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Werthead

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We're now living in the much-vaunted Golden Age of Boardgames and, after some persuasion, I've been looking into a number of games and titles recommended by friends. Over the last few months I've been playing a bunch of simpler, more concise games like FlashpointTicket to Ride and Quadropolis as well as bigger, more tactical games like Star Wars: Rebellion and Forbidden Stars (the latter two of which I bought myself). In the last couple of weeks my friends got me into older games like Cosmic Encounter and Wiz-War, with both get a lot mileage out of being older, ahead-of-their time titles. My friend also bought Blood Bowl (which we haven't played yet) and I dug out my old copy of Space Crusade for a fun replay. Next week we might take a look at Descent as well. I'm also keen to try Pandemic (and ultimately the Legacy edition), but I'll have to get that myself as no-one in my group has it.

Any other big board game fans out there?

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Yes! I've been wanting to start a board game thread for ages but I didn't think anyone else would be interested. About four or five years ago my friends and I started playing Monopoly instead of poker one night for some reason, and despite Monopoly being a terrible game we had such a good time that I ended up deciding to look for other games for a weekly board game night. Started off with Talisman (another terrible game) and it's just kind of blown up from there. I've got a pretty decent size collection now. 

17 minutes ago, Werthead said:

I'm also keen to try Pandemic (and ultimately the Legacy edition), but I'll have to get that myself as no-one in my group has it.

Pandemic Legacy is brilliant. Some of the most fun my friends and I have had. Really looking forward to Season 2 which comes out later this year. You can just jump straight in with Legacy if you want, I had never played Pandemic before I got Legacy. We just played a couple of regular games to learn the rules before starting with the Legacy stuff. (You can play the regular game with the legacy box). Cosmic Encounter is one of my favorites, and Star Wars: Rebellion is fantastic as well. I hardly ever get a chance to play those though.

Last weekend my friends and I played a couple of rounds of Coup (which we've played so much the cards are starting to look pretty worn, I'm thinking about buying a new copy) and Black Fleet. Coup is sort of a micro-game that's all about bluffing, it's also quite cheap. I highly recommend it if you're looking for a small, quick game to play in between big ones. 

Trying to organize another boardgame night for next week, probably going to finally break out Fury of Dracula

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OMG.  Finally.

 

So.  Pandemic is great.  I've not played Legacy, but the original and/or an expansion make a great game.  But, all people need to be invested in finding victory, otherwise it'll be a loss and the less-invested will not ever want to play again.

In terms of team games, I've enjoyed Pandemic and Forbidden Desert (not Forbidden Island).  I love team games, as even a loss just makes the participants want another go to beat the.... game? computer? AI?

For pvp//pvpvp//etc games...Dominion is an excellent deck-builder game. The base game comes with many variations, so you don't really get tired of it as you can swap out cards as you see fit.  You mentioned Ticket to Ride, so I'll quick-drop Catan, Carcassone.  Try out Machi Koro for another kind of deck builder.

If you're into long-time games, try out Agricola or Castles of Burgundy.  They take forever, but SOOOOO fun.

Coup is fun as a party game, but not very great for small (less than 4) players.  It can be quick paced, though the expansion slows it down a bit and makes it more tactical.  Sushi Go is another quick game that's fun even with novice gamers.

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A group of us started a gaming group about 2 years ago.  Played nearly every other weekend.  Started playing Cattan, real reason we started gaming weekend.  Eventually we ended up buying a few other ones (Stone age, Betrayal at House on the hill, Small world, Last night on earth).  Then our friend bought Legendary: A marvel deck building game plus like 4 expansions and we played that exclusively for a few months.

For the last year though we have switched our game weekends to Dungeons and Dragons and haven't played many board games since.

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Ooh. forgot about Small World.  I just bought the app for my phone, after months of playing with friends.  Good one :)

 

I played Betrayal at House on the Hill once.  I loved it, even though we played it incorrectly and I got smoked as the baddie. hahaha

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Another friend has Arkham Horror and we've played that twice. It can be a fun game but it's very over-engineered (as in it has 15 separate decks of card and so many tokens it's absurd, and you need about four tables to put it on) and has waaaay too much stuff and complexity for what is, when you boil it down, a pretty simple game.

We've played Coup a couple of times and it's fun. So are Love Letter and Cthulu Dice, which for ultra-fast games are decent. I have the GoT board game, the original edition with the ACoK expansion, but we've never quite nailed playing it for some reason in a dozen years and several attempts. I believe the new edition is a lot better in how it sets out the rules and ideas, but I'm reluctant to stump out more money for a game I effectively already own.

We have been getting back into roleplaying as well, but life/family/time constraints have made playing lengthy campaigns impractical so we've been going with short adventures and mixing it in with the board games.

