Top 10 boardgames on BGG

[Gundark]

Yay! With the delivery of Dominion yesterday, I now have the top 10 boardgames on BGG!

And how is Dominion? It's on my list of games to get. I've read the reviews on BBG, however it's always nice to hear more opinions on it.

 

[MerricB]

And how is Dominion? It's on my list of games to get. I've read the reviews on BBG, however it's always nice to hear more opinions on it.

I enjoyed my first game of it on Saturday, but I really need to play more games of it to form a proper opinion.

It's fast, though. Our 2-player game played in about 20 minutes; and there was real tension as Randy and I got to buying VP cards - you really need to pay attention to what your opponent(s) are doing there. Looks like a huge amount of variety in the game: there are slightly over 3.2 million combinations of starting stacks possible. (You play each game with 10 of 25 stacks).

Cheers!

 

[Shade]

My group absolutely loves Agricola and Power Grid, but we seem to have just as much fun with the much lower-rated Last Night on Earth and Talisman. And Carcassonne is always a good time.

 

[Asmor]

My group absolutely loves Agricola and Power Grid, but we seem to have just as much fun with the much lower-rated Last Night on Earth and Talisman. And Carcassonne is always a good time.

Ultimately, the ratings don't mean a lot. It's important to keep that in mind. I sometimes find myself unfairly biased against games simply because they have low ratings on the geek.

In particular, BGG tends to rate highly games where skill, strategy and tactics are all vastly more important than luck. This isn't a hard rule of course, but it is a strong tendency.

It took me a long time to realize that it's okay to play a games of luck, dexterity, memorization, etc. They're not bad games, just different games.

 

[Korgoth]

Another thing about ratings: ratings are often going to be from people who bought the game. A lot of times, only those who are already going to like a game (or at least are predisposed to liking it) will buy it. For example, few people will shell out $100 for Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition unless they already like the basics of the game. Likewise, few people will plunk down $60-70 for a theme-lite Euro of order taking with little wooden blocks unless you already like those things.

The ratings aren't useless, but if you don't read between the lines they're not really going to be very meaningful because a lot of times the set of people giving the ratings will already be skewed to a particular direction. Likewise, some people rate games without even playing them so the fewer the ratings, the less potentially meaningful (some will give a game a 10 because they highly anticipate it and think it's going to be the cat's pajamas).

 

[MerricB]

Have you played this one, Merric? I'd be interested to hear what you think of it, as a budding ASLer (not a phrase that has been said often in the past decade!). CoH looks really interesting to me.

It's fun, but after only two games, I'm still learning the system. It used a programmed instruction set, which is great, but it means I haven't even scratched the surface.

Lighter than either CC:E or ASL (of course!). Heavier than M44. More fun than Tide of Iron... but I really don't like that game. Way too fiddly!

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

The ratings aren't useless, but if you don't read between the lines they're not really going to be very meaningful because a lot of times the set of people giving the ratings will already be skewed to a particular direction. Likewise, some people rate games without even playing them so the fewer the ratings, the less potentially meaningful (some will give a game a 10 because they highly anticipate it and think it's going to be the cat's pajamas).

The best tool on BGG is "Personalised Recommendations" - you'll find it under your Game Ratings on your profile. It matches your ratings with those of other people who rated similiarly, and then gives you the list of games you might enjoy.

So, if you rate random/theme games like Last Night on Earth and Talisman highly, you'll be matched with other people who like those sort of games and gain recommendations thereby.

For me, I get a real grab-bag of games... but I like a lot of different games (Eurogames, Milsims and Ameritheme), so that's no surprise.

Cheers!

 

[Victim]

Another thing about ratings: ratings are often going to be from people who bought the game. A lot of times, only those who are already going to like a game (or at least are predisposed to liking it) will buy it. For example, few people will shell out $100 for Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition unless they already like the basics of the game. Likewise, few people will plunk down $60-70 for a theme-lite Euro of order taking with little wooden blocks unless you already like those things.

The ratings aren't useless, but if you don't read between the lines they're not really going to be very meaningful because a lot of times the set of people giving the ratings will already be skewed to a particular direction. Likewise, some people rate games without even playing them so the fewer the ratings, the less potentially meaningful (some will give a game a 10 because they highly anticipate it and think it's going to be the cat's pajamas).

As usual, reading why something has some N rating is more useful than seeing what the rating is.

 

[Thanee]

#36: Wallenstein - a hybrid Euro/Wargame set in Russia - it was later reimplemented as the highly ranked Shogun. This one is out of print and hard to get; I haven't played it.

It's actually set in middle europe (today the region is covered by germany, austria, czech republic) at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War. Russia is a bit further to the east.

The game seems to be exactly the same as Shogun (maybe some minor tweaks) only with a different map.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Shadeydm]

Reading this thread brings back fond memories of playing games like Conquest of the Empire, Axis and Allies, and Fortress America. Those were good times. Does anyone still make games like those anymore? I think I still have a copy of A&A in a box in my basment somewhere.