Blokus Works best with 4 players, it is very simple to play but savagely difficult to win. Ta Yü I love this game, it is better two player than 4, it has an unusual concept for scoring which makes for facinating game play... I have yet to master this to my satisfaction. Puerto Rico there is a thread dedicated to this game, and it deserves the attention. Shadows over Camelot A co-op game that doesn't suck surely not! Ticket to Ride: Europe my fave of the series, this game is a great game to play with non gamers simple sraightforward fun. Race for the Galaxy this little card game blew me away, 40 mins to play, no waiting and excellent depth. Power Grid Only played this new aquisition a few times, but it shapes up nicely. Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery Losely based on the computer game, it works really well, plenty of paths to victory. Marvel Heroes Only played a few times, nice feel to the game seems to manage to balance the teams pretty well. Tigris and Euphrates is good, simple to play, complex to win. Settlers of Catan and all it's many expansions is a little cracker, the knights and cities expansion adds a lot to the game, but also adds another layer of complexity, so not everyone is in favour (personally I love it) Railroad tycoon is expensive but worth it... as it goes if you buy all the settlers stuff it will set you back about £150 so that's not exactly cheap either, though it's modular so you needn't get it all... at once. Arkham Horror yes it's another cool co-op game!
I have a fondness for Scotland yard which is very simple yet strangely intense. Bohnanza is a bean farming game, which sounds dull but is great fun. Star Fleet Battle Force is a suprisingly good little game, especially for all you SFB fans whom no longer have days to dedicate to fighting space skirmishes.
Oh Kremlin not a game I own any more but still a good solid game, and quite a good laugh.
I love Nuclear war and it's expansions, though it is just plain daft, it's not the greatest game mechanically.
... so many games, I'll no doubt come back with more ... SFB that would be a post in itself..
I'd give a shout out to Lost Empires, a Knizia game of exploration (actually a card game of suit building with some nice tactical choices and a clever delay-the-game-end mechanic), Kill Doctor Lucky (a pre-Cluedo game of assassination, back-stabbing and too-tight hats), and Carcassonne (tile-laying game with considerable tactical depth).
I will not add my own list of games here, that's way too long. I'm just going to go with what people have not mentioned that I'd suggest:
Kingsburg - lots of fun development game. It's a nice balance between an Ameritrash (lots of dice rolling) and Euro (you use the dice rolled to allocate to advisors to get their favours to build your city). Mid-level strategy game.
Louis XIV - brain. hurt. Very intense brain burner Euro with just the right amount of luck and extreme strategy. Plays in an hour or so, but no more than a few games at a time can be played.
Through the Ages - if you like Civ, you'll love this. Such a good civilisation building game.
Gloom - more fun than anything else; it's a card game with a few little neat tricks but nothing spectacular. Nice and amusing on Halloween though.
Coloretto - so, so fun. Card driven game, short and can play fast and highly tactical with some strategy. Very easy to learn.
San Juan - Puerto Rico done with cards pretty much. Strategies are slightly different and set-up time is much shorter.
Descent - probably my favourite RPG / co-op dungeon crawler board game. Highly amusing, but much better with the Well of Darkness and Road to Legend (campaign) expansion.
Order of the Stick - you'll need to adjust the game slightly to make it replayable (too long for what it is) but still fun. Definitely more for the fans though.
Descent is an excellent game, and the campaign game is very much D&D lite.
I found the OotS game to be a real disappointment.
I love the comic but the game blows..
I am fond of Bang as well though it works best with 5 or more, it is good end of evening game, I couldn't get the expansions anywhere, are they still available? (on there own as opposed to in a pack with the original set)
Anyone played Agricola yet? it is the game of the moment I believe.
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Last edited by bobthehappyzombie; 11th July 2008 at 04:40 PM..
Gotta agree on Arkham Horror being a great game. The co-op aspect is a lot of fun and while we've probably played 20+ games, I've never had one go the same way twice. I'm also a fan of the fact that it's difficult to win at (even more so with the various expansion packs).
Descent seems like a lot of fun, but my problem with it is the time it takes to play a game. Our experience is 5 - 6 hours to play it out.
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Star Fleet Battle Force is a suprisingly good little game, especially for all you SFB fans whom no longer have days to dedicate to fighting space skirmishes...
I have this, but I haven't been able to convince anyone to give it a try. I also have a couple of the new Fed Commander boxes - same problem, no players.
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Originally Posted by bobthehappyzombie
I love Nuclear war and it's expansions, though it is just plain daft, it's not the greatest game mechanically.
My first gaming group got into this when it first came out (early 80's ?) and we had a blast. My current group mostly yawned, which I just don't understand.
An older game I recommend is Rail Baron by Avalon Hill. Basically Monopoly with railroads, it's an excellent three and four player game. That's another my first gaming group played to death - I have the beat up copy to prove it. Be warned, even seriously used copies go for big bucks on eBay. This is one people tend to hang on to.
The Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game - before they actually play it, so many people that tell me, oh, a zombie game, yawn...I think it's now the most popular game I own.
Blood Bowl - Best played in a league setting, smashing heads and scoring TDs, building your team, lotsa fun
Notre Dame - Easy to learn game with different point gathering strategies, personally, I like those types of games.
Bang! - Awesome game for bigger groups (7-10), easy to pick up for non-gamers, good non-party game party game.
Stone Age - Don't yet own, but really, really want to. Fun resource collecting game.
Galaxy Trucker - Crazy fast-paced, don't-check-your-brain-at-the-door game. Fun to play, win or lose.
Wasn't a big fan of Kingsburg. Can you say, analysis paralysis? And the best strategy, roll good and take the queen as often as possible, whoever does that, wins.
Last edited by Agamon; 12th July 2008 at 09:59 AM..
Ticket to Ride - build railroad routes accross America to gain points. Easy to learn, hard to master.
Carcassonne - tile based build medeival walled cities and surrounding country side. Again easy to learn but hard to master. Very easy to play, the scoring at the end is the only complex part.
I'll definitely concur on several of these - my own collection includes my current faves: Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne.
I also very much enjoy Apples to Apples, when I'm playing with people who don't dig the strategy and tactics (though strategy really is part of it, for me)
By the by, does anyone know where I can get a PDF of the Settlers of Catan , travel edition rules? I bought the game in Austria while on vacation, and it didn't include an English translation...
I also very much enjoy Apples to Apples, when I'm playing with people who don't dig the strategy and tactics (though strategy really is part of it, for me)
It's a great game... but it's hardly a board game!
Cheers, -- N
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Arkham Horror
Fury of Dracula
Blokus
Ticket to Ride: Europe
Lord of the Rings + Friends & Foes
Bonaparte at Marengo
Shipwrecked
My kids also enjoy Zombie Fluxx and Figaro.
I also like games like:
Flying Colors
Three Battles of Manassas
ASL
A Victory Lost
But I don't know of any other players near me (and I don't enjoy online or PBeM play).
__________________ "You want to play "Semantics and Lawyers"? Go ahead. We'll be busy kickin' ass and chewing Stygian Black Lotus- the best!" - Predavolk
Space Hulk - I was thrilled to discover that my mother still had my old Space Hulk boxed set and it was still in pristine condition. Probably my absolute fave of all time.
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Gotta agree on Arkham Horror being a great game. The co-op aspect is a lot of fun and while we've probably played 20+ games, I've never had one go the same way twice. I'm also a fan of the fact that it's difficult to win at (even more so with the various expansion packs).
Descent seems like a lot of fun, but my problem with it is the time it takes to play a game. Our experience is 5 - 6 hours to play it out.
Agreed, Arkham Horror is one of the classics of all time. Descent is good, but it takes too long to play IMO, and really, 4e D&D is the same thing now but only better.
Risk 2210 is my favorite boardgame by far. All the other version of risk eventually get stale or stupid, but there's so many different ways you can play 2210 that it never gets boring. Other boardgames its easy to figure out the "win" strategy and it becomes stale after that. However, with 2210's deliniation of land, naval, and space territories, as well as an expertly designed resource scheme really make it stand out. It does a great job of balancing luck vs. tactics.
Civilization/Age of Empires board games didn't cut it for me, even though I love the computer games. Not enough action. War of the ring was kinda meh, but I really enjoyed Lord of the Rings Risk with the expansion added. The original LotR-risk sucked by itself, but the addition of the south makes the game much more balanced and interesting. Settlers was good for awhile, but eventually got old. Puerto Rico always seemed kinda stale to me. Axis and Allies...cool idea but poorly pulled off.
Risk 2210 is definitely way better than plain ol' Risk, though not saying much. I've got a friend who's obsessed with it, though (your name's not Skye, is it?)
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All the other version of risk eventually get stale or stupid
I've heard good things about Godstorm, but never tried it.
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but there's so many different ways you can play 2210 that it never gets boring. Other boardgames its easy to figure out the "win" strategy and it becomes stale after that.
Wow, man, you really need to try some new board games... It sounds to me like your board game experience is limited to the Toys 'r Us games section. Not saying there's anything wrong with Risk 2210 (well, there is, but I'm not saying it ), but from that comment it sounds to me like you're missing out on a whole world of board games.
I suspect that you might enjoy the Starcraft boardgame. It's expensive, but worth it, and more importantly from what you've said I think it's up your alley. Let me know if you're interested in trying something a bit different, though, because if you're looking for well-balanced games with low luck, high strategy, and many avenues of victory, there's a lot of euros that would fulfill those criteria.
Be warned, even seriously used copies go for big bucks on eBay. This is one people tend to hang on to.
), but from that comment it sounds to me like you're missing out on a whole world of board games.
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