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I tend not to play boardgames as often as I might like to.

Pandemic is good fun (although I've not played the Legacy version), also like Dominion, Ticket To Ride and Manhattan Project.

I've played the Firefly board game a few times and I thought it did an impressive job of making a game that actually felt like the series. It was a lot of fun although it does take quite a while to set-up and play. My only criticism of it might be that there's often not a lot of interaction between the players.

For shorter games Coup and Love Letter are both good. One Night Ultimate Werewolf is also good fun, even if I find the standard Werewolf game a bit tedious.

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Pandemic is a lot of fun, though I haven't played Legacy at all so I have no idea what that adds to the base game. It's quite amazing how quickly the game can go from controlled, one to two steps away from victory to total and complete viral outbreak. :lol:

Since you're into tabletop RPG's, have you looked into Munchkin? That's a fun one, though much less cooperative than Pandemic. Most games devolve into lots of swearing as players fuck each other over.

EDIT: Also, not a board game, but Cards Against Humanity should at least get a mention here.

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Quote

 

Pandemic is a lot of fun, though I haven't played Legacy at all so I have no idea what that adds to the base game. It's quite amazing how quickly the game can go from controlled, one to two steps away from victory to total and complete viral outbreak. :lol:


 

 

The Legacy concept is the idea of dynamically rewriting the rules of the game every time you play. Risk Legacy is where it kicked off but Pandemic Legacy goes all-out on the concept. Sit Down and Shut Up (my go-to board gaming review site) have a pretty good review of it.

The concept of how it works is that at strategic points in the game you will be directed to "do something". This will be: obliterate a city (as in, permanently marking it off the map, forever), unlock a new ruleset complete with new cards or components (summoned from one of eight sealed components within the box) or introduce a new rule which completely shifts the gameplay paradigm forever.

People freak the shit out about Legacy games because you are permanently changing the game, down to writing stuff on the board, throwing away cards, introducing some crazy new rule which you wouldn't introduce a new player to and so on. The idea is that after a meta-campaign incorporating maybe 15 games, you end up with a "final game" with all of these new components now in play. If you want to reset and go back to the starting state, you have to literally buy a new box, which irritates some people (but if you like a game enough to play 15 games of it and want to play another 15, then you've more than gotten your value from the purchase). But the Legacy idea has shaken up gaming in a really interesting and exciting way. Most interesting is that these rule shifts also accommodate for fail states: if you lose 4 games in a row the ruleset also changes dynamically into something new and scarier. "We can't open the eighth compartment!" is common Pandemic Legacy refrain.

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EDIT: Also, not a board game, but Cards Against Humanity should at least get a mention here.

I really enjoyed Cards Against Humanity the first time I played it, but I was with a bunch of people with a fairly dark sense of humour. The second time I played it the shine started to wear off and by the third time it was pretty dull. Even if you throw in the expansions, it's still a limited concept where the card jokes boil down to some variation of "...and that's what she said" or "Your mum" or "Coathanger abortion."

It's a solid game concept which other games have run away with and improved on, like Dixit. Although my friends and I did have quite good fun with our own mash-up game, Codewords Against Humanity which was altogether more interesting than the standard version.

 

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I am quite obsessed with board games.  I subscribe to 18-20 different youtube channels about board games.  Have some friends coming over tomorrow to play in fact.  I'm way too much into Kickstarter right now... probably spent $1500 backing projects there just this calendar year.  I'll post more when I actually have time.

 

14 minutes ago, Durckad said:

Since you're into tabletop RPG's, have you looked into Munchkin? That's a fun one, though much less cooperative than Pandemic. Most games devolve into lots of swearing as players fuck each other over.

This is what I think about Munchkin. 

I'd rather play Monopoly[/spoilers]

For people that like tabletop RGPs Descent is much more appropriate.  Another one to look at is available now for elevated pricing, with the second edition on Kickstarter right now - Gloomhaven.  I haven't played it, but the reviews were obscenely good.  I am backing the 2nd ed Kickstarter.  Lots of good videos on the KS page about it.

 

2 minutes ago, Werthead said:
23 minutes ago, Durckad said:

EDIT: Also, not a board game, but Cards Against Humanity should at least get a mention here.

I really enjoyed Cards Against Humanity the first time I played it, but I was with a bunch of people with a fairly dark sense of humour. The second time I played it the shine started to wear off and by the third time it was pretty dull. Even if you throw in the expansions, it's still a limited concept where the card jokes boil down to some variation of "...and that's what she said" or "Your mum" or "Coathanger abortion."

It's a solid game concept which other games have run away with and improved on, like Dixit. Although my friends and I did have quite good fun with our own mash-up game, Codewords Against Humanity which was altogether more interesting than the standard version.

