Fantasy or sci-fi boardgames with the highest replayability?

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

AH's Dune. Nothing else is even close for depth and replayability. Defines 'simple to learn, hard to master'.

I'm enjoying the new(ish) FFG Battlestar Galactica game, but I think the replayability is a little low unless you've consistently got a decent number of players.

 

[Cadfan]

Robo Rally.

If you don't mind eurogames where the theme is kind of an extra just to keep you interested, Dominion has some of the best replayability of any game out there.

 

[Hypersmurf]

AH's Dune. Nothing else is even close for depth and replayability.

Just don't try with three players.

-Hyp.

 

[bolen]

AH's Dune. Nothing else is even close for depth and replayability. Defines 'simple to learn, hard to master'.

I read that FFG has the license for the rules but not the setting. They are going to release the same game but Not set on Herbert's planet. I think they are setting it in their own universe for twilight imperium.

By the way FFG is releasing the Conan board game this week. Apparently, it is very similar to their War of the Rings game but this one is for four players instead of two.

 

[Andre]

Just don't try with three players.

-Hyp.

It's been 20 years, but I remember playing Dune many times, usually with 3 players, and I don't remember any problems. What are you referring to?

 

[Simon Atavax]

Arkham Horror plays quite well. It can play from 1- 8 players, though works best I'd say around 4 to 5. More and it gets too slow (might be my game group though - we have a couple with AP). It's a pure co-operative game where you play on a board of Arkham (the city), moving your investigators across the board to find clues, close gates and fight monsters. It's very Cthulhu like, which means your investigators can go insane and/or die.

You can play the entire game quite well with Arkham Horror the base game without a problem. The expansions do add to it, various debates about which one's you should get. I'd seriously just buy the base game first and then see how much you enjoy it before you expand. I doubt you'd dislike it but...

Of the expansions, I'd say Dunwich Horror (adds a new board) and then King In Yellow and Black Goat are the best.

Just to chime in with a dissenting opinion, it's worth mentioning that some folks find ARKHAM HORROR to be very, very cumbersome. It falls into that category for me of "Games I really wanted to like but just couldn't." There are tons of decks of different cards, tons of rules, and tons of maintenance and upkeep throughout the game. It's an amazing game, don't get me wrong. But playing it is more like work than fun. I say this as a Cthulhu/Lovecraft fan, a board game fan, and a die-hard horror fan.

Oh, and BTW, for what it's worth, ARKHAM HORROR has little in common with Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos in terms of theme. Lovecraft's stories are about ordinary fools who go insane because of the evil they glimpse; ARKHAM HORROR is about a group of investigators who go out killing monsters and taking monster trophies.

Again, I think it's a great game, but you have to really, really want to play it in order for it to be a good experience. If that makes sense.

Oh, and all that is without expansions. Once you start adding expansions, ye gods, it's like playing GURPS with all the Advanced combat rules and detailed terrain miniatures to go with it. But if that's what you're looking for, then God bless ya. But many folks want something less complex in a board game.

This may be helpful to anyone considering ARKHAM HORROR:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8t0urRy-Kbs[/ame]
As you would expect of anyone who makes a video of themselves reviewing a board game, this guy is painfully geeky. But it's also quite informative, methinks.

 

[Aran Thule]

Our last gaming weekend (about 40 roleplayers) had a definate winner with board games.
The FFG Battlestar Galactica game was very popular and at times we had two games going at once, works best with 6 players but seemed interesting involving for everyone not just on their turn.

 

[the8bitdeity]

Our last gaming weekend (about 40 roleplayers) had a definate winner with board games.
The FFG Battlestar Galactica game was very popular and at times we had two games going at once, works best with 6 players but seemed interesting involving for everyone not just on their turn.

BSG board game is AWSOME!

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Second (or is it third) on Roborally! Great game, with numerous expansions. What's not to like about a robot getting shoved into a pit and lasering another robot on the way down? Or making one tiny mistake on setting registers and setting off a chain of calamitous events?

The original Arkham Horror board game is simple and fun. It plays quickly and if you do it cooperatively you can roll back the Doom Track and save Arkham. The second edition is the tres complicated one that is under discussion here. I'm one of those that find the rules rather too cumbersome.

Again, stretching the bounds of "what is fantasy", I would heartily recommend Carcassonne and its numerous expansion sets. Lots and lots and lots of fun.

Carcassonne (board game) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

 

[jeffh]

Talisman.

If by "replayable" you mean the second or seventeeth play-through is as fun as the first, I suppose it meets that definition - but only because the first play-through also sucks nuclear gophers.