the best 1 player board game?

xbox 360

http://img.printfection.com/1/1364/4270433/PRNe7.jpg

pplz who think they're super insider nerds bc they play settlers of catan - terrible savages?

possibly, but hating on catan has to be the ultimate challops

i like catan but i understand why ppl hate on it -- it gets boring after the 200th game or so

More like 20th game.

I mostly don't like the trading aspect.

I don't think I've ever played Catan, it is my secret shame as a board game geek. I got indoctrinated by boardgame hipsters and never got around to filling in the gaps.

have never gotten sick of catan!

Carson City Very strategic game where you place cowboy workers on the board to build the town of Carson City. Unlike other WP games like Caylus or Stone Age spots on the board can be dueled for, creating a lot of player interaction and fun. This is probably my favorite game right now.

this is a dope game imo

been playing tons of nerdy boardgames.

favourites:
agricola
troyes
hansa teutonica
roll through the ages
dominion
death angel
arkham horror

medium:
pandemic
merchants and marauders
1960: the making of a president
cosmic encounter

less into:
race for the galaxy
survivor
factory manager
caylus
power grid
7 wonders
dixit
small world

i really wanted to try race for the galaxy - you don't recommend?

i honestly cant tell if arkham horror is terrible or if were just really bad at playing it

Carson City felt unbalanced

There's some game where you dock 3 boats and watch out for pirates. It was really fun. It might of had a chinese name

Some people love Race for the Galaxy - to me it's just not intuitive enough: good strategy requires too much mathy counting in your head.

Arkham Horror is wonderful - but silly. Helps to have someone who really knows the game running the show.

that reminds me -- if anyone knows of a youtube video that shows an Arkham Horror demonstration game, plz post it here. I've played 4 games already and I still barely understand it.

you using the BGG forums/videos?
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/15987/arkham-horror

Arkham horror - the major things that I have seen new players having trouble with are:

1) Combat. It's tricky to remember what all the icons mean, and what order things happen, especially if the player fails to kill on their swing. Possible confusions: there's no second horror check, monster heals fully each round, player can attack again or flee but exhausted equipment/spells remain exhausted, Resistances/Immunities do not apply to basic damage from Fight.

It might be worth going through some trial combats for each player before the game starts, both to ensure everyone gets it, and to help people be realistic about what they can and can't kill.

2) Turn order. Mythos happens at the end of the turn, even though it feels like the beginning. Someone needs to be absolutely on top of the cycle of upkeep-movement-ark enc-oth world enc-mythos, and ensure it's kept to. You *do* get an Other World Encounter the turn you enter a gate, *unless* it opens on your head.

3) "Exhaust" - this is probably easier for your players if they're experienced and you can just say that it means "tap", rather than discard.

4) Monster limit, terror, and the outskirts. This is fine if you have an experienced player, but if not, someone needs to make this their job and do it well, so that everyone else can safely ignore it.

Some other common misconceptions it might be worth clearing up before starting play are: closing vs sealing gates, how focus works, the difference between fight checks and combat checks and sneak vs evade.

It's a good game (maybe a great game!) but the expansions ruin it - one is okay, any more than that and it becomes far different and worse.

yeah one of the mistakes i think we made is in ~always~ playing with an expansion (dunwich iirc) which just makes the game both too long and too complex to get right away.

like i think we keep getting one vital think wrong each time, like whether you can seal a gate as soon as you return through it or have to wait a turn or the effects of some of the mythos cards, making sure everyone is adjusting their stats at the correct time &c &c

This is a very comprehensive flowchart for Arkham Horror turn sequence that really helped me wrap my head around all the specific details when I first started playing.

Is it ever possible to win before the monster appears? It seems like there's always more monsters/gates opening than players to kill + close them.

before the monster boss whatever appears

my relatively new roommate is a big board game fan and we play pretty often.

sean gramophone didn't them, i guess, i guess, but we're big fans of power grid, race for the galaxy AND 7 wonders. 7 wonders in particular is good fun because you can play in only 30 minutes or so (good for super cool guys like me who need to finish the game so they can make some fucking animated gifs). besides that, we also play

dominion
pandemic
merchants and marauders
tigris & euphrates

there's a new one we're getting in the mail in a month or two. apparently it's one of the top-rated games on boardgamegeek, but it's been out of print for some time. the reprint should be complete soon. it's called Twilight Struggle, and it's about the COLD WAR, YESSSSS

i understand Twilight Struggle to be like 1960, but Cold War-themed instead of Nixon vs Kennedy.

I'm actually really surprised to see it's now #1 on BGG. I bought 1960 and have been disappointed with it - just isn't as much um... FUN as i wish it were.

This was a boardgame at one time and was converted into a single player PC game. Probably my favorite. The AI is outstanding.

http://forcedmarchgames.com/

http://forcedmarchgames.com/graphics/tool_area_screenshot.jpg

Dangerous High School Girls in Trouble is kinda a single player board game, tho also PC

just spent a couple weeks playing tons of dominion, reallly fun at first but i think you need the expansion packs--Jeff was saying upthread that he hates settlers because of the trading but, jeez, thats the best part of the game; unless you have attack cards in dominion there's almost no player-to-player interaction which makes the game super boring and not a fun social activity that ends in hurt feelings and spilled wine

my roommate is reaaaaaaaaaaally into dominion so i try to avoid it when i can, even though it's fun (otherwise i will be playing 3-7 games of dominion every night for many months).

but you should know of this: http://dominion.isotropic.org/
online dominion. it includes all of the expansion packs, i believe, otherwise plays just like dominion. there's handy mouseover explanations for each of the cards.

we stopped using the cards a long time ago and now we bust out the computers to play. if you ever see "KARL MALONE" on there, that's me.

i think pandemic is a great game btw zs