You might look at Time's Up or Monikers (they're the same game) as an alternative.

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25 minutes ago, Werthead said:

 

I really enjoyed Cards Against Humanity the first time I played it, but I was with a bunch of people with a fairly dark sense of humour. The second time I played it the shine started to wear off and by the third time it was pretty dull. Even if you throw in the expansions, it's still a limited concept where the card jokes boil down to some variation of "...and that's what she said" or "Your mum" or "Coathanger abortion."

It's a solid game concept which other games have run away with and improved on, like Dixit. Although my friends and I did have quite good fun with our own mash-up game, Codewords Against Humanity which was altogether more interesting than the standard version.

 

I forgot about Codenames, that's another game I liked. I've only played Cards Against Humanity once but I can see that it would quickly get repetetive.

I remember the Codenames Against Humanity experiment, it's a nice idea although it did feel harder than regular Codenames due to so many of the cards being similar.

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I'm a big board games person these days, I have two groups I regularly board game with.  Let's see some good bigger ones:

Some of the European style (essentially no dice)

Agricola, Dominant Species, Fury of Dracula, Francis Drake, Lancaster, Game of Thrones (6 players, less is less fun), Battlestar Galactica, Shogun (battle tower is amazingly fun system for fighting)

North American Style (with dice)

Star Wars: Imperial Assault, Dead of Winter, Mare Nostrum, Twilight Imperium, good ol' Axis and Allies, Britannia and its subset like Maharajah and Italia etc, War of 1812, Twilight Struggle

Smaller games:

King of Tokyo/King of New York, Chinatown, Sherriff of Nottingham

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28 minutes ago, RedEyedGhost said:

:lol: That sounds about right honestly. 

Gloomhaven looks interesting, but I have to wonder, if you are going to go through all of that trouble to essentially play a boardgame-style RPG... why not just play a regular tabletop game? It doesn't look any simpler than most tabletop games so I'm not sure exactly what the appeal would be here.

I could see Cards Against Humanity getting repetitive (even with the expansions), but as a quick, easy-to-learn game that is fun even (or especially) after some alcohol, I thought it worthy of mention.

50 minutes ago, Werthead said:

 

The Legacy concept is the idea of dynamically rewriting the rules of the game every time you play. Risk Legacy is where it kicked off but Pandemic Legacy goes all-out on the concept. Sit Down and Shut Up (my go-to board gaming review site) have a pretty good review of it.

The concept of how it works is that at strategic points in the game you will be directed to "do something". This will be: obliterate a city (as in, permanently marking it off the map, forever), unlock a new ruleset complete with new cards or components (summoned from one of eight sealed components within the box) or introduce a new rule which completely shifts the gameplay paradigm forever.

People freak the shit out about Legacy games because you are permanently changing the game, down to writing stuff on the board, throwing away cards, introducing some crazy new rule which you wouldn't introduce a new player to and so on. The idea is that after a meta-campaign incorporating maybe 15 games, you end up with a "final game" with all of these new components now in play. If you want to reset and go back to the starting state, you have to literally buy a new box, which irritates some people (but if you like a game enough to play 15 games of it and want to play another 15, then you've more than gotten your value from the purchase). But the Legacy idea has shaken up gaming in a really interesting and exciting way. Most interesting is that these rule shifts also accommodate for fail states: if you lose 4 games in a row the ruleset also changes dynamically into something new and scarier. "We can't open the eighth compartment!" is common Pandemic Legacy refrain.

Interesting idea. Not sure I like the idea of dynamically and permanently altering a board game in such a way, I would have to see it play out first. I could see it being either horribly annoying or really, really cool.

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Me and my sister keep buying board games for each other as presents but since I live in Berlin and she lives in London, and neither of us really knows anyone else where we live who we can persuade into playing them. So far we've got Red Dragon Inn, which we did manage to get a couple of games in and it's alright but simple, seems more of an icebreaker kind of game, plus 7 Wonders, which we didn't have time to actually play before I had to leave. Plus something else I can't remember but we also didn't play...


I have played enough of both Munchin and Cards Against Humanity to know that while they're both decent intros they get repetitive after a sitting or two.

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I'd hit up the gaming groups in both cities. I mean, seriously, Berlin and London are two of the most important hubs for board game design in the world right now :) There's a strong contingent of board gamers in London on this forum, actually.

Also worth mentioning The Game Pit, a UK board gaming podcast run by several Bwbers :D

Quote

 

Gloomhaven looks interesting, but I have to wonder, if you are going to go through all of that trouble to essentially play a boardgame-style RPG... why not just play a regular tabletop game? It doesn't look any simpler than most tabletop games so I'm not sure exactly what the appeal would be here.

