Recommend a good fantasy boardgame?

[SteelDraco]

p.s. Ditto on Settlers, but ask to inspect the contents before purchasing. The box I got was missing pieces!

Was it, by chance, missing all the cities? I had somebody return one of those at work recently, and am wondering if it's a consistent problem they're having.

As to board games... most of what I'd recommend has already been mentioned. Settlers (and its expansions) are, hands down, the best board games ever made. Starfarers I'm not as big a fan of, just because the trade planets are overpowered, and make the game not about empire building, but racing to the alien races.

The Game of Thrones board game is a lot of fun. It's a more entertaining version of Risk, really - the strategy is more in-depth, and gameplay moves along better without Risk's excessive and tedious dice-rolling. And it's quite a bit of fun if you're playing with people who've read the books. When I played, the Lannister player kept trying to make deals and alliances, and nobody would help him. It was fun.

Talisman is available again from GW, after years of being out of print. It's $70, so it's probably not worth it, but it is a good game. I'm much happier with the $5 I got at a flea market years ago, with the Dungeon expansion included.

Munchkin, Ninja Burger, and Chez Geek are all quite a bit of fun, though they're really more card games than board games. An excellent way to spend some time, though.

Illuminati is what my gaming group plays when we don't have a full group. The old non-CCG version, from Steve Jackson Games. We always have a good time with that one. We always lose to the guy who owns the game, but that's more or less expected.

If you've got the time, the D&D minis game is actually quite a good little game as well. Not really board, but still a fun way to spend a missed roleplaying session.

 

[Bill Scott]

Concerning Heroscape, which I'm thinking of picking up at my local Toys R Us, how is it played?

Battleball: It's a farily simple little "future football" game. It's pretty fun, and it's super quick to play. Plus, it comes with some pretty cool sci-fi-like miniatures. Plus, Toys R Us and Kay Bee Toys have been selling it for under $10!

I second this suggestion. BB is a great game, especially if you can get for that price, that is nearly guaranteed to please the football and scifi fans. I bought three sets, one for me and two for my nephews, for $15 each at the local KMart.

Blood Bowl is awesome if you play with just the basic game. It gets spendy when you buy the other teams

Zombies!!! is another great game, in my opinion, that is cool to play when the full group does'nt show up. It's tile based, so the board changes each game, and the rules are easy to learn

Warhammer Skirmish, which I call WH Lite, is great because you don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on minis and take hours to paint them to get a good game going

 

[Mystery Man]

I'll 3rd Battleball. I got that for my son last year and it is a lot of fun. I'll be getting Heroscape for him this year.

 

[RedShirtNo5]

Was it, by chance, missing all the cities? I had somebody return one of those at work recently, and am wondering if it's a consistent problem they're having.

Nope, in my case it was all the field terrain hexes (i.e., the card from which you would punch out the tiles). As far as I can tell, everything else is present. I bought it last weekend, and am hoping to return it today.

-RedShirt

 

[ssampier]

all look great, fun for the Holidays

- Munchkin in all its card game forms

Sounds fun! I always loved Dork Tower comics (John Kovalic is a cool guy), so I can imagine the hilarity of the card game.

- A Game of Thrones from Fantasy Flight Games. Good strategy game, although best with 4 or 5 players [enough to play D&D with anyway]

I love the books. This one is also at my local hobby shop. It is kinda expensive though ($54 locally), so it'd put a strain my Holiday budget.

- Runebound, also by FFG. If you liked Talisman, you may well like this

I've never played Talisman, but I loved HeroQuest. Any similarities between Talisman and HeroQuest? Different can be good, however. Any online store that sells this? I may want to take a look.

 

[Fast Learner]

Runebound at Funagain (will price match any competitor)

Runebound at GameSurplus (great people, friends of mine)

Runebound at Gamefest (great boardgame news section as well)

Runebound at Fairplay Games (will price match any competitor)

Runebound at Time Well Spent (tie for 2nd best price, will price match any competitor)

Runebound at Boards & Bits (tie for 2nd best price, will price match any competitor)

Runebound at Boulder Games (best price)

I noted the 2nd best price places because they may have cheaper shipping (and the price difference between them is only 50 cents), plus most of the folks there price match.

Also worth noting that A Game of Thrones is $32.80 at Boulder Games. And remember the price matching.

I love to support my FLGS and I commonly do, but there's such a difference between AGOT's retail price of $50 and the online price of $33 that it's hard to justify spending the difference. (Not impossible, just hard.)

(EDITED to add price matching info.)

 

[Kanegrundar]

Concerning Heroscape, which I'm thinking of picking up at my local Toys R Us, how is it played?

It's like a lot of skirmish games. First you decide on a point total for the scenario (fi you don't go with one of the pre-made scenarios), draft your forces and then setup the battlefield.

Setting up the battlefield is a bit of a pain, but the system is pretty malleable to whatever you want to build. There are all sorts of hints and tricks to building land bridges and caves with the set at www.heroscape.net if you want/need some help.

The game plays very much like Hero Quest (the old MB boardgame). Each mini has a set number of attack and defense die. If you roll an icon on the attack die, it counts as a hit unless the defending player rolls icons on his defense die. Plus, most units have special powers that add another layer of depth to the game.

It's one of those easy to learn and tough to master games. Granted, mastering the strengths and weaknesses of each unit isn't too tough with the basic set, but there are expansion packs (non-collectible, so you know what you're getting when you buy a pack) coming next month that will add snake-men, robot snipers, romans, and some new unique units to the game.

All in all, Heroscape is a sound buy. Plus heroscape.net has all sorts of conversions for minis from D&D to Star Wars to Warhammer (FB & 40K) on their site for use in HS.

Adios,
Kane

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

Okay, so it's technically a card game...

Hack!

 

[Bill Scott]

Thanks for the in depth answer and the link, Kanegrundar. It does look and sound like a great game. It looks like I'll be getting two sets, maybe three, within a couple weeks.