Board Game Suggestions

[Elodan]

I'd have to recommend The Great Space Race . It's essentially a chariot race in space. A lot of fun. We usually play it every board game night. Game time is anywhere from 45 minutes to a couple of hours.

 

[arscott]

Days of Wonder makes some pretty cool games. I love Shadows over Camelot and Cleopatra and the Society of Architects.

Stonehenge, by Titanic Games, looks like an interesting concept--One set of peices that can be used for five different games, each by a well-known designer. I haven't had a chance to play it yet, though.

 

[Steel_Wind]

Settlers of Catan is a great game - however, it is not a five player game without purchasing the expansions.

Twilight Imperium 3rd edition is also excellent - though on the long side. It also really needs the expansion rules to shed itself of some rules inbalancing in the basic version.

For five players, I would recommend Fantasy Flight Games' A Game of Thrones . It is a great game, strong theme, excellent strategy, fun and reasonably easy to learn. It is designed for (and plays best with) five players.

The rules for the game are available off of the support link on the main game page link.

 

[Stalker0]

My favorite games:

Twilight Imperium 3e - Though I agree with Merric that the expansion is a must for true enjoyment it is a wonderful game, but it is a long one.

A Game of Thrones - A similar vein than Twilight, a bit shorter, and a bit less random. It also has some great expansions, but the original stands up well on its own imo.

StarCraft the Board Game - The newest game by Fantasy Flight games, it very aggressive and much shorter than the other two. I've often finished games in an hour to 2 hours.

Puerto Rico: This one is far less strategic, but if you want just casual gaming this is a fast and solid game. Timewise it is one of the most consistent ones I've played, pretty much an hour every time I play it.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

The same company that makes Axis and Allies (Avalon?) makes an awesome game called Napoleon in Europe. It supports from 2 to 6 players and is great fun.

 

[philreed]

Pandemic. I played this twice today. A fun co-op game that plays quickly.

We lost both times.

 

[philreed]

It's not as much a break from D&D as the other games, but you might want to try Munchkin. Technically it's a card game, not a board game, but it's very fun and very silly. It's probably closer to "beer and pretzels" than "brain busting abstract strategy", but there is some strategy involved. You might not want to play it every week, but you'll probably appreciate it as a break from your normal games.

We're also working on Munchkin Quest, a boardgame scheduled for release this year. Plastic Munchkin pawns, heavy chipboard tiles, lots of cards, bits, and new art and jokes by Steve Jackson and John Kovalic.

Not to mention that I've spent a fair amount of time on the development side of the project. This one's gonna be Munchkin X100.

 

[Cerebral Paladin]

Puerto Rico as a light non-strategic game? Your group clearly plays it differently from mine. (No criticism intended, and I love Puerto Rico, but I consider it a fairly intense game-- rather more so than, for example, Game of Thrones.)

In a similar vein to Puerto Rico, Caylus is a great game that I've been playing a lot recently. That said, a lot depends on what style of game you want. If you want the Axis & Allies or Risk style "move lots of units around and toss lots of dice" games, you won't necessarily find them up your alley. If you're interested in a low to no luck game with some neat mechanics and lots of interesting choices, you might like PR and Caylus. (For people who like Settlers, if you're looking for a deeper game, that might work.)

War of the Ring and the various Memoir '44, Battlelords, etc. games might also be good choices for your group, but I'm not sure they work for that number of players. I know Memoir '44 and Battlelords can expand to take more players, but you'll have to buy multiple copies. War of the Ring may be limited to 4-- not sure. It's also team based, not free-for-all.

 

[MerricB]

In a similar vein to Puerto Rico, Caylus is a great game that I've been playing a lot recently.

I love Caylus, but 5 players makes for a poor game of it. It's best with 2-3 players, and good with 4.

War of the Ring and the various Memoir '44, Battlelords, etc. games might also be good choices for your group, but I'm not sure they work for that number of players.

Do you mean BattleLore?

War of the Ring is 2-player. The 4-player game is disappointing; the 2-player game is superb.

Memoir '44 and BattleLore are 2-player; you need another set to get into the multiplayer aspect of it, but it's an uneasy game as such. Better with 2.

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

Zombies (Mmmmm Zombies!)

Strongly recommend against this game.

I do recommend you investigate Last Night On Earth: the Zombie Game. Has its problems, but I feel it plays faster than Zombies, has more theme, and is less tedious.

It's not as much a break from D&D as the other games, but you might want to try Munchkin. Technically it's a card game, not a board game, but it's very fun and very silly. It's probably closer to "beer and pretzels" than "brain busting abstract strategy", but there is some strategy involved. You might not want to play it every week, but you'll probably appreciate it as a break from your normal games.

I also strongly recommend against Munchkin. The cards are funny... once. Well, they may be funny longer, but the game play runs into a continuous problem that the winner is the person who tries to win when everyone else has run out of bad cards. I found it fun for a while, but now avoid it like the plague.

Cheers!