 

That's a good question. I was playing Castle Ravenloft and it was simplified D&D on a board, but not that much simplified. Aside from making the otherwise horrific 4th Edition rules work better, there wasn't much point to it. The point of the old (and excellent) Hero Quest and Warhammer Quest was that they made the dungeon crawl work as a boardgame. A lot of other modern dungeon crawl games do have that element of "Well, why not just play D&D then?" That's why I'm interested in seeing how Descent goes.

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Battlestar Galactica is my favorite board game and has been for a few years. It's co-op, though of course some people are Cylons (traitors). It's absolutely brilliant at reproducing the atmosphere of the show, as everyone grows increasingly paranoid and terrible terrible things continue to happen. It's tough for the humans to win, but that just makes it all the more satisfying when they do.

Pandemic is a very fun coop game as well, though it can get a bit stale once you and some friends have figured out how to play it well. I have to admit I never warmed to Arkham Horror- it takes too long and there's too little interaction between players. Cyclades is a great competitive Greek mythology game; it has a great mechanic that each round you bid for the favor of a god, which alters what you can do on your turn.  It involves conquest and fighting, but that's not the whole game, and you can win without fighting anyone or just by being creative and sneaky. I love it.

For faster paced card games, Condottiere is my favourite- if any of you have played Witcher 3, it's the game the devs ripped off for Gwent (though more complicated and with more people playing). Lots of bluffing and running away, all good stuff. Cards Against Humanity, Secret Hitler and Bang! are all great party games; Secret Hitler is a more elaborate version of Mafia/Werewolf (with fascism!) and Bang! is a silly and fun hidden identity Western game.

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1 hour ago, Caligula_K3 said:

Cards Against Humanity, Secret Hitler and Bang! are all great party games; Secret Hitler is a more elaborate version of Mafia/Werewolf (with fascism!) and Bang! is a silly and fun hidden identity Western game.

I've played Bang! once. My main memory of it is @Werthead inexplicably deciding to shoot me with a machine gun despite his sole aim in the game being to protect me ;). Fun game though, should play it again sometime.

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I've also considered starting a board game thread many times. I started with A Game of Thrones and for the longest time just played that......I thought it was great, but it never really dawned on me that it was the whole board game scene that was great and not just this game. I got Dead of Winter next, which is a great entry game for non-board gamers with its zombie theme and easy rules (well, I think they're easy......but then I was comparing mostly to A Game of Thrones which is a pain to teach, I should know as I've done it what feels like a thousand times), it is a lot of fun but it's a little dependent on how the cards fall. If you end up needing school stuff for your secret objective and you're the principal for example, every turn you just sit at the school and search. It often doesn't require any interesting or dramatic choices. I've picked up Star Trek: Ascendancy which I really love, as it nails the pure exploration of Star Trek so well. I've only managed to play twice though. I'm also a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, easily the best mystery solving game for me.

And then.........there is Pandemic: Legacy.

I can't over sell this. It is the greatest game ever. I think, if I were forced to compare it to other things like movies, books, tv shows......it might just be my favourite thing of any kind ever. Base Pandemic is a very finely tuned co-op puzzle, and to add a whole story line that weaves into all these incredible, tight, dramatic games.....it's given me the best 14 (so far, I haven't played December yet) gaming experiences by a long way. To be honest, I respect regular Pandemic but it's hard to picture playing a game that was just isolated and had no wider repercussions now. I will be buying Season 2 if they charge 10 times what they did for Season 1.

I'd be interested in any opinions on Seafall (the first Legacy game to be build as such from the ground up). Like Wert, I look to Shut Up and Sit Down for a lot of my news and reviews, and they didn't take to it. It has a lot of negative reviews, but I feel I owe it to the designers to at least give it a chance. I'm also considering buying T.I.M.E Stories despite a negative SU&SD review, as it has plenty of other great reviews. But that's on the more extreme end of the 'no replay value' model that Legacy and SH:CD are on, in that it's £30 for literally one game. So I'm less sure about that.

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I bought GoT Board Game Second Edition and we have been trying to figure out all the rules... Not that we tried very hard, but it was a tiny bit complicated :D So, we bought a poker set and now we play poker.

I am interested in more fantasy-inspired games. I heard there might be a Mistborn board game coming out and I would like to have a deck of cards from Zelazny's The Chronicles of Amber.

Never thought of asking, but has cyvasse ever been made? 

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7 hours ago, Werthead said:

 

The Legacy concept is the idea of dynamically rewriting the rules of the game every time you play. Risk Legacy is where it kicked off

 

Is that the version where if the attacker roles three of the same number, that number of cards are drawn, and whatever territory is shown has all units removed? We call it Nukes. 

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