Board games you own and would recommend

[Wrathamon]

Hey Merric
I own A touch of Evil and have only played it once but it played very well and my gaming group liked it. They actually had more fun on the 1st play then Last Night on Earth... which the beginner scenario isnt that much fun. LNoE fun kicks in on the other scenarios. If you check out Fly Frog Productions they have some web content for last night on earth and touch of evil. you can also order new boards for last night that look more like the expansion boards.


my gaming group seems to always play these games

Battlestar Galactica
Pandemic
St.Petersberg
Colossal Arena
Citadels
Race for the Galaxy
Fury of Dracula
Through the Ages
Power Grid
Dominion
Kingsberg
Mall of horror

games i wish we played more
Mystery of the Abbey
War of the Ring
Battlelore
Cosmic Encounters
Collosium
Axis & Allies (the new anniversary edition is awesome)

 

[FriarRosing]

I'm gonna add "A touch of evil" to the list. Good game, very much like Arkham Horror mechanics wise (this is a good thing). And very much like Tim Burton's "Sleepy Hollow" in the feel of the game.

I've played it twice, so if you have any questions fire away.

I was wondering, how is the soundtrack for the game? I've played Last Night on Earth, and I found the music to be pretty awful. Is this one any better?

Also, is movement based on dice rolls? That always frustrated me about Last Night on Earth, but I suppose there it makes some sense.

 

[Draz]

Most of my favorites have been mentioned ...

As far as Risk variants go, I definitely have to put in a word for GodStorm. I haven't tried 2210, but GodStorm was the next project done by the same design team. I definitely like it much better than LotR Risk. Among its many great features, my favorite is that, when you lose a big battle, you can at least console yourself by thinking of how you will soon rule the Underworld as your troops continue their eternal warfare.

Though I sadly don't own them all, I'll add a supporting vote of approval to:

• Carcassone - relatively quick, easy to get not-as-serious gamers to join in and try out
• Settlers of Catan - elegant simplicity of design
• Bohnanza
• Puerto Rico - though I remain convinced that it's not terribly well balanced (Haciendas FTW), it's fun
• Guillotine
• Diplomacy - easy to make up fun variants; I like my LotR variant of this
• RoboRally

Also should be noted:

• ancient game, decades out of print, but my childhood memories classify it as "actually pretty good": Scavenger Hunt
• more of a party game than a strategy game, but definitely requiring brain cells: Set

 

[FriarRosing]

Also, a quick question, does anyone have Colosseum? Is it any good? I'm looking to expand my board game collection, and it kind of caught my eye. I'm thinking it or El Grade, since the same guy seems to have been involved in both?

 

[MerricB]

Also, a quick question, does anyone have Colosseum? Is it any good? I'm looking to expand my board game collection, and it kind of caught my eye. I'm thinking it or El Grade, since the same guy seems to have been involved in both?

It's pretty, but the gameplay isn't as good as it should be. You'd be better off getting Princes of Florence, which is a very similar game but a *lot* more fun.

Colosseum, alas, drags.

Cheers!

 

[Asmor]

I've only had the opportunity to play Colosseum twice so far, but I have to respectfully disagree with Merric. I think it's a great game!

The rules could use a bit of work (the game ground to a halt while we tried to figure out what happened if someone won an auction other than the person who placed the lot up for bid, and finally settled on an interpretation of the rules which really weren't clear about this very common and important event), but the game play's very good.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I love the Mayfair railroad games- especially Empire Builder and the ones based on it, like the fantasy version, Iron Dragon.

The Avalon Hill classic, Acquire, is another favorite.

RoboRally is high on my list as well.

I enjoy Star Fleet Battles, Starfire, Battletech and (the mechanically similar) Crimson Skies.

I also have a collection of older games that I simply love- classics like The Awful Green Things from Outer Space, Risk, Stratego, Dungeon, Life, Clue, Monopoly, and the "Bizarro-world" Monopoly homages Go For Broke and Public Assistance.

I have a whole bin of minigames dating back to the 1970s that I love as well- Cheapass Games' Kill Doctor Lucky and others; Metagames' Ogre/G.E.V., Melee/Wizard, Car Wars, Hot Spot, Chitin, Helltank/Helltank Destroyter (and many more); TSR's They've invaded Pleasantville, Revolt on Antares, Vampire and Saga; TFG's Ultra-Warrior and Robots!.

Then of course, there are all those little games that used to appear in Dragon- like Flight of the Boodles.

 

[EdPovi]

Race for the Galaxy and Dominion have been getting a lot of play lately. It seems fun and quick are a good combination.

I also tend to like more involved games and some of my favs are:
Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization
Axis & Allies: Anniversary Edition
Twilight Imperium 3e

The Euro games I like include:
Power Grid
Argicola
Puerto Rico

 

[FriarRosing]

I'm going to recommend Valor and Victory, which is a quick, fun little wargame you can download for free online. I just played it for the first time last night, but it seemed pretty darn cool. Also it's free.